Understanding networking’s facilitation mechanisms for school turnaround in eastern and western China

This study explores the neoliberal agenda of turnaround school reform efforts in America by examining the application and transformation of a Midwest State Turnaround Schools Project for the public school system. Perceptions of administrators and state-level policy actors are considered. Data were collected from 13 participants during the implementation of the statewide turnaround program and the analysis focused on the neoliberal ideology during the implementation of the State Turnaround Schools Project. Corporate infiltration and funding leverage reflect the sticky web of policymakers and private corporations and their influence. District communication, support, and shared accountability underscore important lessons in leadership for turnaround school programs. Successful schools transformed the turnaround policy implementation by involving communities and restructuring their school district. However, the neoliberal agenda revealed the impact of government labeling, restructuring, and reallocating resources for under-performing schools and unveiling the infiltration of private corporations behind turnaround policy and student achievement. This alarming finding points to how turnaround school policy implementation weakens control of democratically elected authorities and stagnates critical thinking that challenges the interests behind turnaround school policy.

Collaboration and networking have been widely recognized and adopted as strategies for school turnaround. However, most studies focus on external forces’ (particularly governments’) role in promoting collaborative turnaround, paying less attention to turnaround schools’ reactions to external actors. With specific reference to Shanghai, China, this qualitative empirical study examines the complexity of schools’ role in school turnaround through network governance. Drawing on document review and interview data, this study found three patterns of turnaround schools’ interactions with local governments and third-party actors in different school turnaround networks – compliant follower, reserved enforcer, or rational aspirant. Turnaround schools’ differentiated responses to external actors in China’s collaborative turnaround indicated their different awareness and capacity to utilize external resources. This resulted from schools’ different levels of disadvantage and leadership and external actors’ different extents of power exercise and differently impacted schools’ positions and power relations with external actors.

The purpose of this retrospective case study was to examine the implementation of turnaround practices in an underperforming urban elementary school. The research was guided by the overarching question: What are the lessons that can be learned from one turnaround school in Massachusetts, United States that could be shared with other urban turnaround schools? Several additional subquestions supported the study. Data were collected from community members, educators, administrators, students, and their families who were present in the school from 2005-2010 through interviews, focus groups, and document analysis. The portrait that emerged was a depiction of the academic, social-emotional, and behavioral strategies that were developed and implemented as a means to improve upon the quality and effectiveness of the teaching and learning at the school. Using Burke-Litwin's (1992) model of organizational performance and change as the theoretical framework, and supported by an examination of the extant literature related to turnaround models, leadership, and culture, several key findings emerged including: (a) partnering with the wider community in myriad ways to support the school, (b) connecting with parents and families as important stakeholder voices in their child's experience of school, (c) developing collaborative structures for educators and staff, and (d) creating a positive school culture. The study recommendations were shared as lessons that may be useful to the leadership of other underperforming schools and could serve as a guide to improve the teaching and learning in turnaround schools. --Author's abstract

The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rapidly increasing in China, a vast country with significant geographical differences. The socioeconomic status of Eastern China is significantly higher than that of Western China. This study aimed to describe the geographical heterogeneity in the characteristics and management of patients with IBD in both Eastern and Western China. This was a multicenter, cross-sectional study. Patients with IBD with ages ⩾18 years up to 18 January 2023 were included in the analysis from the Chinese database for IBD. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors associated with surgeries among patients with IBD. Among 8305 patients with IBD, the ratio of ulcerative colitis (UC) to Crohn's disease (CD) was 4.13 and 0.33 in Western and Eastern China, respectively. The median age at diagnosis of UC and CD was 40.69 and 28.58 years, respectively. There was a male predominance among patients with UC (54.3%) and CD (68.0%). The two regions exhibited a similar distribution of disease locations in UC. However, Western China had a higher proportion of L2 involvement (30.0% versus 19.1%) and more advanced disease behavior (B2 and B3) (48.8% versus 39.8%) than Eastern China. Patients with IBD in Western China received more 5-aminosalicylic acid and corticosteroids and fewer immunomodulators and biologicals. In terms of surgical risk, Eastern China [versus Western China, odds ratios (OR): 5.36, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 2.96-9.68] was associated with a higher risk of surgery in UC, while Western China (versus Eastern China, OR: 3.39, 95% CI: 2.37-4.86) was associated with a higher risk of surgery in CD. Geographical heterogeneity exists in the disease characteristics and management of IBD in Eastern and Western China. These findings have the potential to guide the formulation of location-specific strategies aimed at enhancing the long-term outcomes of patients with IBD.

