Journal of Academic Perspectives
Journal of Academic Perspectives

Volume 2013 No. 2

Relating Instructional Practices in Mathematics to Student Success: Focus on Math 7 for Grade 7

Rachel A. Hickson and Shahpar Modarresi,  Montgomery County Public Schools, US

 
Online Pedagogy: Maintaining the Rigor and Relevance in Educational Leadership

Susan J. Nix, West Texas A&M University, US

 
Building Community for Student-Parents and Their Families – A Social Justice Challenge for Higher Education

Anne S. Robertson and Aaron Weiner, Washington University in St. Louis, US

 
Studying the Impact of Combining Online-Homework and Peer-Led Team Learning on Students’ Attitudes and Performance in General Chemistry

Issa I. Salame and Nathan J. Hershberger, City College of New York, US

 

Transformational Leadership and its Role in Strategic Planning in Educational Organizations

Christopher L. Sny, University of Maryland-Bowie, US

 

Humanistic Administration: Rethinking Educational Leadership for the 21st Century

Charles T. Vehse, West Virginia University, US

Relating Instructional Practices in Mathematics to Student Success: Focus on Math 7 for Grade 7

Rachel A. Hickson and Shahpar Modarresi,  Montgomery County Public Schools, US

In a large Maryland public school district where all middle school students are expected to complete Algebra 1 before high school, this study sought to identify instructional practices in Math 7 classes that have positive and significant associations with students’ mathematics achievement.
A multi-method evaluation design included a formative component to collect and analyze multiple classroom observations of instructional practices, and a summative component which used advanced statistical models to examine relationships between observed instructional practices and student success in mathematics. Several practices were found to have a significant positive relationship to student mathematics performance. Results will inform mathematics teaching at many levels and to different types of
hickson.pdf
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Online Pedagogy: Maintaining the Rigor and Relevance in Educational Leadership

Susan J. Nix, West Texas A&M University, US

With increased competition from online degree programs originating outside the immediate area surrounding our university, the need for an assessment of program strengths and weaknesses is obvious. Simultaneously with this competition, Levine’s study (2005) criticized the effectiveness of educational leadership preparation programs on the basis that those responsible for teaching aspiring administrators have no professional experience in the field. Additionally, rising costs in higher education, largely as a result of the current recession, have contributed criticisms targeting traditional leadership programs. As a result of a noticeable drop in enrollment, program faculty at my own regional university conducted a study in January of 2012. Five years of data validated the overall loss in
nix.pdf
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Building Community for Student-Parents and Their Families – A Social Justice Challenge for Higher Education

Anne S. Robertson and Aaron Weiner, Washington University in St. Louis, US

This research project developed as one outcome of an advocacy effort on behalf of student-parents enrolled at a major public university in the United States. Although the concept of a student parent isn’t new it has not been clearly defined or explained in either the literature or research. For the purposes of our discussion, a student–parent could have any of the characteristics of the nontraditional student,1 or could be 18 years old and is balancing the role of parent while attempting to finish a degree. The purpose of this project was to explore the perceptions and demographics of student-parents’ at one U.S. university. The paper then expands on the characteristics of student-parents in higher education.
robertson.pdf
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Studying the Impact of Combining Online-Homework and Peer-Led Team Learning on Students’ Attitudes and Performance in General Chemistry

Issa I. Salame and Nathan J. Hershberger, City College of New York, US

Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) has been an invaluable source as students struggle to learn difficult chemistry concepts. The financial issues of effectively implementing the program have become somewhat troubling in today’s learning environment. Online homework use has become routine at many schools, but when currently used, there have been some questions of its efficacy. To alleviate the issues facing either alone, a combination of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) and Online-homework was studied to determine its effect on students’ learning of chemistry, and their attitudes towards the subject matter. Participants in this study were 180 CCNY students enrolled in the second semester of general chemistry during the spring of 2010. Our methods included a Likert-type questionnaire, an open en
salame.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [254.4 KB]

Transformational Leadership and its Role in Strategic Planning in Educational Organizations

Christopher L. Sny, University of Maryland-Bowie, US

Traditional leadership theories have focused on the leadership effects on followers' cognition (House, Spangler, & Woycke, 1991). Since the 1970s, new organizational leadership theories have emerged and been identified or labeled as inspirational, charismatic, visionary, symbolic and transformational. These new theories of leadership have evoked high levels of interest and led to empirical research on different aspects of leadership {House, Spangler, & Woycke, 1991; Bass & Avolio, 1994; Hoy & Miskel, 1996). James MacGregor Burns (1978) first described two types of political leadership: transactional and transformational. Later, Bass (1985; 1990) developed a formal theory of transformational leadership. According to Bass (1985, p. 17), "transformational leaders attempt and succeed in raisin
sny.pdf
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Humanistic Administration: Rethinking Educational Leadership for the 21st Century

Charles T. Vehse, West Virginia University, US

The approaching centennial of John Dewey’s seminal work, Democracy and Education, presents educators worldwide with a valuable opportunity to reflect critically on their profession and on the state of education throughout the human community. If we have learned anything about teaching in the century or so since Dewey wrote, it is that there never can be truly successful progressive education in the absence of progressive educational administrative theory and some practical conception of progressive educational leadership. On these matters, unfortunately, John Dewey’s Democracy and Education is largely silent.
More recently, Eugenie Samier’s interesting article, “Toward Public Administration as a Humanities Discipline: A Humanistic manifesto,” critiques contemporary new managerial
vehse.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [261.2 KB]
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