<p> Charter schools frequently receive public as well as federal attention, and there is a growing body of research becoming available examining charter schools. With all this research there is still a need for further studies which deal specifically with antecedents of charter school success. This study examined factors contributing toward the success of charter schools in the state of New York. It measured the success of a charter school with respect to student achievement levels which were measured via state mandated standardized English / Language Arts (ELA) test score averages provided on the Department of Education&rsquo;s website for the state of New York (https://reportcards.nysed.gov/). An examination was made regarding the extent and manner in which student achievement levels vary with respect to the following factors: (a) teacher credentialing, (b) teacher experience, (c) teacher turnover, (d) class size, (e) student demographics, and (f) grade level. Differences in student achievement levels per these factors were also examined with respect to the following charter school management entities: (a) For-Profit Education Management Organizations (EMOs), (b) Non-Profit Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), and (c) independently managed Community Grown Organizations (CGOs). A clearer understanding of what leads to the success/failure of a school will be useful in, (a) sustaining success of currently successful schools, (b) providing data for failing schools to take into consideration, (c) informing charter authorizing agencies, as well as (d) aiding in replication of an existing successful school model. This study found that while there was no significant correlation between any of the predictor variables on ELA test scores during the 2011-2012 school year, Charter Management Organization did have a statistically significant effect on ELA test scores, with schools that are Community Grown Organizations (CGOs) yielding higher results than schools that contracted with Non-Profit Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) and For-Profit Education Management Organizations (EMOs). While currently the trend in expectation is that charter schools most likely to succeed, and thus be replicated, are the schools that contract with For-Profit Management Agencies (EMOs) and Non-Profit Management Agencies (CMOs), this study has shown that it is actually the Community Grown Organizations (CGOs) that have yielded higher ELA standardized test scores during the 2011-2012 school year, thus making them considered as more successful entities than the EMOs and CMOs. The results suggest that further efforts into replicating successful CGO school models should be seriously considered by both the individual schools and the Charter Authorizing Agencies.</p>

Despite the wealth of information on suicide prevention issues and the widespread implementation of suicide prevention strategies, program evaluation efforts have been limited. Lack of sound program evaluation remains one of the most significant barriers to identification and implementation of effective intervention and prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was two-fold: to conduct a summative evaluation of the gatekeeper suicide prevention program implemented at the Toronto Transit Commission, and to concomitantly, appraise the efficacy and effectiveness of the Kirkpatrick evaluation model as an analytical framework to guide suicide prevention program evaluations. The study used a two-phase, sequential mixed-method approach of converging quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative study employed a repeated measures design and examined the immediate and long-term effects of the gatekeeper program on attitudes, knowledge, intervention abilities. The qualitative study consisted of semi-structured interviews and explored participants’ effective and utility reactions to the gatekeeper training program. The results of this study indicated safeTALK and suicideAWARE training programs increased participants’ knowledge of suicide and suicidal behaviour, enhanced positive attitudes toward the suicidal individual, suicide intervention, and improved intervention skills. The empirical findings from this study support the premise that the Kirkpatrick evaluation model could be adapted for use in gatekeeper program evaluations. The model provides a highly relevant, well-rounded, rigorous approach to suicide prevention program evaluations.

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Background – Every competent person in Ontario has the right to decide whether or not he or she will be admitted to long-term care. If your capacity to make such a decision is in doubt, then it is evaluated. The current evaluation process is inaccessible to people with aphasia or other communication barriers, and social work evaluators report significant problems in communicating with this population. Competent individuals have been found lacking in capacity because of communication barriers. Aims – To create a communicatively accessible capacity evaluation process with training in specialized communication techniques. Also, to test the validity and effectiveness of the Communication Aid to Capacity Evaluation (CACE) to reveal the inherent capacity of participants with aphasia using social work evaluators. Methods – 32 social workers were partnered with 32 competent participants with aphasia. They were randomly divided into an experimental and control group. Both groups administered the current ‘Capacity to Make Admissions Decisions’ questionnaire to establish a baseline measurement of capacity. The social workers in the experimental group were introduced to CACE and received communication training. Following a two-week interval they administered CACE and the control group re-administered the current capacity questionnaire. The 64 capacity evaluations were video recorded and 3 independent speech-language pathologists administered standardized assessment measures on the recordings. Finally, the participants completed surveys measuring confidence and communication abilities. Outcomes - Using the current capacity questionnaire, one social worker found a competent participant lacking in capacity and one third of social workers were unable to determine capacity. Following the introduction of CACE with communication training, analyses of the standardized measures and survey results showed a statistically significant difference between the participants in the experimental group and the control group. The social workers in the experimental group had significantly better communication skills, (‘Revealing Competence’ f (2, 29) = 12.03, p = 0.002), the participants with aphasia’ abilities to ‘Transfer Information’ increased, (f (2, 29) = 10.51, p < 0.003), and the evaluators’ confidence in their determinations of capacity improved (f (2, 29) = 13.511, p = .001). The use of CACE with communication training resulted in accurate determinations of capacity in competent participants with aphasia. Conclusions - CACE was an effective tool to evaluate the capacity to make a decision regarding admission to long-term care. It was communicatively accessible for this research population with aphasia, enhancing comprehension of the capacity process and enabling the person to communicate a response. Improved communication skills, transfer of information and confidence allowed the evaluators to accurately determine capacity.

