The Effectiveness Of Administrative Pre-Service Training As Perceived By Public School Principals Trained Under The Ryan Act

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of administrative pre-service training under Ryan Act programs. The study was concerned specifically with (1) determining the competencies considered most important by principals, (2) determining the adequacy of training on identified competencies, (3) determining if principals from the elementary, junior high, and high school levels had different competency needs, and (4) determining if principals from the elementary, junior high, and high school levels view the adequacy of their training differently. Procedure. A survey instrument containing thirty-seven competencies organized into six general categories was developed through a review of the literature. The survey instrument was examined to determine its reliability and validity. The respondent was to rate the importance of each competency and the adequacy of the training received on that competency. The survey instrument was sent to 113 principals who had received their administrative credential through a Ryan Act program. Findings. A total of 74 percent of the surveys were returned. Of the thirty-seven competencies, fourteen competencies scored below a mid-point score of 3.0 on a five point scale indicating that the principals did not feel adequately trained on those specific competencies. The results of an ANOVA showed that there was no significant difference on how principals from the elementary, junior high, and high school levels perceived the importance of each category or the adequacy of the training they received. The principals surveyed indicated that all competencies were important, but that those in the category of leadership were the most important. On adequacy of training the principals indicated that governance and legal processes was the category in which they felt most adequately trained. Conclusions. (1) The competencies listed in the study present a reasonably comprehensive perspective of the principal\u27s role. (2) Principals felt adequately trained to perform the competencies of their position. (3) There appears to be no significant difference between principals from the elementary, junior high, and high school levels as to the importance of competencies used in this study. (4) There appears to be no significant difference between principals from the elementary, junior high, and high school levels as to the adequacy of training they received on the competencies used in this study. Recommendations. (1) This study should be repeated in approximately five years when a greater number of respondents should be available to participate. (2) Recommendations for program improvement should be field tested at an institution of higher education with a follow-up study made of the program graduates. (3) A study should be made to determine the best time and method for delivery of administrative competencies

The principle of economy in the learning and teaching of mathematics

This thesis looks at the learning and teaching of mathematics through the issue of economy. Here, economy is concerned with the personal time and effort given by a learner to achieve some desired learning. The study sets out to establish that the principle of economy informs the learning and teaching of mathematics, and to establish a list of principles which can assist an economic approach to the teaching of mathematics. The study is carried out within the Discipline of Noticing and is based on the development of theory from significant events building on the work carried out by Caleb Gattegno on the subordination of teaching to learning. An account ofthese events are given, followed by accounting for them, and linking the generality contained within these isolated events with everyday learning experiences. At times, the reader is asked to carry out simple tasks which assist in drawing their attention, through a personal experience, to the points being developed. The learning process which turns something newly met into something which can be done with little conscious attention, is analysed and called functionalisation. The analysis of this process produces the idea of practice through progress, where the learner's attention is placed in a task which requires the desired learning to be subordinated to it. Particular attention is given to the learning of young children before entering school, since this is impressive in terms of economy. This study identifies powers children use in their early learning, and how these link in with root notions in mathematics called mathematical essences. A list of principles of economy are developed which provide guide-lines for approaches to teaching to make use of children's powers and utilise mathematical essences. A computer program, GRID Algebra, is developed to demonstrate how the principles of economy can be incorporated into a resource

The Four-Day School Week: Impact on Student Academic Performance

Although the four-day school week originated in 1936, it was not widely implemented until 1973 when there was a need to conserve energy and reduce operating costs. This study investigated how achievement tests scores of schools with a four-day school week compared with schools with a traditional five-day school week. The study focused on student performance in Colorado where 62 school districts operated a four-day school week. The results of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) were utilized to examine student performance in reading, writing, and mathematics in grades 3 through 10. While the mean test scores for five-day week schools exceeded those of four-day week schools in 11 of the 12 test comparisons, the differences were slight, with only one area revealing a statistically significant difference. This study concludes that decisions to change to the four-day week should be for reasons other than student academic performance

Principals’ Perceived Supervisory Behaviors Regarding Marginal Teachers in Two States

This descriptive study used an online survey to determine how principals in two states viewed the supervision of marginal teachers. Principals ranked their own evaluation of the teacher as the most important factor when identifying marginal teachers and relied on informal methods to diagnose marginal teaching. Female principals rated a majority of supervisory methods and data sources as being more useful and the importance of formative assessments and teachers’ self-reflection as significantly more important than did male principals. Female principals adopted a procedural style, while males identified with the situational style when working with marginal teachers

Multi-Stage Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis for Siting Electric Vehicle Charging Stations within and across Border Regions

Electric Vehicles (EVs) replace fossil fuel vehicles in effort towards having more sustainable transport systems. The battery of an EV is recharged at a charging point using electricity. While some recharging will be required at locations where vehicles are normally parked, other recharging could be necessary at strategic locations of vehicular travel. Certain locations are suitable for EV charging station deployment, others are not. A multi-stage decision analysis methodology for selecting suitable locations for installing EV charging station is presented. The multi-stage approach makes it possible to select critical criteria with respect to any defined objectives of the EV charging station and techno-physio-socio-economic factors without which the EV charging station could not be deployed or would not serve its designated purpose. In a case, the type of charging station is specified, and a purpose is defined: rapid EV charging stations intended for public use within and across border regions. Applied in siting real EV charging stations at optimal locations, stages in the methodology present additional techno-physio-socio-economic factors in deploying the type of EV charging stations at optimal locations and keep the EV charging stations operating within acceptable standards. Some locations were dropped at the critical analysis stage; others were dropped at the site-specific analysis stage and replacement sites were required in certain instances. Final locations included most optimal, less optimal, least optimal, and strategic or special need locations. The average distances between contiguous recharging locations were less than 60 miles. Using any specified separation standard, the number of additional EV charging stations required between EV charging stations were determinable with the Pool Box. The Overall Charging Station Availability quadrants suggest that the overall user experience could get worse as less-standardized additional EV charging stations are deployed

Reduced Coproducts of Compact Hausdorff Spaces

By analyzing how one obtains the Stone space of the reduced product of an indexed collection of Boolean algebras from the Stone spaces of those algebras, we derive a topological construction, the reduced coproduct , which makes sense for indexed collections of arbitrary Tichonov spaces. When the filter in question is an ultrafilter, we show how the ultracoproduct can be obtained from the usual topological ultraproduct via a compactification process in the style of Wallman and Frink. We prove theorems dealing with the topological structure of reduced coproducts (especially ultracoproducts) and show in addition how one may use this construction to gain information about the category of compact Hausdorff spaces