Superintendent and School Board Relations: Impacting Achievement through Collaborative Understanding of Roles and Responsibilities

One of the most important and influential persons in the governance structure of the local school district is the Superintendent of Schools. Functioning as the CEO of the district, the superintendent is responsible for a myriad of functions. Examples include daily operations inclusive of transportation and finance, curriculum and policy implementation, media relations, and empowering leaders. However, as Meador (2014) contends, a crucial role is that of board liaison. The Superintendent is responsible for keeping the board informed, making recommendations regarding district operations, and setting the board agenda. It is interesting to note that the superintendent does participate in board meetings, but in an advisory capacity. Finally, the superintendent is responsible for enacting all mandates approved by the school board

PROMISES WE HAVE KEPT: USING GROUNDED THEORY METHODOLOGY TO UNDERSTAND DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO CAUCASIAN LOW-INCOME PARENTS POSITIVE ASSESSMENT OF MARITAL HEALTH

Low-income Caucasian married parents described lifespan processes and conditions that contributed to their individual assessments that their marriage was healthy. Spouses participated in an interview together, followed later by an individual interview with each. Interview scripts referenced the study‘s primary research questions which sought their reflections on (a) external conditions that they considered to be important to their development, and (b) personal thoughts, emotions and behaviors they deemed relevant to the success of their marriage. A third research question called for integration of participants‘ reflections into a cogent grounded theory regarding successful low-income marriages. Analysis incorporated grounded theory methods, and those procedures were assisted by computer software such as NVIVO 7.0 ® and Microsoft Excel ®. This work revealed a developmental systems theoretical framework that posits that individuals‘ developmental factors gave rise to certain personal actual qualities, and also had affect upon the qualities individuals desired and perceived in their partner. Qualities desired and perceived in their partner may have greater or lesser priority to a spouse depending upon the range of acceptable variance that the spouse assigns to any given quality. While several high-priority qualities emerged from the words of the twenty spouses who participated, four high-priority qualities emerged as fundamental to the success of the marriage: (a) being loving, (b) being committed, (c) being appreciative, and (d) being child-centered. Four abstract sets of developmental factors, assigned the term synergists, strongly promoted these qualities among study participants: (a) a sensitizing experience, (b) a partner-as-rescuer mindset (PARM) preceded by a person‘s adverse history, (c) influences from one or more parents, and (d) religious influences. These findings provide a foundation of information critical to those researchers and practitioners interested in the quest toward an increase in successful marriages among households whose income falls within 200% of the published guideline for poverty as determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Virtual Optical Comparator

The Virtual Optical Comparator, VOC, was conceived as a result of the limitations of conventional optical comparators and vision systems. Piece part designs for mechanisms have started to include precision features on the face of parts that must be viewed using a reflected image rather than a profile shadow. The VOC concept uses a computer generated overlay and a digital camera to measure features on a video screen. The advantage of this system is superior edge detection compared to traditional systems. No vinyl charts are procured or inspected. The part size and expensive fixtures are no longer a concern because of the range of the X-Y table of the Virtual Optical Comparator. Product redesigns require only changes to the CAD image overlays; new vinyl charts are not required. The inspection process is more ergonomic by allowing the operator to view the part sitting at a desk rather than standing over a 30 inch screen. The procurement cost for the VOC will be less than a traditional comparator with a much smaller footprint with less maintenance and energy requirements

NAPLAN, MySchool and Accountability: Teacher perceptions of the effects of testing

This paper explores Rizvi and Lingard’s (2010) idea of the “localvernacular” of the global education policy trend of using high-stakestesting to increase accountability and transparency, and by extensionquality, within schools and education systems in Australia. In the firstpart of the paper a brief context of the policy trajectory of NationalAssessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is given inAustralia. In the second part, empirical evidence drawn from a survey ofteachers in Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA) is used toexplore teacher perceptions of the impacts a high-stakes testing regimeis having on student learning, relationships with parents and pedagogyin specific sites.After the 2007 Australian Federal election, one of Labor’s policyobjectives was to deliver an “Education Revolution” designed to improveboth the equity and excellence in the Australian school system1 (Rudd Gillard, 2008). This reform agenda aims to “deliver real changes”through: “raising the quality of teaching in our schools” and “improvingtransparency and accountability of schools and school systems” (Rudd Gillard, 2008, p. 5). Central to this linking of accountability, thetransparency of schools and school systems and raising teaching qualitywas the creation of a regime of testing (NAPLAN) that would generatedata about the attainment of basic literacy and numeracy skills bystudents in Australian schools

