ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Your District's Got Talent: Technology Tools to Help Keep Good Employees
Author: Turk-Peterson, Cheryl
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Economic Climate,Financial Problems,School Districts,Job Layoff,Recruitment,Personnel Management,Management Systems,Employees,Talent Identification,Role,Technology,Labor Turnover

Even in these extraordinary times of state budget shortfalls, furlough programs, and layoffs, school districts must still fill positions and compete for top talent among Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1980) and Generation Y (those born in 1981 or later). Every day, school district leaders are challenged to cultivate, assess, and retain employees across the district and stay in compliance with federal and state rules and guidelines. Talent management systems can help address these unique challenges. They can help leaders manage and develop the best teachers and other school employees, reveal where the top talent resides in the school district, recognize top performers, and create ways to identify and track specific employee goals. An organization with an integrated talent management system can package employee system-of-record data with higher-level talent management and workforce management applications. Such a system allows organizations to move beyond automation, using analytics to leverage data more effectively and make more informed decisions about their people, positioning themselves for greater success. These systems can also help identify those behaviors that make people succeed.
The Path of Diversity in K-12 Educational Institutions
Author: Hunter, Richard C.
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Student Diversity,Public Schools,Student Placement,School Desegregation,Race,Racial Segregation,Court Litigation

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in cases involving school districts in Seattle, Washington, and Louisville, Kentucky, seem to indicate that the United States is moving away from diversity in its public schools. In &quot;Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1&quot; (2007) and &quot;Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education&quot; (2007), the high court forbade those districts from assigning pupils to schools based on race, even when their efforts reduced racial isolation and increased student diversity. Legal experts predicted that the Supreme Court would strike down the use of race-conscious admission policies in the public schools in these two cases because of the change in the Court's composition. Recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court have rejected the use of race-conscious policies to remedy past racial discrimination, including the &quot;Milliken v. Bradley&quot; school desegregation case, the 1978 affirmative action decision in &quot;Regents of the University of California v. Bakke,&quot; and the Court's recent decision in the Seattle and Louisville school desegregation cases. In the latter, the Court held that race-based student admission decisions could not be made unless there was clear evidence of state-imposed segregation. According to evidence, segregation is harmful to children's education. This knowledge continues to suggest that there is a sense of urgency to create learning institutions for public school students with racially and ethnically diverse student bodies. (Contains 1 table.)
"Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child?" The Law and Corporal Punishment
Author: Russo, Charles J.
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Parent Rights,Sanctions,Punishment,School Business Officials,Discipline,Conflict Resolution,Teacher Responsibility,Student Behavior,Legal Responsibility,Court Litigation,School Responsibility

The use of corporal punishment may be as old as society itself. However, the development of compulsory attendance laws has raised questions about its legality. Under compulsory attendance laws and subject to exceptions for home schooling and nonpublic schools, parents must send their children to public schools or be subject to sanctions. Conflicts arise when school officials seek to impose corporal punishment on children against the wishes of their parents. The use of corporal punishment is based on the common-law presumption of "in loco parentis," literally, "in the place of a parent." In seeking to resolve this conflict between the duty of educators to maintain safe and orderly learning environments and the rights of parents to direct the upbringing of their children, there has been a shift in the legal status of corporal punishment. Many school boards have abandoned its use at least in part because of respect for parental wishes. In this article, the author talks about corporal punishment and the law and cites supreme court and lower court cases regarding the use of corporal punishment. If boards choose to employ corporal punishment, the author presents some limitations on its use that school business officials acting in conjunction with other education leaders should consider to avoid problems.
Tips for Effective Management
Author: Supple, Kevin F.
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Business Officials,Work Environment,Educational Finance,Reports,Human Resources,Personnel Management,Employer Employee Relationship,Motivation,Industrial Psychology,Interpersonal Communication,Communication Skills,Recognition (Achievement)

