Recruitment, Socialization, and Accountability of School Administrators in Two Urban School Districts

Due to the impending shortage of qualified candidates for administrator positions, school districts are faced with the challenge of attracting and preparing candidates for the administrator role. This empirical study focused on leadership succession planning and leadership development in response to meeting the demands of the social preoccupation of accountability

Performance Appraisals of School Administrators in One Canadian School District: A Contemporary Model

Research indicates that a sound performance appraisal process for school administrators contains key mechanisms that manifest themselves through dimensions of effective planning, assessment, and evaluation; effective use of resources; and communicating clear expectations. This article documents the development of a contemporary model of performance appraisal of school administrators in a Canadian school district. It is clearly presented as a guideline for individual educators who are committed to ongoing professional development. It may well serve as a guideline for other school districts where performance appraisal processes are being revisited and revamped for purposes of accountability and school administrators' performance effectiveness.Selon les recherches, un processus valide visant l'évaluation de la performance des administrateurs scolaires implique des mécanismes clés qui se manifestent par le biais d'une planification et d'une évaluation efficaces, d'un emploi judicieux des ressources, et de la transmission d'attentes claires et précises. Cet article trace le développement d'un modèle contemporain portant sur l'évaluation de la performance des administrateurs scolaires dans un district scolaire au Canada. Ce modèle se veut un ensemble de principes directeurs pour les enseignants soucieux de parfaire leur développement professionnel. Il pourrait également servir de lignes directrices aux autres districts scolaires qui réévaluent leur processus d'évaluation de la performance dans le but d'accroître la responsabilisation et d'augmenter l'efficacité de la performance des administrateurs scolaires

Professional Growth and Performance Appraisals of School Administrators: A Contemporary Model

A sound performance appraisal process for school administrators contains key components in accordance with legislation, board policy and contractual agreements. This paper examines the performance appraisal process for administrators in one Canadian school district that may serve as a guideline for individual educators who are committed with on-going professional development

Petrology of the Boundary Intrusions and Associated Brecciation in Creighton, Saskatchewan and Flin Flon, Manitoba

Detailed mapping, petrographical and geochemical data for the Green Street and Louis Lake Boundary Intrusion breccias are presented, as well as petrographical and geochemical data for the Phantom Beach intrusion breccia and the Club Lake intrusion, located in Creighton, Saskatchewan and Flin Flon, Manitoba. The Green Street Boundary intrusion was emplaced in volcanic rocks of the Flin Flon formation as a dyke with the most northerly section containing a largely polymictic, chaotic-textured, matrix-supported intrusion breccia. The margins of the dyke also exhibit evidence of hydraulic brecciation through mosaic or jigsaw textures. The Louis Lake intrusion is a chaotic-textured, matrix-supported breccia and contains no exposed contacts with the Louis formation volcanic host rock, though the presence of large layered blocks indicates the intrusion may have been emplaced as a sill. The Phantom Beach intrusion breccia is also chaotic-textured and ranges from fragment- to matrix-supported. Intrusion morphology and breccia textures suggest possible processes for fragment generation include dyke crack-tip propagation, hydraulic fracturing, mechanical and thermal delamination, and stoping. Fragment populations for all intrusion breccias include mafic to ultramafic intrusives and locally derived volcanics, ranging from angular to rounded to disaggregated, with the intrusive fragments exhibiting greater degrees of rounding and disaggregation. This may suggest the intrusive fragments have had longer residence times or traveled greater distances within the magma than the volcanic xenoliths. Fragment size can reach up to 2 m in diameter with an average diameter typically between 10 – 30 cm. Settling rates of fragments within the magmas, or the magma ascent rate, of the mapped sites are calculated using Stoke’s Law (for a Newtonian fluid) and calculations by Shaw (1969) (for a Bingham fluid). Resulting magma ascent velocities range from 0.01 m/hr to 1.84 km/hr for the Green Street intrusion, 0.01 m/hr to 872.16 m/hr for the Louis Lake intrusion, and 1.63 m/yr to 0.33 m/hr for the dominantly clast-supported breccia intruding the Louis Lake breccia. Petrographical analysis of mafic to ultramafic intrusive fragments within the Green Street intrusion exhibit textures which may suggest different stages of disaggregation and incorporation into the magma matrix. Petrographical comparisons of whole, intact fragments to fragments with irregular boundaries may demonstrate various stages of disaggregation taking place during emplacement of the intrusion. In addition, comparisons of floating actinolite crysts in the intrusion matrix to known phenocrysts and crystals of actinolite in fragments may further indicate previous disaggregation of intrusive fragments. Whole rock and trace element geochemistry for the Boundary intrusions and their mafic to ultramafic intrusive fragments show the samples display island arc signatures and are overall calc-alkaline, though select fragment samples from the Phantom Beach area show some tholeiitic tendencies. High field strength element (HFSE) patterns suggest an enriched and complex mantle source for all samples, with the resulting magma possibly affected by magma mixing. HFSE ratios may also indicate contamination by crustal assimilation for the Green Street intrusion. Low mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB)-normalized TiO2/Y ratios (<1) suggests that the magma source for the Boundary intrusions was at shallow depths with higher water contents (<50km) where garnet is not a factor in retaining yttrium relative to titanium. Similarities in trace element patterns and higher Zr/TiO2 ratios suggest fractionation within the sample suite for the Green Street area

The Predictive Power of Homework Assignments on Student Achievement in Mathematics

This study examined the relationship between homework performance (percent of homework completed and percent of homework correct), student characteristics (Stanford Achievement Test score, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status), perceptions, and challenges and academic achievement determined by the students’ average score on weekly tests and their score on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Norm Reference Test (NRT) mathematics assessment

A Model for Teacher Induction and Mentoring Programs

There is argument for differentiation between induction and mentoring programs. A basis of this paper is that both programs must coexist; that neither program can be effective without the other. Literature, data and the experiences of a novice teacher revealed components of effective mentoring/induction programs for teachers

Class Size Reduction for the State of Florida: Is This the Solution for a Better Education?

Smaller class sizes have a positive impact on student achievement but Florida struggles with the problem of how to achieve smaller classes. Through a review of the literature, this paper discusses some of the programs currently used across the US, with the focus on Florida. Conclusions and implications are presented

Female Secondary School Leaders: At the Helm of Democratic Schooling and Social Justice

We chose the philosophical tradition of phenomenology as the qualitative methodology to study four women school leaders. Semi-structured interview data indicated that their professional experiences impacted how their leadership practices advance social justice in their education organizations, espouse the belief that equity matter, and exemplify the torchbearers of democratic ideals