The primary purpose of this study was to examine the current practice of the superintendent’s evaluation process in three public school districts in Texas. This study collected information about current criteria used, the process as described by superintendents and school board presidents, and their perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the instrument used to measure the performance of the superintendent. A qualitative case study research approach was used to provide the researcher with rich, in-depth, relevant data. The researcher conducted multiple interviews of three superintendents and school board presidents in public school districts in Education Service Region IV of Texas. Additional data was gathered through documents and a reflective journal. There were six themes that emerged from data collected regarding superintendent evaluation: timing, rating, alignment, relationships, performance-based evaluation, and local control. The participating district modified and adjusted criteria and the process to align with the district context to more closely measure the school districts goals and priorities. The perspectives of superintendents and school board members offer insight into the process and struggles that each has with the overwhelming nature of the job of measuring the performance of the superintendent. / text

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration from the Naval Postgraduate School, December 2006." / Advisor(s): Engelbeck, R. Marshall. ; Rendon, Rene G. "December 2006." "MBA professional report"--Cover. Description based on title screen as viewed on June 12, 2009. DTIC Identifiers: Far(Federal Acquisition Regulation), Riff(Rapid Identification Friend Or Foe) Test Kit, Gsr(Gunshot Residue), Mou(Memorandum Of Understanding), Define And Validate Need. Author(s) subject terms: Coordinative acquisition, acquisition reform, acquisition architecture, streamlined acquisition, Gunshot-residue (GSR) Testing, Rapid Identification Friend or Foe (RIFF) test kit, Defense Acquisition Performance Assessment. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-69).

The purpose of this research is to investigate group problem-solving processes , interactions , and also, the factors that influence the operation on performance assessment. The main points for this study are: 1.What kind of situation does the model of group problem-solving form? 2.What situation does the group participate in each process of problem-solving? 3.What changes do the group participate in each stage of problem-solving after performance assessment? 4.What influences do manipulatives make on the operation of problem-solving processes? 5.What do the members think about the method of assessment? The method of this research is as follow. The investigators referred to the mathematics textbook (Volume 11) to develop five units of performance assessment. The participants were a group of four 6th grade elementary school children in Kaohsiung. The investigator collected the think-aloud protocols of the group and observed the behaviors from video and recordings. Finally, in order to understand children¡¦s feelings of assessment, the investigator arranged semi-structured interviews. The data was used to prepare chart according to Schoenfeld¡¦s model, also its distribution table, and the ratio of participation. The main conclusions of this research are: 1.The process of group problem-solving is affected by discussions among peers. 2.The model of process of problem-solving is affected by actually performing and acting out. 3.The group may or may not be engaged in all stages of problem-solving. 4.The changes of problem-solving stage for each member were different. 5.The use of manipulatives affects each problem-solving stage. 6.Children expressed that they enjoyed group performance assessments. Based on results of this study, the investigator highly recommended performance assessment to take place in elementary mathematics classroom.

