An Investigation of Principals' Social and Emotional Learning Beliefs and Attitudes

With recent educational demands placed on academic accountability, it is difficult for many people to determine or acknowledge where or how focusing on social and emotional learning (SEL) can be beneficial. In this paper we focus on principals’ beliefs and attitudes about social and emotional learning. Principals influence implementation through their school priorities, vision, expectations, and emphases. We used grounded theory techniques and semi-structured interviews with K-8th grade principals of public schools located in a state in the southeastern United States. When describing principals’ beliefs and attitudes, late majority adopters held neutral attitudes and weak beliefs regarding SEL. In addition, a lack of understanding of the SEL concept became evident as principals did not express a clear understanding of SEL. Comprehensive training at the administrative and policy level is needed. Principals should implement targeted staff training providing key strategies for intentionally integrating SEL skills into their current curriculum.

Do Student-Written Responses to Reflection Questions Predict Persistence and Performance in Online Courses?

Online learning has been recognized as a promising approach to improve learning outcomes in developing countries where high-quality learning resources are limited. Concomitant with the boom in online learning, there are escalating concerns about academic accountability, specifically student outcomes as measured by persistence and success. This chapter examines whether evidence of reflection found in student written responses to a series of skill-building videos predicts success in online courses. Using a text analysis approach, this study analyzed 1,871 student responses to four reflection questions at a large online university in Panama. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore whether student persistence was affected by evidence of words associated with significant learning found in student written responses to a set of reflection questions. The results suggest that evidence of words associated with significant learning found in student written responses to reflection questions significantly predicts student persistence in online courses. A Kruskal-Wallis test found median final course grade differences between students who showed no evidence of significant learning in their written responses, and those using 1-13 words associated with significant learning. These results strongly suggest that persistence and performance in online courses are affected by evidence of reflection found in student written responses to reflection questions. These results suggest that a set of reflection tasks assigned early in the course may prove effective in identifying at-risk students.

Part 6: Formative and summative evaluation and action research

Evaluation is essential to the analysis of the performance of academic programmes and is a central feature of the academic accountability movement. Most study abroad programmes, however, lack evaluation protocols, even though establishing them and acting on the results would contribute to their credibility. This final section of a comprehensive account of the reform of a study abroad programme presents how CASA-Sevilla has developed evaluation strategies to inform pedagogical changes in each successive semester to improve student-learning outcomes. The programme’s aim is to achieve a 360-degree assessment by treating students holistically and including all involved faculty, staff, community partners and host families. The aim is also to be transparent in pointing out the problems in the programme’s performance and use them as an impetus for improvement. This section is written to share what we have learned in hopes of starting a more robust dialogue among study abroad programmes about evaluation.

Expressed Values of 4-H Adult Volunteer Leaders

Historically, the collaborative efforts between rural teachers and 4-H have provided enhanced opportunities for youth that would not have been otherwise possible. As resources continue to diminish in rural communities, this collaboration is valuable to both schools and the 4-H organization. Currently rural schools are concentrating on the increased demand for academic accountability through performance testing and other evaluation instruments. This trend has resulted in less time for the elective outlets that have traditionally been an important part of school. At a time when 4-H could help fill an important gap in rural communities, changes within the organization have left some volunteers feeling overwhelmed. This article offers a theoretical framework for understanding the feelings and values of rural 4-H volunteers during a period of dramatic organizational change.

Latina Baccalaureate Attainment: A Mixed Methods Case Study of a TRIO Intervention

Research demonstrates that Latinas are one of the most at-risk female demographics in higher education and have the lowest baccalaureate attainment rate of all female groups, especially at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). This case study of a TRIO intervention found that TRIO counselors’ consideration of life circumstances in planning academic schedules, brokering relationships with faculty and staff, promotion of academic accountability, and close personal relationships with Latina advisees boost Latina baccalaureate attainment. Findings demonstrate implications for enhancing retention rates and further research in Hispanic education attainment.

“I Don't Think that Any Peer Review Committee . . . Would Ever ‘Get’ What I Currently Do”: How Institutional Metrics for Success and Merit Risk Perpetuating the (Re)production of Colonial Relationships in Community-Based Participatory Research Involving Indigenous Peoples in Canada

This article reports on findings from a study that explored how a group of leading health researchers who do Indigenous community-engaged research (n = 20) in Canada envision enacting ethically sound research with Indigenous communities, as well as the concomitant tensions associated with doing so. In particular, we explore how institutional metrics for assessing merit and granting tenure are seen to privilege conventional discourses of productivity and validity in research and, as a result, are largely incongruent with the relational values associated with decolonizing research through community-based participatory health research. Our findings reveal that colonial incursion from the academy risk filtering into such research agendas and create a conflict between relational accountability to community partners and academic accountability to one’s discipline and peers.