It's Not a Matter of Time: Highlights From the 2011 Competency-Based Learning Summit

Outlines discussions about the potential and challenges of competency-based learning in transforming the current time-based system, including issues of accountability, equity, personalization, and aligning policy and practice. Includes case summaries

Recipe for Success: Behavioral Ingredients for Superior Performing Leaders

The aviation and aerospace business is a complex adaptive system that includes emerging technologies, competitors, government policies, cost demands, globalization, and talent constraints. To effectively lead in the chaos of constant demands and disruptive and unpredictable external environments, having deep and broad functional expertise is not enough. Superior performing leaders require further broadening and deepening of selected behavioral competencies in order to succeed (Smith, 2000). Particular to aviation and aerospace, understanding the types of leaders needed to be successful is especially important since baby boomer employees will soon retire and the middle managers that will likely replace them lack the required behaviors. Worsening this is a scarcity of talent available. Velocci (2009) revealed that how organizations respond to this would shape the future of the industry’s landscape. McKee, Boyatzis, & Johnson (2008) argued that behavioral competencies, not IQ or technical experience, are the most important factors in distinguishing great leadership. Findings from an unprecedented study of 112 leaders in eight aviation and aerospace organizations will shed light on the specific behavioral competencies that differentiate superior performing leaders and serves to fill a tremendous void with respect to aviation and aerospace human capital. This work contributes by supporting organizations to more effectively select, develop, and promote those aviation and aerospace leaders that can positively affect organizational performance. As such, organizations can experience improved candidate selections, enhanced professional development and promotion decisions, increased employee engagement and productivity, as well as decreased turnover

Avaliação e responsabilização na preparação universitária e professional: Desenvolvendo um novo paradigma

As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so that all students regardless of background are prepared for both college and career when they graduate from high school. Drawing on practices already established in other states and on the views of policymakers and school experts, this paper proposes principles for effective accountability systems and imagines what a new accountability system could look like in an imagined “51st state” in the United States. While considerable discussion and debate will be needed before a new approach can take shape, this paper’s objective is to get the conversation started so the nation can meet its aspirations for preparing college- and career-ready students. A medida que las escuelas de todo el país se preparan para nuevos estándares en el marco del Common Core (Núcleo Básico de contenidos), los estados están creando sistemas más alineados de evaluación y responsabilidad. Este documento recomienda un enfoque de evaluación y responsabilidad que se centra en el aprendizaje significativo, habilitado por educadores profesionales cualificados y comprometidos, y con recursos adecuados y apropiados, de manera que todos los estudiantes independientemente de su origen estén preparados tanto para completar estudios universitarios y carreras profesionales cuando se gradúen de la escuela secundaria. Sobre la base de las prácticas ya establecidas en otros estados y en las opiniones de responsables políticos y expertos en educación, este documento propone principios para los sistemas de evaluación y responsabilidad eficaces y se imagina lo que un nuevo sistema de evaluación y responsabilidad podría parecer en un imaginario "Estado 51" en los Estados Unidos. Si bien será necesario tener una gran discusión y debate antes de que un nuevo enfoque puede tomar forma, el objetivo de este trabajo es que comenzar la conversación por lo que el país pueda cumplir con sus aspiraciones para preparar a los estudiantes para que los estudiantes estén preparados tanto para la universidad y carreras profesionales. As escolas de todo o país se preparam para novos padrões no âmbito do Common Core (Núcleo Comum de conteúdos), e os estados estão criando sistemas de prestação de contas avaliação mais alinhados. Este documento recomenda uma abordagem para avaliação e prestação de contas que se concentra nas aprendizagem significativa, ensinados por profissionais qualificados e educadores comprometidos e recursos adequados e apropriados para que todos os alunos, independentemente da sua origem, sejam bem preparados para concluir as faculdade e desenvolver carreiras quando se formarem no ensino médio. Com base em práticas já estabelecidas em outros estados e nas visões de políticos e especialistas em educação, este trabalho propõe princípios para desenhar sistemas de avaliação e responsabilidade efetiva e imagina o que um novo sistema de avaliação e prestação de contas que poderiam aparecer em um imaginário "Estado 51" nos Estados Unidos. Embora vai ser necessário ter uma grande discussão e debate antes pode estabelecer uma nova abordagem, o objetivo deste trabalho é iniciar a discussão para que o país possa cumprir as suas aspirações para preparar os alunos tanto para os estudos universitários e carreiras profissionais.