Vernaculars of testing

An introduction to the Special Issu

Threat assessment, sense making, and critical decision-making in police, military, ambulance, and fire services

Military and emergency response remain inherently dangerous occupations that require the ability to accurately assess threats and make critical decisions under significant time pressures. The cognitive processes associated with these abilities are complex and have been the subject of several significant, albeit service specific studies. Here, we present an attempt at finding the commonalities in threat assessment, sense making, and critical decision-making for emergency response across police, military, ambulance, and fire services. Relevant research is identified and critically appraised through a systematic literature review of English-language studies published from January 2000 through July 2020 on threat assessment and critical decision-making theory in dynamic emergency service and military environments. A total of 10,084 titles and abstracts were reviewed, with 94 identified as suitable for inclusion in the study. We then present our findings focused on six lines of enquiry: Bibliometrics, Language, Situation Awareness, Critical Decision Making, Actions, and Evaluation. We then thematically analyse these findings to reveal the commonalities between the four services. Despite existing single or dual service studies in the field, this research is significant in that it is the first examine decision making and threat assessment theory across all four contexts of military, police, fire and ambulance services, but it is also the first to assess the state of knowledge and explore the extent that commonality exists and models or practices can be applied across each discipline. The results demonstrate all military and emergency services personnel apply both intuitive and formal decision-making processes, depending on multiple situational and individual factors. Institutional restriction of decision-making to a single process at the expense of the consideration of others, or the inappropriate training and application of otherwise appropriate decision-making processes in certain circumstances is likely to increase the potential for adverse outcomes, or at the very least restrict peak performance being achieved. The applications of the findings of the study not only extend to facilitating improved practice in each of the individual services examined, but provide a basis to assist future research, and contribute to the literature exploring threat assessment and decision making in dynamic contexts

CTQ 839: Candidate for the Smallest Projected Separation Binary Quasar

We report the discovery of the new double quasar CTQ 839. This B = 18.3, radio quiet quasar pair is separated by 2.1" in BRIH filters with magnitude differences of delta m_B = 2.5, delta m_R = delta m_I = 1.9, and delta m_H = 2.3. Spectral observations reveal both components to be z = 2.24 quasars, with relative redshifts that agree at the 100 km/s level, but exhibit pronounced differences in the equivalent widths of related emission features, as well as an enhancement of blue continuum flux in the brighter component longward of the Ly alpha emission feature. In general, similar redshift double quasars can be the result of a physical binary pair, or a single quasar multiply imaged by gravitational lensing. Empirical PSF subtraction of R and H band images of CTQ 839 reveal no indication of a lensing galaxy, and place a detection limit of R = 22.5 and H = 17.4 for a third component in the system. For an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology and SIS model, the R band detection limit constrains the characteristics of any lensing galaxy to z_lens >= 1 with a corresponding luminosity of L >~ 5 L_*, while an analysis based on the redshift probability distribution for the lensing galaxy argues against the existence of a z_lens >~ 1 lens at the 2 sigma level. A similar analysis for a Lambda dominated cosmology, however, does not significantly constrain the existence of any lensing galaxy. The broadband flux differences, spectral dissimilarities, and failure to detect a lensing galaxy make the lensing hypothesis for CTQ 839 unlikely. The similar redshifts of the two components would then argue for a physical quasar binary. At a projected separation of 8.3/h kpc (Omega_matter = 1), CTQ 839 would be the smallest projected separation binary quasar currently known.Comment: Latex, 23 pages including 5 ps figures; accepted for publication in A

図書館長からのご挨拶 新名古屋図書館のオープン

While concern for ‘publicness’ can take many forms, such as media reports of educational crises or concerns regarding patient waiting times in hospitals, public institutions are still widely considered to be important foundations of democratic societies. The public good and the demos have been trumped by private positional good, as demonstrated by increased competition between schools for particular clientele, and the ways that families now buy-in to schooling markets literally and optimistically. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book approaches issues of school privatisation in different contexts, and shed light on the contours of this reorganisation and the implications this has for public education systems. It collectively argues for a new consideration of how the readers understand the forces changing the publicness of schooling, whether the readers should move beyond the public/private distinction in regards to schooling.</p