This report details exploratory research undertaken by Newcastle University from November 2022 to May 2023. The aim of this exploratory project was to develop, trial and evaluate approaches to providing indications of how outdoor space is being perceived, used and valued by students in four schools -- to ascertain which approach (or approaches)…

Although more students study abroad today than in decades prior, participation still lags behind national goals put forth by the Lincoln Commission. Many students plan to study abroad, yet this often does not correspond with actual participation. This gap suggests there are barriers that prevent study abroad intentions from evolving into program…

Answering questions completely, accurately and honestly is not always the top priority for survey respondents. How might researchers motivate respondents to be more conscientious? One possibility is to elicit agreement from respondents to work hard and provide complete and accurate information. In their pioneering work in the 1970s and 80s,…

As part of the National Survey of Schools project, part of NZCER's Te Pae Tawhiti programme of research, we collaborated with the New Zealand Area Schools Association (NZASA) to survey area school teachers between 15 June and 21 July 2023. A total of 652 area teachers across 64 area schools completed the survey, with questions focusing on: (1)…

This study aims to examine how job resources, demands, and self-efficacy affect American STEM teachers' job satisfaction by analyzing the US TALIS 2018 data. Multiple regression and commonality analysis were used to analyze factors' significant contributions and their detailed real unique and common contributions to STEM teachers' job…

When and how to survey potential respondents is often determined by budgetary and external constraints, but choice of survey modality may have enormous implications for data quality. Different survey modalities may be differentially susceptible to measurement error attributable to interviewer assignment, known as interviewer effects. In this…

The idea of student engagement as a predictor of student success was first introduced by Alexander Astin (1974; 1984) who studied student involvement. The connection of student involvement and student success has led to the focus on student and how we measure it to ensure that institutions are doing all they can to improve outcomes. Nothing has…

Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value-added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we…

The American Educator Panels (AEP) are nationally representative samples of teachers, school leaders, and district leaders across the country. The American School District Panel (ASDP) is a partnership among the RAND Corporation, the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Chiefs for Change, the Council of the Great City Schools, and Kitamba. The…

The aim of this paper is to foreground network analysis as a statistical lens through which higher education institutions can articulate their own process of striving for teaching excellence, and how it is constituted in their own contexts. The paper offers an approach to analysis that extends the frontiers of methodologies in 'measurement' of…

This study examined the post-graduation employment location preferences of international students preparing to participate in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program in the United States. An exploratory survey asked international students in their final semesters at three midwestern public universities to indicate their employment location…

The 2021-2022 Study of Family and Staff Well-Being in Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) Programs (2021-2022 Study) arose out of a need to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of Head Start families and staff. The goal was to provide data on the characteristics and needs of families and staff after nearly two…

This paper explores the effect of collaborative learning on academic motivation among students from 17 institutions throughout the United States. Even in the presence of a wide array of potential confounders, collaborative learning exerted a statistically significant and positive influence on students' academic motivation levels across four years…

Arbitrary placing cut-offs in data, i.e. binning, is recognised as poor statistical practice. We explore the consequences of using arbitrary cut-offs in two large datasets, the National Student Survey (2019 and 2022). These are nationwide surveys aimed at capturing student satisfaction amongst UK undergraduates. For these survey data, it is common…

The purpose of this study is to examine leadership for learning practices across the world by establishing profiles of leadership at school and country levels. Consequently, the study brings to our attention the (ir)relevance of school and system features for leadership for learning. The paper contributes to the field through the use of an…