Getting to Outcomes: A User's Guide to a Revised Indicators Framework for Education Organizing

Research for Action (RFA) has been among those engaged in education organizing research and has drawn on its previous efforts–as well as the knowledge built by community organizing groups and other researchers–to create this User's Guide. The Indicators Framework can serve as a tool to help education organizing groups engage in self-reflection and evaluation of their efforts. Communities for Public Education Reform (CPER) commissioned RFA to update its theory of change, developed in partnership with CPER in 2002. The theory of change explains how education organizing works to strengthen communities and improve schools. Accompanying this theory of change was a set of indicators that could be used to assess the outcomes of the organizing process. This updated Indicators Framework reflects the adaptations education organizing groups are making in response to the new education realities, and to over a decade of experience working to change schools in low-income neighborhoods

Concordance in global office market cycles

A large proportion of international real estate investment is concentrated in the office markets of the world’s largest cities. However, many of these global cities are also key financial services centres, highlighting the possibility of reduced economic diversification from an investor’s perspective. This paper assesses the degree of synchronization in cycles across twenty of the world’s largest office markets, finding evidence of significant concordance across a large number of markets. The results highlight the problems associated with commonalities in the underlying economic bases of the markets. The concentration of investment also raises the possibility of common flow of funds effects that may further reduce diversification opportunities

Locating Local Education Funds: A Conceptual Framework for Describing LEFs' Contribution to Public Education

With support and leadership from the Public Education Network (PEN), local education funds (LEFs) have worked for two decades to 1) educate and mobilize their communities so that citizen voices are influential in education policy discussions; and 2) support effective partnerships between school district insiders and outsiders to improve the quality of children's education. However, as Useem's study of local education funds points out, it has been difficult to identify the many roles that LEFs play in their communities, the work that they undertake, the obstacles that they encounter, and the contributions that they make. Useem also suggests why the work of LEFs defies simple description. As brokers, LEFs work behind the scenes and in partnership with others, which contributes to their invisibility as catalysts and supporters of educational improvement. LEFs also are highly adaptive organizations that typically customize their change strategies to particular communities. Such attention to local context results in tremendous variation in the organization, work, and accomplishments of LEFs. At the same time, the highly individual nature of each LEF often obscures the overarching values, purposes, and goals that these organizations share, thus obscuring a collective identity.As they mark 20 years of work in public education, LEF and PEN leaders are prescient in their insistence on further research into the role and accomplishments of local education funds in shaping the landscape of public schooling. In August 2003, at the request of PEN, Research for Action (RFA) began work on developing a conceptual framework for: 1) understanding the role and work of LEFs and the many factors that influence what they do and how they do it; and 2) assessing their contributions to public education.This framework will be used to guide future empirical research on LEFs and to develop tools that LEFs themselves can use in a process of self-assessment. Continued research and assessment will provide public education stakeholders with credible evidence and a deeper understanding about how LEFs carry out their missions and demonstrate successes. At the same time, it will provide firm ground for LEF and PEN leaders to chart the next generation of work. This report was prepared for Public Education Network by Research for Action

A Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School Reform in a Privatizing System

Following the 2001 state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia, a new governance structure was established and an ambitious set of reforms went into effect, generating renewed public confidence in the district. Despite this, maintaining reform momentum continues to be difficult in Philadelphia. This can be traced to on-going challenges to civic capacity around education. Defined by Stone et al (2001), civic capacity involves collaboration and mobilization of the city's civic and community sectors to pursue the collective good of educational improvement. Using interviews conducted with over 65 local civic actors and district administrators, and case studies of local organizations involved with education, the authors examine civic capacity in the context of Philadelphia. The authors find that while many individuals and organizations are actively involved with the schools, there are several factors that present unique challenges to the development of civic capacity in Philadelphia. Despite these challenges, the authors conclude that there are many reasons to be optimistic and offer several recommendations for generating civic capacity -- the kind that creates and sustains genuine educational change

Cultural Leaders’ Reflections on Cultural Participation and Preliminary Research

In spring 2005, to gain feedback on preliminary findings from the Benchmark Project, Research for Action conducted two focus groups with twenty-one individuals identified as ‘cultural leaders’ who represented sixteen organizations in Camden and Philadelphia. Participants were drawn from Knight Foundation grantees along with others who played key roles in assisting with the research. Findings from the Cultural Participation Benchmark Project resonated with these cultural leaders active in Camden and Philadelphia. Cultural leaders concurred that community-based organizations fill a gap or need for residents from low- or mixed-income minority neighborhoods, who often do not participate in “mainstream” arts activities to the same degree as others in the region. Leaders shared a glimpse into the complex realities of their work and spoke of the challenges they face in coordinating and implementing successful cultural arts programming in their communities. The focus groups also generated ideas for how cultural arts organizations and funders could expand their notions of cultural participation and surfaced implications for cultural programming, staffing, funding, and evaluation measures

The interaction of volatility, volume and skewness: empirical evidence from REITs

This paper considers how trading volume impacts upon the first three moments of REIT returns. Consistent with previous studies of the broader stock market, we find that volume is a significant factor with respect to both returns and volatility. We also find evidence supportive of the Hong & Stein’s (2003) Investor Heterogeneity Theory with respect to the finding that skewness in REIT index returns is significantly related to volume. Furthermore, we also report findings that show the influence of the variability of volume with skewness

