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Volumes of data are available to administrators to support decisionmaking. But that doesn't mean that what's been presented is accurate. When data are misused or misconstrued, senior leaders at higher education institutions may make the wrong conclusions, ineffective policies may be enacted, and students may not be successful in completing their academic goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the 'media mentalities' about teachers and their work in the Australian print media. The notion of media mentalities draws on the theoretical concepts of discourse, mentalities, and mediatisation. This refers to the constructed realities and forms of thought in media coverage that circulate particular accounts. These are linked to institutional and journalistic practices in media that are governed by media logics. Drawing on newspaper text and interviews with journalists, the following practices are addressed: agendisation and accountabilisation which are both institutional practices; and the journalistic practices of factualisation, emphasisation, and sensationalisation – all of which operate globally, to some degree, across and within media institutions and media practitioners, and produce the news about teacher's work within the framework of these practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a reflective and critical review of research relating to widening participation (WP) in higher education (HE). The motivation for undertaking this was the twentieth anniversary of the Dearing Report Higher Education in the Learning Society (1997); a document that ignited a wide range of WP activity and policy. Dearing's report was published in the United Kingdom and represents one of the most significant reviews of higher education in this country since the Robbins' Report of 1963. His vision for HE included a "compact" between local and regional communities and their universities, and emphasised WP and greater student diversity. I draw on my own research in WP since Dearing, compare with other research projects, and compare with my experiences as a practitioner and researcher in various contexts, including most recently in a post-1992 university known for being a WP institution. This paper identifies several core themes that emerged from WP activities over the last 20 years and leads to the development of an added dimension in WP research. It calls for more consideration of the complex and heterogeneous identities of WP students today. It then returns to some of Dearing's original themes and considers how WP is situated in the current neoliberal climate affecting HE; it presents a set of ideas for discussion with respect to the future of WP research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an alternative format for reporting thesis/dissertation research that should lead to more rapid publication of quality research. The purposes of the thesisldissertation and characteristics and limitations of the traditional thesis/dissertation format are reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of the advantages of the alternative format in overcoming the shortcomings of the conventional style. Finally, the sections of the alternative format are presented with examples of where appropriate materials are placed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Research Papers of the Wroclaw University of Economics / Prace Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wroclawiu is the property of Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wroclawiu and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article reports findings from a recent research project, commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which explored the current landscape of professional doctorate (PD) provision in English higher education institutions (HEIs) (Mellors-Bourne et al., 2016). Given the absence of a clear definition by the Quality Assurance Agency for England of the characteristics that distinguish PDs from practice-based doctorates and the doctor of philosophy, this paper makes a timely contribution through considering the inherent characteristics of PD programmes. The paper presents an overview of the state of play of PD programmes currently available in HEIs in England, highlighting how the proliferation of PD titles and programmes, and inconsistencies between the various programmes, has resulted in confusion about what PDs are, the contribution they make, and the value they add to professional practice. Consideration is given to the tensions created through the expansion in the number and types of PDs available, and the implications of these tensions with regard to the future sustainability of PD programmes in general and in relation to the professional doctorate in education (EdD) in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations ( SANE) is the finding that people overweight psychological arguments when framed in terms of neuroscience findings. Aim This study extended this finding to arguments concerning the application of psychological findings to educational topics. Sample Participants ( n = 320) were recruited from the general public, specifically among English-speaking Amazon Mechanical Turk workers residing in the United States. Methods We developed eight articles that orthogonally varied two processes (learning vs. development) with two disciplines (cognitive vs. affective psychology). We increased neuroscience framing across four levels: psychological finding alone, with an extraneous neuroscience finding (verbal), with an extraneous neuroscience finding (verbal) and graph, and with an extraneous neuroscience finding (verbal) and brain image. Participants were randomly assigned to one level of neuroscience framing and rated the credibility of each article's argument. Results Seductive allure of neuroscience explanations effects were not ubiquitous. Extraneous verbal neuroscience framings, either alone or accompanied by graphs, did not influence the credibility of the application of psychological findings to educational topics. However, there was a SANE effect when educational articles were accompanied by both extraneous verbal neuroscience findings and brain images. This effect persisted even after controlling for individual differences in familiarity with education, attitude towards psychology, and knowledge of neuroscience. Conclusion The results suggest that there is a SANE effect for articles about educational topics among the general public when they are accompanied by both extraneous verbal neuroscience findings and brain images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a newsletter of "Archaeology in Jordan" 2016 edition which consist of short reports from selected archaeological projects conducted in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 2014 and 2015. Topics mention include the arrangement of reports based on geography, starts in the Eastern Panhandle and projects are presented with footnotes and bibliographic references.

