bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Expanding the Constructivist Metaphor: A Rhetorical Perspective on Literacy Research and Practice
Authors: Greene Stuart , Ackerman John M.
Published: March 2008

In this review we summarize some of the accomplishments and shortcomings of constructivist accounts of reading and writing activity as part of our argument for social and textual views of literacy. Arguing that reading and writing are inseparable from each other and from other modes of meaning making, we aim to foreground studies and theories that depict the rhetorical dimensions of literacy. We define rhetorical as referring to the means and circumstances through which readers and writers represent and negotiate texts, tasks, and social contexts. A rhetorical perspective on literacy research and practice calls attention to the ways in which language use crystallizes relations between readers and writers. Such a perspective also brings into focus the extent to which the ways authors position themselves within a certain social space is contingent upon (a) authority (e.g., a disciplinary community’s conventions for inquiry, the institution of school, or a writer’s expertise), (b) the purposes that bring writers together within a particular social forum, and (c) the topic of their discourse or task at hand. In trying to expand the constructivist metaphor, we intend to contribute to a conceptual vocabulary and imagery for literacy research and practice that draw upon textual and intersubjective explanations of constructive activity in composing.
Race Comparisons on Need for Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Alternative to Graham’s Narrative Review
Authors: Cooper Harris , Dorr Nancy
Published: March 2008

A box score review conducted by Graham (1994) concluded that no difference existed between Blacks and Whites on measures of need for achievement. A meta-analysis reported in this article using the same research base revealed reliable and complex race differences. Overall, Whites scored higher than Blacks on measures of need for achievement, but the race difference all but disappeared in studies conducted after 1970. As a possible explanation, the meta-analysis revealed that since 1970 samples of participants from various socioeconomic levels have been preferred and that such samples showed differences between races of only half the size of those shown for samples of participants of strictly lower socioeconomic status. The method of assessment and the age and education of participants also influenced outcomes of race comparisons. Finally, Graham concluded that the research showed a consistent pattern of more positive self-concept of ability among Blacks than Whites. The meta-analysis also found this effect but revealed it to be smaller (though nonsignificantly so) than the difference in need for achievement rejected by the box score. Thus, the meta-analysis found that effects are no larger in an area where Graham concluded they existed than in an area where she concluded they did not.
Narrative Versus Meta-Analytic Reviews: A Rejoinder to Graham’s Comment
Authors: Cooper Harris , Dorr Nancy
Published: March 2008

We examine Graham’s (1995) concerns about meta-analysis regarding (a) the use of poor-quality studies and (b) an overemphasis on quantitative comparisons of substantively disparate literatures. First, many meta-analysts eschew making questionable global judgments of quality so as to exclude studies on an a priori basis. Instead, they demonstrate their concern for research quality by including methods variables in a search for influences on study outcomes. Further, our meta-analysis ( Cooper & Dorr, 1995 ) demonstrated the independence of decisions about (a) what studies to include in a review and (b) whether to use quantitative synthesis techniques by using the same evidential base Graham used for her narrative review. Second, we agree with Graham that substantively disparate literatures ought not be compared. However, we argue that literatures that might be defined as disparate for one purpose could be comparable for another. Regardless, her concern is irrelevant to our comparison of the two reviewing methods.
Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Rewards: A Commentary on Cameron and Pierce’s Meta-Analysis
Authors: Lepper Mark R. , Keavney Mark , Drake Michael
Published: March 2008

This article provides a critical analysis of Cameron and Pierce’s (1994) meta-analytic review of the experimental literature on the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. It is suggested that Cameron and Pierce’s overly simplistic conclusion has little theoretical or practical value and is instead the direct consequence of their systematic and consistent misuse of meta-analytic procedures. A more nuanced analysis of the several different processes by which extrinsic rewards may affect motivation is also offered.
Effects of Learning Skills Interventions on Student Learning: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Hattie John , Biggs John , Purdie Nola
Published: March 2008