Based on monthly averaged surface air temperature data of 733 stations in China during 1951~2002, after rejecting 86 stations in the large cities, the consistency and difference of the trends in surface air temperatures over eastern, western China and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau were analyzed and their causes were discussed. The results show that there are close connections and consistency in variations of annual and seasonal mean surface air temperatures in eastern and western China. Warming trends are all significant in eastern and western China with a rate of 0.26°C/10a in eastern China and 0.18°C/10a in western China respectively. Seasonally, mean temperatures also tended warming up but the warmest trends were found in winter in both eastern and western China. The annual mean warming trend in eastern China is more obvious than that in western China. In winter and spring, warming trends in eastern China are greater than those in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and western China, while in summer and autumn, they are smaller in eastern China. The consistency of warming trend in eastern and western China suggests that surface air temperature in eastern and western China are both influenced under global warming background. Whereas, the fact that warming trend in eastern China is more obvious than that in western China implies that topography also plays an important role in regional temperature variation.

Purpose: China’s Ministry of Health has enacted Rural Primary Health Care Program (2001–2010) (HCP) guidelines to improve the quality of people’s health. However, the program’s success in Western China remains unevaluated. Thus, this study aims to begin to fill that gap by analyzing the provision and utilization of Rural Primary Health Care (RPHC) in Western China. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect secondary data on the socio-economic characteristics, system construction, services use and implementation of RPHC, and the residents’ health status of the sampled areas. Four hundred counties from 31 provinces in China were selected via stratified random sampling, including 171 counties from 12 Western provinces. Twenty-seven analysis indicators, covering system construction, services use and implementation of RPHC were chosen to assess Western China’s primary health quality. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Least Significant Difference (LSD) methods were used to measure the RPHC disparities between Western and Eastern and Central China. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to rank Western, Eastern and Central internal provinces regarding quality of their RPHC. Results: Of the 27 indicators, 13 (48.15%) were below the standard in Western China. These focused on rural health service system construction, Chinese medicine services, and public health. In the comparison between Western, Central and Eastern China, 12 indicators had statistical significance (p < 0.05), and using LSD to compare between Western and Eastern China, all indicators were statistically significant (p < 0.05), demonstrating regional disparities. Xinjiang Province’s RPHC ranked highest overall, and Yunnan Province ranked the lowest, indicating the internal differences within the 12 Western provinces; and Western provinces’ Ci value was lower than that of Eastern and Central China overall. Conclusion: Western China’s RPHC has proceeded well, but remains weaker than that of Eastern and Central China. Differences within Western internal provinces threaten the successful implementation of RPHC.

Network governance has become central to government school turnaround policy in many education systems. While external forces are essential in facilitating school turnaround, most studies focus on governments’ leadership, paying less attention to the role of third-party actors. Referencing Shanghai, China, this empirical case study examines the complexity of third-party actors’ participation in network governance for school turnaround. Drawing on data from interviews, document analysis, and observation, this study found three patterns of third-party actors’ interactions with turnaround schools and local governments—government agent, egotistic leader, and dedicated ally. Third-party actors’ differential participation indicated their different approaches toward supporting turnaround schools and different value orientations toward implementing government tasks, exerting different controls over turnaround schools and different influences on government intervention. This study aimed to enlighten China’s policy-makers on giving full play to third-party actors in collaborative networks as well as contributing to the theoretical and practical understanding of network governance and school turnaround in the globe.

