Teacher Quality Discourse and the Institutionalization of Educational Reforms: Social Capital and Teacher Self-Efficacy Across 31 Countries

A teacher quality discourse has emerged, disseminated globally by a network of international organizations. Reform efforts, therefore, have become institutionalized in the global sphere, making it increasingly likely that educational systems adopt similar models to improve the quality of their teaching force. Although the accountability functions of individual teacher evaluation have often been given primacy in policy documents, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and development-oriented principal observation and feedback are increasingly promoted as means by which to develop teacher quality. Despite the diffusion of these policy strategies, there is little international research to determine their effectiveness.The purpose of this study is to examine global trends in the relationships between social capital reforms and teacher self-efficacy (TSE), as a proxy measure of teacher quality, in an international model of 31 countries. Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) is used to test a normative policy logic that two reform strategies, conceptualized in this study as horizontal and vertical social capital reforms—PLCs and principal observations and feedback, respectively—impact TSE in instruction, student engagement, and classroom management. Teacher and principal survey data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013 were used in the analyses. Results indicated a significant and positive relationship between PLC components, including reflective dialogue, collective focus on student learning, and collaborative professional activity and TSE. No relationship, however, was found between principal observation and feedback and TSE. Findings suggest that investing in the development of teachers’ social capital, in policy and practice, is a worthwhile endeavor, and that PLCs may be a sustainable model of supervision that promotes the collective capacity of teachers to provide all children with quality learning opportunities

Serial CT analysis in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: comparison of visual features that determine patient outcome

Aims: Patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) receiving antifibrotic medication and patients with non-IPF fibrosing lung disease often demonstrate rates of annualised forced vital capacity (FVC) decline within the range of measurement variation (5.0%–9.9%). We examined whether change in visual CT variables could help confirm whether marginal FVC declines represented genuine clinical deterioration rather than measurement noise. Methods: In two IPF cohorts (cohort 1: n=103, cohort 2: n=108), separate pairs of radiologists scored paired volumetric CTs (acquired between 6 and 24 months from baseline). Change in interstitial lung disease, honeycombing, reticulation, ground-glass opacity extents and traction bronchiectasis severity was evaluated using a 5-point scale, with mortality prediction analysed using univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses. Both IPF populations were then combined to determine whether change in CT variables could predict mortality in patients with marginal FVC declines. Results: On univariate analysis, change in all CT variables except ground-glass opacity predicted mortality in both cohorts. On multivariate analysis adjusted for patient age, gender, antifibrotic use and baseline disease severity (diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide), change in traction bronchiectasis severity predicted mortality independent of FVC decline. Change in traction bronchiectasis severity demonstrated good interobserver agreement among both scorer pairs. Across all study patients with marginal FVC declines, change in traction bronchiectasis severity independently predicted mortality and identified more patients with deterioration than change in honeycombing extent. Conclusions: Change in traction bronchiectasis severity is a measure of disease progression that could be used to help resolve the clinical importance of marginal FVC declines

Robust, high-throughput solution structural analyses by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS)

We present an efficient pipeline enabling high-throughput analysis of protein structure in solution with small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Our SAXS pipeline combines automated sample handling of microliter volumes, temperature and anaerobic control, rapid data collection and data analysis, and couples structural analysis with automated archiving. We subjected 50 representative proteins, mostly from Pyrococcus furiosus, to this pipeline and found that 30 were multimeric structures in solution. SAXS analysis allowed us to distinguish aggregated and unfolded proteins, define global structural parameters and oligomeric states for most samples, identify shapes and similar structures for 25 unknown structures, and determine envelopes for 41 proteins. We believe that high-throughput SAXS is an enabling technology that may change the way that structural genomics research is done