Functional Forms and Educational Production Functions

Different Functional Forms Are Proposed and Applied in the Context of Educational Production Functions. Three Different Specifications - the Linerar, Logit and Inverse Power Transformation (Ipt) - Are Used to Explain First Grade Students' Results to a Mathematics Achievement Test. with Ipt Identified As the Best Functional Form to Explain the Data, the Assumption of Differential Impact of Explanatory Variables on Achievement Following the Status of the Student As a Low Or High Achiever Is Retained. Policy Implications of Such Result in Terms of School Interventions Are Discussed in the Paper.

Communities of practice as professional and organizational development strategy in local public health organizations in Québec, Canada : an evaluation model

Communities of practice (CoPs) are among the professional development strategies most widely used in such fields as management and education. Though the approach has elicited keen interest, knowledge pertaining to its conceptual underpinnings is still limited, thus hindering proper assessment of CoPs' effects and the processes generating the latter. To address this shortcoming, this paper presents a conceptual model that was developed to evaluate an initiative based on a CoP strategy: Health Promotion Laboratories are a professional development intervention that was implemented in local public health organizations in Montreal (Quebec, Canada). The model is based on latest theories on work-group effectiveness and organizational learning and can be usefully adopted by evaluators who are increasingly called upon to illuminate decision-making about CoPs. Ultimately, validation of this conceptual model will help advance knowledge and practice pertaining to CoPs as well as professional and organizational development strategies in public health.