Building fire safety is significantly influenced by building and fire safety regulations (often codes and standards). These regulations specify what fire safety measures should be included in a given building as a minimum requirement. Since fire engineers develop fire safety designs based on the regulations, they are often viewed as the primary agents in ensuring the fire safety of buildings. However, their mission often starts with given building design features, such as interior spatial layout, exterior shape, site plan, and so forth, which are mostly determined by architects (or architects). Although architects design buildings within the boundaries of the regulatory requirements, their focus is not generally on fire safety, but more on visual and spatial aesthetics of buildings. These objectives are linked to building form and functionality, which are not subject to the building and fire safety regulations. These objectives can sometimes compete with fire safety objectives in such a way that buildings can be unsafe in certain situations due to unintended effects of building design features on actual fire safety performance. To determine whether a building has design features which work against fire safety performance, evaluation of building fire safety performance must take into account the effects of building design features. If fire safety performance is significantly decreased by building design attributes, additional fire safety measures or modifications of the building design should be incorporated to provide an appropriate level of fire safety performance. While there have been various building fire safety evaluation tools developed over the last forty or so years, none of them comprehensively considers building design features and their associated effects as key performance parameters. In this context, the current study develops conceptual models for fire safety performance assessment in both qualitative and quantitative manners. After scrutinizing previous fire incidents and the building features which contributed to their outcomes, various fire safety performance attributes, including building design features, are identified and cause-effect relationships among the attributes are established. Then, the attributes are organized hierarchically like a tree diagram such that the performance of one upper level attribute is determined by the combined performance of multiple lower level attributes. In this way, the performance of bottom level attributes propagates upward to the upper level attributes. Two tree diagrams are established for the most common fire safety objectives, life safety and property protection. Each attribute in the tree diagrams has two quantified values: performance value and weighting factor. The current study uses three different performance values (0.01, 0.5, and 1) for bottom level attributes representing poor, average and good performance, respectively. In addition, as each attribute can have different contribution to upper level attributes, a weighting factor between 0 and 1 is assigned to each attribute which represent the relative importance. With these two values, the performance value of an upper level attribute is calculated using the weighted sum method (summation of multiplied values of performance value and weighting factor) which is commonly used in the Analytical Hierarchy Process. As the performance of an attributes is a function of specific designs, building uses, occupants, and site conditions, in the first instance, judgments of the fire engineers can be used to assign weights and performance values, but they can also be determined jointly among stakeholders. Generally speaking, the details of attributes for fire safety performance are not determined at once. Rather they are gradually determined as the building design progresses. This means that in early design building design phase, many of the attributes are unknown as well as fire safety performance. Once appropriate information can be provided to architects by fire engineers at each building design phase, it is likely to avoid possible conflicts between design details and fire safety performance. Using the fire safety evaluation model, weak attributes for fire safety performance can be identified and possible make-up strategy and building design approach can be developed in advance. This provides the potential for the collaboration between fire engineers and architects and at the end for increasing building fire safety performance of buildings.

Music is both an art and a science involving emotional appreciation and intellectual understanding. When music performances are assessed, appropriate criteria should be used by examiners who appreciate the art and understand the science. This study examined the effects of training and experience on the judgements made by individuals who possessed an understanding of music performance (i.e. qualified musicians and music educators), from observations on videotape of three piano performances (by the same pianist). The thirty three participants were required to observe the videotape and complete a separate music performance assessment (MPA)sheet for each piece, and then rank the three pieces in order of preference. The MPA sheet contained (a) thirty three descriptive statements, under five headings, to which the examiner responded on a . six point Likert scale, and (b) a section for recording an overall impression mark, with provision for comment. There were four examiner categories: (1) untrained and inexperienced, (2) trained and inexperienced, (3) untrained and experienced, and (4) trained and experienced. The term 'experience' was applied to those participants who had previous involvement as examiners in any formal music performance assessment situation. The term 'trained' was applied to those participants who attended a short preparation course presented as part of the study. The responses of the four categories of examiner were tested for significant difference (.05 level) through the use of multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures. One of the performances (piece 1) was recorded digitally by computer (using MIDI and the 'Vision' program) which provided a printout of what occurred during the performance. A comparison of the subjective analysis of the 'Vision' printout results with the examiner responses for piece 1, revealed that there was a link between the judgements made by examiners and the actual performance by the pianist. Results of the study indicate that (a) experience and training effects the criteria used by music examiners in the assessment of music performances, (b) training influenced the examiner responses more than experience, (c) in the 'best' performance, the effects of examiner training and experience were negligible, and (d) in the area of 'global' and 'specific' assessment of music performance, all examiners divorced the two approaches, however judgements of the untrained examiners were more obvious in their disparity. The results of this study suggest that the training a music examiner receives prior to the performance assessment session may be more important in producing consistent and accurate reports than the amount of previous examining experience. The criteria used by the music examiner should be clearly presented with appropriate dimensions for the musical instrument on which the student performs.