The release of the Marland Report in 1972 is often described as a watershed moment in the field of gifted education and remains a touchstone for the field today. The report presented the federal government’s formal definition of giftedness and outlined the unique learning needs of gifted students and the challenges faced by these students in U.S. schools. This article presents an examination of the goals and outcomes set forth in the Marland Report, the context within which the report evolved, and lessons learned, which can lead to an improved understanding of this legislation and the state of the field today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the findings in the "Equality of Educational Opportunity" study (EEOS) by American sociologist and empirical researcher James S. Coleman related to the effectiveness of the schools and education in the U.S., which was released on July 1966, offers an opportunity to reflect on the collective failure and to think again about how to organize and fund education studies in the U.S. It mentions strategies on how to improve outcomes of children's education in the U.S.

In this article the author presents a discussion on the racial composition of schools and student learning in the U.S. The topics included are impact of racial desegregation efforts on educational opportunity and racial achievement gaps, school enrollment patterns since 1968, and emphasis on substantial achievement differences due to school racial composition.

The article presents profile of American sociologist and empirical researcher James S. Coleman, under whose leadership "Equality of Educational Opportunity" study (EEOS) was conducted to justify the effectiveness of the schools and education in the U.S. The topics included are his early educational experiences, his intellectual interests, and Coleman's interest in studying educational institutions.

The article analyzes the findings in the "Equality of Educational Opportunity" study (EEOS) by American sociologist and empirical researcher James S. Coleman related to the effectiveness of the schools and education in the U.S., which was released on July 1966. The topics included are Coleman's analysis was not only wrong but generated misunderstandings, problem with Coleman's methodology for the study, and conclusion made by Coleman in EEOS was unjustified.

For more than a decade, hundreds of thousands of India's young adults have volunteered to collect data for an annual household education related survey. The survey is called the Annual Status of Education Report or ASER, for short. The ASER survey is a unique methodology of citizen-led assessments. The purpose of this article is to describe and report about how the ASER methodology is implemented. This article examines a case study of ASER volunteers (n=37) who are prepared to carry out the ASER methodology. This article also analyzes how the ASER methodology supports a conceptual framework about equipping everyday citizens, like the volunteers in the case study, to better understand and use data-driven evidence to take action to improve the education and schooling in their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reprint of the General Report of the Committee on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure (1915 Declaration) which was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors on December 31, 1915 and was originally published in the "Bulletin of the American Association of University Professors." Dismissals of college teachers in the U.S. are examined, along with resignations of groups of professors and the termination of a university president.