Accountability for College and Career Readiness: Developing a New Paradigm

As schools across the country prepare for new standards under the Common Core, states are moving toward creating more aligned systems of assessment and accountability. This paper recommends an accountability approach that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so that all students regardless of background are prepared for both college and career when they graduate from high school. Drawing on practices already established in other states and on the views of policymakers and school experts, this paper proposes principles for effective accountability systems and imagines what a new accountability system could look like in an imagined “51st state” in the United States. While considerable discussion and debate will be needed before a new approach can take shape, this paper’s objective is to get the conversation started so the nation can meet its aspirations for preparing college- and career-ready students. A medida que las escuelas de todo el país se preparan para nuevos estándares en el marco del Common Core (Núcleo Básico de contenidos), los estados están creando sistemas más alineados de evaluación y responsabilidad. Este documento recomienda un enfoque de evaluación y responsabilidad que se centra en el aprendizaje significativo, habilitado por educadores profesionales cualificados y comprometidos, y con recursos adecuados y apropiados, de manera que todos los estudiantes independientemente de su origen estén preparados tanto para completar estudios universitarios y carreras profesionales cuando se gradúen de la escuela secundaria. Sobre la base de las prácticas ya establecidas en otros estados y en las opiniones de responsables políticos y expertos en educación, este documento propone principios para los sistemas de evaluación y responsabilidad eficaces y se imagina lo que un nuevo sistema de evaluación y responsabilidad podría parecer en un imaginario Estado 51 en los Estados Unidos. Si bien será necesario tener una gran discusión y debate antes de que un nuevo enfoque puede tomar forma, el objetivo de este trabajo es que comenzar la conversación por lo que el país pueda cumplir con sus aspiraciones para preparar a los estudiantes para que los estudiantes estén preparados tanto para la universidad y carreras profesionales

Adversity: Its Affect on the Resilience of Female Pilots

Women are one of the solutions to alleviating the pending pilot shortage. Becoming a pilot needs to appeal to women. Resilience plays an important role in determining whether women in male-dominated career fields will pursue or abandon their careers. The pilot profession is dominated by masculine beliefs, values and perceptions creating an organizational culture adverse and challenging to women. The study objective was to explore the influence of adversity on female pilots and its effect on resiliency. In our sample of 1,499 female pilots, we found lower resiliency levels as compared to a general U.S. sample. Additionally, statistically significant differences in resilience were revealed based on age, years of experience, and type of pilot, signifying characteristics can influence resilience. The findings indicate a potential influence of the adversity and challenges faced by women in aviation on resilience, inhibiting women’s success in aviation. Efforts to increase female pilots in this male-dominated career will not improve conditions for women’s careers. The lower resilience among female pilots supports the need for further work in shifting organizational cultures and working conditions to increase and retain them. This further informs the need for the aviation industry to address many latent issues that provide disincentives to women becoming and remaining pilots. The scarcity of female pilots entering and remaining in the profession deprives the industry of the pilots it desperately needs and talent that brings equally valued and diverse skills to the ranks of the professional pilot

The Performance of IT Professionals: the Difference that Makes a Difference

\tIt is well documented that information technology (IT) organizations fail to maximize returns on the significant investments made in them. Yet, there is a paucity of empirical evidence about how different behaviors of IT professionals contribute to or detract from IT’s productivity. We report on a qualitative study on the competencies of professionals who oversee or execute IT projects in the operations of three multinational firms. Our findings reveal different competencies between average and superior individual contributors (ICs), who execute the projects and between average and superior managers, who lead the projects. Our results suggest that higher levels of role breadth self efficacy distinguish those with superior IT role effectiveness, not technical ability, the basis on which most IT professionals are hired and promoted. Our findings may help firms to select and promote people best suited to manage and contribute to IT organizations

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders