Increasing Trust and Teacher Voice in Order to Improve Teacher Evaluation in Chicago

Chicago Public Schools’ teacher evaluation program includes cycles of observation and feedback as well as student test scores to determine teacher evaluation scores. Teachers have expressed support for and trust in this teacher evaluation program, yet they have misgivings about the inclusion of standardized student test scores. An examination of best practices in teacher evaluation and its implementation in Chicago, through the voices of the teachers and evaluators, identifies opportunities for improvement. By supporting teachers and administrators to engage in professional conversations, offering teachers a voice in how teacher evaluation is implemented, and eliminating the use of standardized student test scores, specifically the Value Added Model, CPS could increase trust and validity in the REACH Students teacher evaluation program and support teachers to engage in a process of continuous improvement

Acts of Voicing: On the Poetics and Politics of the Voice

Catalogue publication of group show where we showed video installation 'Inside Out', Wurttembergerischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany. ‘Acts of Voicing’ is a transdisciplinary exhibition + publication that focuses on the aesthetic, performative and political significance of the voice from the vantage point of visual art, performance, and theory. The exhibition centres on the nature of the voice as an event and performance, its techniques, efficacies and modes of functioning. ‘Acts of Voicing’ thus sets out to interrelate three central spheres of contemporary art discourse: the question of the politics and poetics of the voice, of the peculiarities and relationships of visual art, dance/performance and theory, and of the realignment of their spaces of action and performance

FACE-Q Craniofacial Module: Part 1 validation of CLEFT-Q scales for use in children and young adults with facial conditions

Background: The CLEFT-Q includes 12 independently functioning scales that measure appearance (face, nose, nostrils, teeth, lips, jaws), health-related quality of life (psychological, social, school, speech distress), and speech function, and an eating/drinking checklist. Previous qualitative research revealed that the CLEFT-Q has content validity in noncleft craniofacial conditions. This study aimed to examine the psychometric performance of the CLEFT-Q in an international sample of patients with a broad range of facial conditions. Methods: Data were collected between October 2016 and December 2019 from 2132 patients aged 8 to 29 years with noncleft facial conditions. Rasch measurement theory (RMT) analysis was used to examine Differential Item Function (DIF) by comparing the original CLEFT-Q sample and the new FACE-Q craniofacial sample. Reliability and validity of the scales in a combined cleft and craniofacial sample (n=4743) were examined. Results: DIF was found for 23 CLEFT-Q items when the datasets for the two samples were compared. When items with DIF were split by sample, correlations between the original and split person locations showed that DIF had negligible impact on scale scoring (correlations ≥0.995). In the combined sample, RMT analysis led to the retention of original content for ten CLEFT-Q scales, modification of the Teeth scale, and the addition of an Eating/Drinking scale. Data obtained fit with the Rasch model for 11 scales (exception School, p=0.04). Person Separation Index and Cronbach alpha values met the criteria. Conclusion: The scales described in this study can be used to measure outcomes in children and young adults with cleft and noncleft craniofacial conditions