Early childhood education is a developmental period in which early symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be observed. This work examines the educational background of 206 children, from the ages of three to five years (109 of them with an ADHD diagnosis and 97 without a clinical diagnosis), by analysing 306 reports from their teachers. The aim of this study is to discover if these educational reports reflect differences in academic performance and behaviour between both groups. The 123 educational goals analysed in the reports have been classified into 15 categories. A nonparametric analysis (Chi square) was performed on each variable to compare ADHD/control groups. Our results claim that ADHD children show more difficulties in different curricular and behavioural aspects like attention, self-regulation, independence, motivation, basic learning, social relationships, motor skills and communication. These reports are useful in identifying children who are at risk of developing the disorder and in establishing intervention goals that decrease negative effects in children’s development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion is the property of Pixel-Bit, Revista de Medios y Educacion and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Supporting users in interpreting assessment results is an important but underexposed aspect of validity. This study investigated how the score reports from the pupil-monitoring Computer Program LOVS can be redesigned in a way that supports users in interpreting pupils' test results. In several rounds of consultations and designs with users and experts using design principles from the literature, alternative designs for the reports were created and field tested. No clear differences were found in terms of users' interpretation accuracy between the original and the redesigned reports. However, users' perceptions of the redesigned reports were predominantly positive. The authors emphasise the need for involvement of experts and users in the design process to ensure the validity of reports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the end date for the Millennium Development Goals approaches so the focus on goals, visions and policies for development after 2015 becomes ever heightened. However, there has been relatively little engagement by educational research community in these debates. What then is being written about education in the key post-2015 documents? How is education's role in development conceptualised by those most central to shaping new accounts? I explore these issues through an analysis of a key text on post-2015, the High Level Panel Report of May 2013 ( UN HLP, 2013 ), and an exploration of a year's worth of posts on 30 prominent blogs and websites discussing post-2015 matters. This leads me to two further, interlinked questions: what are the implications of potential marginalisation and irrelevance from these debates for the field of international education and development research? What are the potential dangers for the field of closer engagement in these debates and their growing use of social media? The academic international education and development community may be more comfortable in keeping these policy debates at a distance, but this may play against the strong educational research drive to engage in social science that makes a difference. If there is to be engagement with post-2015 then alternative ways of developing practices of research, action and dialogue need further strengthened. This may include interdisciplinary dialogues around such issues as early childhood development, the role of professions in development or environmental sustainability. Engagement with the post-2015 debate would also require a careful analysis of how best to engage with the instrumentalised accounts of education that are dominant in the policy-advocacy arena. This would entail more strategic positions on the uses and dangers of social media. At the same time, engagement with development studies as well as the development policy community requires a reappraisal of epistemological and methodological stances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Score reports have one or more intended audiences: the people who use the reports to make decisions about test takers, including teachers, administrators, parents and test takers. Attention to audience when designing a score report supports assessment validity by increasing the likelihood that score users will interpret and use assessment results appropriately. Although most design guidelines focus on making score reports understandable to people who are not testing professionals, audiences should be defined by more than just their lack of statistical knowledge. This paper introduces an approach to identifying important audience characteristics for designing computer-based, interactive score reports. Through three examples, we demonstrate how an audience analysis suggests adesign pattern, which guides the overall design of a report, as well as design details, such as data representations and scaffolding. We conclude with a research agenda for furthering the use of audience analysis in the design of interactive score reports. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses reporting methods for the findings of a national assessment of educational achievement that provide detailed information to curriculum developers, textbook writers and citizens. It describes procedures and instruments to be prepared by a national assessment team along with the main report including a product specification sheet for the preparation of reports, briefings for ministerial and policy personnel, summary and technical reports, and a press release for the media.

The article discusses the preparation and the writing of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation report. Topics include details on the reports' roles in physical education teacher education (PETE) programs, mention of workshops and meetings for preparation of the reports, and the role of collecting assessment data in preparing for the report.

The authors discuss developments of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's (ACGME) Milestones Project and the Next Accreditation System (NAS) in the U.S. They chronicle how the two projects were developed and their significance in providing framework to structure faculty development and feedback to trainees. However, the authors also suggest the need for education community to study the effects of the projects and align them with other phases to make them more efficient.

The article discusses the main components of the reports of Road Map for Geography Education Project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. It mentions that the reports examine the K-12 geography education methods and suggest ways for further improvement. It informs that the reports help in drafting a framework for developing an assessment, which further supports educational reforms.

