Christine A. Langone

Increased Accuracy in Measuring Leadership Impacts

This study sought to determine the change in level of leadership skills of participants in a community leadership program and the degree of response shift (change in level of understanding of leadership skills) in the self-report measures employed. While most of the participants reported increases in their leadership skills at the end of the program, differences were found between their self-report ratings using the pretest/posttest approach and the then/posttest approach. The degree of response shift (pre/then comparison) was also evident. The findings from this study together with other studies cited suggest that when employing self-report measures, the then/post approach provides a less conservative and more accurate means of assessing leadership skill development than would the traditional pretest/posttest approach. Suggestions for reducing the effects of response shift are also offered.

Response Shift Bias: A Problem in Evaluating Nutrition Training Using Self-Report Measures

The Cooperative Extension Service has been a key partner in the design, implementation, and evaluation of school nutrition training. To evaluate the effectiveness of their training and the effects of response shift bias on outcomes using a self-report measure, 162 foodservice staff from eight rural schools participated in this food-handling behavior study. Nutrition staff were assigned to one of two treatment groups or to the control group. Two different evaluation designs (pretest/ post-test and then/post) were used. The then/post design asks participants to first report their behavior or understanding as a result of the training (post) and then to retrospectively report this behavior before the training. The then/post evaluation design provided more significant change data than did the traditional pretest/post-test design, indicating that a response shift occurred. Such differences in evaluation findings suggest that the educational benefit of such training may be underestimated when using the traditional pre/post evaluation design.

Assessing Leadership and Problem-Solving Skills and Their Impacts in the Community.

A pretest-posttest control group design was employed to assess the leadership and problem-solving skills of participants in a statewide community leadership development program. Quantitative data and analysis revealed that significant changes had resulted from the program. Qualitative data collected after the conclusion of the program revealed how program participants became further involved in their communcties in a variety of ways and on several local issues. The need for evaluation of community leadership development programs to document community impacts is then discussed

The Politics of Planning Culturally Relevant AIDS Prevention Education for African-American Women

The central purposes of the study were to determine: 1) the extent to which the programs of a community-based AIDS education provider were culturally relevant for African-American women, and 2) what organizational and social factors in the program planning process influence whether these programs are culturally relevant. Using the Cervero and Wilson theoretical framework, a qualitative case study of an AIDS community services agency was conducted using interviews with staff and board members, participant-observations of three programs, and analysis of agency documents. The study showed that, except for a one-hour segment of one program, the overall AIDS education efforts were not culturally relevant for African-American women. Three factors accounted for this lack of cultural relevancy: (a) the organizational image and financing were directed toward the interests of its white gay male leadership, (b) the internal interpretation of the agencys educational mission did not include a focus on African-American women, and (c) the organizational structure did not support substantive representation of the interests of African-American women in regard to programmatic decisions. It is concluded that power relations manifested themselves concretely through these factors in the social and organizational context, which by defining African-American learners as generic entities, produced undifferentiated educational programs.

Negotiating About Power, Frames, and Continuing Education: a Case Study in Public Health

Drawing on the Cervero and Wilson theory of program planning as the negotiation of interests, the purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the distinction between meta-negotiation and substantive negotiation. A case study approach was used to examine a continuing education course in public health. Historically, the course had represented an attempt to implement federal immunization policy. After the course was under way, stakeholders whose interests were not being fully met engaged in meta-negotiations to change the power relationships at the planning table and in substantive negotiations to change the content of the course and audience for it. The redesign and implementation of the course represented a recurring series of substantive negotiations of personal, organizational, and societal interests within relations of power and meta-negotiations about the power relations themselves as stakeholders sought to have their interests represented at the planning table.

The Use of a Citizen Leader Model for Teaching Strategic Leadership

Strategic leadership is perhaps the area where undergraduate students have the least experience. Therefore, a focus on developing these skills is critical for college-level leadership educators. Teaching strategic leadership requires that educators design programs that make explicit, direct, and formal links between theory and practical experience, opportunity to reflect, solve problems, work in teams, and engage in active learning. The Citizen Leader Model (CLM) for student engagement goes beyond volunteerism and service learning through its focus on bringing about substantive change in organizations and communities. This article describes a teaching method for teaching strategic leadership using the CLM, sample projects, and outcomes.

Analyzing Special Educators' Views on Community-Based Instruction for Students with Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities: Implications for Teacher Education

Community-based instruction continues to grow as a preferred curricular option for teachers of students with moderate to severe mental retardation. Although long advocated as an important instructional approach for students with mild mental retardation (Brolin, 1995; McDonnell et al., 1993), the relationship has not been very clearly established between community-based instruction (CBI) and the general education curriculum emphasizing traditional academic skills. This investigation was designed to gather relevant findings related to the process of community-based instruction and to translate these findings into implications that the implementation of this innovation may have on teacher education and future research in special education. As findings indicate, there appear to be differing attitudes between teachers who engage in CBI programming and those who do not. There also appears to be some indication that teachers who have characteristics as risk takers appear to be more able to develop CBI activities. In addition, the need for administrative support, both at the outset of program development and during the instructional process, appears to be a major indicator of success. Future researchers should investigate the effects of administrator perceptions and attitudes, CBI effects on the learning of more traditional academic skills, and the development of high-quality CBI activities.

The Challenge of Developing Faculty to Teach Leadership as a Secondary Discipline

In colleges of agriculture leadership education is one area of study where enrollment and demand are outstripping the capacity of institutions to deliver the coursework. However, few faculty members are prepared to teach leadership contextually based in agriculture. Responding to this challenge, the Leadership Education Institute (LEI) for faculty in colleges of agriculture was created. The primary goal of the project was to prepare agricultural faculty to teach leadership as a secondary discipline. This multi-year project, funded by a USDA Higher Education Challenge Grant, was a collaboration of faculty from Oklahoma State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Georgia. The project resulted in directly impacting food and agricultural sciences education at 10 institutions across the nation by improving teaching competency of leadership education faculty in colleges of agriculture.

Search and Evaluation Strategies for Effective Use of World Wide Web in Leadership Education

Executive Summary Educators and students of leadership have access to a dynamic tool in the World Wide Web. However, with the increasing amount of information available, finding specific information for teaching, learning, and research in a timely manner can become a challenge. As a teaching/learning tool, Web-based resources must ultimately contribute to learning amid abundant commercial and recreational material. This article offers guidelines for encouraging effective search strategies, provides resources both on-line and in print for further exploration, and presents a Web Evaluation Tool which outlines criteria for evaluation of Web sites for educational use. Students knowledgeable of effective search strategies can enhance their study of leadership, and continue to update their leadership information, research, and trends through access to relevant and useful resources readily available on the Web.