School business officials' days are filled with numbers and reports--audits, balance sheets, check registers, financial statements, journal entries, vouchers, and warrant reports, just to name a few. Those are all important tools that school business officers use to manage the financial resources of the district effectively. However, they are also responsible for managing human resources. Most of them are not born with keen management skills; those skills need to be learned, nurtured, and practiced over time. In this article, the author provides some practical suggestions to improve school business officers' management skills. If they can remember a few simple steps--(1) communicate; (2) motivate; (3) educate; (4) delegate; (5) celebrate; and (6) recreate--they can make significant progress toward the effective management of their people.
Knowing Me, Knowing You: Professional Development for Support Staff
Author: Coulbeck, Joy
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Professional Development,Staff Development,Employer Employee Relationship,Employees,Motivation,School Business Officials,Institutional Mission,Alignment (Education),Organizational Theories,On the Job Training,Educational Quality,Organizational Development

Meeting the challenges of delivering a 21st-century curriculum and a world-class quality education ultimately depends on the willingness of the staff on the ground to give 100% effort to their jobs. Although many people in schools work very hard, some staff members are way down on the scale with regard to performance. All too often, a significant number of staff members drag their heels and give only what is expected of them. This attitude poses problems for education leaders charged with providing a high-quality education to all students. In this article, the author discusses the significance of providing effective professional development for staff members, especially for support staff (which outnumbers teaching staff in many schools in the United Kingdom). Professional development is part of an interconnecting cycle of performance management processes that begins with effective recruitment, selection, and induction; produces an audit of needs and action planning; follows through with appraisal/performance management reviews; and then delivers well-targeted professional development. Managers must get to know the support staff member well and make every effort to ensure that he or she understands what the school really aims for and how it intends to meet its goals. This exchange of knowledge begins to cement the working relationship so the support staff member feels included and valued. (Contains 1 table.)
Automating Safety for a More Efficient Organization
Author: Folkman, John
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Safety,Automation,Internet,Computer Mediated Communication,Scheduling,Drills (Practice),Compliance (Legal),Accidents,Reports,Government School Relationship,Time Management,Efficiency,Maintenance,Online Courses,Standards

Despite the challenges of understaffing, unfunded legislative mandates, and tight budgets, district support services departments are still expected to meet school systems' myriad noncurriculum-related needs. But the very nature of these services, even when they are focused on school safety and security, is so diverse and labor-intensive that department personnel are frequently pulled in several different directions at once. School safety and security activities include complying with state and district safety regulations, managing diverse training expectations, and managing and following up on accidents or disruptive incidents. These and other areas collectively are responsibilities that district support service departments must manage to ensure that school districts and employees are protected from unfair litigation. More and more, schools are embracing the use of Web-based tools that simplify time-consuming tasks. School safety is another prime area where Web-based tools can be beneficial. Safety committees or managers can use a system's automated tracking capabilities to analyze where and when incidents or injuries tend to occur to improve prevention measures. The authors describe the Mayfield City School District (MCSD) in Ohio, which has been using Web-based software to automatically communicate information about accidents on specific campuses to the appropriate authorities; to schedule drills and maintenance activities, such as recharging fire extinguishers; to manage and deliver online safety courses to its staff; and to standardize districtwide activities, such as reporting and following up on accidents.
Rx for a Healthy School Nutrition Program
Author: Boettger, Julie
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Nutrition,Program Effectiveness,Decision Making,Data,School Business Officials,Evaluation Utilization,Costs,Cost Effectiveness,Productivity,Labor Force,Participation,Food Service,Food Standards,Health Promotion

School nutrition directors face challenges on many fronts, from changing nutrition standards to addressing community interest in sustainability and local food sourcing. Programs are constantly changing to meet these new demands. How does a school business administrator know which changes will affect his/her school nutrition program positively? The answer may lie in a new approach to decision making. Data-driven decision making is a familiar catchphrase in education these days, but it is less familiar in the realm of school nutrition. Data-driven decision making is aptly defined as using operational data, such as program participation rates, cost ratios, or productivity standards, to inform decisions about planning and implementing change. Operational data that track the most important aspects of one's operation are also known as key performance indicators (KPIs). Instead of relying strictly on experience and instinct for predicting and measuring the effect of decisions, school business officials can use KPIs to benchmark and measure results. The author discusses seven key performance indicators for school nutrition programs. These include: (1) participation rate; (2) labor cost; (3) food cost; (4) productivity; (5) inventory on hand; (6) cost-to-revenue; and (7) revenue per student.
The Energy Answer May Be Blowing in the Wind
Author: Bowen, Donald E., Jr.
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Energy,Energy Management,Costs,Cost Effectiveness,School Districts,School Business Officials,Economic Climate,Financial Support,Incentives