As a Hungarian member of the international expert group consisting of ten persons, the author complements the report with important background information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of the Get REAL programme in an inclusive primary school setting has indicated its effectiveness in promoting pro-social behaviour for children with high functioning Autism. However, two children with co-morbid diagnoses and complex personal circumstances showed less consistent improvements. In order to explain their unique trajectories, not readily derived from quantitative studies, an exploratory case study approach was used to examine contextual influences on patterns of progress. Multiple data sources included coded video footage from the Get REAL programme, school reports on conduct, and parents and classroom teacher reports using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. While results provide support for the efficacy of the Get REAL programme for the two children, they also highlight the value of co-ordinated strategies and collaborative individualised approaches in more complex cases. This paper outlines the Get REAL intervention and a range of other school and support agency strategies impacting progress. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines how various issues facing higher education impact education policy research. The issues include weak labor markets for graduates, declining faculty salaries, and increasing tuitions. According to the author, many policy reports focus on one aspect of an institution that fails to address broader problems facing higher education, often to not find the appropriate audience for action to be taken, and take so much time to produce that the topic discussed may be resolved or no long relevant by the time the report is released. In addition, he states that policy reports that get the most attention typical criticize higher education in areas such as management, pricing, and performance.

Test scores matter these days. Test-takers want to understand how they performed, and test score reports, particularly those for individual examinees, are the vehicles by which most people get the bulk of this information. Historically, score reports have not always met the examinees' information or usability needs, but this is clearly changing for the better due to recent, much-needed additions to the psychometric literature as well as improved efforts in reporting practices. This paper provides an overview of score reports from a development perspective, focusing on current practices and emerging efforts in content of reports as well as the process by which reports are designed, evaluated, and ultimately used to communicate with the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement community needs to better understand how to interact with the media to effectively disseminate important findings from educational testing efforts. To this end, the current paper will review media coverage of educational testing and related issues and elaborate on areas of concern and opportunities for improved communication between measurement professionals and the media. Common misinterpretations of test results and measurement concepts will be discussed and suggestions for the clearer presentation and explanation of such information will be offered. Also, practical advice and strategies for handling different types of interactions with the media will be provided. The implications of focusing on this topic in the measurement profession and the inherent public value of this focus are highlighted throughout the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on educational research. It says that educational research is an active, dynamic, multifaceted, living, and involved matter. It also says that it cannot be suppressed, despite the bureaucratic, political, and economic constraints and agendas in which the reporting and auditing of research activity often seems to count more than the research itself.

Abstract: Despite the fact that homework forms an important cornerstone of student development, many students fail to capitalize on the long-term benefits of doing homework. Several executive skills, including cognitive flexibility, monitoring and planning are suggested as prerequisites for the completion of homework. It follows that homework difficulties may relate to such executive functions. A group of particular interest in this respect is students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as they are known to suffer from executive dysfunction. The present study examines the extent to which differences in homework difficulties of seventh and eighth grade students with (N =100) and without ASD (N =86) may relate to their level of executive functioning. Homework difficulties were examined with student and parent versions of the Homework Difficulties Questionnaire (HDQ) and executive functioning was examined with the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF). In contrast to students with ASD themselves, parents of students with ASD perceived their children to suffer from more homework problems than students without ASD. For both groups, the level of executive functioning was related to the degree of homework difficulty experienced. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An earlier study conducted into tertiary student perceptions of feedback on their work revealed a mixed response to the idea of electronic feedback. This result was surprising considering the attention given to Generation Y and the preference for digital technology in their lives. This paper reports on the results of a follow-up study exploring a 2010 cohort of Australian tertiary students and their perceptions of electronic formats for providing feedback on their work. Student preferences, experiences, feedback clarity, teacher feedback and feedback from others were all investigated within the overarching context of electronic feedback on students' work. A survey was used to collect data about this topic via a combination of qualitative open-ended and closed questions. The findings continue to generate surprise as young, tech-savvy students revealed a preference for the personal via face-to-face and hand written feedback, while seeming to just tolerate electronic formats as a back-up form of feedback. In considering these findings, this paper argues that we cannot make assumptions about how students want to use technology in all aspects of their lives, including the learning environments in which they are engaged. In this hyper-technology aware period, there is a human aspect to feedback that is conveyed through non-electronic forms that students value very highly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]