Examining the Relationship Between Louisiana Principals\u27 Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Student Achievement

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Louisiana Principals’ self-efficacy beliefs and student achievement. This study was grounded in the research of Bandura’s model of triadic reciprocal causation and more recent research on principals’ self-efficacy beliefs. Using the Principals’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (PSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2004) measures of principals’ self-efficacy were collected and analyzed for (1) instructional leadership, (2) management, and (3) moral leadership. Principals across the state of Louisiana were emailed a link to the PSES and were asked to provide the names of their schools and asked for the number of years they had served as principal at their current school. Principals with two or more years were allowed to continue and complete the PSES. Three hundred eleven principals completed the PSES. Two years of student achievement reports [indicating Assessment Indices (AI)], published by the Louisiana Department of Education, were available for 271 of the 311 respondents. Pearson correlational analyses were used to determine relationships between variables. This study found no statistically significant relationships between management, and moral leadership efficacy and change in AI over a two-year period. However, there was a small (p = 0.047), but statistically significant (R2 = 0.010) relationship between instructional leadership efficacy and change in AI over a two-year period. The researcher recommends that the following steps be taken in future research seeking to determine the relationship between instructional leadership efficacy and change in AI: 1) exploration of data collection by means other than self-reporting, 2) use of student-level value-added data rather than the cohort-level data available here, and 3) use of a larger and more diverse sample of principals. Keywords: Principals, self-efficacy beliefs, or principals’ self-efficacy belief

Examining the Relationship Between Louisiana Principals\u27 Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Student Achievement

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Louisiana Principals’ self-efficacy beliefs and student achievement. This study was grounded in the research of Bandura’s model of triadic reciprocal causation and more recent research on principals’ self-efficacy beliefs. Using the Principals’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (PSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2004) measures of principals’ self-efficacy were collected and analyzed for (1) instructional leadership, (2) management, and (3) moral leadership. Principals across the state of Louisiana were emailed a link to the PSES and were asked to provide the names of their schools and asked for the number of years they had served as principal at their current school. Principals with two or more years were allowed to continue and complete the PSES. Three hundred eleven principals completed the PSES. Two years of student achievement reports [indicating Assessment Indices (AI)], published by the Louisiana Department of Education, were available for 271 of the 311 respondents. Pearson correlational analyses were used to determine relationships between variables. This study found no statistically significant relationships between management, and moral leadership efficacy and change in AI over a two-year period. However, there was a small (p = 0.047), but statistically significant (R2 = 0.010) relationship between instructional leadership efficacy and change in AI over a two-year period. The researcher recommends that the following steps be taken in future research seeking to determine the relationship between instructional leadership efficacy and change in AI: 1) exploration of data collection by means other than self-reporting, 2) use of student-level value-added data rather than the cohort-level data available here, and 3) use of a larger and more diverse sample of principals. Keywords: Principals, self-efficacy beliefs, or principals’ self-efficacy belief

A study of methanol and silicon monoxide production through episodic explosions of grain mantles in the Central Molecular Zone

Methanol (CH$_3$OH) is found to be abundant and widespread towards the Central Molecular Zone, the inner few hundred parsecs of our Galaxy. Its origin is, however, not fully understood. It was proposed that the high cosmic ray ionisation rate in this region could lead to a more efficient non-thermal desorption of this species formed on grain surfaces, but it would also mean that this species is destroyed in a relatively short timescale. In a first step, we run chemical models with a high cosmic ray ionisation rate and find that this scenario can only reproduce the lowest abundances of methanol derived in this region ($\sim$10$^{-9}$-10$^{-8}$). In a second step, we investigate another scenario based on episodic explosions of grain mantles. We find a good agreement between the predicted abundances of methanol and the observations. We find that the dominant route for the formation of methanol is through hydrogenation of CO on the grains followed by the desorption due to the grain mantle explosion. The cyclic aspect of this model can explain the widespread presence of methanol without requiring any additional mechanism. We also model silicon monoxide (SiO), another species detected in several molecular clouds of the Galactic Centre. An agreement is found with observations for a high depletion of Si (Si/H $\sim$ 10$^{-8}$) with respect to the solar abundance.Comment: Accepted in MNRA

ExoMol line lists XXVIII: The rovibronic spectrum of AlH

A new line list for AlH is produced. The WYLLoT line list spans two electronic states $X\,{}^1\Sigma^+$ and $A\,{}^1\Pi$. A diabatic model is used to model the shallow potential energy curve of the $A\,{}^1\Pi$ state, which has a strong pre-dissociative character with only two bound vibrational states. Both potential energy curves are empirical and were obtained by fitting to experimentally derived energies of the $X\,{}^1\Sigma^+$ and $A\,{}^1\Pi$ electronic states using the diatomic nuclear motion codes Level and Duo. High temperature line lists plus partition functions and lifetimes for three isotopologues $^{27}$AlH, $^{27}$AlD and $^{26}$AlH were generated using ab initio dipole moments. The line lists cover both the $X$--$X$ and $A$--$X$ systems and are made available in electronic form at the CDS and ExoMol databases