A substantial body of research literature has indicated school principals are critical to overall school improvement (Heck &amp; Hallinger, 2014; Jones, et al., 2015; Sleegers et al., 2014; Thoonen et al., 2011). However, improving the fortunes of low-performing schools remains a major concern and challenge in many education systems (Meyers &amp; Darwin, 2017). Research into turnaround school has been undertaken predominantly in the Western context, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom (Harris et al., 2018), Australia, Canada, England, and Sweden (Liu, 2020). However, research in developing countries remains relatively limited. The term ‘school turnaround’ remains elusive (Stuit, 2012) and there is "no single definition of school turnaround exists" (Hochbein &amp; Mahone, 2017, p. 15). The term turnaround is generally referred as low performing schools that have significantly improved and transformed their challenging circumstances and student academic achievements into high performing schools (Chapman &amp; Muijs, 2013). “While the research is clear on what an effective school should look like, there is considerably less research, let alone consensus, on the process by which a low performing school becomes a high performing school” (Murphy &amp; Meyers, 2008, p. 252). The term “turnaround” itself is goal-directed in its usage. Leading writers describes it as helping poor and minority students in declining schools, reach their potential by developing a safe and nurturing educational environment (Leithwood &amp; Strauss, 2008; Fullan, 2005). Recent research has found that turnaround schools are mostly affected by communities that disadvantaged and living in poverty (Reyes &amp; Garcia, 2014). School decline is commonly associated with a complex range of factors including poor facilities, poor leadership (Harris, et al., 2018), limited resources and funds (Duke &amp; Jacobson, 2011). Therefore, society has a moral obligation to identify and reverse the fortunes of these schools, as all children in these communities, have a right to high quality education (Harold, Burbach, Alfred &amp; Butler, 2005). The right turnaround principal makes a difference (Meyers &amp; Hambrick Hitt, 2017) to what has been described as a ‘wicked problem’ (Harris, Leithwood &amp; Strauss, 2010). Turnaround is a ‘wicked problem’ as it has the potential to return unless the school is successfully led through turnaround (Duke, 2010) ultimately ensuring its sustainable success (Hargreaves &amp; Fink, 2006). In addition, sustainability is most likely to be achieved if the initiatives of turnaround leaders are anchored in school improvement practices and strategies (Hargreaves &amp; Fink, 2006). Day (2014) cautions there are no ‘quick fixes’ to achieve sustainable change and such change will take time. It is widely agreed that five to eight years of support is needed to ensure sustained change in student performance (Day et al., 2010; Fullan, 2007). In addition, the capacity to balance school resources with rising expectations sits at the centre of this consideration. Therefore, research literatures suggest some consistent strategies to ensure turnaround schools’ sustainability. For example, the implementation of accountability measures (Butler, 2012), careful monitoring of teachers’ professional development, encourage parent participation (Liu, 2020), changing the school communities’ perceptions and beliefs (Fullan, 2010), and a combination of ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ change (Fullan, 2007). Interestingly, these strategies are strongly linked to strong school leadership. Thus, learning more about how principals are going about their work to lead rapid school improvement within the systems context is critical to ensuring the leadership moves necessary to change trajectories.

School improvement plans (SIPs) are increasingly used to structure the process of setting and monitoring goals. As SIPs are designed to identify and address local problems of practice, there is the possibility that these tools help school leaders initiate and carry out ambitious school improvement. Yet, practical challenges abound in the development and initiation of a SIP. This teaching case describes the process by which one school leader developed the SIP in a turnaround school, how the plan was initially received, and the consequences when she unilaterally initiated change. The potential benefits of school improvement planning, such as goal-setting and progress monitoring, are contrasted with practical constraints associated with plan development.