Facing diminishing budgets and increased operating costs, districts across the country must make some very difficult choices. Some districts are even at the point of having to close schools. One strategy that might help schools reduce operating costs and allow administrators to redirect those savings to salaries, facilities, and curricula is wind power. Wind power is a clean, renewable option to stabilize or reduce energy costs and is currently hard at work at many public and private institutions. However, it's not something that districts can implement quickly. A wind project may require one to three years of preliminary research and planning before construction. The author discusses how educators are considering wind power as a solution for many of the economic and environmental challenges they face.
Risky Business: A Primer on School Insurance
Author: Denker, Deb
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Schools,Legal Responsibility,Insurance,School Districts,School Business Officials,Decision Making,Selection,Criteria,Reliability,Court Litigation,Parent School Relationship,Risk Management,Accidents,Field Trips,Employees,Supervision

In some ways, education institutions are like any other business when it comes to insurance coverage. Property could be damaged, accidents may be blamed on negligence, and employees may be injured during the course of the workday. Traveling sports teams, field trips, and transportation responsibilities increase the possibility that something will go wrong. And school employees are expected to be sterling role models on and off the job. Schools have the added challenge of operating within an environment of public scrutiny because educators are viewed as caretakers of a young population in need of adult supervision and protection. These factors make it critical that school districts shop for insurance with a very discriminating eye. Making a selection based on price alone may be an appealingly quick answer to a complex business decision. But it's not the best answer. So how does a district make the wisest insurance decisions? This article presents key considerations when selecting an insurer and then getting the most value out of the coverage purchased.
Making the Case for Facility Modernization, Renovation, and Repairs
Author: Kwok, Michael
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Facilities Planning,School Business Officials,School Districts,School Buildings,Educational Facilities Improvement,School Construction,Energy Conservation,Master Plans,Federal Aid,Strategic Planning,Facilities Management,Management Systems

Like homeowners with limited budgets and a long list of repairs, school districts often must make tough choices when it comes to deciding what building systems to modernize, renovate, or repair--or when to build new facilities. With $44 billion now available for states and schools under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, stimulus funding will lay the foundation for a generation of education reform and help save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs at risk from state and local budget cuts. It will also help school districts make the physical repairs necessary for their campuses to thrive. Unlike many businesses that may relocate as their needs change, most school districts have a long-term relationship with their buildings, which form an important part of their identity. As stewards of the physical plant, the institutions' facility managers are responsible for ensuring that all its facilities are effectively meeting the needs of their users. Facility managers who are responsible for modernizing and upgrading school buildings with stimulus money will certainly have much to consider. Most institutions begin by drawing up a master plan. Implementing a strategic capital planning approach enables school facility managers to break out of a common &quot;build-neglect-build&quot; pattern. By considering overall long-term investment needs--both capital and operational--schools can break out of this pattern and better make the case for needed funding.
The Duty of School Boards to Pay for Private School Placements
Author: Osborne, Allan G., Jr.
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Disabilities,Federal Legislation,Parent School Relationship,School Business Officials,Boards of Education,Legal Responsibility,Costs,Student Placement,Private Schools,Context Effect

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), once students with disabilities receive educational placements, school officials cannot unilaterally change their settings. When officials wish to change the placements of students with disabilities for any reason, they must not only notify their parents of their intent to do so in writing, they must also afford them opportunities either to participate in making decisions involving their children or to object to those with which they disagree. Under what is known as the status quo or stay-put provision, the IDEA mandates that while administrative hearings or judicial proceedings that parents filed to challenge proposed changes by school officials are pending, students must remain in their &quot;then-current placements&quot; unless the parties agree otherwise. The purpose of the status quo provision is to provide educational stability and consistency (&quot;Gabel ex rel. L.G. v. Board of Education of the Hyde Park Central School District 2005&quot;). In light of the lack of judicial clarity about when school boards must incur the typically unbudgeted cost of unilateral parental placements of students in private schools, the authors examine the key provision from the IDEA's regulations regarding who should pay for unilateral placements along with case law on point, then reflect on what this means for school business officials, other education leaders, and school boards.
Tone at the Top: Are You Doing the Right Thing?
Author: Belachew, Abinet Y.
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Economic Climate,Financial Problems,Leadership Styles,Instructional Leadership,School Business Officials,Organizational Culture,Ethics,Accountability,Participative Decision Making,Integrity