Champagne Flutes and Brandy Snifters: Modelling Protostellar Outflow-Cloud Chemical Interfaces

A rich variety of molecular species has now been observed towards hot cores in star forming regions and in the interstellar medium. An increasing body of evidence from millimetre interferometers suggests that many of these form at the interfaces between protostellar outflows and their natal molecular clouds. However, current models have remained unable to explain the origin of the observational bias towards wide-angled "brandy snifter" shaped outflows over narrower "champagne flute" shapes in carbon monoxide imaging. Furthermore, these wide-angled systems exhibit unusually high abundances of the molecular ion HCO$^+$. We present results from a chemo-dynamic model of such regions where a rich chemistry arises naturally as a result of turbulent mixing between cold, dense molecular gas and the hot, ionized outflow material. The injecta drives a rich and rapid ion-neutral chemistry in qualitative and quantitative agreement with the observations. The observational bias towards wide-angled outflows is explained naturally by the geometry-dependent ion injection rate causing rapid dissociation of CO in the younger systems.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. 12 pages, 8 Figure

A Contracting, Turbulent, Starless Core in the Serpens Cluster

We present combined single-dish and interferometric CS(2--1) and N2H+(1--0) observations of a compact core in the NW region of the Serpens molecular cloud. The core is starless according to observations from optical to millimeter wavelengths and its lines have turbulent widths and ``infall asymmetry''. Line profile modeling indicates supersonic inward motions v_in>0.34 km/s over an extended region L>12000AU. The high infall speed and large extent exceeds the predictions of most thermal ambipolar diffusion models and points to a more dynamical process for core formation. A short (dynamic) timescale, ~1e5 yr=L/v_in, is also suggested by the low N2H+ abundance ~1e-10.Comment: 11 pages including 2 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Generalized Fiducial Inference on Differentiable Manifolds

We introduce a novel approach to inference on parameters that take values in a Riemannian manifold embedded in a Euclidean space. Parameter spaces of this form are ubiquitous across many fields, including chemistry, physics, computer graphics, and geology. This new approach uses generalized fiducial inference to obtain a posterior-like distribution on the manifold, without needing to know a parameterization that maps the constrained space to an unconstrained Euclidean space. The proposed methodology, called the constrained generalized fiducial distribution (CGFD), is obtained by using mathematical tools from Riemannian geometry. A Bernstein-von Mises-type result for the CGFD, which provides intuition for how the desirable asymptotic qualities of the unconstrained generalized fiducial distribution are inherited by the CGFD, is provided. To demonstrate the practical use of the CGFD, we provide three proof-of-concept examples: inference for data from a multivariate normal density with the mean parameters on a sphere, a linear logspline density estimation problem, and a reimagined approach to the AR(1) model, all of which exhibit desirable coverages via simulation. We discuss two Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for the exploration of these constrained parameter spaces and adapt them for the CGFD.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figure

Chemistry in Evaporating Ices: Unexplored Territory

We suggest that three-body chemistry may occur in warm high density gas evaporating in transient co\textendash desorption events on interstellar ices. Using a highly idealised computational model we explore the chemical conversion from simple species of the ice to more complex species containing several heavy atoms, as a function of density and of adopted three body rate coefficients. We predict that there is a wide range of densities and rate coefficients in which a significant chemical conversion may occur. We discuss the implications of this idea for the astrochemistry of hot cores.Comment: Accepted in Ap

A High Resolution Study of the Slowly Contracting, Starless Core L1544

We present interferometric observations of N2H+(1--0) in the starless, dense core L1544 in Taurus. Red-shifted self-absorption, indicative of inward motions, is found toward the center of an elongated core. The data are fit by a non-spherical model consisting of two isothermal, rotating, centrally condensed layers. Through a hybrid global-individual fit to the spectra, we map the variation of infall speed at scales ~1400AU and find values ~0.08 km/s around the core center. The inward motions are small in comparison to thermal, rotational, and gravitational speeds but are large enough to suggest that L1544 is very close to forming a star.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the evaluation of Quality in a Public Service: Case Study of Academic Services of the University of Évora, Portugal

Society is more and more demanding on professional terms. Therefore, in order to achieve Excellence we need to go though processes of continuous improvement and we need to measure and to evaluate Quality which is increasingly seen as a competitive and distinguishing factor between institutions. And institutions from Public Sector like Universities are no exception. It’s urgent to evaluate their quality. But a question remains: how do we evaluate them? Why is it important? Should we evaluate the graduate and post-graduate degrees, the services that support all the University,…What? In Portugal it is compulsory to evaluate the quality of the degrees taught on a Higher Education Institution. For that purpose a set of legislation has been approved: Law n.º38/94 of 21st November, Decree-law n.º205/98 of 11th July and Law n.º1/2003 of 6th January. But if this is a compulsory procedure, shouldn’t the structures that support all the life of a Higher Education Institution also be evaluated? What happens if, for instance, the Academic Services don’t work properly or collapse? This service is considered as essential and fundamental on Higher Education Institutions