Evaluation Index System and Model for the Construction of School
Ethos in University Classes
Guanghai Shang, Qiankun Yang and Shiqi Liu
The School of Management of Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, 230009, China
Keywords: Construction of school ethos, evaluation index, model.
Abstract: The evaluation of constructing school ethos in classes has been emphasized in many universities to
guarantee teaching quality and learning atmosphere. Currently, the common score assessment, special
factors assessment and other new methods are being tested by practice in those universities. Besides, the
advantages, application scope and development direction of these models have been investigated and
analyzed. On this basis, the evaluation of constructing school ethos in universities will become more
rational and effective. Thus the construction of school ethos in university classes can be better promoted.
1 STATUS OF THE
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL
ETHOS IN DOMESTIC
UNIVERSITIES
School ethos, as the core ideology and goals of a
school, has always been an important campus work
emphasized by various universities. Thus the works
related to the construction of school ethos have
become more and more significant. Nowadays,
people’s evaluation standard for a university is not
merely limited to faculty, students’ test scores,
graduation rates and employment rates but favor a
more profound level of constructing school ethos
(Chen Zhen, 2013). As the major bases of
cultivating young talents, universities are very
similar in curriculum and teaching. Therefore, it’s
necessary to emphasize the construction of school
ethos to enable college students to acquire the
edification of higher education. Such construction is,
of course, based on students’ learning. Students and
teachers can improve teaching methods through
teaching programs. Students’ learning interests can
thereby be continuously stimulated to improve
teaching quality and learning atmosphere. On this
basis, current students carefully study professional
knowledge and continuously enhance the pragmatic
learning attitude. Such campus activities through
“teaching” and “learning” can achieve the mutual
promotion of teaching and learning. And they’re the
widely used method of constructing school ethos in
most universities.
At present, most domestic universities are
actively promoting their own construction of school
ethos and have accomplished several achievements.
For example, Jiangnan University has divided the
construction of school ethos into three powers: the
leading role of backbone teachers in daily teaching,
the exemplary role of student leaders in learning
process and the principal role of most students in the
whole activity. The coaction of the three can not
only ensure the construction of school ethos covers
the whole school but also achieve a clear
responsibility division (Wu Yan, Zhang Wenping,
Cui Ruiling, 2014). As a result, various works can
be launched based on evidences, guaranteeing both
quality and quantity.
In addition, some universities have innovatively
created the “characteristic” construction of school
ethos consistent with their actual characters,
achieving the blossoming of all styles. For instance,
National Defence University PLA China mainly
emphasizes military construction. Therefore, it
focuses on the strict management of tests in the
construction of school ethos. In addition to the
conventional four levels: “inferior, qualified, good
and excellent”, the evaluation of cadets has even
rigorously set up different proportions of
recommending outstanding students. And the links
of college examination have introduced not only the
advanced evaluation system for national defense
116
116
Yang Q., Liu S. and Shang G.
Evaluation Index System and Model for the Construction of School Ethos in University Classes.
DOI: 10.5220/0006445001160120
In ISME 2016 - Information Science and Management Engineering IV (ISME 2016), pages 116-120
ISBN: 978-989-758-208-0
Copyright
c
 2016 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

students’ comprehensive quality and the annual
appraisal plan but also the more humanized mutual
assessment and recommendation between cadets. In
this way, more young talents can be appropriately
discovered and comprehensively cultivated. With
such model of constructing school ethos, students
can be more comprehensively and scientifically
urged. And the purposes of cultivating college
talents can become more distinctive and well
presented. Plus, it’s an important factor for
universities to carry on the past and open a way for
future.
2 COMMON EVALUATION
INDEX SYSTEMS FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL
ETHOS IN UNIVERSITY
CLASSES
2.1 Traditional scoring evaluation
system
Scoring evaluation has been most widely used in
constructing school ethos and school’s annual
assessment. In this method, various evaluation
contents, code of conduct, rewards and punishments
are represented by different weights based on their
different status. An object of evaluation will obtain
the corresponding score after actually achieving the
set standard. And the final results are judged and
determined through each individual’s score (Li
Haibo, 2013). Such method, with less possible
disputes, is the most simple and straightforward one
among a number of assessment methods. Thus it’s
very persuasive for objects. Simple and crude as it
may be, this “all or nothing” way of judgment is
very effective. If people want to flexibly grasp the
different factors in such method, they can improve
the setting of evaluation contents or the allocation of
scores to increase adaptability and practicality. Let’s
take the scoring evaluation rules of constructing
school ethos in a university from Zhuhai as the
example. Its evaluation can be divided into five
areas: planning and implementation for constructing
school ethos (25%), students’ learning (25%), class
honors and punishments (20%), characteristic works
(20%) and others (10%). These areas have rather
completely covered the main goal of constructing
school ethos. As the important parts of the system,
the corresponding weights not only reflect the
different values presented by different contents but
also provide the basic specifications for the
following scoring. In addition, the system also
includes specific assessment contents, scores,
scoring standard, assessment basis and remarks. A
complete evaluation system of constructing school
ethos requires the evaluation team to rigorously
compare and judge the behaviors of participants. If a
participant reached a certain standard, he/she will
obtain the corresponding scores. Thus the obtained
final data is well documented and can provide a
reasonable explanation regarding the results of
constructing school ethos for all participants.
