Judith Koenig - Böcker

Value-added methods refer to efforts to estimate the relative contributions of specific teachers, schools, or programs to student test performance. In recent years, these methods have attracted considerable attention because of their potential applicability for educational accountability, teacher pay-for-performance systems, school and teacher improvement, program evaluation, and research. Value-added methods involve complex statistical models applied to test data of varying quality. Accordingly, there are many technical challenges to ascertaining the degree to which the output of these models provides the desired estimates. Despite a substantial amount of research over the last decade and a half, overcoming these challenges has proven to be very difficult, and many questions remain unanswered--at a time when there is strong interest in implementing value-added models in a variety of settings.The National Research Council and the National Academy of Education held a workshop, summarized in this volume, to help identify areas of emerging consensus and areas of disagreement regarding appropriate uses of value-added methods, in an effort to provide research-based guidance to policy makers who are facing decisions about whether to proceed in this direction.

Disparities in educational attainment among population groups have characterized the United States throughout its history. Education is sometimes characterized as the "great equalizer," but to date, the country has not found ways to successfully address the adverse effects of socioeconomic circumstances, prejudice, and discrimination that suppress performance for some groups.To ensure that the pursuit of equity encompasses both the goals to which the nation aspires for its children and the mechanisms to attain those goals, a revised set of equity indicators is needed. Measures of educational equity often fail to account for the impact of the circumstances in which students live on their academic engagement, academic progress, and educational attainment. Some of the contextual factors that bear on learning include food and housing insecurity, exposure to violence, unsafe neighborhoods, adverse childhood experiences, and exposure to environmental toxins. Consequently, it is difficult to identify when intervention is necessary and how it should function. A revised set of equity indicators should highlight disparities, provide a way to explore potential causes, and point toward possible improvements.Monitoring Educational Equity proposes a system of indicators of educational equity and presents recommendations for implementation. This report also serves as a framework to help policy makers better understand and combat inequity in the United States' education system. Disparities in educational opportunities reinforce, and often amplify, disparities in outcomes throughout people's lives. Thus, it is critical to ensure that all students receive comprehensive supports that level the playing field in order to improve the well-being of underrepresented individuals and the nation.

In einer stringenten Erzähllinie entwickelt das Markusevangelium seine Vorstellung der basileia tou theou mehr und mehr als Idee einer königlichen Präsenz Gottes. Judith König zeigt, dass das Markusevangelium dabei die Nähe der basileia Gottes als Katalysator einer neuen Art von Weltwahrnehmung versteht. Dabei erstreckt sich der Aufruf, diese neue Art von Wahrnehmung zu entdecken, einzuüben, und sie anzuwenden über die Charaktere der erzählten Welt hinaus auch auf die Leserinnen und Leser des Markusevangeliums. Für Letztere ist die veränderte Wahrnehmung besonders wichtig, denn nur mit ihrer Hilfe kann die herausfordernde Erzählung vom Leiden und Tod Jesu am Kreuz entschlüsselt werden. Das Markusevangelium bietet für die zentrale Frage, wie selbst im Tod des Gottessohnes am Kreuz die königliche Präsenz Gottes wahrgenommen werden kann, nur vorsichtige Antworten.

Das von Gelehrten oft als „fünftes Evangelium" bezeichnete Buch Jesaja war für die literarische Produktion des frühen Christentums von außerordentlicher Bedeutung und formte die Art und Weise, wie die ersten Jesus-Anhänger ihren Glauben zum Ausdruck brachten. Die hier versammelten Studien beleuchten die Entwicklung der frühchristlichen Exegese des Jesajabuches, dessen Rezeption sich in den Räumen gestaltete, die entlang Grenze zwischen Judentum und Christentum eröffnet, gestaltet und definiert wurden.