Challenging the Assumption of Rationality in Performance-Based Accountability Systems: A Comparative Case Study of School and District Decision-Making Approaches

CHALLENGING THE ASSUMPTION OF RATIONALITY IN PERFORMANCE-BASED ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY OF SCHOOL AND DISTRICT DECISION-MAKING APPROACHES Jessica K. Beaver Richard M. Ingersoll Performance-based accountability systems provide schools and districts with detailed student performance data on the front end and demand that schools meet rigorous minimum proficiency thresholds on the back end or face a set of sanctions that ratchet up year after year. The process by which schools and districts make decisions for improvement in order to meet these requirements, however, is opaque at best. Each district is like an island unto itself, with its own political context, financial constraints, demographic and economic makeup, human capital, and social dynamics. Especially given the immense amount of money spent every year in improvement grants to districts, as well as the plethora of vendors touting new products, there is a clear imperative to understand how schools and districts select particular programs or strategies for improvement above other options. In this dissertation study, I apply the literature on search and decision-making in other disciplines to the field of public elementary and secondary education, paying particular attention to schools and districts under pressure to improve from performance-based accountability systems. I employ a comparative case study approach, using three consecutive years of data from a stratified random sample of eight schools (nested within their districts) in Pennsylvania. I find that schools and districts are under immense pressure to demonstrate student achievement gains, and that this pressure extends to all phases of the decision-making process, including problem identification, search, and the decision point. Despite this pressure, I find that schools do not descend into chaos when making decisions for improvement - they generally approach the decision-making process in a linear manner and let building-level administrators employ a middle-out approach to decision-making. But on the other hand, schools are far from purely rational organizations, as there are forces internal and external to the school or district that constrain decision-making processes. Although these constraints affect all stages of the decision-making process, they have the most severe influence on the search phase. Finally, I create a framework that advances the literature on decision-making in education by establishing four distinct typologies of decision-making approaches

Navigating cancer using online communities: a grounded theory of survivor and family experiences

Purpose: People affected by cancer often have unmet emotional and social support needs. Online cancer communities are a convenient channel for connecting cancer survivors, allowing them to support one another. However, it is unclear whether online community use makes a meaningful contribution to cancer survivorship, as little previous research has examined the experience of using contemporary cancer communities. We aimed to explore the experiences of visitors to online cancer communities. Methods: Twenty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with online cancer community visitors, including cancer survivors (n = 18), family members (n = 2), and individuals who were both a survivor and family member (n = 3). Interviews were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Results: A theory developed explaining how individuals ‘navigated’ the experience of cancer using online cancer communities. Online advice and information led participants on a ‘journey to become informed’. Online friendships normalised survivorship and cast participants on a ‘journey to recreate identity’. Participants navigated a ‘journey through different worlds’ as they discovered relevant and hidden communities. Conclusions: This theory highlights virtual paths people affected by cancer can take to self-manage their experience of the disease. Online community experiences can be improved by promoting online evaluation skills and signposting visitors to bereavement support. Implications for cancer survivors: Cancer survivors can benefit through both lurking and posting in online communities. However, individuals risk becoming distressed when they befriend individuals who may soon die. Additionally, people affected by rarer cancers can struggle to find shared experiences online and may need to look elsewhere for support

Measuring School Capacity, Maximizing School Improvement

Given the nearly ubiquitous use of the term capacity in education policy discourse, this policy brief offers a common framework for analyzing capacity that educators, policymakers, and researchers alike can apply and understand with consistency. Drawing data from a larger three-year CPRE study of school responses to accountability in Pennsylvania, the authors\u27 goal is not to provide an easy, new, one-sentence definition, but rather to create a shared language that can be applied to research and improvement efforts in schools. To accomplish this, the authors break capacity down into component parts, explaining how each one builds off the next and contributes to theoverall concept

Comparing hospital and telephone follow-up after treatment for breast cancer: randomised equivalence trial