Demography and COVID-19 Symptoms of South African Oral Health Workers in an Academic Hospital

Oral health care workers constitute a high-risk profession to contract COVID-19. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and clinical experience of COVID-19 infected oral health workers at an academic hospital in Gauteng, South Africa. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among staff who contracted COVID-19 betweenMay and December 2020. Data was captured in Excel and analyzed with Stata (StataCorp, USA). COVID-19 prevalence among 219 members of staff was 22.4%, and 46 participated. The majority ranged in age between 31- 40 years (n=18, 39%, 95% CI 25.78-54.32) and 41 – 50 years (n=19, 41%, 95% CI 7.88-56.4). Clinicians and dental assistants constituted 48%, while 76% perceived to be infected at work, with 72.7% sharing an office with ≥ 3 persons. Twenty-four staff members received post-test counselling, of whom 21.7% were counselled at work. Sixteen participants remained asymptomatic while most prevalent self-reported COVID-19 symptoms included cough (47.7%), sore throat (27.3%) and shortness of breath (20.5%). Significantly more females (55%) reported no COVID-19 symptoms than males (Chi2test, p = 0.01). The COVID-19 prevalence in this study was much higher than previously reported for oral health workers in an academic setting. The high percentage of staff who remained asymptomatic raises the possibility of more staff being infected without being tested. Infection prevention and awareness training of all staff should be routinely provided and mitigating measures instituted to reduce office occupancy, including adequate post-test counsellin

Meanings of Cultural Participation at the Neighborhood Level: A Focus Group Analysis

In February and March 2004, Research for Action conducted three focus groups in North Philadelphia and Camden, NJ to shed light on the meanings of cultural participation in these low-income urban neighborhoods. Participants were recruited through neighborhood associations, senior centers, and churches to engage residents who were active in the community but not closely affiliated with arts and cultural organizations. The focus groups were designed to reveal how residents define cultural participation, the range of cultural activities in which they participate, how they express themselves creatively, and the barriers to cultural participation in these neighborhoods

Crafting a Civic Stage for Public Education: Understanding the Work and Accomplishments of Local Education Funds

The Education Fund in Miami and other local education funds (LEFs) across the country have toiled for more than two decades -- often behind the scenes -- to strengthen public schooling and raise the academic achievement of students in lowincome communities. With support and leadership from Public Education Network (PEN), local education funds have educated citizens in almost 90 communities across the United States about important public education issues and mobilized community coalitions to bring much-needed resources and give input to public schooling policy discussions. LEFs have also worked directly with districts, schools, students, and parents to bring robust innovation to public education and institutionalize high-quality programs and practices that strengthen children's learning. Like Miami's Education Fund, LEFs throughout the country have made education a civic enterprise in their communities. In this report, we argue that local education funds are uniquely positioned to create a supportive civic environment for improving public education. Historically underappreciated, a civic environment that supports school reform has more recently been recognized by researchers and public education advocates as a necessity. This report identi?es key elements of such an environment and shows how LEFs contribute to its existence. We also argue that local education funds are highly adaptive organizations that customize their change strategies to particular communities. While the individual nature of each LEF may obscure the overarching values, purposes, and goals that these organizations share -- thus masking their collective identity -- customization is at the heart of why LEFs are such effective change agents. They apply deep knowledge of local contexts and strong commitment to core values in order to make strategic decisions about how to position themselves and their work in the local reform landscape. After more than 20 years of work in public education, LEF leaders and PEN continue to be forward-looking in their insistence on research that examines the role and accomplishments of LEFs. In August 2003, at PEN's request, Research for Action (RFA) began to lay a foundation for understanding and assessing how LEFs carry out their missions and how they demonstrate success. In this report we offer stories of LEF work and suggest a conceptual model for understanding the decisions LEFs make as they shape their organizational identity and an approach to their work

Evaluating school-based health services to inform future practice: lessons from 'Teen Talk' at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the process and lessons learned from an evaluation of "Teen Talk", a health drop in service at Kidbrooke, a state secondary school in Greenwich. Design/methodology/approach - A multi-pronged approach was adopted for the evaluation. This included a questionnaire survey of a sample of 180 pupils within the school; in-depth discussions with 12 young people who had used the service; interviews with health and education professionals and parents; desk research including an analysis of costs and discussions with senior staff in other schools in Greenwich to determine the feasibility of replicating the "Teen Talk" model elsewhere in the borough. Findings - "Teen Talk" is greatly valued by pupils and staff at the Kidbrooke and was seen to provide a unique service. The overall perception is that it provides good value for money. However, the evaluation identified important lessons in setting up and managing the project which can help refine the service and which have relevance for local and national contexts. Research limitations/implications - This paper illustrates the advantages of embedding evaluation research in health service design and implementation, particularly when there is the potential of replicating service delivery models in other school settings. Originality/value - Creating safe and confidential spaces for young people to access help and advice on a range of health issues is by now well recognized as good practice. School-based health facilities are a relatively new approach to young people's health promotion. Although the benefits of this type of provision are largely undisputed, to date, few such services have been evaluated. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited