Works of Mykola Leontovych in the Performance Traditions of the Odesa Choral School

The purpose of the research is to identify the peculiarities of performing reading and conducting-methodical mastering of choral works by M. D. Leontovych in the activities of outstanding representatives of the Odesa choral school. The tasks of the work are determined: coverage of the concept of a performing school, in particular, the Odesa choral school; identification of the poetical-semantic features, intonational-expressive factors that influenced the performing approaches to the works of M. Leontovych; determination of the creative continuity’s features of generations in the context of interpretations, intonation and artistic images’ embodiment of M. D. Leontovych’s works in choral sound. The research methodology is based on the use of general scientific and special chorological approaches. An analytical-abstract approach was used to study the scientific literature on the outlined issues; in working with the memories of contemporaries, graduates – analytical and historical; in work with musical texts – choral, textual and selective methods; The system-structural method helped to present the phenomenon under study as a generalization of various research and practical tools – it became a unifying factor in the holistic understanding of experience. The scientific novelty of the research is due to the fact that for the first time an original view of the performing interpretation of individual works of M. Leontovych from the standpoint of performing, conducting, research experience of the Odessa Choral School; figurative-associative approaches in the context of chorological elaboration of the author’s text are covered; emphasis is placed on the relationship between musical and historical facts and current trends in the development of choral performance. Conclusions. M. Leontovych’s choral works are an original example of an individual author's concept of the folk song idea in choral elaboration, which forms multiple semantic vectors for performing interpretation. Genre-style, intonation-expressive priorities of the composer in the processing of folk song material become a kind of ‘guide’ in the interpretive strategies of performers and provoke them and the listener to certain reflections of associative, musical-semantic, theatrical and figurative composition. At the present stage of its development, the Odesa Choral School, declaring historically established approaches to the works of M. Leontovych in the repertoire of the student choir at the same time demonstrates their living performing tradition.

Pausing for Answerability: A Critical Investigation of U.S. Assessment and Accountability Decisions Amidst the covid-19 Pandemic

This paper takes up Leigh Patel’s (2016) methodological stance of pausing to consider how and whether the U.S. federal government’s theory of educational change, or their plan for educational equity and accountability, is answerable to Black, Indigenous, and students of color in the context of the global pandemic, the switch to remote learning, and global uprisings for Black lives. To discuss the federal government’s current theory of educational change, we (the authors) conducted a policy document review, outlining the U.S.’s educational response(s) to the ongoing global health crisis. The paper reports on current federal law requirements and waivers for: assessments, accountability, reporting, and school identification. We also discuss how the federal educational response is limited for addressing the context and learning of Black, Indigenous and students of color. We practice answerability by positing alternative approaches for educational policymaking in the age of covid-19.

Creating a Supportive Classroom Environment Through Effective Feedback: Effects on Students’ School Identification and Behavioral Engagement

Previous research revealed the connection between students’ behavioral and emotional engagement and a supportive classroom environment. One of the primary tools teachers have to create a supportive classroom environment is effective feedback. In this study, we assessed the supportive classroom environment using the perception shared by all students from the same classroom of teachers’ use of effective feedback. We aimed to explore the effect of such an environment on students’ behavioral engagement and school identification. Using a probabilistic sample of 1,188 students from 75 classrooms across 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th grades, we employed multilevel regression modeling with random intercept and fixed slopes. We explored the effects of both individual perceptions of teachers’ use of effective feedback and the supportive classroom environment on student engagement. The analyses identified that students who perceived that their teachers use more effective feedback had a higher level of behavioral engagement and school identification. Once we controlled the effects of these individual perceptions of teachers’ effective feedback, we still observed the effect of a supportive classroom environment on student engagement. So, in classrooms where teachers used more effective feedback creating a supportive classroom environment, students had higher school identification and behavioral engagement levels, regardless of their individual perceptions of teachers’ feedback. The association between variables remained significant even after controlling students’ characteristics (gender, nationality, mother’s level of education, history of grade retention) and classroom characteristics (grade level, type of school, number of students at grade level). Our findings support the potential of teachers’ feedback practices to foster students’ school identification and behavioral engagement to build a more inclusive school environment and value students’ diversity.

Psychometric Examination of the Abbreviated Version of the Dual School Climate and School Identification Measure-Student (SCASIM-St15) in a Sample of Chilean Adolescents

School climate is a multidimensional construct that has been related to a series of psychological, social, and school variables. The dual school climate and school identification measure-student (SCASIM-St) is a measure that has a multidimensional factor structure, with four first-order factors and a second-order factor, plus an independent factor that evaluates school identification. However, the SCASIM-St is long, with 38 items measuring school climate. The first objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of reliability and validity of the abbreviated version of the dual school climate and school identification measure-student (SCASIM-St-15), for use in contexts with time limitations or for explanatory studies that need to apply multiple instruments simultaneously. The second objective was to analyze the degree of invariance for the groups: sex, type of education, and age. The sample was made up of 2,044 students of both sexes (49.1% women and 50.9% men), with a mean age of 14.64 (SD = 0.718), representing 27 secondary schools in Chile. The results indicated that the SCASIM-St15 presents adequate indicators of reliability and construct validity. Evidence of external criterion validity confirmed significant associations with the Attitudes to Institutional Authority in Adolescence Scale measure. The results of the factorial invariance analysis indicate that the SCASIM-St15 remains stable up to the level of metric invariance for the variable sex and the level of scalar invariance for the variables type of education and age. The study concluded that despite the significant decrease in the number of items, the SCASIM-St15 measures school climate in a reliable and valid way, without losing its theoretical and conceptual robustness.

Estimating the Impact of Expulsions, Suspensions, and Arrests on Average School Proficiency Rates in Ohio using Fixed Effects

<p>This study uses panel data (2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16) from three sources—the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the National Center for Education Statistics’ Common Core Data (CCD), and the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) school report cards. These data were then merged using a common key to create one large dataset. OCR and CCD data have a common school identification key that was readily available. Data from ODE contained Building and District identification numbers that were concatenated to create a school ID that was identical to the one in the other two datasets.</p>

Estimating the Impact of Expulsions, Suspensions, and Arrests on Average School Proficiency Rates in Ohio using Fixed Effects

<p>This study uses panel data (2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16) from three sources—the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the National Center for Education Statistics’ Common Core Data (CCD), and the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) school report cards. These data were then merged using a common key to create one large dataset. OCR and CCD data have a common school identification key that was readily available. Data from ODE contained Building and District identification numbers that were concatenated to create a school ID that was identical to the one in the other two datasets.</p>