Currently, most universities mainly adopt such
method to evaluate work efficiency and appraise
excellent talents.
2.2 Evaluation system with special
awards
The evaluation system of constructing school ethos
with scoring standard has been widely used in
practical college works. In addition, some
universities evaluate the construction of school ethos
based on the outstanding performance of classes.
Adopted by some universities, such evaluation can
be accurately implemented on class or individual
level. Thus they can obtain good supervision and
encouragement. In fact, this kind of evaluation
model is linked with the reward system: as long as a
class has an outstanding performance in one link of
constructing school ethos activities, it will obtain the
corresponding honorable tiles. Such assessment
results can often be converted to material rewards.
And the effects have certain advantages compared
with scoring evaluation and are more applicable in
modern universities. Although such special titles
have many categories, they have to focus on the
construction of school ethos with comparable and
distinctive characteristics. For example, the titles for
individual college students: “Learning Model”,
“Learning Individual Excellence” and “Best
Progress Award”. And the titles for classes:
“Mutual-help Class” and “Good Construction of
School Ethos Award”. Multiple as they may be,
these awards are not flashy. Diversified evaluation
methods can not only better retain the advantages
and characteristics of each individual but also
increase flexibility and enjoyment in the serious
evaluation of constructing school ethos.
Consequently, teachers and students can get rid of
the previous prejudice that the school ethos only
emphasizes academic scores. In this way, they can
envisage the construction of school ethos and
actively widen thinking. Besides, teachers and
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students’ learning-based understanding in
knowledge, feelings, mentality and behavior is
optimized to promote sustainable development of
constructing school ethos in universities.
2.3 Election and self-recommendation
evaluation system
As the forefront of constructing school ethos,
universities are required to reasonably accomplish
the related supervision and organization and achieve
meaningful formal innovation. Such gathering of
high-level intellectuals should generate progressive
and divergent thinking to better promote the
implementation of school’s activities. Focusing on
the initiative and enthusiasm of participants, class
elections and self-recommendation has broken the
previous patterns where classes passively accept the
evaluation of constructing school ethos. Such “rose
to the challenge” method can not only reflect
classes’ confidence in the ability of their own
teachers and students, but also show the good state
of preparation for tests and great cooperation. Thus
the evaluation regarding students’ academic scores,
learning attitude, class atmosphere and interpersonal
relationships can be smoothly carried out. Besides,
its authenticity and reliability can be adequately
protected, which will make relevant college works
even better. Once such creative evaluation methods
were widely promoted in universities, most classes,
teachers and students will have more stringent
requirements for their own behaviors. Accordingly,
a good academic atmosphere can be formed in
teaching and learning, presenting an enthusiastic
situation in a long period——comparing, learning,
catching-up, helping and surpassing. To some extent,
adding such humane elements to school evaluation
system can alleviate the situation where students,
teachers and classes excessively pursue the so-called
scholarships, material rewards and honorary titles.
Thus the deterioration of school ethos can be
avoided on campus. In reality, the real purpose of
constructing school ethos is not the victory of one
individual but the improvement of atmosphere and
quality around the entire university.
3 STUDY ON THE EVALUATION
MODEL OF CONSTRUCTING
SCHOOL ETHOS
3.1 Relatively stable fixed-factors
evaluation model
The construction of school ethos in universities has
always been an issue emphasized by all the teachers,
students and education departments. Its timely
implementation, effectiveness of evaluation and
reasonability of feedbacks are important factors
influencing its effects. In the evaluation model of
constructing school ethos, students, teachers, schools
and families are indispensable basic factors.