Never is the "tone at the top" more important than during times of economic distress. With an unprecedented number of state and local governments struggling to balance the budget, facing staggering operational cost increases, and even laying off employees, executive management and boards throughout the country are challenged to foster a positive, transparent, and accountable organizational culture. The question is, when will be the right time to do the right thing, and what will it take? School business administrators can and should create an ethical, transparent, and accountable culture--one that centers on doing the right thing. This article offers some tips for achieving that goal.
Joining the Conversation: Idea Exchange--Scaffolding: Tutor Training Activity
Author: Fetner, Debra McLellan
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Locus of Control,Self Efficacy,Metacognition,Tutor Training,Learning Processes,Tutors,Tutoring,Mathematics Instruction,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Study Skills,Study Habits

Jim Valkenburg's article "Scaffolding and Tutoring Mathematics" that appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of The Learning Assistance Review (TLAR) addressed the characteristics of appropriate communication between a tutor and tutee as they approach their work together in study sessions. One strategy he examines is the use of scaffolding, a concept popularized by Jerome Bruner to describe a type of academic assistance utilized by a more competent tutor with his less knowledgeable or experienced tutee. Valkenburg states that learning assistance provided by a tutor "serves a good purpose" when the work will "engage the student, bring a better understanding of the materials, and lead to the student's ability to independently do the work." Of particular interest to the author is Valkenburg's reference to techniques studied by Wilhelm, Baker & Dube (2002) that a teacher (tutor) employs to move the student (client) through a series of increasingly independent processes. The techniques attempt to accomplish three goals of tutoring, which the author stresses to her tutors: (1) teaching content (knowledge and skills); (2) building good intellectual habits (study strategies); and (3) encouraging motivational and affective processes (metacognition, self-efficacy, persistence, locus of control, self regulation). Effectively tutoring clients involves a skillfully conscious exchange. Tutors are expected to work with a variety of individuals and be sensitively and thoughtfully responsive to the actions and knowledge of each. Knowing when and how long to wait as the client processes information and how much help to provide are decisions that must be made in a short tutoring session. As tutors progress through the academic year and get to know their own capabilities as well as their clients', the author's objective is for them to develop into reflective practitioners who are eager to return the next year to tell their stories to the new training class.
Joining the Conversation: Predictors of Success on the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE)
Author: Gohara, Sabry
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Medical Education,Medical Students,Required Courses,Medical Schools,Licensing Examinations (Professions),Regression (Statistics),Certification,College Admission,Models,Scores,Evaluation,Academic Achievement,Predictor Variables,Colleges

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether models based on pre-admission testing, including performance on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), performance on required courses in the medical school curriculum, or a combination of both could accurately predict performance of medical students on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Steps 1 and 2. Models were produced using stepwise linear regression and feed forward neural networks. Notable accuracy in predicting Step 1 and Step 2 scores were achieved from models integrating pre-admission variables with medical school coursework grades. Of interest, the coursework grades contributed far greater to these models than the pre-admission variables except the MCAT. (Contains 2 tables.)
Profiling the African American Student Network
Author: Grier-Reed, Tabitha
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: African American Students,Grade Point Average,Graduation Rate,Academic Achievement,Undergraduate Students,Social Networks,Comparative Analysis,Academic Persistence,Student Participation,Educational Environment,Student Needs

The African American Student Network (AFAM) originated at a large Predominantly White Institution (PWI) in the Midwest. Including a sample of 163 network participants, the current paper profiles the academic performance of students in the network over its first 4 years. Findings indicate that although participants were similar to the average African American undergraduate on campus in terms of academic precollege characteristics and 1st term GPA, when compared to African American undergraduates on campus who did not participate in the network, AFAM participants trended toward higher 1-year retention rates, 4-year retention rates, and 4-year retention and graduation rates. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)