Objective To compare traditional hospital follow-up with telephone follow-up by specialist nurses after treatment for breast cancer. Design A two centre randomised equivalence trial in which women remained in the study for a mean of 24 months. Setting Outpatient clinics in two NHS hospital trusts in the north west of England Participants 374 women treated for breast cancer who were at low to moderate risk of recurrence. Interventions Participants were randomised to traditional hospital follow-up (consultation, clinical examination, and mammography as per hospital policy) or telephone follow-up by specialist nurses (consultation with structured intervention and mammography according to hospital policy). Main outcome measures Psychological morbidity (state-trait anxiety inventory, general health questionnaire (GHQ-12)), participants’ needs for information, participants’ satisfaction, clinical investigations ordered, and time to detection of recurrent disease. Results The 95% confidence interval for difference in mean state-trait scores adjusted for treatment received (−3.33 to 2.07) was within the predefined equivalence region (−3.5 to 3.5). The women in the telephone group were no more anxious as a result of foregoing clinic examinations and face-to-face consultations and reported higher levels of satisfaction than those attending hospital clinics (intention to treat P<0.001). The numbers of clinical investigations ordered did not differ between groups. Recurrences were few (4.5%), with no differences between groups for time to detection (median 60.5 (range 37-131) days in hospital group v 39.0 (10-152) days in telephone group; P=0.228). Conclusions Telephone follow-up was well received by participants, with no physical or psychological disadvantage. It is suitable for women at low to moderate risk of recurrence and those with long travelling distances or mobility problems and decreases the burden on busy hospital clinics

CSF Inflammatory Markers Differ in Gram-Positive Versus Gram-negative Shunt Infections.

BACKGROUND: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt placement is frequently complicated by bacterial infection. Shunt infection diagnosis relies on bacterial culture of CSF which can often produce false-negative results. Negative cultures present a conundrum for physicians as they are left to rely on other CSF indices, which can be unremarkable. New methods are needed to swiftly and accurately diagnose shunt infections. CSF chemokines and cytokines may prove useful as diagnostic biomarkers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of systemic and CSF biomarkers for identification of CSF shunt infection. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of children with culture-confirmed CSF shunt infection at Children\u27s Hospital and Medical Center from July 2013 to December 2015. CSF cytokine analysis was performed for those patients with CSF in frozen storage from the same sample that was used for diagnostic culture. RESULTS: A total of 12 infections were included in this study. Patients with shunt infection had a median C-reactive protein (CRP) of 18.25 mg/dL. Median peripheral white blood cell count was 15.53 × 10 CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study is the first to characterize the CSF cytokine profile in patients with CSF shunt infection and supports the distinction of chemokine and cytokine profiles between gram-negative and gram-positive infections. Additionally, it demonstrates the potential of CSF chemokines and cytokines as biomarkers for the diagnosis of shunt infection

Stereoelectronic Model To Explain Highly Stereoselective Reactions of Seven-Membered-Ring Oxocarbenium-Ion Intermediates

Nucleophilic attack on seven-membered-ring oxocarbenium ions is generally highly stereoselective. The preferred mode of nucleophilic attack forms the product in a conformation that minimizes transannular interactions, thus leading to different stereoselectivity as compared to that of reactions involving six-membered-ring oxocarbenium ions

Effects of Mineral Nutrition on Components of Reproduction in Clarkia ungucilata

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of nutritional level and flower location on factors related to flower, pollen, and ovule production, and to determine what developmental patterns would be modified to mediate any observed changes. Plants subjected to high nutrient levels developed larger leaves, more branches, more flowers on both the main stem and the branches, and opened their first flowers 6 days sooner than plants at lower levels of nutrients. Total flower number increased from 72.2 to 626.8 per plant, with most of the increase produced on the primary branches. The number of pollen grains in the entire androecium averaged 14,685, but significantly increased with higher nutrient levels and decreased with the stage of plant maturity (nodal position on the plant). The number of ovules also increased with nutrient level and decreased with maturity stage. Average ovule number decreased from about 129 in flowers at nodes produced early in the growth cycle to about 100 in flowers produced at later nodes. Despite highly significant plasticity in numbers of both pollen and ovules, the Pollen/Ovule Ratio (average 132.7) did not vary significantly with either nutrient level or plant maturity stage. Path analysis, which decomposes correlation coefficients into direct and indirect effects of factors influencing development, indicated that nutrient level had a very strong direct effect on the number of primary branches and on the number of primary-branch flowers, as well as very strong indirect effects on the latter. The primary-branch flowers directly determined over 67% of the total flower number, and indirectly determined about 24% jointly with secondary-branch flowers, and over 3% jointly with main-stem flowers. The direct effects of secondary-branch flowers and mainstem flowers were 3.8% and 0.3%, respectively. The relationship among components of yield is slightly additive. Direct determination of yield was 74.6% by the number of flowers per plant, 0.6% by the number of ovules per flower, 3.8% by the number of seeds per ovule, and 1.1 % by the weight per seed. The proportion of yield jointly determined by flower number and the developed seeds per ovule was 15.3%. It was concluded that allocation of resources increases to both male and female functions under conditions of high nutrient levels, and pollen/ovule ratios are consistent within a plant despite significant plasticity in numbers of pollen grains and ovules