[Paper Title]

[Firstname Lastname]

[Fall 2015]

College of Education

 

 

 

The following sections each have a descriptor as to the required content in the section.  The font (12 pt. Times New Roman) and the page setup (1 inch margins all around) are already set as required for this document.  Your paper should be double-spaced, and should not exceed 28 pages in length (excluding the title page, references and appendices).  Please save your file under the filename containing your last name, GAP, the term, and the year — for example, John Smith’s paper for Fall of 2015 would be named Smith7517GAP-Fall15.doc  (or docx). Upload your paper on to Webcourses – the date and time can be found in the syllabus.

These yellow boxes should be removed prior to submitting the paper.  Right click on the small cross-box upper left corner of this box and Cut the box.

 

[Case Study Title]

Problem Statement

[Limit the Problem Statement to THREE pages or less, excluding title page and References]

Context

This is a case study of a fictitious setting using actual theories and research references.  All names, organizations, and locations are identified with pseudonyms, and all case study setting related data were fabricated.

[Start your case study here.]

*Do not remove the above sentence that begins with “This is a case study of a fictitious setting…”  (Start typing in the text entry box below that sentence) 

The “Case Study Title” text above should be replaced with a fictitious name assigned to a school, university, or other organization that your case study is based on.  This should be followed by a description of the context in which your study is taking place Where is it? What is happening? Why are you studying this case? What is the problem the organization is encountering? What type of performance problem is it? (Crisis, Discrepancy, Innovation.)

 

Problem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People

 

How many people are involved in your setting and what role does each person serve? (e.g. students, teachers, staff, managers) What are the individual and group characteristics of the people? (For example, gender, race, culture, and language background.  Think about the culture of the organization, and the surrounding areas, such as neighborhood, home, and so forth.) What are the organizational resources?

 

 

Purpose

 

The purpose of this case study is to _____________ (examine, identify, diagnose, etc) the ________________(central phenomenon being studied) for _____________ (the participants, such as the individual, group, organization) at _______________ (location).  At this stage in the case study, the primary focus is on ____________ (central phenomenon being studied) and will be generally defined in this case study as _______________ (provide a definition).

 

Goals, Measures, Standards, and Gaps

Framework for the Discussion

 Describe what will be covered in the paper. Briefly describe the framework or gap analysis process (i.e. Clark & Estes, 2008, Rueda, 2011) you will use to set and measure goals, determine gaps, and diagnose and solve the knowledge & skills, motivation, and organization problems in your case study.

1 page max.

 

In the section below you will identify two levels of goals: Global and individual Performance goals.  This section (the identification of goals, measures, standards, and gaps) should be 3 pages max. There should be one global goal.

 

Global Goal

[Insert text here]

Identify a single Global goal associated with your selected organization.  Global goals are driven by the mission of the organization and usually reflect larger social or societal goals (e.g. “All students will leave grade 5 having demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter.”)  As such, global goals should be all-inclusive (e.g. “All students”) – – you would not have a societal goal of having “eighty-percent of students graduate”.  Global goals are broad in scope and are expected to take one or more years to accomplish. They should be measurable (quantifiable).

 

In education settings in which academic achievement may be the focus of the Gap Analysis, educators often set global goals to establish multiyear curriculum plans.  See the Anderson and Krathwohl text (p. 15, under “Global Objectives”) for more details about global goals.

 

In education administration, global goals might represent admissions, retention or graduation rates.  In corporate or industrial settings, etc., global goals might represent product sales or service goals.

 

Write your organization’s global goal to include three components:  What the organization will accomplish, when the organization will accomplish it, and how the organization will measure the achievement of the goal.

 

Describe how you arrived at the global goal.  What benchmarking or other method did you use to determine the desired organizational goal?  How did you measure the organization’s current performance level?  Subtract the two to arrive at and describe the organization’s performance gap. 

 

Performance Goals

Performance goals are narrow in scope and can be accomplished in a matter of days or weeks.

 

In educational settings, they are referred to a “learning objectives” and are included in daily lesson plans. A learning objective states the condition for performing the objective, a verb that refers to (or associated with) the intended cognitive process, the object or the knowledge that the learner is expected to acquire or construct, the measure of how it will be assessed, and the standard (time and/or accuracy) that must be met (e.g. “Given a list of  10 fractions, students are able to apply the procedure to find decimal and percent equivalents for each, and explain why they represent the same value.”)  (Use A & K, types of knowledge and verbs for cognitive processes.)

The following are not performance goals:

·         Instructional activities (i.e. silent sustained reading)

·         Teaching methods (i.e. Open Court)

·         Interventions (i.e. an after-school program)

·         Tests or assessments (i.e. high school exit exam)

·         Having access to something (i.e. financial aid)

·         A percentage of the learners who will attain the goal (eg. 90% of students will…)

See page 17 of Anderson & Krathwohl for more information about what educational goals are not.

 

In other settings, such as educational administration, corporate and other types of organizations, performance goals reflect daily and weekly individual and team goals. Similar to learning objectives, they have a verb, a noun, measure and standard.

 

List one performance goal for your organization – What individual, team, or class performance goals must be accomplished to progress toward the global goal?

One Performance Goal Measure, Standard, and Gap

State your PERFORMANCE GOAL. You will perform your cause and solution analysis on this performance goal. Your selected performance goal will be the subject of the Knowledge, Motivation, and Context/Culture cause and solution analyses (the three sections below).  For the purpose of this assignment, the gap for the performance goal that you select here must have a knowledge cause, a motivation cause, and a culture/context cause.

