Professional learning conversations: Adaptive expertise for schools. Supplementary digital materials

School leaders face complex challenges, that typically have multiple causes and often persist despite everyone’s best attempts to address them. Addressing complex challenges requires juggling both the big picture, and the specific parts of the challenge. Without a roadmap, this process is fraught and unlikely to succeed in improving outcomes. In order to make a difference, schools need adaptive expertise; a skill which can be learnt through professional conversations and inquiry. In Leading professional conversations, Emeritus Professor Helen Timperley deftly outlines the key enablers for effective professional conversations – relationships, resources, processes, knowledge and culture – which support teachers to be independent learners and result in positive impact on educational, social and emotional outcomes for students. Featuring examples from real conversations between school leaders and educators, and practical templates which can be adapted to suit the contexts of your school, Leading professional conversations is the school leader’s guide to thinking and acting evaluatively, knowledgeably, metacognitively, collaboratively, responsively and systematically, to engage in deep professional learning and genuine improvements in practice. This document contains the supplementary templates and other materials mentioned throughout Leading professional conversations. The resources support chapters in the book and can be printed and used to support your professional conversations, particularly in the planning and analysis phases

Corporate Social Responsibility Indexes: Measure for Measure

This thesis investigates criteria used by research agencies that publish ratings of business organisations in respect of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance and the relationship of these criteria to underlying ethical principles. Companies are rated according to CSR criteria. Observation of different rating agencies' results for the same, or similar organisations, shows a significant variation in results. Variations in rating must result either from different criteria being applied or from criteria addressing similar topics being assessed in a different way. Criteria from different rating agencies are found to be comparable. Thus if rating criteria are derived from an ethical view of the responsibilities of business organisations, then inconsistent results may be explained by variations in the ethical basis of corporate social responsibility used by agencies. Subject companies are rated under broad categories such as corporate governance, human rights and the environment. These categories contain specific criteria. My investigation compares the criteria used by major rating agencies and identifies the ethical basis, if any, that can be attributed to each criterion. The study finds that there are clearly identifiable links between a number of criteria used by each rating agency and the ethical theories selected for evaluation. Further, there is sufficient difference between the agencies to characterise each in relation to one or more of the ethical theories selected. There is inconsistency, however, within each agency's basis of principles as well as between agencies, which indicates an unsatisfactory lack of explicit relationship between the general, and reasonably consistent, definition of corporate social responsibility and application of coherent ethical principles. In practical terms around 10% of all investments in the United States, representing 2.3 trillion dollars, are invested in ethical or screened funds that rely on these and similar rating agencies results to determine CSR performance of firms. The large variation in results demonstrated in my thesis suggests that very significant financial decisions are based, at least in part, on inconsistent data. I suggest in my conclusion that if agencies were to consider, justify and clearly state the ethical basis from which their criteria derive, then investment managers and their clients could be more certain that their CSR principles were being upheld

Additional Archaeological Investigations of the Propised Fulton Mansion Visitor\u27s Center, Fulton Mansion State Historic (41AS79), Rockport, Aransas County, Texas

The Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University-San Marcos conducted additional archaeological investigations for the proposed Fulton Mansion State Historic Site (41AS79) Visitor’s Center, Aransas County, Texas, between October 19 and November 13, 2009 on behalf of the Texas Historical Commission Historic Sites Division. Investigations of the Area of Potential Effect are a continuation of testing investigations begun by Ringstaff in 2007 (Ringstaff 2008). Work was carried out by Carole Leezer as Project Archaeologist, Julian A. Sitters and Sarah Scogin as Archaeological Technicians, and Jon C. Lohse as Principal Investigator under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 5420. Investigations included backhoe trench excavation, test unit excavation, shovel test unit excavation, and monitoring of internet cable installation. Three deposits of faunal remains were encountered during backhoe trench excavations and fully excavated during test unit excavations. Remains consisted primarily of green sea turtle (Cheloniidae). Additional shovel test units were excavated in the area where a proposed irrigation system will be installed. A total of 20 shovel test units were excavated across the front and side lawns of the mansion property to determine whether the modern fill layer identified by Ringstaff (2008) in the footprint of the proposed Visitor’s Center was also present in this location. A fill layer was noted in locations of a previous driveway. No intact cultural deposits or features were encountered during shovel test excavations with the exception of three culturally modified clam shell pieces. Their recovery from the bottom of a shovel test unit at 31 cm below surface suggests a high probability for prehistoric cultural remains in this area below this depth. Archaeological monitoring of an internet cable installation was also conducted. No intact significant cultural features were encountered. All collected cultural materials were prepared for curation; temporarily, at the Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State University-San Marcos, and permanently curated at the Texas Historical Commission

