Evaluation Of Educational Innovation Research Articles

Effects of entrepreneurial characteristic of school principals on evaluation of educational innovation

AIM: The Ministry of Education has started extensive efforts to enhance innovation in schools so that staff structure and planning as well as management and scheduling of cultural and educational capacity of schools are better aligned with the aforementioned objective. The goal of the present study is to investigate the entrepreneurial characteristics of educational managers and its effects on the educational innovation. In this study, pragmatism, creativity, risk, challenge seeking, and ambiguity tolerance are considered as characteristics of entrepreneurial characteristics of school principals. METHODS: The research is of applied type, and qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to carry out the research. Our research methodology is causal-comparative and the population includes 100 Isfahan school principals during the educational year of 2014–2015. This study investigates one main hypothesis and four subhypotheses, and other characteristics such as gender, educational background of school principals, and ownership status of schools (being private or state owned) are also examined. For data collection purposes, Characteristics of Iranian Entrepreneurs Questionnaire with a reliability score of 0.94 and a questionnaire for measuring innovation are utilized. Our data analysis phase makes use of the independent samples t-test as well as Pearson's correlation coefficient. RESULT: Our findings indicate that factors such as ownership status of schools and challenge-seeking traits are significantly related to the educational innovation of school organizations. CONCLUSION: Therefore, it is recommended to take steps toward increased decentralization of the educational system and greater consideration of organizational entrepreneurship in the body of education and training organization. Also, it is suggested that having more flexible and dynamic planning allows for better capitalization on personal entrepreneurial characteristics of educational managers.

Letters

To the Editor: We read with interest “Good Teaching Is Good Science” in the first issue of AJPE this year (vol 71, issue 1, page 10). The editorial made some excellent, and indeed important, points in drawing parallels between good scientific practices and good educational practices. However, the current efforts of schools and colleges of pharmacy to articulate, map, and assess curricular outcomes, and to use that information for continuous programmatic improvement, clearly fall into this category as well. The concepts underlying the broad area of curricular outcomes are viewed as abstract by many faculty members, especially classically trained scholars. In reality, these concepts relate very closely to the scientific method, and parallel such research-related activities as the construction of grant proposals. In the grant proposal process, the applicant is expected to plan and prioritize research activities so that the granting agency will clearly understand the nature and scope of the project, as well as the time and effort necessary to accomplish the work. A successful research project must address a relevant question, and well-conceived hypotheses represent the requisite first step in designing studies that effectively address the question(s) at hand. Once a hypothesis is formulated, methodologies and protocols are designed to address that question. Based upon the study design, data analysis and reporting strategies are developed. As the editorial noted, this process is quite applicable to inquiry related to teaching, learning, and assessment, whether at the curriculum, classroom, or instructional-activity level. Furthermore, if inquiry in this area is to have a significant impact on the quality of education and preparation of pharmacy professionals, then well-conceived research questions must be drawn from clearly defined, relevant educational outcomes. The vast majority of our curricular or classroom efforts should then promote student achievement of these outcomes in a thoughtfully considered and well-planned manner and assessment strategies should provide valid measures of the success of those efforts. As an educational community, we will be successful only to the extent that our “study design” acknowledges and reflects the complexities of defined educational outcomes that require integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors, and that we approach inquiry related to teaching and learning with the same enthusiasm, respect, and rigor that we reserve for other forms of scholarship. In clinical research, informed consent of patients or other volunteers is essential to ensure that they know what to expect and why their participation in the study is being asked. In the classroom, we should inform learners about the goals of instruction (desired educational outcomes) as well as strategies for achieving and assessing those outcomes. This “informed consent” promotes cooperation and an open-dialogue among instructors and students. Finally, our assessments and evaluation of educational innovations and related student learning should be approached in a manner similar to the data analysis section of a research project. Assessment or evaluation methods and tools focus on the primary research question (desired learning outcomes) and should be appropriate for the type of learning under inquiry. The best researchers align carefully conceived ideas, clear goals, superb study design, and analytical methods; curricular and classroom innovations should follow similar orchestration. Our schools of pharmacy rarely have the benefit of individuals with educational degrees. Among the more typical clinician and scientist faculty members, few have significant formal training in teaching, learning, and assessment. In order to change the way our schools do business from an educational standpoint, it is important that we all understand the concepts underlying the entire educational process, from conceptualization to conclusion, regardless of what terminology might be currently used. The scientific method, as stated in the original editorial, is familiar to most of us, regardless of discipline. By contrast, educational terminology is unfamiliar and seems to be in a constant state of evolution. Thinking of teaching and related inquiry in terms of the more familiar scientific process may be very beneficial to faculty members as they struggle to understand and engage in educational innovations to promote student achievement of contemporary learning outcomes in the professional curriculum. Adam M. Persky, PhD Wendy C. Cox, PharmD Kim Deloatch, MEd, BSPharm, Gary M. Pollack, PhD College of Pharmacy The University of North Carolina

Evaluation of a K–5 Mathematics Program Which Integrates Children’s Literature: Classroom Environment and Attitudes

This article describes a one-year study of 120 fifth grade students whose teachers participated in a program entitled Project SMILE (Science and Mathematics Integrated with Literary Experiences). The purpose of the study was to determine the extent to which the classroom implementation of Project SMILE positively influenced the classroom environment and student attitudes toward reading, writing and mathematics. This was accomplished by, first, facilitating a series of professional development workshops with the teachers and, subsequently, asking these teachers to use the strategies with their students in their elementary school classrooms. The research represents one of the relatively few studies that have employed learning environment dimensions as criteria of effectiveness in the evaluation of educational innovations. Methodologically, our study supported previous research that successfully combined qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The learning environment and attitude scales exhibited satisfactory internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity and, additionally, the actual form of most learning environment scales was capable of differentiating between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. The implementation of SMILE was found to have a positive impact on the students of the teachers who participated in the inservice program in that students’ attitudes to mathematics and reading improved and there was congruence between students’ actual and preferred classroom environment on the scales of satisfaction and difficulty. As well, prior research was replicated in that students’ satisfaction was greater in classrooms with a more positive learning environment, especially in terms of student cohesiveness. Finally, qualitative data-gathering methods were used to construct a case study of the mathematics classes of a teacher who attended the SMILE professional development. This case study supported and illuminated the results from the questionnaire survey concerning the effectiveness of Project SMILE in terms of student attitudes and classroom environment.

Determinants of Classroom Psychosocial Environments: A Review

Abstract Whereas previous reviews have synthesized research into the effects of classroom climate on student outcomes, the present paper presents an overview of the diverse set of past studies involving use of classroom environment variables as criterion variables. The first section summarizes studies which have included classroom environment variables as process criteria in the evaluation of educational innovations, programs, and curricula. The second section summarizes use of classroom environment assessments as dependent variables in studies of differences between students' and teachers' perceptions of actual and preferred environment. In the third section, classroom environment scores were examined as criterion variables in investigations of determinants of classroom environment including class size, teacher personality, grade level, school subject, gender of teacher, type of school, and numerous other variables. Just as past reviews clearly established the important role of classroom environment variables as potent predictors of learning outcomes, this review provides strong evidence that classroom environment dimensions can be used profitably as criterion variables in a wide range of research and practical applications in childhood education.

Empirical Evaluation of Educational Innovations in Belgian High Schools

Empirical Evaluation of Educational Innovations in Belgian High Schools