 

Specify the goal you will examine in detail.  Describe how you measured the current performance level.   Subtract the two to arrive at and describe the performance gap.

[Insert text here]

Content. [Insert text here]

Measurement.  [Insert text here]

Standard. [Insert text here]

Gap.  [Insert text here]

 

Causal Analysis

Performance Goal Knowledge Cause

This section should explain how you determined the knowledge cause (i.e. what real or fictional data were collected).  The assumed knowledge causes should come from one of the cells of the Anderson & Krathwohl matrix.

The taxonomy table in Anderson & Krathwohl (p. 28) describes the six major categories of cognitive process dimensions.  Table 5.1 (p. 67-68) provides many alternate verbs that can be used to describe the desired activity (such as “find” and “explain” used above) that the learner is expected to perform on the content.

Report your analysis in the following way:

  • Restate the performance gap in one sentence, briefly describe the A & K and Clark & Estes frameworks you will use in your analysis, and then describe how you determined whether (and what type) of knowledge might have caused this gap.
  • How did you validate the knowledge causes (e.g. what test did you use and with what result?) 
  • What research and/or theory (with citations in APA format) led you to your cause analysis?

3 pages max.

[Insert text here]

 

Performance Goal Knowledge Solutions

[Insert text here]

What solutions are you proposing to close the performance gap IN KNOWLEDGE you have identified? What research and/or theories led you to your solution analysis?  The solutions you propose must be based on literature or theories that address your diagnosis of the causes for the knowledge gaps identified in the previous section and draw on the principles for each that you learned throughout the course.  Support your statements of the theories and principles with citations (in APA format) from the readings in this course, as well as by outside sources (peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly publications) that address solutions specific to the type of knowledge cause you are addressing in your case study.

Report your analysis in the following way:

  • Describe the principle-based solutions are you proposing to close the performance gap.

(1 pages max for this section).

 

Performance Goal Motivation Cause

[Insert text here]

This section should explain how you determined the motivation cause (i.e. what real or fictional data were collected).  Select one or more motivational frameworks (For example, from Mayer (2011) or Pintrich (2003).  Which motivation index (active choice, mental effort, or persistence) problem led you to focus on motivational issues in your case study and the gap? What specific motivational variables appear to be involved (Self Efficacy? Values? Goals? Attributions? Goal orientation? Emotional issues?) How did you validate which of these assumed motivation causes was in fact the problem?  What research and/or theory (with citations in APA format) led you to your cause analysis? Report your analysis in the following way:

  • Restate the performance gap in one sentence and then describe how you determined which motivational index might have contributed to this gap. 
  • How did you validate the motivation causes (e.g. what indicators suggested a motivational index issue?)  What measured did you use?
  • What research and/or theory (with citations in APA format) led you to your cause analysis?

3 pages max.

 

Performance Goal Motivation Solutions

[Insert text here]

What solutions are you proposing to close the performance gap IN MOTIVATION you have identified? What research and/or theories led you to your solution analysis?  The solutions you propose must be based on literature or theories that address your diagnosis of the causes for the MOTIVATION gaps identified in the previous section and draw on the principles for each that you learned throughout the course.  Support your statements of the theories and principles with citations (in APA format) from the readings in this course, as well as by outside sources (peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly publications) that address solutions specific to the type of MOTIVATION cause you are addressing in your case study.

Report your analysis in the following way:

  • Describe the principle-based solutions are you proposing to close the performance gap.

(1 pages max for this section).

Performance Goal Culture/Context Cause

This section should explain how you determined the contextual cause (i.e. what real or fictional data were collected).  How did you determine whether and what type of cultural/contextual conflict or cause might have contributed to the performance gap you measured? These might include organizational culture, policies, administrative structures, etc. (refer to the notes and for additional ideas). How did you validate the cultural and contextual causes that exist in the school, organization, or company? What research and/or theory (with citations in APA format) led you to your cause analysis? Report your analysis in the following way:

  • Restate the performance gap in one sentence and then describe how you determined whether a contextual cause might have contributed to this gap. 
  • How did you validate the contextual cause (e.g. what indicators suggested a context/culture issue?) 
  • What research and/or theory (with citations in APA format) led you to your cause analysis?

3 pages max.

[Insert text here]

 

Performance Goal Culture/Context Solutions

[Insert text here]

What solutions are you proposing to close the performance gap IN CULTURE/CONTEXT you have identified? What research and/or theories led you to your solution analysis?  The solutions you propose must be based on literature or theories that address your diagnosis of the causes for the CULTURE gaps identified in the previous section and draw on the principles for each that you learned throughout the course.  Support your statements of the theories and principles with citations (in APA format) from the readings in this course, as well as by outside sources (peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly publications) that address solutions specific to the type of CULTURAL/CONTEXT cause you are addressing in your case study.

Report your analysis in the following way:

  • Describe the principle-based solutions are you proposing to close the performance gap.

(1 pages max for this section).

 

TABLE: Causes and Solutions

[Include a table (using APA format) that has four columns: Cause, Measure, Theory/Research, and Solution to summarize your narrative.]

 

Summary

 

 

 

References

[Insert reference list here]

References should be formatted APA style as shown in the following examples (refer to the APA Manual (6th ed.) for specific information when you are in doubt):

 

Ayres, P. L. (2001). Systematic mathematical errors and cognitive load. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26, 227-248. DOI 10.1006/ceps.2000.1051

Schein, E. H. (2004).  The concept of organizational culture:  Why bother?  In E. H. Schein (Ed.), Organizational culture and leadership.  (p. 3-23).  New York:  Wiley & Sons.

 

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