Districts Taking Charge of the Principal Pipeline

Six urban school districts received support from The Wallace Foundation to address the critical challenge of supplying schools with effective principals. The experiences of these districts may point the way to steps other districts might take toward this same goal. Since 2011, the districts have participated in the Principal Pipeline Initiative, which set forth a comprehensive strategy for strengthening school leadership in four interrelated domains of district policy and practice:Leader standards to which sites align job descriptions, preparation, selection, evaluation, and support.Preservice preparation that includes selective admissions to high-quality programs.Selective hiring, and placement based on a match between the candidate and the school.On-the-job evaluation and support addressing the capacity to improve teaching and learning, with support focused on needs identified by evaluation.The initiative also brought the expectation that district policies and practices related to school leaders would build the district's capacity to advance its educational priorities. The evaluation of the Principal Pipeline Initiative has a dual purpose: to analyze the processes of implementing the required components in the participating districts from 2011 through 2015; and then to assess the results achieved in schools led by principals whose experiences in standards-based preparation, hiring, evaluation, and support have been consistent with the initiative's requirements. This report addresses implementation of all components of the initiative as of 2014, viewing implementation in the context of districts' aims, constraints, and capacity

Cultivating Talent through a Principal Pipeline

This report, the second in a series, describes early results of Wallace's Principal Pipeline Initiative, a multi-year effort to improve school leadership in six urban school districts. The report describes changes in the six districts' practices to recruit, train and support new principals. It also offers early lessons for other districts considering changes to their own principal pipelines

Price Formation under Small Numbers Competition: Evidence from Land Auctions in Singapore

This paper examines the price formation process under small numbers competition using data from Singapore land auctions. The theory predicts that bid prices are less than the zero-profit asset value in these first-price sealed-bid auctions. The model also shows that expected sales price increases with the number of bidders both because each bidder has an incentive to offer a higher price and because of a greater likelihood that a high-value bidder is present. The empirical estimates are consistent with auction theory and show that the standard land attributes are reflected in auction prices as expected. Working Paper No. 04-0

Pickfords 1750-1920: a study in the development of transportation

Summary available: p.vi

Six Districts Begin the Principal Pipeline Initiative

This first report of an ongoing evaluation of The Wallace Foundation's Principal Pipeline Initiative describes the six participating school districts' plans and activities during the first year of their grants. The evaluation, conducted by Policy Studies Associates and the RAND Corporation, isintended to inform policy makers and practitioners about the process of carrying out new policies and practices for school leadership and about the results of investments in the Principal Pipeline Initiative. This report is based on collection and analysis of qualitative data, including the districts' proposals, work plans, and progress reports and semi-structured interviews in spring 2012 with 91 administrators employed by districts and their partner institutions. Leaders in all districts report wanting to enlarge their pools of strong applicants for principal positions and to identify and cultivate leadership talent as early as possible in educators' careers.Districts are actively working on allrequired pipeline components: (1) with stakeholder participation, they have developed standards and identified competencies for principals, which they plan to use to guide principal training, hiring, evaluation, and support; (2) they are initiating or strengthening partnerships with university training programs; (3) for hiring, they have standard performance tasks and are developing systems to capture data on candidates' experience; (4) they have diagnostic evaluation tools and are working to build the capacity of principals' supervisors and mentors to support principals' skill development. In addition, all are also bolstering district-run training programs for graduates of university training programs who aspire to become principals

First year student expectations: Results from a university-wide student survey

Although much has been written on the first-year experience of students at higher education institutions, less attention has been directed to the expectations of students when they enter an institution for the first time. This paper provides additional insights into the expectations of students at an Australian university and highlights areas in which students’ expectations may not necessarily align with the realities of common university practices. By providing opportunities for students to articulate their expectations, staff are able to use the responses for a constructive dialogue and work towards a more positive alignment between perceived expectations and levels of student satisfaction with their experience.Geoffrey Crisp, Edward Palmer, Deborah Turnbull, Ted Nettelbeck, Lynn Ward, Amanda LeCouteur, Aspa Sarris, Peter Strelan, and Luke Schneide

Effect of organic, low-input and conventional production systems on yield and diseases in winter barley

The effect of organic, low-input and conventional management practices on barley yield and disease incidence was assessed in field trials over two years. Conventional fertility management (based on mineral fertiliser applications) and conventional crop protection (based on chemosynthetic pesticides) significantly increased the yield of winter barley as compared to organic fertility and crop protection regimes. Severity of leaf blotch (Rhynchosporium secalis) was highest under organic fertility and crop protection management and was correlated inversely with yield. For mildew (Erysiphe graminis), an interaction between fertility management and crop protection was detected. Conventional crop protection reduced severity of the disease, only under conventional fertility management. Under organic fertility management, incidence of mildew was low and application of synthetic pesticides in “low input” production systems had no significant effect on disease severity

WFIRST Coronagraph Technology Requirements: Status Update and Systems Engineering Approach

The coronagraphic instrument (CGI) on the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will demonstrate technologies and methods for high-contrast direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanet systems in reflected light, including polarimetry of circumstellar disks. The WFIRST management and CGI engineering and science investigation teams have developed requirements for the instrument, motivated by the objectives and technology development needs of potential future flagship exoplanet characterization missions such as the NASA Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx) and the Large UV/Optical/IR Surveyor (LUVOIR). The requirements have been refined to support recommendations from the WFIRST Independent External Technical/Management/Cost Review (WIETR) that the WFIRST CGI be classified as a technology demonstration instrument instead of a science instrument. This paper provides a description of how the CGI requirements flow from the top of the overall WFIRST mission structure through the Level 2 requirements, where the focus here is on capturing the detailed context and rationales for the CGI Level 2 requirements. The WFIRST requirements flow starts with the top Program Level Requirements Appendix (PLRA), which contains both high-level mission objectives as well as the CGI-specific baseline technical and data requirements (BTR and BDR, respectively)... We also present the process and collaborative tools used in the L2 requirements development and management, including the collection and organization of science inputs, an open-source approach to managing the requirements database, and automating documentation. The tools created for the CGI L2 requirements have the potential to improve the design and planning of other projects, streamlining requirement management and maintenance. [Abstract Abbreviated]Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure