The purpose of this study is that, based on expertise in special education tutoring, examine the degree of supervision demanded by teachers in primary schools. As a result of this study, we can see the views teachers have regarding guidance within the following issues: the demand for tutoring, the importance of conversation and reflection, and guidance from the specialist teacher.Since the study deals with phenomena of a qualitative nature, we use semi-structured interviews in the empirical part of trying to understand the informants' way of looking at the phenomenon we are investigating. The study included interviews with six teachers in the elementary school year’s 1-3. The results show that there are more opportunities than obstacles to mentoring. To have someone to go to for advice and support is an important part of the guidance. While there is ambiguity about what the meaning of mentoring is believed to be and who it is for. Special educator's role as mentors in schools varies widely and there is no doubt that the special educator serves many functions and is there for those children who are in need of extra support. The importance of conversation and reflection is considered important, while the lack of time seems to be an obvious factor governing teachers' daily lives in a negative way.

On coping with the¡§hospital-based self-management＂ project implemented by the National Health Insurance in Taiwan-----A case study of an Armed Forces Hospital The global budget payment system has been implemented in Taiwan＇s National Health Insurance (NHI) for dental care, Chinese medicine and basic western medicine since 1998, and for Western medicine hospital since 2002. The purpose of this payment system is to control the toal medical expenditure by a fixed annual budget. However, it used in Westewrn medical hospital is so complicated that the fulfillment of this new system will create a new competetion era for the hospitals if without associated set of measures, its complexity is far beyond our detection. The Bureau of NHI therefore carry out variable kinds of mamagement protocols such as ¡§global budgeting system by different area＂,¡§hospital-based self-management＂, and ¡§hospital in pursuit of excellence＂, so that each branch of NHI Bureau will own a fixed amount of budget and negotiate the separate amount with the hospitals. The military hospitals are facing a critical environment; the public budget and personnels of the hospital sponsored by the National Defense Department is decreasing; and the NHI has implemented the global budgeting system which will condense the growth rate of each hospital. The thesis is focusing on the study hospital＇s model of strategic management, establishing a criteria-monitoring system in the hospital in order to analyze the details of the operating performance , when negotiating the growth rate with the Burear of NHI, which is the most important part of the plan for hospital in persuit of excellence, will find out the abnormalities and the solutions for that iii problem. The result of this study showing the management information system in a hospital will provide immediate data, analyze it and help the superintendent make decisions. It is quite critical in such a competitive environment, the information system was proved to be effective and the hospital can achieve the vision of sustainable operationOn coping with the¡§hospital-based self-management＂ project implemented by the National Health Insurance in Taiwan-----A case study of an Armed Forces Hospital The global budget payment system has been implemented in Taiwan＇s National Health Insurance (NHI) for dental care, Chinese medicine and basic western medicine since 1998, and for Western medicine hospital since 2002. The purpose of this payment system is to control the toal medical expenditure by a fixed annual budget. However, it used in Westewrn medical hospital is so complicated that the fulfillment of this new system will create a new competetion era for the hospitals if without associated set of measures, its complexity is far beyond our detection. The Bureau of NHI therefore carry out variable kinds of mamagement protocols such as ¡§global budgeting system by different area＂,¡§hospital-based self-management＂, and ¡§hospital in pursuit of excellence＂, so that each branch of NHI Bureau will own a fixed amount of budget and negotiate the separate amount with the hospitals. The military hospitals are facing a critical environment; the public budget and personnels of the hospital sponsored by the National Defense Department is decreasing; and the NHI has implemented the global budgeting system which will condense the growth rate of each hospital. The thesis is focusing on the study hospital＇s model of strategic management, establishing a criteria-monitoring system in the hospital in order to analyze the details of the operating performance , when negotiating the growth rate with the Burear of NHI, which is the most important part of the plan for hospital in persuit of excellence, will find out the abnormalities and the solutions for that iii problem. The result of this study showing the management information system in a hospital will provide immediate data, analyze it and help the superintendent make decisions. It is quite critical in such a competitive environment, the information system was proved to be effective and the hospital can achieve the vision of sustainable operation