In this thesis I describe a research study to further our understanding of the role of the evaluator as a facilitator of evaluative inquiry within organizations. I assumed dual roles as both the evaluator and the evaluation-use researcher to examine the effect of my behaviour on the evaluation of a dynamic organization. My approach as the evaluator was influenced by a decade of experience as a practising evaluator and by the insights I gained from my readings of organizational theory and three evaluation theories responsive, participatory, and developmental. My study of the nature, quality, and consequences of the evaluator/stakeholder interactions while participating in the process was anchored by approaches from the fields of educational research and organizational theory informed by complexity science. Using data generated from modifying the traditional case study method, including reflective journal entries related to my decision-making process, I generated critical episodes as a way of understanding the circumstances surrounding shifts in my behaviour. My iterative analysis of the critical episodes and the insights gained from them enabled me to track the transformations of the six personal evaluation principles that guided my evaluator approach and led to the creation of a seventh principle. The cross-case analysis revealed the evaluation process as a non-linear progression whereby the evaluator and the individual stakeholders engaged in establishing trust, fostering collaborations, and promoting learning. This study contributes three implications for evaluation practice including providing empirical data on what it means for an evaluator and individual stakeholder to develop close engagement through evaluative inquiry, bringing to the forefront the value of systematic and purposeful reflection as a means of enhancing the quality of this engagement, and pointing to the importance for evaluators continually integrating past experiences and new theoretical frameworks with understandings gleaned from close engagement. Finally, I posit a new approach documenting the complexity of the influence of the evaluator on shaping organizational and program development within the dynamic context. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-04-23 13:48:32.287

This work examines the application of different magnetic flux leakage (MFL) inspection concepts to the non destructive evaluation (NDE) of residual (elastic) stresses in CANDU reactor feeder pipes. The stress sensitivity of three MFL inspection techniques was examined with flat plate samples, with stress-induced magnetic anisotropy (SMA) demonstrating the greatest stress sensitivity. A prototype SMA testing system was developed to apply magnetic NDE to feeders. The system consists of a flux controller that incorporates feedback from a wire coil and a Hall sensor (FCV2), and a magnetic anisotropy prototype (MAP) probe. The combination of FCV2 and the MAP probe was shown to provide SMA measurements on feeder pipe samples and predict stresses from SMA measurements with a mean accuracy of ±38MPa. / Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2010-03-11 15:59:23.978

Understanding how consumers evaluate products is of great interest to market researchers. Different approaches focus on how consumers compare, combine or process attributes (Bettman, Luce and Payne 1998, 2008; Chen and Chaiken 1999; Cohen, Fishbein and Ahtola 1972). While attribute evaluation is clearly central to these approaches, what makes particular product attributes influential to consumers’ overall evaluation of the product is not entirely clear. One of the central goals of the current work is to examine why certain product attributes are appealing or unappealing, and to explore the implications of this for product evaluation research, including work on choice and persuasion, and more focused investigations on the role of trivial attributes. I structure this framework around two broad issues: First, I suggest that product evaluation is based on an attribute’s ability to fulfill a particular goal. Furthermore, I examine the specific processes by which activated goals influence the role of product features on the evaluation of the product itself. Specifically, I suggest that goals are more likely to influence the impact of product attributes on product evaluation when goals are activated and perceived to fit with the product. Second, I focus on three product related features within the consumption environment that are likely to activate certain goals, especially extra-consumption goals (i.e. goals that are not directly relevant to the function of the product, but that may nevertheless exert an important influence on product evaluation). Those aspects include the context in which the product is evaluated (e.g. choosing between multiple products versus evaluating an individual product), product category associations (e.g. fair trade and coffee), and even specific features of the product being evaluated (e.g. shampoo with “eco-friendly” ingredients). These aspects can activate goals that influence the role of the product’s specific features on overall evaluation. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2010-11-29 16:55:13.751

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