Abstract To pursue continuous growth, enterprises have to draft out various development strategies of their operation management. Nevertheless, whether the development strategies can achieve the co-understanding and supports from the members of the organization and whether they can be really executed have to depend on systematic methods for implementation. Balanced scorecard is a kind of management system that makes the organizational strategies realized. It was originated from the balanced scorecard of the United States in 1990. It emphasized that the assessment standards for the performance on the four aspects of an enterprise (the aspect of finance, the aspect of customers, the aspect of internal procedures, and the aspect of innovation and learning) should be originated from their strategies, and should be linked with the rewarding system of the enterprise. It referred that balanced scorecard is not merely a performance assessment system, but also a management tool linked with strategies and rewarding system. This research takes the case of a company, being a distributor of high-technological material, as an example to understand the structural process of its embedding of ¡§balanced scorecard.¡¨ Secondly, through evidential analysis, we can understand the high- and low-rank staff¡¦s different extents of agreement to balanced scorecard ever since it was embedded in the company. Finally, according to the analytic results, the research points out the relevant problems encountered in the process of embedding and gives suggestions, which can be a reference guide for the analyzed company and other companies planning to embed balanced scorecard. The conclusions of the research are as follows: In spite of having received guidance from a professional consulting company in the embedding process of a series of organizational reform plans, the analyzed company was confronted with a lot of problems over the promotion of balanced scorecard. This is closely related to the enterprise culture, value judgment, organizational climate and leadership style deeply cultivated in the company for a long time. Therefore, it is not a problem of system itself, but a problem of execution. Apart from supporting the promotion of the system, high-rank and leading grades should hold positive attitude and take initiative action to participate the promotion of the system, and cultivate correct enterprise culture, value judgment, organizational climate and leadership style. In this way, the implementation of the system can be sustained continuously, and the future value of the enterprise can thus be created.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

This thesis is concerned with subspace identification and its applications for controller performance assessment and process modeling from closed-loop data. A joint input-output closed-loop subspace identification method is developed which provides consistent estimation of the subspace matrices and the noise covariance matrix required for the LQG benchmark curve estimation. Subspace LQG benchmark is also used for performance assessment of the cascade supervisory-regulatory control systems. Three possible scenarios for LQG control design and performance improvement are discussed for this structure. A closed-loop subspace identification method is also provided for estimation of the subspace matrices necessary for performance assessment. A method of direct step model estimation from closed-loop data is provided using subspace identification. The variance calculation required for this purpose can be performed using the proposed method. The variances are used for weighted averaging on the estimated Markov parameters to attenuate the noise influence on the final step response estimation. / Process Control

The increase in solar energy installation capacity and the versatility of modern power inverters have enabled widespread penetration of distributed generation in modern power systems. Islanding detection techniques allow for fast identification and corrective action in the face of abnormal events. Current standards specify the operational limits for voltage, frequency, and detection time. Grid codes specify the procedures for disconnection to establish safe network maintenance conditions. Passive, active, and remote techniques require voltage, current, and frequency measurements and the definition of thresholds for detection. Operational parameters such as load mismatch and quality factors influence the detection capabilities. False-positive triggering due to grid transients can lead to unnecessary disconnection of distributed generation resources. Cybersecurity threats pose a critical challenge for power systems and can result in significant operational disruptions and security risks. In particular, when a power system initiates communication links between different nodes or ends, it becomes more vulnerable to various forms of cyber-attacks. As such, it is imperative to address the potential cybersecurity risks associated with communication links. Through a literature review, this work analyzes the performance of several islanding detection techniques and proposes a modified 9-bus benchmark system to verify the robustness of passive and active methods against false-positive detections upon severe grid-side transients. Furthermore, this thesis conducts a detailed analysis of cyber-attacks on the remote islanding detection technique, using a real-time simulator to assess the potential impact of such attacks on the technique's effectiveness by simulating various attack scenarios. The findings of this analysis can help power system operators to better protect their systems from cyber-attacks and ensure the reliable operation of their distributed generation resources. Moreover, it discusses a conceptual implementation of hardware-in-the-loop testing. The modeling of the systems is discussed. Guidelines and international standards are presented. Various setups for experimental work are suggested and implemented.