In the quest to achieve better academic outcomes for all students, the focus in education has shifted to a model of accountability. The most recent trend in the accountability movement is a focus on the effect of teachers in promoting student achievement. Research has found that teachers have the most significant school level impact on student achievement, and increases in teacher effectiveness could have major implications for the learning outcomes of students across the nation. Much of the current focus in teacher evaluation reform centers on methods through which teachers can be more accurately evaluated based on their contributions to student learning. In the push towards greater accountability for teachers, the development of measures that are both fair for teachers and lead to stronger outcomes for students are critical to seeing long-term improvements in the education system. This report explores variability and stability of value-added measures over time by looking in depth at the methods, assumptions, limitations, and implementation of the most commonly used value-added models across the country and the research about the correlations of these measures over time. This research is followed by a case study of a de-identified large urban school district implementing a teacher evaluation system that uses both a commercially produced value-added measure and an alternative student-growth measure to make high stakes decisions about teacher effectiveness. The findings from this case study show correlations that do not differ significantly from the prior research on the year-to-year variability in teacher value-added measures, but urge for continued evaluation of these measures over time, especially in high-stakes decisions. Ultimately, value-added measures are only as useful as their effectiveness in influencing the core outcomes of teaching and learning, and therefore these measures must be carefully integrated into and validated against holistic assessments of teacher effectiveness in order to truly impact student outcomes. / text

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

While teacher quality is recognized as a critical component in school reform, and the pursuit of new teacher evaluation systems has gained national attention, the question of whether proposed teacher assessment models meet the needs of special education teachers has gone largely unnoticed. Current efforts to design teacher evaluation processes that accurately distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers must take into account the difficulties of using new, innovative evaluation systems to appraise teachers who serve students with disabilities. Important differences in the roles, expertise, and circumstances in which special education teachers carry out their responsibilities result in challenges related to the use of observation protocols in evaluating instructional practices, obtaining valid measures of student progress, and understanding the relevance of teacher credentials (i.e., degrees earned and certification) in the special education setting. Through this qualitative research dissertation, the researcher sought to gain insight into the perceptions and experiences of special education teachers and administrators to better understand (a) the relationship between teacher evaluation and teacher effectiveness; (b) the ways in which educators approach the challenges of applying teacher evaluation systems for special education teachers; and (c) the ways in which teacher evaluation processes support the professional growth and development of special education teachers. / text

Hierarchical Linear Models were used to analyze data from one Texas school and identify effective and ineffective mathematics teachers using their students’ scores on two consecutive years of the state test (TAKS) over a three-year period. A model was developed which attempted to control for student grade level, as well as whether a class was an honors course. Special attention was paid to requiring statistically significant results. Results were minimal and may lack validity. The barriers to getting better results include missing data, the small sample size of students for an individual teacher, the non-random assignment of teachers to courses, and the extent of variability in the data. Most of these are beyond the control of educators. A better way of measuring student growth could reduce variability and improve the prospects of using a data driven approach to evaluate teachers. / text

Enterprise systems (ES) implementation, especially Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP), is an extensively researched topic in recent years. Existing papers focus mainly on the success or failure of the project analyzed from the client’s standpoint. Although authors agree that a successful implementation requires the participation of consultants from a Value-Added Reseller (VAR), little or no work has been published that examines the topic from this perspective. While it is true that this kind of implementation is not strictly related to the traditional software development lifecycle, the two have many things in common and the former can benefit from software engineering techniques. Intellectual capital found in the heads of consultants, developers, project managers, and all other project stakeholders is VAR’s main asset as well as in most of software-related organizations. Hence, it is critical to preserve it in order to safeguard the foundation of these organizations. The goal of this paper is to propose rationale management as the basis of knowledge preservation for enterprise systems VARs. Enterprise systems implementation process, including its actors, challenges, and the knowledge that surrounds it, is examined to justify the proposal. To assess the perception of real-world VARs about knowledge management applicability and their existing strategies, a questionnaire was applied to 3 executives. Their answers confirmed that knowledge is considered vital to their organizations but the methodologies as well as the tools currently utilized to preserve it are rudimentary and distant from the theoretical literature. / text

In this paper, the popular fundamental analysis model Economic Value Added is tested for any ability to generate returns above that explained by book-to-market effects on American large cap stocks. A zero net-investment hedge portfolio-test was undertaken where the Economic Value Added® fundamental analysis was applied on a sample of large cap stocks, sorted into quintiles after book to market valuation. The portfolio investing in the extreme quintiles gained positive returns between the years 1999 – 2010 equal to an average yearly total return of 7,32 %. During the test-period, the benchmark portfolio constituent of stocks sorted in the same way but without the Economic Value Added® analysis only managed to score returns equaling 2,3 %, adding evidence in favor of the Economic Value Added® analysis. The Economic Value Added also showed a better risk-profile than the benchmark portfolio, measured as the Modigliani Risk-Adjusted Performance over the entire period, further acknowledging the abnormal returns. However, the Economic Value Added® sample portfolios where unevenly distributed regarding number of stocks, foremost in the short-sold part for some years, mitigating the test as strong evidence in favor of the Economic Value Added® analysis. An independent samples t-test also did not reject the null hypothesis. Despite the mixed results of the test, the strength in the specification of sample and choice of method leads us to conclude that that the Economic Value Added® seems like a moderately effective tool for identifying mispriced stocks.

