Institutional assessment as an instrument of rationalization back to the school as a formal organisation

O papel central da avaliação, da avaliação institucional e dos processos de garantia da qualidade de escolas e universidades nas políticas educacionais é objeto de discussão, também considerando a reforma do Estado. As teorias da nova gestão pública e as perspectivas gestionárias são consideradas como algumas das principais fontes de inspiração e de legitimação no contexto dominante de uma educação contábil. Dados empíricos preliminares resultantes do processo de avaliação externa de escolas básicas e secundárias portuguesas são apresentados e interpretados de acordo com os principais conceitos e representações organizacionais de escola presentes nos relatórios externos. Examinando algumas das imagens e dos significados de escola, cultura de escola, autonomia, objetivos, liderança e eficácia presentes nos relatórios de avaliação, o autor releva a importância das imagens formais, racionais e burocráticas de escolas. Várias questões de investigação são apresentadas tendo por base aquilo a que o autor chama o processo da hiperburocratização das organizações educativas. Algumas dimensões do conceito de burocracia de Max Weber são revisitadas, em articulação com perspectivas neocientíficas de garantia da qualidade e com as tecnologias da informação e comunicação. O autor sugere que maior relevância deve ser atribuída aos modelos formais e racionais de interpretação das organizações educativas, pois os processos de avaliação e de garantia da qualidade estão a contribuir para a formalização de escolas e universidades e para a intensificação do seu processo de racionalização, isto é, para a emergência de uma imagem analítica das escolas como hiperburocracias.The central role of evaluation, institutional assessment and quality assurance processes of schools and universities in education policy is object of discussion also considering the reform of the state. New Public Management theories and managerialist perspectives are considered some of the main sources of inspiration and legitimation in the dominant context of an audit education. Preliminary empirical data from external assessment of Portuguese primary and secondary schools are introduced and interpreted according to the main concepts and organizational representations of school found in external reports. Examining some of the central organizational images and meanings of school, school culture, autonomy, goals, leadership and effectiveness included in the external reviews, the author stresses the importance of formal, rational and bureaucratic images of schools. Several new research questions are presented for further inquiry based on the hypothesis of what it is called by the author the process of hyperbureaucratization of educational organizations. Some of the main dimensions of the concept of bureaucracy as presented by Max Weber are revisited in close relation with neo-scientific approaches of quality assurance and taking in consideration the use of information and communication technologies. Accordingly the author suggests that much more importance must be given to formal and rational models of interpreting educational organizations because assessment and quality assurance procedures are contributing to the formalization of schools and universities and to the intensification of their process of rationalization, i. e., to the emergence of an analytic image of schools as hyperbureaucracies.(undefined

Mechanism of KMT5B haploinsufficiency in neurodevelopment in humans and mice.

Pathogenic variants in KMT5B, a lysine methyltransferase, are associated with global developmental delay, macrocephaly, autism, and congenital anomalies (OMIM# 617788). Given the relatively recent discovery of this disorder, it has not been fully characterized. Deep phenotyping of the largest (n = 43) patient cohort to date identified that hypotonia and congenital heart defects are prominent features that were previously not associated with this syndrome. Both missense variants and putative loss-of-function variants resulted in slow growth in patient-derived cell lines. KMT5B homozygous knockout mice were smaller in size than their wild-type littermates but did not have significantly smaller brains, suggesting relative macrocephaly, also noted as a prominent clinical feature. RNA sequencing of patient lymphoblasts and Kmt5b haploinsufficient mouse brains identified differentially expressed pathways associated with nervous system development and function including axon guidance signaling. Overall, we identified additional pathogenic variants and clinical features in KMT5B-related neurodevelopmental disorder and provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of the disorder using multiple model systems

Baldridge, J. Victor, et al, The Relationship of R & D Efforts to Field Users: Problems, Myths, and Stereotypes, Phi Delta Kappan, 55(June, 1974), 701-706.

Summarizes what is known about relating research and uses of research

Sociology: A Critical Approach to Power, Conflict, and Change

25 cm; 497 ha

The Dynamics of organizational change in education/ edit : J. Victor Baldridge ; (Terrence Dial)

xi, 490 hal.; 21 cm

Governing academic organizations : new problems, new perspectives /

Includes bibliographies