Included in construction activities, they can
determine the success or failure of the evaluation of
constructing school ethos. Among them, the
teaching environment formed by teachers and
students are playing the most obvious role——the
state, ideology and behavior of the both can affect
the entire school ethos. As a result, the Butterfly
Effect can be reflected in appearances such as
student achievement, the strength and reputation of
universities. Meanwhile, universities, as the main
body of activities, need to control the collection,
selection and processing of information as well as
the final results during the evaluation. Thus they are
required to have a safeguard——firm evaluation
system and reliable evaluation team members. In
addition, universities need to control the forming
and developing trend of school ethos and take the
reality and ethos of the school into account so that
the both can harmoniously develop. Besides, parents
can provide strong supports, real-time feedbacks,
timely supervision, constructive comments and
suggestions for the evaluation. In a word, these four
aspects are complementary and indispensable in the
construction of college ethos.
3.2 Relatively flexible special-factors
assessment model
The evaluation of constructing school ethos in
domestic universities commonly uses some winning
titles or awards to reflect its successful completion.
Why does this way exist until now? The reason is
that it reflects the real value in people’s practice and
has a certain mass base——people’s recognition and
affirmation. In fact, the setting of various so-called
special prizes can, to some extent, reflect the
priorities in constructing school ethos and people’s
expectations for this work. Rigorous learning
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attitude, excellent teaching environment and strong
academic atmosphere are the purposes that schools,
teachers and students want to achieve. Thus
“Excellent Class” and “Advanced Individual” need
to meet the requirements of constructing school
ethos and make outstanding contributions during the
process. Besides, the school can create the following
evaluations: the uniform evaluation on the whole
class that investigates whether the learning
atmosphere inside the class is strong and whether the
overall level of students is high; the personal
capacity evaluation based on the individual ability or
contribution in each class; the progress award that
compares the performance of each class in different
periods to achieve vertical reference. The above
approaches can not only make the conventional
evaluation of constructing school ethos flexible and
operable, but also conduct personalized evaluation
based on the psychological characteristics of classes
and individuals. Such diversification will inject
greater vitality into the construction of college ethos.
Thus a series of proactive self-improvement and
perfection can be stimulated, promoting the
optimization of school ethos.
3.3 Other evaluation models of
constructing school ethos
Compared with the schools on other levels, domestic
universities have sufficient hardware and software
support for constructing school ethos. With high
quality, educational level and degree of ideological
emancipation, college teachers and students can
brilliantly absorb new ideas and methods. On this
basis, constructing school ethos and its evaluation
can obtain effective implementation and feedbacks.
In addition, the study of college students requires
more self-restraint and self-learning. Therefore, once
formed and becoming mature, the school ethos
commanding the whole campus will become a
valuable intangible asset of the school. In such
atmosphere, both teachers and students can develop
their resources and personal abilities to the fullest
degree while benefiting a lot.
In addition to the steady development on the
original track, the construction of school ethos
requires further innovation and expansion in order to
“retain youthfulness”. Combined with the public
expectations for college talents, the school
evaluation team can add several new standards and
directions to the project design: the evaluation of
constructing excellent courses and the quality
evaluation for academic conferences (from the
perspective of teachers); a student’s research project
results, social acceptance and self-management
classes (from the perspective of classes). Based on
the previous academic-atmosphere-centered
situation, such new evaluation methods introduce
factors coming from academic authority and
practical needs of society. As a result, the evaluation
of constructing college ethos has become more
comprehensive in structure. And the internal
development of universities has acquired a striving
direction. In other words, these methods are acting
as both assessment and guidance. All in all, the
school leaders and the management team of
constructing school ethos should pay adequate
attention to “quality” and “quantity”, mastering
effective methods and advanced concepts of
constructing school ethos. Only when the both
complement each other can the objective of talents
training and teaching bring out the best in each other
inside universities.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The superior evaluation of constructing college
ethos is playing a significant positive role:
optimizing academic atmosphere, improving
teaching quality and establishing a good image of
college and campus culture. Thus universities will
obtain good results in constructing school ethos
through clearly considering the evaluation indicators,
optimizing and upgrading evaluation models as well
as the coaction of teachers and students. School
ethos is the soul of a school. Therefore, the gradual
improvement of the evaluation will act as the pilot
for various academic activities on campus. And the
positive energy it brought will be continuously
effective in a long period.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was funded by the National
Undergraduate Training Programs for Innovation
and Entrepreneurship “Study on the Evaluation
Index System and Model of Constructing School
Ethos in University Classes Based on SPSS Factors”
(No. 201310359050).
REFERENCES
Chen Zhen, Analysis on the Evaluation System of
Constructing College Ethos based on Two-factor
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Li Haibo, Exploration on Problems in the Contemporary
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Wu Yan, Zhang Wenping, Cui Ruiling. Introspection
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