PVM yra didžiausias ir svarbiausias nacionalinio biudžeto pajamų šaltinis, todėl valstybei ypač svarbu užtikrinti, kad aiškinant teisės aktus reglamentuojančius PVM, būtų daroma kuo mažiau klaidų. Siekiant atsakyti į klausimą, kokios priežastys lemia klaidas taikant PVM reglamentuojančius teisės aktus, šiame darbe iškeltos kelios hipotezės. Pirma, klaidų taikant PVM reglamentuojančius teisės aktus priežastys yra konkrečios netobulos, klaidinančios teisės aktų nuostatos. Antra, teisės aktų nuostatos, kurias taikant klystama akivaizdžių trūkumų neturi, klystama, nes dažnai yra neaiškus jų tikslas, pagrindinė idėja, dėl kurios jos buvo sukurtos. Siekiant patvirtinti ar paneigti šiuos spėjimus i���keltas darbo tikslas – nustatyti tas PVM objektą reglamentuojančių teisės aktų nuostatas, kurias taikant dažniausiai daromos klaidos, nustatyti klaidų tipus ir būdus, į ką reikėtų atkreipti dėmesį, siekiant išvengti klaidų. Šiam tikslui pasiekti iškelti uždaviniai - atlikti Europos Bendrijų Teisingumo teismo, Lietuvos Vyriausiojo administracinio teismo ir Mokestinių ginčų komisijos prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės išnagrinėtų mokestinių ginčų sprendimų, kurie buvo priimti bylose dėl padarytų klaidų taikant PVM objektą reglamentuojančias teisės aktų nuostatas, analizę. Atlikus šių sprendimų analizę nustatyta, kad dažniausiai klystama taikant prekių tiekimo sampratoje įtvirtintas „prekių perdavimo“ ir „disponavimo prekėmis kaip savomis“ sąvokas, aiškinant vieną iš atlygio sąvokos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The VAT is the biggest and the most important resource of the National budgets. Therefore, every state must be sure that the Declaration of the Rights Tax Act regulatory preferably. There are also a few hypotheses. First, in the application of the regulatory acts Tax resulting error caused mostly not accurate in the classification of deception leading acts. Secondly, faulty application of classification of act has no obvious defects. The possible errors come only if the target and the idea of why this all has to be done, not just explained. This foreboding to vote or to deny them is the main objective, that is This VAT object regulates classification of the acts to determine their application for the most errors occur, the error and to clarify the possible ways out, in order to circumvent. To achieve this goal, the following tasks have been the work of the European Court of the European Community, the main administrative court in Lithuania and the Commission of disputes about tax to the government of Republic of Lithuania and decisions of the disputes about tax issues involved in the court proceedings at the declaration of the application of VAT object regulates classification of acts analyzed. In this summary we can clearly see that there are enough misapplications of VAT object regulatory classification of the acts occuring. Only partly succeeded determination of such categories of acts, where most mistakes happen to be determined. In almost all cases, if you pay tax at... [to full text]

In recent years the G8 and G20 Summits have become important sites of protest and conflict. Extensive planning by police and protesters have transformed the public meaning of these yearly assemblies into large-scale events characterized by what many see as threats to public order. The summits have also provided a world-stage for the economically and racially disadvantaged as well as globalized free trade dissenters to voice their resistance and opposition. At the same time, police have been placed on the opposite side of the conflict, ordered to “control the masses.” This conflict situation can sometimes lead to collective violence, especially on behalf of the police. In attempting to explain the police collective violence witnessed at the G8/G20 protests in Toronto in June of 2010, Neil Smelser’s (1962) value-added model of collective behaviour can be employed. This model demonstrates how processes involving structural conduciveness, structural strain, the spread of a generalized belief, the mobilization of participants and finally the utilization of social control can lead to an event such as collective violence. Recent revisions to the value-added argument by Fine (1997) have shifted attention away from the functionalist assumptions of the model and toward a more social constructionist stance. Thus, for Fine, belief itself does not create action. Rather, the use of the belief by claimsmakers can lead to a call to action, through media or other outlets. Finally, Randall Collins’s (2008) theory of forward panic is useful for illustrating the finer details of precisely how police mobilize for violence. In order to analyze the police collective violence witnessed over the weekend, a combination of participant observation, semi-structured interviews and ethnographic content analysis methods were employed. The findings support that because of the placement of the G8/G20 meetings, the conflicting relationship between the police and the protesters and the construction of the protesters as troublemakers, meant to be approached with suspicion, the police were able to overcome the tense conflict situation and attack the protesters. I conclude by suggesting a community-policing model for future protest situations. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2011-06-30 11:36:35.115

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