The aim of this review is to identify features of study skills interventions that are likely to lead to success. Via a meta-analysis we examine 51 studies in which interventions aimed to enhance student learning by improving student use of either one or a combination of learning or study skills. Such interventions typically focused on task-related skills, self-management of learning, or affective components such as motivation and self-concept. Using the SOLO model ( Biggs & Collis, 1982 ), we categorized the interventions (a) into four hierarchical levels of structural complexity and (b) as either near or far in terms of transfer. The results support the notion of situated cognition, whereby it is recommended that training other than for simple mnemonic performance should be in context, use tasks within the same domain as the target content, and promote a high degree of learner activity and metacognitive awareness.
The Development of Epistemological Theories: Beliefs About Knowledge and Knowing and Their Relation to Learning
Authors: Hofer Barbara K. , Pintrich Paul R.
Published: March 2008

There have been a number of research programs that have investigated students’ thinking and beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing, including definitions of knowledge, how knowledge is constructed, and how knowledge is evaluated. However, these different research programs have pursued varying definitions and conceptual frameworks and used quite different methodologies to examine students’ epistemological beliefs and thinking. In the first section of this article, we provide a critical and comprehensive review of these different research programs. In the second part of this article, we identify nine crucial theoretical and methodological issues that need to be resolved in future research on epistemological theories. As these issues are addressed in future research, there will be more consensus regarding the nature of epistemological theories, and their relation to cognition, motivation, and learning will be made more explicit.
School-to-Work Transitions for Youth With Disabilities: A Review of Outcomes and Practices
Authors: Phelps L. Allen , Hanley-Maxwell Cheryl
Published: March 2008

This review examined employment and postsecondary education outcomes for youth with disabilities leaving secondary schools, as well as studies of educational practices reporting high-quality outcomes. Analytical considerations included the current initiatives in educational reform that emphasize the improvement of career-related outcomes for all students and the inclusion of youth with disabilities in regular classes. While school- and employment-related outcomes for youth with disabilities continue to be problematic when compared with those for nondisabled youth, two educational practices appear to consistently align with higher-quality outcomes for students. The promising practices that merit attention in improving programs and in advancing the knowledge base include school supervised work experiences and functionally oriented curricula in which occupationally specific skills, employability skills, and academic skills are systematically connected for students. The educational reform literature indicates that valued outcomes for all students are focusing more prominently on workplace and transition outcomes, and that educational practices supported with documented evidence from the secondary special education literature are viewed by many authors as promising directions for improving secondary education for all students.
Middle School Advisories: Retrospect and Prospect
Authors: Galassi John P. , Gulledge Suzanne A. , Cox Nancy D.
Published: March 2008

This article presents a critical analysis of middle school advisor-advisee programs. The history of and rationale for these programs are reviewed, and a typology is offered for distinguishing different advisory programs. A conceptual framework is provided for identifying potential barriers to advisories at the inception as well as the implementation and maintenance phases, and suggestions for addressing these barriers are discussed. Existing research on advisory programs is reviewed and evaluated, and guidelines for improving future research are presented. Finally, alternative educational practices for achieving the goals of advisory programs are considered.
The Culture of Redemption and the Administration of Freedom as Research
Authors: Popkewitz Thomas S.
Published: March 2008

This essay focuses on the systems of “reason” in the educational sciences. It examines today's image of the constructivist teacher and child who, from different ideological agendas, collaborate and “construct knowledge” in a decentralized system of education. This image, it is argued, is an effect of power. It functions historically as a governing practice that links political rationalities about progress to the construction of individual identities. Contemporary research inscribes a 19th-century premise that the purpose of research is the social administration of the subjects (and subjectivities). This administration embodies a redemptive culture that promises empowerment and emancipation, but the particular scaffolding of ideas functions to consolidate and conceal power relations as the educational sciences inscribe “action,” “practice,” and “the soul.”
Occupational Stress, Burnout, and Health in Teachers: A Methodological and Theoretical Analysis
Authors: Guglielmi R Sergio , Tatrow Kristin
Published: March 2008

The health effects of teacher stress and teacher burnout are reviewed separately in this article. Although the literature generally lends support to the hypothesis that occupational stress and burnout are associated with poor health in teachers, confidence in this conclusion is weakened by the serious methodological and conceptual difficulties that pervade this area of research. In particular, reliance on cross-sectional retrospective designs, exclusive dependence on self-report measures, and failure to adopt a theoretical framework as a guide for empirical investigations are identified as major threats to the validity of the findings reported. It is concluded that this area of research is ready for a shift to theory-based investigations that test causal models of teacher stress and health with more sophisticated research designs and measurement strategies.
Single-Sex and Coeducational Schooling: Relationships to Socioemotional and Academic Development
Authors: Mael Fred A.
Published: March 2008

The role of coeducation versus separate-sex schooling in the academic, socioemotional, interpersonal, and career development of adolescents is discussed. Arguments and research support for both types of schooling are reviewed. Separate-sex schooling seems to provide potential academic and attitudinal benefits for at least some students. The limitations of current research are discussed, and directions for further research are offered.
Scientific Discovery Learning with Computer Simulations of Conceptual Domains
Authors: De Jong Ton , Van Joolingen Wouter R.
Published: March 2008

Scientific discovery learning is a highly self-directed and constructivistic form of learning. A computer simulation is a type of computer-based environment that is well suited for discovery learning, the main task of the learner being to infer, through experimentation, characteristics of the model underlying the simulation. In this article we give a review of the observed effectiveness and efficiency of discovery learning in simulation environments together with problems that learners may encounter in discovery learning, and we discuss how simulations may be combined with instructional support in order to overcome these problems.
Experimental Intervention Research on Students with Learning Disabilities: A Meta-Analysis of Treatment Outcomes
Authors: Swanson H. Lee , Hoskyn Maureen
Published: March 2008

This article summarizes a comprehensive synthesis of experimental intervention studies that have included students with learning disabilities. Effect sizes for 180 intervention studies were analyzed across instructional domains, sample characteristics, intervention parameters, methodological procedures, and article characteristics. The overall mean effect size of instructional intervention was positive and of high magnitude (M = 0.79). Effect sizes were more positive for a combined model that included components of direct and strategy instruction than for competing models. Interventions that included instructional components related to controlling task difficulty, small interactive groups, and directed responses and questioning of students were significant predictors of effect size, and interventions that varied from control conditions in terms of setting, teacher, and number of instructional steps yielded larger effect sizes than studies that failed to control for such variations. The results are supportive of the pervasive influence of cognitive strategy and direct instruction models for remediating the academic difficulties for children with learning disabilities.
Factors Related to Competency Test Performance for High School Learning Disabled Students
Authors: Hall Julia , Griffin Harold , Cronin Mary , Thompson Bruce
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study is to explore some of the factors associated with 55 learning disabled students who passed the North Carolina Minimum Competency Test on the second administration. The factors examined are the following: reading score on the first competency test; IQ; locus of control; mother’s education; teacher support; student/teacher ratio; and home support. Results indicate that only reading performance on the first competency test is significantly correlated with overall performance on the second competency test. Parental support for learning disabled students was also correlated with a passing score on the second test, but the correlation was not statistically significant.
Solving the Shortage of Mathematics and Science Teachers
Authors: Levin Henry M.
Published: March 2008

