Learning from Turnaround Middle Schools: Strategies for Success

In New York City and around the nation, there is intense interest in the question of what it takes to turn around a low-performing school. This study focused on two sets of initially low-performing NYC middle schools. The first group (the "turnaround schools") exhibited significant growth in academic performance between 2006 and 2010, while the other group saw minimal growth or remained stagnant during the same period. To gain an understanding of how the turnaround schools improved, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with principals and focus groups with teachers in both sets of schools. This report presents a rich picture of the conditions and strategies that enabled the turnaround schools to boost student achievement. Specifically, it identifies three interrelated "essential conditions" that were largely principal driven: aligning needs with goals, creating a positive work environment, and addressing student discipline and safety. These essential conditions, in turn, set the stage for implementing specific strategies to improve teaching and learning: developing teachers internally, creating small learning communities, targeting student sub-populations, and using data to inform instruction. The report also describes several ongoing challenges faced by all the schools. Finally, it draws on the study's findings to make recommendations for improving the effectiveness of middle schools here in New York City and around the country. The study is part of an ongoing focus on the middle grades for the Research Alliance

Organizational Conditions that Promote and Impede Research Engagement: The Principal’s Perspective

The researcher explored perceptions of the research-practice gap in education, the process through which central actors make decisions related to teacher retention and development, and the organizational conditions that promote and impede research-engagement in this qualitative study. The researcher limited the study to the role of the campus principal and used purposive sampling to select participants from 3 diverse districts in the state of Texas. Because there may be discrepancies between leaders’ perceptions and behaviors, the researcher conducted interview sessions with principals and principal supervisors and conducted observation sessions in principals’ natural work environments. The study results showed that good intentions, a willing disposition, access to research, and an open stance toward research evidence do little to narrow the divide between research and practice. The researcher concluded the distance between research and practice in education is not due not to attitudinal factors, but organizational structure. To facilitate research-engagement, the researcher recommended that organizational leaders (a) reimagine how and where principals work, (b) situate principals around transformational work, (c) build principals’ capacity to make better decisions at work, and (d) stabilize and reinforce the impact of innovative work. Keywords: decision-making, organizational context, research engagement, systems approach, teacher development, teacher retentio

Minds Online: The Interface between Web Science, Cognitive Science, and the Philosophy of Mind

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is a need to study the Web from a cognitive and epistemic perspective. This is particularly so as new and emerging technologies alter the nature of our interactive engagements with the Web, transforming the extent to which our thoughts and actions are shaped by the online environment. Situated and ecological approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the cognitive significance of the Web because of the emphasis they place on forces and factors that reside at the level of agent–world interactions. In particular, by adopting a situated or ecological approach to cognition, we are able to assess the significance of the Web from the perspective of research into embodied, extended, embedded, social and collective cognition. The results of this analysis help to reshape the interdisciplinary configuration of Web Science, expanding its theoretical and empirical remit to include the disciplines of both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind

A study of the techniques for building morale used by business and industry which can be applied to personnel administration in education

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Utilizing Strategic Management Accounting Techniques (SMATs) for Sustainability Performance Measurement

Purpose: The main objective of this study is to determine whether the utilization of strategic management accounting techniques is capable of providing managers with information for corporate sustainability performance. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was carried out using self-administered questionnaires on a sample of eighty-one accountant distributed across product-sector organisations. The questionnaire was used to gather primary data from respondents. Multiple regression technique was used as the main statistical tool of analysis. Findings: Our findings revealed that sustainability performance measurement is a multi-faceted activity, requiring managers to implement strategic techniques capable of capturing information from diverse areas of corporate environmental and social performance in order to enable them  identify, accumulate  and manage environmental and social costs related to product development and manufacture.Research limitations/implications:The study used a purposive sampling method, which focused on respondents that agreed to the use of at least one strategic management accounting tool in their organization. However, Specific contextual studies should be carried out to identify which particular strategic management accounting techniques provide the needed information for economic, environmental and social decision-making areas in other organisational categories. Practical implications:The findings enumerate the need for managers to employ strategic management accounting techniques to enable them identify, accumulate, and manage social and environmental costs of their activities.Originality/value:The study focuses on the utility of strategic management accounting techniques by addressing the inherent measurement and management complexities experienced by managers in measuring and reporting sustainability performance. Keywords: Strategic Management Accounting; Utilization; Techniques

The Mystery of Capital and the Construction of Social Reality

John Searle’s The Construction of Social Reality and Hernando de Soto’s The Mystery of Capital shifted the focus of current thought on capital and economic development to the cultural and conceptual ideas that underpin market economies and that are taken for granted in developed nations. This collection of essays assembles 21 philosophers, economists, and political scientists to help readers understand these exciting new theories

Strategic alliances as a source of competitive advantage in the digital era : How digital platforms and the emerging platform economy promote joint value creation

