As part of his work with the Hook Center, Dr. Jay Scribner was invited to present at the International Conference on Decentralization in Higher Education from a Global Perspective: Implications for Vietnam and the Region in Ho Chi Minh City. At the conference, held in July, 2010, Dr. Scribner presented preliminary findings from a case study of one American school district’s strategies for human resource management. The findings highlighted key factors impacting a district’s ability to strategically and systemically utilize their human resources, knowledge vital to any school system across the globe, particularly in times of economic hardship.
Dr. Scribner’s PowerPoint presentation is available to download in both Vietnamese and English.
Download:
Toward Strategic Human Resource Management for Student Learning: Lessons from the Central Office (Vietnamese)
Toward Strategic Human Resource Management for Student Learning: Lessons from the Central Office (English)
Investigators:
Jay Paredes Scribner – Old Dominion University
Heather LeAnn Mosley Linhardt – University of Missouri
Mark A. Smylie – University of Illinois – Chicago
Credits:
Paper presented at the annual University Council for Educational Administration annual convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 28-31, 2010.
Excerpt:
With the budget-crunch economy of late, resource efficiency and maximization are at the forefront of discussion, and the importance of human resources is finally being regarded as the valuable resource that it is. In fact, after decades of education reform cycles that all but ignored it, these days it is difficult to get beyond earshot of the call for the development of teachers and school administrators. Indeed, we are seeing the development of a full-blown emphasis on human capital. Beginning with the “teacher quality” provision of the ubiquitous NCLB legislation and accelerating into the education provisions of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we see a concerted emphasis and the supporting resources to develop the educator workforce as an instrument of public education improvement.
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Investigators:
Jay Paredes Scribner – Old Dominion University
Mark A. Smylie – University of Illinois-Chicago
Heather L. Mosley – University of Missouri
Credits:
Paper presented at the annual American Educational Research Association Conference, New York City, New York, March 24-28, 2008.
Download: AERA08_SHRM_Paper.doc
Excerpt:
Increasingly, we are seeing strategic considerations emerge with regard to HRM [Human Resource Management] in schools and school districts. However, while logical and promising the education literature does not seem to be driven by a coherent conceptual framework of strategic human resource function. Moreover, little empirical literature exists that describes and assesses the efficacy and strategic nature of various approach to HRM in school districts. Therefore, our paper aims to push this conversation forward by addressing some persistent conceptual challenges in the education-related HR literature.
Investigator:
Stacey A. Rutledge – Florida State University
Credits:
Paper presented at the annual American Educational Research Association Conference, New York City, New York, March 24-28, 2008.
Download: Rutledge_AERA08.doc
Excerpt:
Research over the last thirty years consistently suggests that districts play an important role in supporting instructional capacity in schools (Anderson, 2003; Rorrer, Skrla & Scheurich, 2008). In this paper, I review research on the role of districts and, in particular, examine Anderson’s assertions about the shortcomings of district research.
Principal Investigator:
2nd Round: Bradley R. Curs
1st Round: Jay P. Scribner
The Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) is partnering with a team of researchers at the University of Missouri to use value added analysis techniques to identify and evaluate school controlled factors that contribute to academic growth of students in the KCMSD. The modeling techniques will allow the District to look at the test results at the classroom, school, and district level.
The statistical models will use historical academic achievement data fro each students to predict individual achievement scores. Student’s actual scores will then be compared to the projected scores to determine whether their performance is at a rate similar to, lower than or higher than the student’s previous growth.
The research effort will merge data from district data files with state assessment records and other data provided by the district to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) as part of regular MOSIS and Core Data reporting. The goal of the project is to better understand the sources of high and low performance in classrooms and schools in the KC district.
Principal Investigators:
1st Round: Jay P. Scribner, Jeffrey Brooks
In July 2009, a team of educational leaders form Missouri began a two-year journey to transform a group of high poverty, low-performing schools into high-performing schools that demonstrate significant improvement in student achievement.
Twenty-nine principals from schools in Kansas City, St.Louis, and Southeast Missouri attended a Partnership for Leaders in Education workshop at the University of Virginia, along with district leaders, regional professional development center support staff, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education school improvement leaders, and faculty members form three universities in Missouri. These principals, known as “Turnaround Specialists,” returned to Missouri with school-wide 90-day plans designed to begin the dramatic change process intended to improve student achievement.
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Principal Investigator: Bradley R. Curs – University of Missouri
The Missouri Outstanding Schools act of 1993 authorized the A+ schools with the goal to help prepare high school students to attend college and secure employment. As an inducement for students to participate in the program, all A+ students are granted two years of college tuition to attend a Missouri community college, technical college, or career technical school.
Currently, approximately one half of all Missouri high school students attend an A+ designated high school and therefore have access to the A+ program. However, it is unknown whether access to the A+ program is equitable across both racial and socioeconomic status because high schools ultimately choose whether to pursue the A+ designation.
This project will investigate whether district, building, and area attributes, such as race, socioeconomic status, high school completion rates, and local tax base are related to the decision and timing of schools choosing to be a part of the A+ program.
Principal Investigator: Motoko Akiba – University of Missouri
Effective learning among mathematics teachers is crucial for making a transition from traditional, teacher-centered instruction to constructivist instruction. However, many mathematics teachers are unable to make this transition due to a lack of learning opportunities provided to them. It is essential to understand how teachers’ work contexts hinder or foster learning of mathematics teachers in order to promote instructional improvement among mathematics teachers.
The study looks comprehensively at middle school mathematics teachers’ work context to understand how district, school, and classroom contexts influence teachers’ opportunities to learn and ultimately student learning outcomes.
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Investigator(s):
Richard R. Halverson – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Kia N. Sorensen – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Credits:
Paper presented at the annual American Educational Research Association Conference, New York City, New York, March 24-28, 2008.
Download: Halverson_AERA08.ppt
Excerpt:
What are the public effects of the NCLB call to make student achievement data public?
- Emergent uses of state data web-sitesFueling a district “arms-race” for data analysis tools
- Fueling a district “arms-race” for data analysis tools
Please download the PowerPoint presentation for the full paper.
Investigator(s):
Jennifer K. Rice – University of Maryland – College Park
Credits:
Paper presented at the annual American Educational Research Association Conference, New York City, New York, March 24-28, 2008.
Download: Rice_AERA08.doc
Excerpt:
Realizing equity and excellence in public education depends on adequate instructional capacity in individual schools. Given that schools are the point of service delivery to students (and sometimes families and communities as well), school-level resources – both their quantity and their quality – are fundamental in determining educational outcomes.