Present shortages of mathematics and science teachers in secondary schools are not a new phenomenon. Such shortages have been present for at least 40 years, with only the magnitude of the shortages fluctuating. Nor is the cause of the shortages a new phenomenon. Just as school salary policy, with its reliance on the single salary schedule, has not provided competitive salaries for mathematics and science specialists in the past, it continues to create a shortfall in the number of qualified mathematics and science personnel willing to take teacher training and offer their services to schools. It is only by providing special increments to attract mathematics and science specialists that a long-term solution can be effected. Schools can accommodate such a change in policy through careful and systematic planning. Both the state and federal governments have roles to play in assisting schools to formulate salary policies that will attract adequate numbers of qualified teachers for all openings.
Medium of Presentation: Does It Make a Difference in the Reception of Evaluation Information?
Authors: Ripley William K.
Published: March 2008

Several simulation studies have been conducted in recent years that investigate the relationship between evaluation information and utilization. These investigations have typically been conducted within the context of a communication theory paradigm: “Who says what, how, to whom, with what effects?” The “who” (the evaluator), the “what” (evaluation information), and the “whom” (audience) have all been explored in various degrees with respect to their relationship with “what effects” (utilization/reception). The “how” (medium of presentation), however, has generally been ignored. This study was conducted to investigate this aspect of the paradigm.
An Exploratory Study of Contextual Factors as Influences on School Board Evaluation Information Needs for Decisionmaking
Authors: Brown Robert D. , Newman Dianna L. , Rivers Linda S.
Published: March 2008

This investigation examined the effect contextual variables had on school board members’ information needs for decisionmaking. The contextual variables included: (a) the importance of the decision, (b) the amount of conflict involved, and (c) the content of the evaluated program. A national sample of 237 school board members read simulated evaluation vignettes and indicated their information needs and sources. Importance, conflict, and content were found to be associated with board members’ needs for time, information, and consultation, as well as whom they wanted to consult with and what kind of information they needed.
Early Research on the Federal Education Block Grant: Themes and Unanswered Questions
Authors: Knapp Michael S. , Cooperstein Rhonda Ann
Published: March 2008

This paper reviews early research at the national level on the implementation and effects of the Department of Education’s block grant, Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981. The review is intended to synthesize what is known about the block grant in its first two years of operation (the 1982–83 and 1983–84 school years) and to suggest directions for future research on this policy mechanism. Findings from the early studies are summarized under six topics: funds allocation, educational service delivery, program administration, program assessment, decisionmaking, and intergovernmental relations. Although it is preoccupied with short-term impacts, this body of research brings important issues into focus and points the way toward further investigation.
Three Evaluation-Related Behaviors of the School Principal
Authors: Glasman Naftaly S.
Published: March 2008

Largely because of the drive to improve school productivity, evaluation has touched almost every aspect of education. This paper focuses on evaluation-related behavior of school principals. First, the role of principals as clients of professional evaluation is examined. In the second section, research that views school principals as evaluators in their own right is reported. In the last section, concepts drawn from the evaluation literature are used to explore new ways of studying the rationality that principals employ to make decisions.
How Textbooks Affect Achievement in Developing Countries: Evidence From Thailand
Authors: Lockheed Marlaine E. , Vail Stephen C. , Fuller Bruce
Published: March 2008

For the past decade, researchers have documented the effects of textbooks on achievement in developing countries, but no research has explored the mechanisms that account for this contribution. This paper analyzes longitudinal data from a national sample of eighth-grade mathematics classrooms in Thailand and explores the effects of textbooks and other factors on student achievement gain. The results indicate that textbooks may affect achievement by substituting for additional postsecondary mathematics education of teachers and by delivering a more comprehensive curriculum.
Career Ladder Reform: A Multi-Level Analysis of Initial Efforts
Authors: Malen Betty , Hart Ann Weaver
Published: March 2008

Empirical studies of career ladder policymaking at the state, district, and site levels in Utah provide the basis for analyzing the initial impact of this reform on teacher work roles, relationships, and reward structures. The article describes the manner in which the career ladder concept has been interpreted, assimilated, and adjusted at each level of the system and assesses the extent to which these responses reflect fundamental changes in the structure of teacher work. The findings reveal that the distinctive features of a career ladder (promotional positions and differentiated salaries) are being compromised at all levels of the system. With few exceptions, the reform is being converted into familiar practice. Conditions that may have contributed to this conversion to familiar practice are identified and discussed.
Balancing Public and Private Schools: The Australian Experience and American Implications
Authors: Boyd William Lowe
Published: March 2008

