The influence of school size,principal characteristics and school management practices on educational performance: An efficiency analysis of Italian students attending middle schools

The aim of the paper is to identify which among the aspects that relate to the composition of the student body, school (district) size, management practices and the school principals' own characteristics are associated with the performance of Italian students at grade 8, measured through standardised test scores in reading and mathematics. The analysis makes use of a student-level efficiency model, and several school level variables are included as explanators for efficiency scores. The results show that, especially for reading, the most influential variables relate to the composition of the student body, while the students' performance in mathematics is partly correlated with the management practices adopted by the school principal/head teacher. Schools and schooling can only explain a minor part of the variance in achievement scores, however, and the characteristics of the students themselves play the most significant role.     

Learning from the implementation of Universal Free School Meals in Scotland using Normalisation Process Theory: Lessons for policymakers to engage multiple stakeholders

In 2014/15, Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) were introduced in Scotland and England for children in their first three years of primary school. This study examined the implementation of UFSM in Scotland using Normalisation Process Theory (NPT), a middle-range theory of implementation, to identify areas of learning for policymakers wishing to introduce or extend similar policies. NPT is predominantly used to evaluate interventions or new technologies in healthcare settings. Qualitative data were collected across Scotland using a case study approach shortly after implementation (n = 29 school-level stakeholders) and in the following school year (n = 18 school-level stakeholders and n = 19 local authority-level stakeholders). Observations of lunchtime in each school were conducted at both timepoints. Data were analysed using a thematic framework approach using NPT constructs and sub-constructs. Results suggested education and catering stakeholders experiences of implementation diverged most around the NPT concepts of coherence, cognitive participation, and reflexive monitoring. Lack of coherence around the purpose and long-term benefits of UFSM appeared to reduce education stakeholders’ willingness to engage with the policy beyond operational issues. In contrast, catering stakeholders identified a direct benefit to their everyday work and described receiving additional resources to deliver the policy. Overall, participants described an absence of monitoring data around the areas of greatest salience for education stakeholders. This study successfully used NPT to identify policy learning around school meals. Policymakers must increase the salience of such intersectoral policies for all relevant stakeholders involved before policy implementation, and plan adequate monitoring to evaluate potential long-term benefits.     

高职计算机网络技术专业教学改革与探索

高职计算机网络技术专业教学改革应遵循以岗位需要为主线、以能力培养为根本、以学生发展为中心、以教学服务为模式的教育理念，打破传统课程原有的学科体系，按照“必需、够用”的原则将课程进行重组与创新，实行整体优化。学历教育应与证书培训有效结合，构筑专业课程新体系，以实现教学环节与毕业生就业的工作岗位零距离对接。     

国外统筹城乡发展理论研究述评

国外统筹城乡发展理论研究轨迹可以总结为"三观"之变:从20世纪50年代前期的朴素城乡整体观发展到后来的城乡分割发展观,随后发展到20世纪80年代以来注重城乡联系的城乡融合发展观.综现国外统筹城乡理论多年来的研究,其主要特点表现为注重发展中国家城乡差异与区域之间的比较,注重空间分析与社会因素相结合.国外相关研究也存在定量研究过少,理论假定过窄的不足.     

论高校“办学自主权”的 双面法治逻辑及统合

国内对高校“办学自主权”的释义颇多,法学视角而言就存在“国家行政权”与“社团自治 权”性质之争,但这类释义过分强调了对立而忽视了统一。本质上两者都是在处理与政府的关系,表 现为“外部分权”与“内部治理”的双面逻辑。外部高校基于法律授权而分享教育管理权,能为高校不 依附于政府行使权力提供法律保障;内部高校基于学术自由而类似于“私主体”,借鉴私法人格技术, 能为高校按照学术逻辑的特色治理架起理论桥梁。而高校章程能成为两者统合的优选通道,但必须 明确它的实施途径与违法后果以促进落实。如此,就为高校“办学自主权”提供了一个符合大学逻辑 的法学释义,从而优化高校的权力环境、形成特色办学、满足人的全面发展。     

Scaling service delivery in a failed state: cocoa smallholders,Farmer Field Schools,persistent bureaucrats and institutional work in Côte d’Ivoire

The increased use of sustainability standards in the international trade in cocoa challenges companies to find effective modes of service delivery to large numbers of small-scale farmers. A case study of the Sustainable Tree Crops Program targeting the small-scale cocoa producers in Côte d’Ivoire supplying international commodity markets shifts attention from mechanisms of private governance to the embedding of service delivery in the institutional dynamics of the state. It demonstrates that, despite a recent history of violent conflict and civil unrest, the introduced Farmer Field Schools programme achieved a surprising scale in terms of numbers and geographical spread. The analysis of this outcome combines political science and anthropological studies of effective and developmental elements in the state with the interest in institutional work found in organization science. The scaling of a new form of service delivery is explained by the skilful practices of institutional work by managers of a public–private partnership. They have been professionally associated with the sector for a long time and had the capacity to embed new forms of service delivery in persistent pockets of bureaucratic effectiveness in a failed state.     

职业院校呼唤差异性教学

差异性教育是职业院校发展的需要,是素质教育的核心。搞好差异性教育要从创造良好的教学环境、采用个性的教学理念和方法以及灵活多变的考试制度上着手进行。     

大学生入党积极分子培养现状分析与改进对策

大学生入党积极分子的培养工作是高校基层党组织建设的重要环节,在保障党的事业持续发展方面具有长远意义。然而,高校在培养入党积极分子的过程中正面临着许多新的问题和挑战。党校学员、管理体制、教员队伍,以及质量控制体系等方面都关系着当前大学生入党积极分子的培养工作。如何正确对待这些方面出现的问题,直接影响着党的队伍建设与未来发展。     

Children and Government Propaganda

Abstract

Around the world “public relations” is confused with “propaganda.” Although “propaganda” has negative connotations today, the authors examine the history of propaganda studies, which is tied to the government-sponsored study of communication. Then they offer a recent example of how the U.S. government used children as messengers of propaganda. By abandoning our prejudices against propaganda, the authors argue we can reconnect public relations with a tradition of scholarship on communication audiences, public communication campaigns, and government propaganda efforts.