A HIGH SCHOOL TURNAROUND SCHOOL INITIATIVE: EFFECTS ON STUDENTS’ MATH AND READING PROFICIENCY by Rene’ Segler Zender Dr. Sherri Strawser, Doctoral Committee Chair Associate Professor of Special Education University of Nevada, Las Vegas Since the middle of the last century, student education in the U.S. public school systems has been deemed inadequate. Critics developed measures in the form of standardized testing to measure student progress in an attempt to help facilitate reforms. In the last thirty years, the federal government has played an increasing role in school reform efforts in the form of laws and unfunded mandates. School districts have attempted to respond to federal pressure by attempting radical changes from replacing all school administration and staff to a complete curriculum overhaul. While school reform efforts have been widely documented by various groups, no actual quantitative studies have been conducted on the dynamics that occur in successful school turnarounds. There is little research concerning specific programs within the context of turnaround schools that contribute to increased student achievement and the small body of research that does exist in more anecdotal accounts. The literature on the turnaround school improvement

School turnaround in a pandemic: An examination of the outsized implications of COVID-19 on low-performing turnaround schools, districts, and their communities

Regional variations in retinopathy of prematurity incidence for preterm infants <32 weeks’ gestation in China

This study analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution and effects of regional functions in rural China and summarizes the spatiotemporal characteristics of rural Chinese regional functions from 2005 to 2015. The results of this study are as follows. (a) The values of the regional functions of rural China generally exhibit a “V‐shaped” distribution such that these values are high in eastern and western China and low in central China, and are high in northern China and low in southern China. (b) The overall functions of rural Chinese regions vary distinctly by region across northeastern China, eastern China, central China, and western China. (c) The spatial variation of regional production function values in rural China also exhibits a gradually declining trend, with the highest values in eastern China, followed by northeastern, central, and western China. This pattern exhibits a relatively strong coupling relationship with the spatial variation principles governing China's natural environment, resource carrying capacity, and economic development level. Overall, regional ecological function values do not exhibit any significant variation, but they do exhibit a gradually declining trend, starting from western and northern China and moving to eastern and southern China. (d) The degree of spatial spillover received by a given region from a neighboring region's production, living, or ecological function is stronger than the effect of the error shock from the corresponding function of the neighboring region. The effects of influencing factors on different regions exhibit significant variation.

Background: There are wide-ranging differences in human growth, not only between ethnic groups but also between regions. China covers a vast area and has a very large population. However, no studies on the differences in development among children and adolescents in eastern and western China have been reported.Aim: This study assessed the differences in stature and body weight in children and adolescents in eastern and western China.Subjects and methods: Using data derived from two national surveys on students' constitution and health carried out by the Chinese government in 1985 and 2005, the average stature and body weight for children and adolescents aged 7–18 years in eastern and western China were calculated. The differences of mean values between eastern and western China were compared.Results: Boys and girls in eastern China were taller and heavier than their counterparts in western China in all age groups (7–18 years) in 2005, the average differences being 3.56 cm, 4.56 kg (urban boys), 3.05 cm, 2.92 kg (urban girls), 4.04 cm, 4.19 kg (rural boys) and 3.48 cm, 2.96 kg (rural girls). In 18-year-old groups, the differences in the stature and body weight between eastern and western China were 2.82 cm, 5.17 kg for urban boys, 1.86 cm, 2.11 kg for urban girls, 2.26 cm, 3.38 kg for rural boys and 1.96 cm, 1.38 kg for rural girls, respectively. From 1985 to 2005, differences in stature and body weight of children and adolescents between eastern and western China have continuously expanded.Conclusion: There have been obvious regional variations in development in children and adolescents in China, the variations in development in children and adolescents between eastern and western China being related to regional economic status and living standards of residents.

China׳s 19-year city-level carbon emissions of energy consumptions, driving forces and regionalized mitigation guidelines