Social policy and embedded evaluation: Assessing the impact of a food insecurity project in the United Kingdom

Social policy making needs to involve robust evaluation to assess its impact. In this article, a social policy intervention focused on tackling food insecurity amongst vulnerable people is examined and the benefits and challenges of using an embedded approach to evaluation are considered. Food insecurity is defined as not always having the economic, social, and physical resources to ensure a sufficient supply of nutritionally appropriate food. Evidence suggests that food insecurity in the United Kingdom is increasing in the context of long-term poverty, austerity, insecure employment, rising living costs, low pay, and cuts to welfare and public services. An embedded evaluation was conducted involving interviews with the intervention participants and observations of a series of cooking and food budgeting classes. The findings suggest that the classes had a positive impact on many of the participants, who felt more confident about cooking and valued the shared experience. However, given the acute problems facing many of the participants including long-term poverty, policies aimed at tackling food insecurity need to go beyond cooking and food budgeting skills. The embedded evaluation approach contributed towards the overall impact of the intervention by providing insights that led to changes as part of an iterative process during the intervention rather than in the form of a final report after its completion. An embedded evaluation-based approach can be resource intensive, and the role of the evaluators can present challenges, but it can help to bridge the gap between intervention design, delivery, and social change.     

外国教育史学在中国

我国外国教育史学发展的百年历程经历了萌芽起步、艰难恢复、积极发展、成就与危机并存以及近年来的积极转向这几个阶段。几代学者共同就外国教育史的基本命题进行了深入的讨论、总结与反思，包括外国教育史是什么？研究外国教育史有什么用？作为一个学术领域，外国教育史应该研究什么？怎样研究？作为一个知识门类，外国教育史应该教什么？怎样教？学者们的辛勤耕耘使外国教育史学已经有了一个健康合理的起点，但其中诸多制约外国教育史学发展的实质性问题仍需重视，包括教育史观的把握问题、教育史研究的功利主义问题、教育史研究的规范意识问题以及教育史研究的陈述范式与立场视角的自觉反思问题等。     

构建大数据视阈下的哲学社会科学人才评价机制

哲学社会科学人才评价机制是促进哲学社会科学创新发展的基础性工作。当前，我国哲学社会科学人才评价机制存在着较多的现实困境。信息技术的高速发展为哲学社科人才评价产生了较大的影响，尤其是大数据有助于提升人才评价的科学化和规范化、准确性和预测性、透明性和公平性。构建大数据背景下的哲学社会科学人才评价机制，需要以大数据环境对社会科学人才评价的应用价值为立足点，以多元化的评价主体、客观化的评价标准、公正化的评价程序为基本内容，重点解决好“谁来评”“评什么”“怎么评”的问题。同时，通过完善人才评价法律法规、建立人才资源数据开放共享和一体化平台等措施，努力推动人才评价的法治化、科学化、规范化发展。     

小学英语教师评价理念和评价话语的相关性研究

评价话语是小学英语教师在形成性评价中落实以人为本、注重过程、促进发展评价理念的一种常见的评价方式。探究小学英语教师评价理念和评价话语的相关性对更新小学英语教师评价理念和提高评价话语的有效性有现实意义和参考价值。调查研究结果表明:小学英语教师对评价理念的把握和落实以及评价话语的使用处于一般水平;评价理念和评价话语在学历、教龄和执教学生人数上存在显著差异;学历、教龄与评价理念和评价话语存在显著的正相关,执教学生人数与评价理念和评价话语存在显著的负相关;学历和教龄对评价理念的把握和落实及评价话语的使用有显著的正向影响,执教学生人数不会对教师评价理念的把握和落实及评价话语的使用产生显著的影响。     

Parenting and children’s negative emotionality,self‐regulation,and academic skills: The moderating role of fathers’ residency

We examined whether fathers’ residency modified the associations among mothers’ supportiveness, father involvement, children’s negative emotionality during toddlerhood and children’s academic skills in pre‐kindergarten via children’s self‐regulation. Participants were 2,291 mothers (M_age = 23.24 years) and children (M_age = 14.99 months at Wave 1; 50.7% girls) in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Results revealed distinctive associations by fathers’ residency: self‐regulation mediated the association between mothers’ supportiveness and academic skills only in resident‐father‐families. Self‐regulation mediated the association between negative emotionality and academic skills only in nonresident‐father‐families. The findings highlight the family processes of mothers, fathers, and children in low‐income family contexts that contribute to children’s academic skills, and how those family processes may vary by fathers’ residency status.     

The serene student: Evaluating a group-based mindfulness training program for MSW students

ABSTRACT

Social work educators are exploring the benefits of mindfulness training for social work pedagogy. The authors evaluate the outcomes of a mindfulness program for MSW students. The authors assessed changes in mindfulness, self-compassion, affect, mood, and impairment due to emotional distress before and after the program, and at 4-month follow-up. The authors examine how the group process may facilitate the development of mindfulness and consider how mindfulness practices can support group development and student learning. Results demonstrate that mindfulness training supports student self-regulation and well-being and suggest that the active ingredients of the group process may play a role in mindfulness training outcomes.     

Early assessment of implementing evidence-based brief therapy interventions among secondary service psychiatric therapists

This implementation study was part of the Ostrobothnia Depression Study, in Finland, which covered implementation of motivational interviewing (MI) and behavioral activation (BA) within regional public psychiatric secondary care. It aimed to evaluate the mid-term progress of implementation and related factors. Altogether, 80 therapists had been educated through the implementation program by the point of the mid-term evaluation. Eligible information for evaluation was gathered using two questionnaires (q1, q2) with a one-year interval.A total of 45 of the 80 therapists completed q1, 30 completed q2, and 24 completed both questionnaires. Professional education was the only background factor associated with adopting the interventions (q1: p = 0.059, q2: p = 0.023), with higher education indicating greater activity. On the basis of trends such as changes in overall usefulness score from q1 to q2, the most involved therapists were slightly more likely to adopt MI/BA. Our experience so far suggests that encouraging staff to begin using new interventions during education is very important. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research was found to be a useful tool for constructing the evaluation.     

吴于廑早期学术研究与后期世界史理论建设

作为建国以来构建世界史理论体系的新创者，吴于廑在其早期的学术研究也即硕博学位论文中所积累的学术知识，主要以中国史的领域为主，但却对其以后构建世界史理论体系产生了重要作用，主要体现为对古今中外史家的世界史观方面的评价，在世界历史的分期方面以及对世界历史上的游牧与农耕关系方面产生的影响。     

基于教育实习质量的同异反评价

提供了一种教育实习质量的评价模型．     

学生视野中的高校学生评教——基于上海XX大学调研数据的实证分析

学生评教在目前已成为各高校教学质量评价的必要环节和教师管理的重要手段,但是其信度和效度问题一直饱受争议。从评价者的视角对学生评教情况进行调查与研究,结果发现：绝大部分同学都能认识到教师的教学方法、水平等是其评教的核心依据,但课程因素、教师个性、师生感情以及利益的考量等,又往往左右着其评教过程,加上评教本身的“管理主义”特征,致使学生参与意愿下降,敷衍之风盛行,最终导致评教结果“失灵”。必须通过树立发展观念,建立多方参与协商机制和加强学生评教的研究,提高学生评教的有效性。