Leaders’ views on the values of school-based research: contemporary themes and issues

In 2004, McLaughlin, Black-Hawkins and McIntyre published a literature review that explored the ways in which individual teachers, whole schools and groups of networked schools were engaging in practitioner research and enquiry. In the light of significant changes to the education landscape, the empirical research in this article provides an account of engagement with 25 school leaders to explore what schools are doing in the area of practitioner ‘research’ or ‘enquiry’ today. Although teachers in schools may both use research and generate findings, this research was particularly concerned with the generation of professional knowledge through research and enquiry in schools in England today. A sample of school leaders was interviewed to establish their current approach. Findings include questions about the effects on teachers’ dissatisfaction in the face of a revealed gap between actuality and idealism, the possible evolution of a new teacher-educator population and the effects on those working in higher education as they address the shifting needs of twenty-first-century teacher education. As school-based research continues to be a factor, this represents a timely scoping of the thinking of school senior leaders and considers the implications of this developing practice

Four quotient set gems

Our aim in this note is to present four remarkable facts about quotient sets. These observations seem to have been overlooked by the Monthly, despite its intense coverage of quotient sets over the years.Comment: 9 pages, to appear in the American Mathematical Monthl

Historical Perspective: Employee/Workplace Services

A publication from 1959 on evaluation of employee services was used as a secondary source and was analyzed to provide information that may be useful to the employee service/workplace service industry. The primary focus of the publication was on the assessment of organizations operation in terms of quality. The primary focus was on the components of program structure as well as the management elements to achieve success in an employee service program. There was a third component that involved communication and marketing because these are the essential elements that are necessary for bringing quality programs to the attention of employees. These evaluation systems were recommended to be modified to update the instruments. There was also a fourth type of information that was presented that had never been presented before by Mel Byers. It was the basic research questions that are needed to develop a quality assessment process related to understanding the nature of employee services

Theory: Employee/Work Place Services

It is important to understand basic ideas or theories behind management/program strategies to be able to fully comprehend how systems work and their impacts. These are the foundational elements that are often overlooked in the development of effective employee/work place strategies. Many times systems are designed based upon operational strategies with little understanding of the underlying concepts. Only when the foundational elements are well understood can one effectively know where and how to apply information effectively

Employee/Work Place Services: The Individual

One of the often forgotten elements in the employee/workplace services is the individual. This does not suggest that there has not been a focus on this topic historically, but the amount of emphasis that it has received and should receive should be far more. The other aspect is that even if the employee has been addressed sometimes there is a very simplistic approach to develop a greater understanding. Employees are very complex subject just as the organization. This subject can be studied from a number of perspectives. The perspective that was adopted for this essay has been one that has been used in a number of settings, a Maslow theory. The primary focus of Maslow’s the individual and this theory was modified to include an extended perspective. Really, Maslow is only beginning to the development of a basic understanding of the individual from their interests to their life’s dreams

Evaluation of Programs A Model: Employee/Workplace Services

A publication from the incentive travel industry on return on investments was used as a secondary source and was analyzed to provide information that may be useful to the employee service/workplace service industry. This publication provided a framework for the development of a conceptual basis to provide a mechanism for thinking about return on investment, especially on intangible benefits. There is a great similarity between incentive travel industry and employee services/workplace services. This similarity provided a new way to think about assessment and the development of a new model that focuses upon a way to approach how intangible benefits can be used to justify and change programs

Initial Project Estimates for Design, Right of Way, Utilities, and Construction

Estimating the cost of highway construction projects is among the more challenging tasks state transportation agencies routinely deal with. Developing accurate estimates is a particularly fraught exercise during the planning and scoping phases, when projects have not been thoroughly defined and information on specifics is in short supply. While the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has used several methodologies to generate initial cost estimates for design, right of way, utilities, and construction (DRUC), approaches vary between the agency’s districts. This report proposes a framework for estimating DRUC-related expenses that can be adopted throughout the state. Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers developed the framework after investigating the Cabinet’s current approaches to estimation and the limitation of those methods. In addition to the challenges introduced by incomplete project scopes, often staff have insufficient access to historical information, property records, and utility inventories. In many cases they also have too little time to prepare estimates. The proposed framework draws on best practices used at other state transportation agencies as well as those documented in research publications from AASHTO and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. To speed adoption of the proposed estimation process, researchers helped KYTC set up and implement the AASHTOWare Project PreConstruction software package. Additionally, a comprehensive user manual and video tutorial were completed to help project managers transition to the new estimation framework and AASHTOWare Project Estimation