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18 - Actively Caring for Higher Education
- from INTRODUCTION TO PART II - APPLICATIONS OF AC4P PRINCIPLES
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- By Derek D. Reed, University of Kansas Lawrence, KS, Bryan T. Yanagita, Amel Becirevic, Jason M. Hirst, Brent A. Kaplan, Ellie Eastes, Taylor Hanna
- E. Scott Geller, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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- Book:
- Applied Psychology
- Published online:
- 05 March 2016
- Print publication:
- 24 February 2016, pp 563-593
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Summary
I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
– Albert EinsteinAction needs to be taken to improve education in the United States. The United States ranked seventeenth among thirty-four Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the 2012 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The PISA is a standardized test of math, science, and reading comprehension skills, and is administered to more than five hundred thousand 15-year-olds internationally. At the forefront are students from China, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Liechtenstein with mean PISA scores of 613, 573, 554, 536, and 535, respectively. With a mean score of 481, U.S. students scored significantly lower than the international average of 494, trailing Spain, the Russian Federation, and the Slovak Republic.
According to the OECD, the assessment gauges knowledge and skills of students, which helps policymakers target and set reasonable goals in their education systems. The disconcerting PISA score of U.S. 15-year-olds raises several questions: What underlying factors contribute to relatively poor academic performance in the United States? What can be done to improve academic performance? Is it too late?
We do not believe it's too late; but a solution requires a greater understanding of the activators and consequences that affect academic-related behavior.
In Declining by Degrees, Hersh and Merrow provide insight into possible reasons our American education system is failing. These include (a) the belief that college does nothing more than prepare students for a job; (b) the inability of educators to effectively communicate information to students; (c) the disconnection between supply and demand for available courses; (d) an emphasis on teaching to assessment exams; and (e) insufficient preparation for college, among other factors.
Despite these barriers, we believe principles of applied behavioral science (ABS) can provide guidance for students, parents, educators, and the community as a whole toward a brighter future for education in the United States and beyond.
A MODEL FOR IMPROVING THE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
The activator-behavior-consequence (ABC) model of ABS has a long and rich history of improving students’ classroom performance. Instructors and researchers have demonstrated methods to improve class attendance and punctuality, ways to improve course structure so students can allocate more time for studying, and approaches to enhancing students’ ability to take notes during class lectures.
10 - Cultivating an AC4P Culture in Organizations
- from INTRODUCTION TO PART II - APPLICATIONS OF AC4P PRINCIPLES
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- By Florence D. Digennaro Reed, University of Kansas Lawrence, KS, Amy J. Henley, Sarah R. Jenkins, Jessica L. Doucette, Jason M. Hirst
- E. Scott Geller, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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- Book:
- Applied Psychology
- Published online:
- 05 March 2016
- Print publication:
- 24 February 2016, pp 339-368
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Summary
Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day.
– Frances HesselbeinHave you ever had a job you loved and felt empowered to fulfill your responsibilities? If so, what was it about your co-workers, your manager/supervisor, and your work environment that made your experience so positive? Perhaps you've never felt that way about a job and, instead, you've dreaded heading to work every morning. Your boss might have rarely recognized your efforts. It's possible you weren't sure how to perform your job, but felt uncomfortable asking for help. Your co-workers might have seemed like characters from the movie Mean Girls. In this perfect storm of the forces of disengagement, we suspect you didn't last too long at that job. Or you felt overwhelmed with too much to do, with too little support, as depicted in the illustration on the next page.
According to a 2013 survey, more than half of workers in the United States were dissatisfied with their jobs. This statistic is alarming; after all, we spend approximately one-third of our waking hours and energy at work, plus dissatisfied employees tend to find new employers. Because we spend so much of our time and energy at work, the organizational culture can have a profound impact on our lives and the lives of those around us. If work cultures support interdependent, prosocial behavior instead of individualism and competition, we believe the business world, indeed our everyday lives, will be more positive and productive for almost everyone.
Any organization's mission will benefit from employees who care about their work and their colleagues. It's a win-win scenario. What factors influence employee job satisfaction? Aside from the obvious – job security, pay, and benefits (e.g., health insurance) – employees report that feeling safe at work, having a positive relationship with their immediate supervisor, and communicating openly and cooperatively with other employees and senior management contribute significantly to their work satisfaction. The bad news: In many organizational cultures, managers/supervisors struggle with these very issues, resulting in unacceptably high rates of employee dissatisfaction and turnover and a climate of distrust.
Imagine these disgruntled employees as supervisors who are responsible for mentoring newly recruited employees.