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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceived value-relevance of open data published by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education in the parents’ choice of Dutch primary schools.

Empirical data were collected through a mixed method strategy including quantitative and qualitative methods: quantitative surveys among parents of pupils in 25 primary schools; and semi-structured in-depth interviews using a topic list.

Parents make little use of the Inspectorate’s website compared to other information sources. The perceived usefulness of this website to parents choosing a primary school is also relatively low. Personal information gathered by school visits, written information from schools and information from other parents are more important sources.

Subjective considerations, such as the atmosphere and ambience of a school, play an important role in parents’ choice behavior. Pragmatic considerations also play a role, such as a school’s nearness. This study shows that it is necessary to rethink the rational assumptions behind publishing performance data.

This study observed a mismatch between the demand and supply of open data about primary schools. The Inspectorate’s publication strategy is based on “hard” and “written” data presented on a website, but parents also appreciate “soft” and personal “oral” data. Parents state that the Inspectorate should not only focus on negative school results for censuring (“naming and shaming”), but also give attention to schools that perform well (“naming and faming”).

Research about parents’ and citizens’ use of quality information in general is scarce. These findings show that parents’ choice behavior is less rational than assumed. Relativistic notions about decision-making processes are recognized in other studies also, but they suggest that highly educated parents are over-represented in the group of parents who actively make school choices, whereas this study found no indications that parents’ educational level affects their choices.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether oral feedback by inspectors of the Dutch Inspectorate of Education is an adequate method to support the professional development of teachers in primary education. This study aims to examine the impact of short feedback training for inspectors (focused on effective feedback conversations) on feedback quality and on teachers ' feedback perception. In addition, it aims to study the relation between immediate perception and the delayed perception of that feedback.

In an independent sample experimental design, 15 inspectors provided feedback to 40 teachers in primary education. Nine inspectors received short feedback training (the experimental group), while six others did not receive this training (the control group).

The results indicate that feedback provided by trained inspectors can foster professional development of teachers in primary education and that short feedback training has added value. The quality of the feedback by inspectors was related to teachers ' immediate perception of the feedback and the delayed perception of the feedback.

A limitation of this study is the small group of inspectors and the limited number of feedback conversations they could provide. Further research could be aimed at examining the impact of feedback of trained inspectors on the professional development of underperforming teachers.

This paper contributes to research that examines effective ways to use feedback conversations in workplace settings for the professional development of teachers.

Although it is assumed that school district governance by districts leaders can impact schools’ capacity to improvement and educational quality, there is little systematic evidence to support this claim. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how governance goals and interventions affect school districts’ social capital.

The empirical enquiry used quantitative data on district leaders enacting governance as perceived by their school principals. These data were collected among 399 school principals of 23 Dutch school districts in elementary education, using a survey. Social network data on social capital within school districts were collected using a social network survey among educational administrators (i.e. district leaders, central office administrators and school principals). Additionally, examples of the relation between school district social capital and governance at six school districts were described.

Results suggest that district leaders can promote the organizational social capital of their school districts through focusing on educational goals. In addition, the findings show that they can reinforce their impact by using interventions varying in coercion level, of which offering support to school principals appears to be “a golden button” to make organizational social capital thrive.

Limitations to the study are the generalizability of the findings (they can be questioned because “convenience sampling” was used) and warrant a longitudinal design to examine how organization social capital develops over time.

The study is unique as it addresses the impact district leaders may have on their districts’ social capital by focusing on social network approach in the study of school district governance.

This article starts by setting a general context for the importance of being information literate. After this, the specific pattern of use for information literacy in The Netherlands is defined. Governments, as one of the agents promoting information literacy, have a special position in this, because they establish targets and create the infrastructure for education. Over the ages these targets have evolved from reading, writing and arithmetic to a wider variety of literacies. Since the 1960s, ICT has influenced both the content and conduct of education. These developments are described at all three levels of education. Finally, a number of organisations relevant to information literacy are mentioned.