Strategic alliances have an established role in business strategy. They are a means to achieve strategic goals that could not be reached independently with internal resources and skills. Strategic alliances can support market entry and drive growth, or they can be set up to develop product portfolios. From the viewpoint of competitive advantage, strategic alliances are a means to increase cost-efficiency or develop a unique combination of resources that help a company to offer its customers greater value than its competitors. During the last decade, digital platforms and the emerging platform economy have begun to disrupt traditional business models and organizational boundaries. The digital transformation has increased interfirm connectedness and digital platform ecosystems have gained attention as the building blocks of business. This thesis studies how digital platforms and the emerging platform economy change the role of strategic alliances as a source of competitive advantage. The subject is evaluated by examining how companies create competitive advantage in the platform economy. Besides, the possible challenges related to the utilization of digital platforms are considered. This thesis is explorative and follows a qualitative research methodology. The philosophical stances are interpretivism and constructivism. The empirical evidence was gathered by conducting seven semi-structured interviews with business professionals, and the findings were gathered through thematic analysis. The results indicate that digital platforms and platform economy change the role of strategic alliances as a source of competitive advantage in multiple ways. From an operational perspective, digital platforms enhance the efficiency, productivity, and flexibility of strategic alliances. As a result, they promote the formation of modern, agile alliances. From a strategic perspective, digital platforms lower the transaction cost of collaboration, support resource complementarity, and promote complementary innovation. Despite various benefits, however, it seems that digital platforms and platform economy are still emerging trends yet to be utilized in many companies.Strategiset kumppanuudet ovat vuosikymmenten saatossa vakiinnuttaneet asemansa osana yritysten strategioita. Niiden avulla yrityksen on mahdollista saavuttaa sellaisia strategisia tavoitteita, joiden saavuttamiseen yrityksen omat resurssit ja kyvykkyydet eivät yksinään riitä. Strategiset kumppanuudet voivat toimia väylänä uusille markkinoille ja niiden avulla voidaan muun muassa kasvattaa liiketoimintaa sekä kehittää tuoteportfolioita. Kilpailuedun näkökulmasta katsottuna strategisten kumppanuuksien tehtävänä on auttaa yritystä tuottamaan kilpailijoitaan enemmän lisäarvoa asiakkailleen joko parantamalla kustannustehokkuutta tai mahdollistamalla ainutlaatuisten resurssiyhdistelmien hyödyntämisen. Viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana digitaaliset alustat ja kehittyvä alustatalous ovat alkaneet mullistaa perinteisiä liiketoimintamalleja ja tehnyt liiketoiminnasta yhä enemmän verkottunutta. Murroksen myötä yritykset ovat yhä enenevissä määrin linkittyneitä toisiinsa ja on alettu puhua alustaekosysteemien merkityksestä yritysten menestystekijänä. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten digitaaliset alustat ja kehittyvä alustatalous vaikuttaa strategisten kumppanuuksien rooliin kilpailuedun lähteenä. Päätutkimusongelmaa lähestytään selvittämällä miten yritykset luovat kilpailuetua alustataloudessa. Lisäksi tutkielmassa perehdytään mahdollisiin digitaalisten alustojen hyödyntämisen ongelmiin. Tutkielma on luonteeltaan eksploratiivinen ja metodologialtaan laadullinen. Tieteenfilosofiselta suuntaukseltaan tutkimus noudattaa interpretivismin ja konstruktivismin paradigmoja. Tutkielman empiria perustuu seitsemään puolistrukturoituun asiantuntijahaastatteluun ja aineiston analyysi on tehty teemoittelemalla. Tutkielmasta ilmenee, kuinka digitaaliset alustat ja alustatalous muuttavat strategisten kumppanuuksien roolia kilpailuedun lähteenä usealla tavalla. Operatiivisesta näkökulmasta katsottuna digitaaliset alustat parantavat kumppanuuksien tehokkuutta, tuottavuutta ja joustavuutta ja näin ollen mahdollistavat uudenlaisten ketterien kumppanuuksien muodostamisen. Strategisesta näkökulmasta katsottuna digitaaliset alustat mahdaltavat kumppanoitumisen transaktiokustannuksia ja tukevat komplementaaristen resurssien hyödyntämistä ja innovaatioiden kehittämistä. Mahdollisista hyödyistä huolimatta digitaalisten alustat ja alustatalous ovat kuitenkin kehitystrendejä, joiden potentiaali on hyödyntämättä vielä monissa yrityksissä

Pillars for Progress on the Right to Health: Harnessing the Potential of Human Rights Through a Framework Convention on Global Health

Ever more constitutions incorporate the right to health, courts continue to expand their right to health jurisprudence, and communities and civil society increasingly turn to the right to health in their advocacy. Yet the right remains far from being realized. Even with steady progress on numerous fronts of global health, vast inequities at the global and national levels persist, and are responsible for millions of deaths annually. We propose a four-part approach to accelerating progress towards fulfilling the right to health: 1) national legal and policy reform, incorporating right to health obligations and principles including equity, participation, and accountability in designing, implementing, and monitoring the health sector, as well as an all-of-government approach in advancing the public\u27s health; 2) litigation, using creative legal strategies, enhanced training, and promotion of progressive judgments to increase courts\u27 effectiveness in advancing the right to health; 3) civil society and community engagement, empowering communities to understand and claim this right and building the capacity of right to health organizations; and 4) innovative global governance for health, strengthening World Health Organization leadership on health and human rights, further clarifying the international right to health, ensuring sustained and scalable development assistance, and conforming other international legal regimes (e.g., trade, intellectual property, and finance) to health and human rights norms. We offer specific steps to advance each of these areas, including how a new global health treaty, a Framework Convention on Global Health, could help construct these four pillars