"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Leadership Lessons From Schools Becoming "Data Wise" (Jennifer L. Steele and Kathryn Parker Boudett); (2) A Guide on the Side: Mentors Help New Leaders Prepare for Life in the…

This paper argues that psychology has an important role for practicing teachers. Firstly, it is important that they keep their knowledge of best teaching and learning practices updated; psychology is a continually evolving field of research and whilst some traditional aspects may remain compelling even today, others are no longer seen as valid,…

Today's interconnected technical environment creates unprecedented opportunities while simultaneously introducing risks. With economic, social and personal interactions increasingly occurring in technology-mediated settings new vulnerabilities are continually being introduced. This dissertation seeks to improve extant understanding of how…

Introduction: Sharing of information across cultural boundaries does not always live up to expectations. Information behaviour is an underlying factor, which can contribute to poor use or non-use of the information or information services at the disposal of indigenous people in a development context. Method: A literature study of information…

Clarifies the concept of development, briefly discussing three historical periods of development education. Contrasts "split-knowledge" and "holistic" paradigms of modern science. (RH)

The author surveyed 391 subscribers of an agricultural computing newsletter regarding their use of computers to access agricultural information databases. He determined the need for training to enhance the use of these databases. (JOW)

Discusses Taylor's value-added approach to information and combines it with a social theory--Gidden's structuration approach--to develop a theoretical approach that will be a useful basis for research. Topics addressed include the conceptual structure of the value-added approach and the structuration approach, information use environments, and…

Proposes an information architecture for personal-history data and describes how the data model can be extended to a runtime model for a compact visualization using graphical timelines. The model groups personal-history events into aggregates that are contained in facets, crosslinks are made, and data attributes are mapped. (Author/LRW)

This guide is designed to inform school directors about the value of a data dashboard and to provide information on how districts can create a data dashboard for school directors. A data dashboard is a tool for viewing and analyzing student achievement and performance data. Key data for monitoring student achievement and directing policy level…

The momentum behind building high-quality data systems to harvest better information about student, school and district performance has never been stronger. To meet the goal of improving student achievement, policymakers and educators need longitudinal data systems capable of providing timely, valid and relevant data. Although…

In this article, we describe a simplified approach to teach students to assess information obtained from diverse sources. Three broad categories (credibility, content, and currency; 3C) were used to evaluate information from textbooks, monographs, popular magazines, scholarly journals, and the World Wide Web. This 3C approach used in an inquiry…

This article is a synopsis of three performance tasks designed for students enrolled in an educational leadership graduate level course Using Data to Affect Change. These performance tasks address the requisite knowledge and skills that an effective school leader should possess in order to improve the quality of instruction and at the same time…

Objectives: Existing findings on cancer patients' use of information sources were synthesized to (1) rank the most and least used information sources and the most helpful information sources and to (2) find the impact of patient demographics and situations on use of information sources. Methods: To synthesize results found across studies, a…

This 23-item bibliography includes a glossary of key terms and summarizes major works on the use of program evaluation information. Summarized works include books, papers presented at professional meetings, and doctoral dissertations. The summaries are organized around a framework of themes: studies of evaluation utilization, practical discussions…