The purpose of this study was to identify those elements of the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence that central office leaders, principals, and teachers perceive as having an impact on collective teacher efficacy. The study determined if there was a relationship between the perceptions of central office leaders, principals, and teachers concerning the implementation of the criteria, the difficulty of implementation, and the impact of implementation on collective teacher efficacy. The population for this study included sixty individuals from three school districts from Texas, North Carolina, and New Mexico who have implemented the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence for a minimum of five years. The Delphi Technique was used for the study utilizing a questionnaire linked to six of the seven categories of the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, which were reported using numerical and graphic techniques. The key findings of this study suggest that the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence, which the three study school districts chose as a framework for improving organizational performance, has had a perceived positive impact on collective teacher efficacy. The following conclusions were drawn from the data analysis: ?? Implementation of the Baldrige Criteria requires a long-term commitment, ?? Districts committed to implementation of the criteria develop systematic approaches to management processes, persevere in their deployment, and continually assess performance to determine areas for improvement. ?? The difficulty of implementation of the criteria relates to the effort required to align and deploy systematic approaches throughout the organization. ?? Commitment and implementation begins at the senior leadership level of central office and cascades through the organization to principals and classroom teachers. The extent to which systematic management approaches have been deployed to the classroom teacher level determines the level of impact of implementation on collective efficacy. ?? The Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence provide a framework for school districts to improve organizational performance from a systems perspective to achieve organizational and student success. ?? The more mature a district??s deployment/implementation of the criteria, the greater the impact on collective teacher efficacy.

This study was an attempt to add to existing research by estimating the ability of third-party examiners to assess whether or not an organization successfully implemented strategies based on the criteria of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence (TAPE). The TAPE is given each year by the Quality Texas Foundation and recognizes organizations that demonstrate superior performance as it is defined by customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. The TAPE is a state-level award for quality that uses the same criteria as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence. This research was an analysis of the TAPE process at the level of examiners, also known as the Board of Examiners. The Board is made up of approximately 150 experienced professionals from several types of business sectors and is responsible for evaluating organizational self-assessments. In this quantitative study, data were converted from the Quality Texas Foundation into a database. Because the set of the TAPE applicants included in the study consisted of the entire population of TAPE applicants selected from 2001 to 2004, descriptive statistics were appropriate for producing informative data that could be analyzed for variation and stability in the scoring process. Exploration of patterns in descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis of variance were the primary tools used in this particular study along with Cronbach’s Alpha as an indicator of reliability. Since scoring for the TAPE is based on an individual examiner’s best subjective assessment, it was impossible to have one objective score against which all the other scores could be measured. The team consensus score was therefore used as the true score for measurement. Establishing reliability of examiners’ scores was a problem due to the fact that organizations and teams did not repeat. Results from the study led to the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to make a determination on what influences examiners’ scoring consistency. More data will need to be collected in such a way so as to make it possible to identify that impact consistency of examiner scores.

The culminating recommendations of the United States Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings’ 2006 Commission on the Future of Higher Education report demand greater access, affordability, quality and accountability in higher education. Student affairs, as well as their academic counterparts, must show that they function effectively and contribute to student learning and development. A promising program review process for student affairs to fulfill this expectation is found in the Education Criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and its state-level equivalent, the Texas Award for Performance Excellence in Education Criteria. The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence Education Criteria, Progress Level, as the basis for a comprehensive program review in two diverse student affairs departments. Additionally, the study was to determine the potential usefulness of the Criteria as a management strategy for senior leadership in each department to focus on assessment, planning, improvement and change. The descriptive case study was conducted using naturalistic inquiry methodology with two student affairs departments. The researcher spent nine months in the field as a participant observer. Methodology included observations of training and team leader meetings; interviews with participants, department directors, and the Office of the Vice President; document review of both self-study reports; and the researcher’s reflexive journal. Student affairs departments are particularly well-suited for the quality concept of serving customers and, in this case, students as their primary customer. The researcher concluded that the Texas Award for Performance Excellence in Education Criteria serve as a useful basis for a comprehensive program review and as a management strategy for senior leadership under the following conditions: The department must be a mature and functional unit. Student affairs staff need a foundation in quality principles, in general, and the core values, Criteria and language of the Texas Award for Performance Excellence in Education before embarking on the self-study process. The Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Category and the Planning Category provided the most introspection and action planning for both departments. The Process Category was the most challenging for both departments.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-147). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Although community colleges offer opportunities for diverse students to achieve their educational goals, African American males continue to rank at the bottom of most academic success measures such as semester-to-semester retention and degree completion. Research shows that factors associated with teaching excellence (how well a faculty member exhibits enthusiasm, clarity, preparation/organization, stimulation, and love of knowledge) should encourage student engagement. The following research questions are proposed for this study: 1. How do faculty discuss teaching excellence relative to the academic engagement of African American males? 2. How do African American male students discuss the importance of faculty members’ race in relationship to their academic engagement? 3. How, if at all, does the age of an African American male student impact his academic engagement? 4. How do first-generation and second-generation collegiate African American male college students differ, if at all, in academic engagement? To conduct this research, a mixed method paradigm will be used. A quantitative instrument will be utilized to identify highly engaged African American male students and those who teach them. Qualitative analysis will lead to discovery of how teaching excellence affects the engagement of the target population of students. This research will add to current literature by examining the impact of the criteria of teaching excellence on African American male students in predominately white community colleges. / text