The Logic of Students' Employment Expectations

SUMMARY What kinds of employment do students expect to achieve when they leave the school system, and what are the chances of those expectations being realised? Data on the expectations of 14 year olds are presented for 10 countries—Great Britain, Japan, USA, Chile, India, Iran, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Mexico. An examination of student expectations in the context of the opportunities their respective economic systems can offer shows that the expectations of students in ‘developing’ countries have less chance of being realised than the expectations of students in the ‘developed’ countries. Rather than describing these expectations as ‘unrealistic’, the author attempts to explain why students perceive their futures in the way they do by referring to a number of economic and social factors, such as income differentials, security, historical precedent and the right to a nonmanual job, internal school structure and examinations. RESUMEN La lógica de la perspectivas de empleo para los estudiantes ¿Qué tipos de empleo esperan conseguir los estudiantes cuando concluyen su escolaridad y qué probabilidades tienen de alcanzar tales perspectivas? Se presentan los datos sobre las perspectivas de niños de catorce años procedentes de diez países: la Gran Bretaña, el Japón, los Estados Unidos, Chile, India, Irán, Tailandia, Malasia, Sri Lanka y México. El estudio de las perspectivas estudiantiles en el marco de las oportunidades que pueden ofrecer sus sistemas económicos respectivos demuestra que las perspectivas de los estudiantes en países en ‘vías de desarrollo’ tienen menos probabilidades de conseguirlas que las esperanzas de los estudiantes en los países ‘desarrollados’. En lugar de calificar a estas esperanzas de ‘fantásticas’, el autor trata de explicar por qué los estudiantes perciben su futuro de la manera que lo hacen. RESUME La logique des espoirs d'emploi des étudiants Quels types d'emploi les étudiants espèrent?ils obtenir lorsqu'ils quitteront le système scolaire et quelles chances ont?ils de voir leurs espoirs réalisés. Des données sur les espoirs de jeunes de 14 ans sont présentées pour 10 Pays: Grande Bretagne, Japon, Etats?Unis, Chili, Inde, Iran, Thaïlande, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, et Mexique. L'examen des espoirs des étudiants dans le contexte des possibilités offertes par le système économique de leur pays indique que les étudiants des pays en voie de développement ont moins de chances de voir leurs espoirs réalisés que les étudiants des pays industrialisés. Plutôt que de décrire ces espoirs comme ‘irréalistes’, l'auteur essaie d'expliquer pourquoi les étudiants envisagent leur avenir de cette façon en soulignant un certain nombre de facteurs économiques et sociaux

Le développement professionnel des enseignants et ses effets positifs sur les apprentissages des élèves