Elementary schools have been confronted with large-scale educational reforms as strategies to improve the educational quality. While building school-wide capacity for improvement is considered critical for changing teachers’ classroom practices, there is still little empirical evidence for link between enhanced school capacity for improvement and instructional change. In this study, the authors examined the impact of school improvement capacity on changes in teachers’ classroom practices over a period of time. Leadership practices, school organizational conditions, teacher motivation and teacher learning were used to measure school-wide capacity for improvement. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Mixed-model analysis of longitudinal data over a four years (2005-2008) period of time from 862 teachers of 32 Dutch elementary schools were used to test the impact of school improvement capacity on changing teachers’ instructional practices.

The results showed that organizational-level conditions and teacher-level conditions play an important, but different role in changing teachers’ classroom practices. Whereas teacher factors mainly affect changes in teachers’ classroom practices, organizational factors are of significant importance to enhance teacher motivation and teacher learning.

More longitudinal research is needed to gain better insight into the opportunities and limits of building school-wide capacity to stimulate instructional change.

By encouraging teachers to question their own beliefs, facilitating opportunities for teachers to work together to solve problems, and through the promotion of shared decision making, school leaders can reinforce the personal and social identification of teachers with the organization. As a consequence, teachers will feel increasingly committed and are more willing to change their classroom practices. Additionally, school leaders can use the findings from this study and the related instrument as a tool for school self-evaluation.

This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the nature of changes in conditions for school improvement and its influence on changes in teachers’ instructional practices over a period of time.

This policy brief, the second AERI-NEPC eBrief in the series “Understanding validity issues around the world”, focuses on validity as it applies to test-based models of evaluation employed for schools, instructional programs, and teachers around the world. It discusses validity issues that could arise when data from student achievement test administrations and other sources are used for conducting personnel appraisals, program evaluations, or for external accountability purposes, suggesting solutions and recommendations for improving validity in such applications of test-based information.

This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users.

The authors conclude that systematic improvement and transformation of schools depends on thoughtfully conceptualizing, implementing, and using data from testing and broad-based evaluation systems that incorporate multiple kinds of evidence. Evaluation systems that are valid and fair to students, teachers and education leaders need all three of the following: assessment resources and training for all participants and evaluation users; knowledgeable staff to continuously monitor processes and use assessment results appropriately to improve teaching and learning activities; and a strengths-based approach to make improvements to the education system based on relevant data and reports (as opposed to a deficits-based one in which blame or punishment is leveled at individuals or groups of workers when gaps in performance are observed).

To improve validity in interpretations of results from test-based teacher and school evaluation models, the authors provide recommendations for measurement and evaluation specialists as well as for educators, policy makers, and public users of data. Standardized test use in formative and more “high stakes” educational accountability contexts is rapidly spreading to various regions of the world. This eBrief shows that understandings of validity are still uneven among key stakeholders. By translating complex information pertinent to current validity issues, this policy brief attempts to address this need, and also bridge knowledge and communications gaps among different constituencies.

In this study, Nonaka and Takeuchi’s socialization, externalization, combination and internalization (SECI) model of knowledge creation is used to gain insight into the process of knowledge creation in data teams. These teams are composed of school leaders and teachers, who work together to improve the quality of education. They collaboratively create knowledge related to data use and to an educational problem they are studying. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A qualitative micro-process case study was conducted for two data teams. The modes, transitions and content of the knowledge creation process were analyzed for all data team meetings over a two-year period. In addition, all team members were interviewed twice to triangulate the findings.

Results show that the knowledge creation process was cyclical across meetings, but more iterative within meetings. Furthermore, engagement in the socialization and internalization mode provided added value in this process. Finally, the SECI model clearly differentiated between team members’ processes. Team members who engaged more often in the socialization and internalization modes and displayed more personal engagement in those modes gained greater and deeper knowledge.