This study sought to identify characteristics found within technical, cultural and political dimensions of the YES College Prep middle school model that typify the college-going culture of the organization. This qualitative study utilized grounded theory and ethnographic approaches in a three-phase research plan seeking to answer the question: How can the college-going culture of the YES Prep Middle School System be described, and what characteristics of the school model can be useful for building college-going cultures in mainstream schools? Teachers and administrators were the primary units of study, and data was collected in the form of documents, interviews and ethnographic field notes. Data from phases two and three built upon theories developed in phase one. Using Kirst, Venezia and Antonio’s typology of college-going cultures, YES College Prep schools fell under the category of schools with strong college-going cultures. Five dominant themes emerged as all three phases of research were synthesized: (a) student achievement, (b) quality teaching, (c) exposure and opportunities to learn, (d) college-going discourses, and (e) unified mission. Characteristics holding potential relevance for mainstream schools were the unified mission, academic rigor, the extended day and year, the Comprehensive Counseling Model, the Teacher Excellence Program and the people-oriented business model. This study adds to the body of research demarcating middle school as a critical point in the educational continuum. The YES College Prep model provides usefulness for researchers interested in such areas as organizational culture, educational pipeline models, and middle school reform models. / text

Public Diplomacy has been around for decades, in some parts of the world more than others. Despite that, research related to public diplomacy has mainly focused on approaches serving governments’ policy concerns. A large part of the research has also surrounded efficiency aspects: the level of impact culminating from public diplomacy activities. This tunnel vision has undoubtedly contributed to the limitation of theoretical and methodological development. From that standpoint, this study attempts to contribute and fill the existing theoretical and methodological gap. The study builds on the research by Yun (2005), directed by J. E. Gruing, and examines the reliability of her framework and sheds light on some potential shortcomings and eventual amendments. Suggesting the convergence of public diplomacy and public relation, the model is composed of two theoretical frameworks. Public diplomacy as the dependent variable is anchored in Grunig’s excellence theory and national culture as determinants (independent variable) is anchored in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. As did Yun, the study finds that cultural dimensions as determinants for South Korea’s public diplomacy do not possess sufficient explanatory power to understand South Korea’s public diplomacy management. A historical lens and additional contextual factors would hypothetically better explain Korea’s public diplomacy, paving the way for future studies.

The study addresses: (1) changes in Canada's science-policy climate over the past two decades; (2) impacts o f such changes on the conduct and organization of academic science; and (3) publicinterest implications of promoting, in public institutions, research 'relevant' to private sector needs. Working within the interdisciplinary traditions of science studies, the conceptual framework draws on the cross-cutting tensions at the intersection of public and private space, and basic and applied science. These tensions are articulated in two opposing models: 'open science' and 'overflowing networks'. Canada's Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program provides the study's empirical focus. Founded in 1988, the NCE program rests on dual goals of research excellence and commercial relevance. It promotes a national research capacity that 'floats across' existing provincial institutions. The first part of the study investigates the evolution of the NCE program against the background of Canadian science policy. The second part problematizes the notion of 'network' while investigating one of the NCEs in depth, examining the scientific, commercial, cultural, and spatial-structural practices that are the outcomes of policy. Examination of these practices reveals not only the cultural and commercial shifts sought by policy, but also unintended consequences such as regional clustering; elitism and exclusion; problems with social and fiscal accountability; tensions with host institutions; and goal displacement between science and commerce.