En Nouvelle-Zélande, une attention grandissante a été portée par les décideurs politiques au développement professionnel des enseignants et à la façon dont il améliorait les résultats des élèves. Cette approche permet de développer des pratiques d’enseignement collaboratives, en plaçant les enseignants dans une position d’enquêteur de leurs propres pratiques. Les programmes de développement professionnel ont des effets réels sur l’amélioration de la réussite des élèves dans le domaine de la littératie, notamment en lecture. Ils permettent aux enseignants de mieux identifier leurs besoins de formation à travers une analyse des difficultés des élèves et la mise en œuvre de procédures d’évaluation efficaces.In New Zealand, decision makers are more and more focusing on teachers’ professional development and the way it improves student learning. This approach allows to develop collaborative teaching practices, asking teachers to inquire about their own practices. Professional development programmes have real effects on the improvement of students’ assessments in information literacy and particularly reading. They allow teachers to better identify their professional training needs from an analyses of their students’ difficulties and by setting up efficient assessment procedures.En Nueva Zelanda, los responsables políticos otorgaron una atención cada vez más importante al desarrollo profesional de los docentes así como lo hicieron respecto a la manera mediante la cual éste mejoraba los resultados de los alumnos. Este enfoque permite desarrollar prácticas de enseñanza colaborativas, poniendo a los docentes en una postura de investigadores sobre sus propias prácticas. Los programas de desarrollo profesional tienen verdaderos efectos en la mejora de los logros de los alumnos en el ámbito de la literacia, en particular en la lectura. Permiten a los profesores una mejor identificación de las necesidades de formación a través un análisis de las dificultades de los alumnos y la realización de procedimientos eficientes de evaluación.In Neuseeland haben sich politische Entscheidungsträger zunehmend für die berufliche Entwicklung der Lehrer und für die Art und Weise interessiert, wie sie die Leistungen der Schüler verbessern kann. Diese Herangehensweise ermöglicht die Entwicklung der Praktiken in Zusammenarbeit, indem sie die Lehrer zu Beobachtern der eigenen Praktiken macht. Programme zur beruflichen Entwicklung haben tatsächliche Auswirkungen auf die Verbesserung des Schülererfolgs im Bereich der Informationskompetenz (literacy), vor allem was das Lesen angeht. Sie erlauben dem Lehrer, den eigenen Fortbildungsbedarf besser zu identifizieren durch eine Analyse der Schülerschwierigkeiten und die Umsetzung effizienter Beurteilungsprozeduren

Mammoth interatrial septal aneurysm in the ICE age

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is a useful imaging modality that is now being used more widely to assist in the percutaneous closure of atrial septal defects (ASD) and patent foramen ovales (PFO).</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 42 year old lady with a history of transient ischaemic attacks and migraine underwent percutaneous closure of an ASD. Intraprocedural ICE demonstrated a mammoth billowing multiperforated interatrial septal aneurysm in association with a secondum ASD.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ICE provides excellent adjuvant imaging during percutaneous closure of intracardiac shunts, in this case demonstrating a 'mammoth' interatrial septal aneurysm.</p

Advanced Techniques for Search-Based Program Repair

Debugging and repairing software defects costs the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually, and accounts for as much as 50% of programmers' time. To tackle the burgeoning expense of repair, researchers have proposed the use of novel techniques to automatically localise and repair such defects. Collectively, these techniques are referred to as automated program repair. Despite promising, early results, recent studies have demonstrated that existing automated program repair techniques are considerably less effective than previously believed. Current approaches are limited either in terms of the number and kinds of bugs they can fix, the size of patches they can produce, or the programs to which they can be applied. To become economically viable, automated program repair needs to overcome all of these limitations. Search-based repair is the only approach to program repair which may be applied to any bug or program, without assuming the existence of formal specifications. Despite its generality, current search-based techniques are restricted; they are either efficient, or capable of fixing multiple-line bugs---no existing technique is both. Furthermore, most techniques rely on the assumption that the material necessary to craft a repair already exists within the faulty program. By using existing code to craft repairs, the size of the search space is vastly reduced, compared to generating code from scratch. However, recent results, which show that almost all repairs generated by a number of search-based techniques can be explained as deletion, lead us to question whether this assumption is valid. In this thesis, we identify the challenges facing search-based program repair, and demonstrate ways of tackling them. We explore if and how the knowledge of candidate patch evaluations can be used to locate the source of bugs. We use software repository mining techniques to discover the form of a better repair model capable of addressing a greater number of bugs. We conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis of existing search algorithms for repair, before demonstrating a more effective alternative, inspired by greedy algorithms. To ensure reproducibility, we propose and use a methodology for conducting high-quality automated program research. Finally, we assess our progress towards solving the challenges of search-based program repair, and reflect on the future of the field