The SECI model is valuable for understanding how teams gain new knowledge and why they differ in those gains.

Stimulation of active personal engagement in the socialization and internalization mode is needed.

This is one of the first attempts to concretely observe the process of knowledge creation. It provides essential insights into what educators do in professional development contexts, and how support can best be provided.

This paper aims to investigate the extent professionals from the vocational sector are networked individuals. The authors explore how professionals use their personal networks to engage in a wide variety of learning activities and examine what social mechanisms influence professionals’ agency to form personal informal learning networks.

This study applied a mixed-method approach to data collection. Social network data were gathered among school professionals working in the vocational sector. Ego-network analysis was performed. A total of 24 in-depth, semi-structured, qualitative interviews were analyzed.

This study found that networked individualism is not represented to its full potential in the vocational sector. However, it is important to form informal learning ties with different stakeholders because all types of informal learning ties serve different learning purposes. The extent to which social mechanisms (i.e. proximity, trust, level of expertise and homophily) influence professionals’ agency to form informal learning ties differs depending on the stakeholder with whom the informal learning ties are formed.

This study excludes the investigation of social mechanisms that shape learning through more impersonal virtual learning resources, such as social media or expert forums. Moreover, the authors only included individual- and dyadic-level social mechanisms.

By investigating the social mechanisms that shape informal learning ties, this study provides insights how professionals can be stimulated to build rich personal learning networks in the vocational sector.

The authors extend earlier research with in-depth information on the different types of learning activities professionals engage in in their personal learning networks with different stakeholders. The ego-network perspective reveals how different social mechanisms influence professionals’ agency to shape informal learning networks with different stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to overview the state of research on feedback and aspects of feedback that have been under-researched in the scholarly literature, particularly involving the theme of quality of the feedback. The paper seeks to draw on the existing literature, to develop a conceptual framework that identifies important aspects associated with quality of feedback that the articles in this special issue uniquely address.

This is a conceptual article that presents the results of an analysis of the feedback research literature and offers an abbreviated overview of it. It also develops a conceptual model that illustrates the complexity of the feedback process and identifies gaps that exist in the literature which the contributions of this special issue address.

The provision of feedback is critical to individuals ' learning and performance improvement in the context of their work. Coupled with the provision of feedback is the importance and need for high quality feedback. The quality of feedback and factors that influence it are the central themes of this issue.

This paper introduces this special issue on “Perceptions of quality of feedback in organizations: characteristics, determinants, outcomes of feedback, and possibilities for improvement” by overviewing the concepts associated with feedback and feedback seeking and developing a conceptual model that highlights the complexity of the feedback process. It also identifies existing gaps in the knowledge base that the contributions within this special issue address.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent of systematic examination of students’ educational (support) needs by teachers participating in lesson study (LS) meetings within a framework of formative assessment (FA).

The study took place in the context of upper preparatory vocational education in the Netherlands. The learning trajectory of two LS teams was examined qualitatively, using the framework of FA to analyze teachers’ explorative talk during LS-meetings. The sample included Dutch language teachers and mathematics teachers.

Findings revealed how the process of FA was intertwined with the LS process. Systematic examination of teaching practice was partly identified, however, FA was frequently inadequately applied. Teachers tended to rush into talk about pedagogics, instead of identification of goals and students’ educational (support) needs. In total, 12 characteristics of teacher talk were related to the extent to which FA was applied.

The findings of this study suggest that guidance and support during LS-meetings is desirable for systematic practices during LS-meetings and this guidance and support should adapt to specific weaknesses and strengths of a LS team.

This study builds on previous findings suggesting that a systematic approach is important for teachers during LS-meetings. The findings provide a starting point for realizing the potential of LS in preparatory vocational education, by revealing potential pitfalls of systematic practice during LS-meetings. Moreover, this study presents a framework of FA as a potential tool in facilitating a systematic practice of LS.