The accreditation process of a nursing program requires self-assessment, peer evaluation, and identifying areas of improvement. In 2008, the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) began ...offering a 10-year accreditation with a Continuous Improvement Progress Report (CIPR) at the fifth year. This article focuses on an in-depth analysis of a system in which the school of nursing utilized an ad hoc committee to complete the CIPR. Reports generated by the ad hoc committee concluded that need for improvement was warranted related to policy review. An action plan for continuous compliance generated implementation of policy software and the creation of an academic support specialist position. An ad hoc committee completed the CIPR rather than paying faculty overload hours; policy was an exemplar. Faculty development, team performance, and accountability resulted in a plan for continual compliance that can be adopted in other nursing schools to meet CCNE accreditation.
We examined the extent to which use of a technology-enhanced continuous progress monitoring system would enhance the results of math instruction, examined variability in teacher implementation of the ...program, and compared math results in classrooms in which teachers did and did not use the system. Classrooms were randomly assigned to within-school experimental and control groups. Participating students were pre- and post-tested using two standardized, nationally normed tests of math achievement. When teachers implemented the continuous progress monitoring system as intended, and when they used the data from the system to manage and differentiate instruction, students gained significantly more than those for whom implementation was limited or nil. Failure to take into account intervention integrity would have made it look like continuous progress monitoring did not enhance math results.
In the knowledge economy, many companies are well aware of the vital need to maintain the professional expertise of their workers at a high level. Though there have been a lot of research studies in ...the areas of professional expertise and workplace learning, few examined the learning pathways novice workers went through to become experts in their professions. Most of the research studies on expertise focused on the nature of expertise and few on its development. As for workplace learning research, most studies focused on the learning resources and methods workers used and the affordances of the workplace in making learning possible. Based on the accounts of expertise development collected from individual information technology (IT) workers in Hong Kong, this paper proposes a four-phase model of professional expertise development in the workplace and discusses its similarities to and differences from extant theories of expertise and skill development.
The nature of special education has changed appreciably over the past several decades. As a result, the role of special educators needs to be examined and further developed to provide the most ...effective education for all learners at-risk and those with high- and low-incidence disabilities. In this article, the authors discuss five important roles in which special educators should possess skills to collaboratively educate learners at-risk within a multitiered instructional system.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aging on the storage of visual and spatial working memory according to Logie's model of working memory (1995). In a first experiment young, ...elderly, and very old subjects carried out two tasks usually used to measure visual span (Visual Patterns Test) and spatial span (Corsi Block Tapping test). In the second experiment, we modified the encoding time of the Visual Patterns Test so that it was the same as in the Corsi Block Tapping test. Results indicate that the visual span decreases more with advanced age than the spatial span, even when the encoding time between the Visual Patterns Test and the Corsi Block Tapping test is controlled. These results support the fractionation of the visuo-spatial working memory and show that the more pronounced age-related effect on the visual span is robust and independent of the encoding time.
It has been called many names: Continuous Progress Format, Advancement Based on Competency (ABC), Continuous Progress Schools, and Continuous Progress Education. The idea of "Continuous Progress" ...refers to academic and developmental growth of students in a multi-age program. Students learn new materials as they are ready, regardless of their age, and teachers help them advance as far as they are able. The students progress at their own pace and begin each new year where they left off the year before. Since a Continuous Progress classroom has students working at various levels, each student must take responsibility for his or her own learning (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, n.d.).
Dare to Be Different Wassermann, Selma
Phi Delta Kappan,
01/2007, Volume:
88, Issue:
5
Journal Article
In this article, the author profiles Charles Dickens Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia, a school that dares to be different from the rest. This elementary school operates on a ...child-centered, multi-aged framework that is based on belief in an orientation towards continuous progress, appropriate evaluation of progress, schoolwide team-teaching, anecdotal reporting to parents (instead of letter grades), a collegial and collaborative working relationship between teachers and administrators, mentoring for student teachers, advocacy teams that recommend school political directions and school improvement plans, an active student council, and a parent involvement advocacy team and parent advisory council. While many individual classrooms throughout British Columbia advocate child-centered education, it is rare to find an entire school that is consistently dedicated to its principles. Having been officially designated as an "alternative school" by the ministry of education, Dickens Elementary has more freedom to depart from the more common mainstream practices. One example of this departure is the means of assessing student performance. Standard achievement tests have been replaced in favor of the professional judgments of teams of teachers, based on their day-to-day observations and evaluations of students' work. Teachers at Dickens remain with the same group of children for a period of three years, allowing them to get to know the students better and to become familiar with their individual learning needs and styles. The author contends that the critical force in initiating and maintaining this style of child-centered school philosophy is the teaching staff. Teachers must see the school as a place where all children can satisfy their curiosity, develop their abilities and talents, and pursue their individual interests. Because there is no "grade-level curriculum," each child's learning needs are met along a continuum of progress. The anecdotal reports provided to parents are accompanied by the students' self-evaluations of their performance, who are often less generous in their appraisals than their teachers. Since Charles Dickens has been in operation for almost 20 years, there is now a history of reports about these children's subsequent performance in secondary schools. These reports indicate that the Dickens students are well-rounded, can carry on good discussions focused on the "big ideas," are good leaders as well as good team players, are autonomous, flexible, personally responsible, and make good adjustments to high school. The author concludes this essay with recommendations on what is needed to allow other schools to adopt these same successful philosophies and practices: (1) "stand-up" leadership from principals, who must buffer the school from district and provincial demands; and (2) school boards and provincial and state authorities who are not afraid to give educators the autonomy to follow a different pathway in meeting rigorous standards. (Contains 8 endnotes.)
Over the last several decades, Continuous Improvement (CI) type initiatives have been implemented in companies across the United States to improve quality, reduce process variation, eliminate waste ...and ultimately reduce costs. Approximately five years ago, one particular Fortune 500 company implemented CI in its manufacturing facilities. A key driver in the success and long term sustainability of CI at this company is believed to be Total Employee Involvement (TEI). The CI team does not currently have a best way to put TEI into practice in its manufacturing facilities. The purpose of the study is to investigate how TEI is best implemented and advanced at the manufacturing facilities of one specific Fortune 500 company. This grounded theory study proposes a continuum that defines TEI. Common practices that advance TEI are highlighted. Characteristics that support TEI implementation are discussed.
Since 1996, 125 Ohio principals have attended the Summit (Ohio) Principal Academy. Participants agree on the urgent need for change, work on personal beliefs and missions, focus on student work ...tasks, learn inter- and intra-district collaboration, and empower teachers to make decisions. Leadership academies supplement this process. (MLH)
There has been an emphasis on educators to improve student achievement, particularly in low socioeconomic schools. The latest research encourages educators to use student data to drive instruction. ...The purpose of this study was to determine if using data to arrange students by academic performance improves academic achievement. A middle school in Mississippi has implemented Continuous Progress Curriculum to group students based on multiple data points. Throughout the school year, data from tests and assignments are analyzed by teachers and administrators. Based on the data, students are moved to the most appropriate performance level that will address the skills and content the student needs to improve academic achievement. The study revealed an increase in student achievement.
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