Procedures and Techniques for Conducting a Fort Hays Kansas State College Curriculum Evaluation in the Public Schools

The Educational Field Service at Fort Hays Kansas State College was organized to provide service to schools in western Kansas. Much of the research, calculation, and evaluation is done by graduate students under the guidance of college consultants and this paper is designed to show a step by step procedure of the processes involved in carrying out an Educational Field Service Survey. It is hoped that this report will be of particular value to those students working with the Fort Hays Kansas State College Educational Field Service but it may also offer suggestions for any studies requiring the conducting of curriculum evaluations in the public schools. Studies by the Educational Field Service are done at the request of school boards who wish to have the building facilities and curriculum of their local schools evaluated any recommendations for improvement then made. This report will not cover the techniques and procedures used in evaluating building facilities. It will be limited to the procedures and techniques employed in conducting a Fort Hays Kansas State College curriculum evaluation in public schools and will include some criteria for checking drafts of final curriculum reports. Graduate students from the Department of Education at Fort Hays Kansas State College assist the directors of the Educational Field Service in administering and evaluating a statement of objectives known as the Behavioral Outcomes Q-Sort, which will be explained later in this report. They also help present materials an outlines to the teachers of the school being evaluated, and offer methods and suggestions on completing them. After the teachers have completed these outlines, showing what is being taught on various grade levels, the graduate students place this information on a flow chart which will show what is being taught in a given subject or area from the first grade through the twelfth. The information obtained in this manner is sent to subject matter specialists from Fort Hays Kansas State College who analyze the program in terms of content, time allotment, and method of teaching and make recommendations for curricular improvement. The graduate students then condense and organize this material into the final report. In this manner a close-working relationship can be developed between the college and local operating school systems in western Kansas. Also, by having subject matter specialists at Fort Hays State College assist in various areas, these school systems can enjoy the benefits of individual help with their own particular problems. The development of a curriculum evaluative report consists of the following step by step procedure. 1. Administering the Behavioral Outcomes Q- Sort and Relative Responsibility Questionnaire. 2. Determining the results of the questionnaire. 3. Explanation of the results of the questionnaire. 4. Presentation of curriculum information gathering devices. 5. Evaluating the curriculum data. 6. Presenting curriculum evaluative data to college consultants. 7. Writing the final curriculum report. 8. Checking the drafts of final curriculum report

Defining Technology for Learning: Cognitive and Physical Tools of Inquiry

This essay explores definitions of technology and educational technology. The authors argue the following points: 1. Educational stakeholders, and the public at large, use the term technology as though it has a universally agreed upon definition. It does not, and how technology is defined matters. 2. For technology in schools to support student learning, it must to be defined in a way that describes technology as a tool for problem-solving. 3. Integration of technology, particularly when paired with teacher-centered practices, has the potential of reinforcing and heightening the negative consequences of a conception of learning that positions students as recipients of knowledge instead constructors of knowledge. Essay concludes with a call for leaders in the field of educational technology to provide guidance by adopting a definition that encapsulates the third point above

An Alternative to Affirmative Action: Attributing Lack of Diversity in Undergraduate Institutions to a Failing Education System

In the recent Supreme Court decision, Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court upheld the use of race-based affirmative action in admissions processes at higher education institutions. In the course of holding that diversity is a compelling interest, and that narrowly tailored race-conscious programs may be used to achieve diversity at graduate and undergraduate institutions, the Court also noted that such “race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time.

Strategies and mechanisms for electronic peer review

This journal article published at the October 2000 Frontiers in Education Conference discusses strategies and mechanisms for electronic peer review. It outlines a peer-grading system for review of student assignments over the World-Wide Web called Peer Grader. The system allows authors and reviewers to communicate and authors to update their submissions. This system facilitates collaborative learning and makes it possible to break up a large project into smaller portions. The article summarizes a unique and innovative method of peer-review. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Segregation by Race in Public Schools Retrospect and Prospect

Solar energy conversion has been intensively studied in past decades and has been shown to be greatly effective for solving the serious environmental pollution and energy shortage problems. Photoelectrocatalysis and photovoltaics have been considered as the two main approaches for solar energy conversion and utilization, which are generally involved with nanostructured materials and/or catalytic processes, greatly affecting the efficiencies for solar energy conversion. Then, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials and their performances for solar energy conversion. It is also important to explore the fundamentals in catalytic processes for solar energy conversion and make breakthrough in design and synthesis of nanomaterials or nanostructures, characterization of material properties, and performance of novel devices and systems. The aim of this special issue is to present some recent progress in the field of advanced catalysis and nanostructure design for solar energy conversion. A brief summary of all accepted papers is provided below

Relationships, Rigor, and Readiness: Strategies for Improving High Schools

This report offers lessons from the last in a series of three high school reform conferences sponsored by MDRC, the Council of the Great City Schools, and the National High School Alliance. This conference in June 2007 brought together leaders from 22 midsize school districts to describe their reform initiatives and to discuss ways in which research and evaluation can inform and complement school change

Improving Student Learning Through Strategic Compensation

Reviews the debate over teachers' pay; outlines the TeacherSolutions compensation reform model, developed by teachers in dialogue with experts and activists; and presents the Teacher Leaders Network Kansas' discussions of the reforms and their challenges

Shuttered Public Schools: The Struggle to Bring Old Buildings New Life

Large-scale public school closures have become a fact of life in many American cities, and that trend is not likely to stop now. This report looks at what happens to the buildings themselves, studying the experiences of Philadelphia and 11 other cities that have decommissioned large numbers of schools in recent years: Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tulsa and Washington