Australia has been touted as a model for how the United States might benefit by undertaking public funding of private schools. However, the advocates of this view have glossed over some very significant problems. A consideration of both the successful and unsuccessful features of the Australian approach suggests that Americans should be cautious about emulating this model. More broadly, cross-national research shows that a delicate balance in public policy must be struck if there is to be parity of esteem between public and private schools and equality of opportunity as well as excellence and choice in education. Because the policy changes necessary to achieve this balance are unpopular with both public and private school advocates, the political prospects for achieving this fragile balance are dim.
Consequences of Differential Amounts of High School Course work: Will the New Graduation Requirements Help?
Authors: Sebring Penny A.
Published: March 2008

This paper summarizes a study of course-taking patterns and achievement among 1980 high school seniors in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Washington, and California and among 1982 seniors in New York and California. High School and Beyond and College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) data revealed considerable variation across states in the amount of academic coursework completed, with New York and Pennsylvania students obtaining the most. After controlling for verbal and mathematics aptitude, performance on the CEEB achievement tests in American History, French, Math 2, and Chemistry was found to be positively associated with coursework in social studies, foreign language, mathematics, and physical science, respectively. Variation across tracks in academic coursework was even greater than variation across states, implying that the new graduation requirements will affect nonacademic track students the most. Findings suggest that efforts to increase academic coursework, typified by the new graduation requirements, should lead to higher performance overall.
A Typology of Educational Monitoring Systems
Authors: Richards Craig E.
Published: March 2008

The study develops a typology of educational monitoring systems with a view toward its utility for educational policymakers. The three major types are compliance monitoring, diagnostic monitoring, and performance monitoring. Three case studies are presented from New Jersey, Minnesota, and California that typify each approach to monitoring. The concluding section discusses the policy trade-offs that accompany reliance by states on each approach to educational accountability.
Detecting Involuntary Layoffs in Teacher Survival Data: The Year of Leaving Dangerously
Authors: Singer Judith D. , Willett John B.
Published: March 2008

In this paper, we present an exploratory methodology for detecting and documenting an influence on the duration of teacher employment which has heretofore eluded empirical quantification—the involuntary layoff. Using data on the lengths of employment of more than 14,000 teachers hired between 1969 and 1981 in the St. Louis metropolitan area, we show that over and above the effects that previous researchers have identified (such as high early dropout rates and gender differences), there were certain years in which many more recently hired teachers were likely to leave their districts than might have been expected. We then present documentary evidence indicating that these unusual years were ones in which several of the districts under study implemented sizable mandated staff reductions. We conclude by discussing how ignoring involuntary layoffs may lead researchers to erroneously attribute some inter-individual variation in employment duration to other influences such as entering cohort. Viewed in its entirety, our paper presents a methodology for the improved analysis of teacher survival data that allows researchers to uncover not only involuntary layoffs but other predictors of employment duration as well.
The Education Production Function: Its Evolving Role in Policy Analysis
Authors: Monk David H.
Published: March 2008

Production research in education has been dominated by attempts to estimate the structural parameters of what has been called the education production function. These estimation attempts are viewed in this article as only one way the production function concept can be drawn upon to inform debates over education policy. After exploring what it means to posit the existence of the education production function, the article critically reviews past estimation efforts and gives examples of how the production function can be used as a source of insight to guide policy-relevant inquiries into education productivity.
School Dropout Rates, Academic Performance, Size, and Poverty: Correlates of Educational Reform
Authors: Fetler Mark
Published: March 2008

Educational policy makers have questioned the effects of school reforms on at-risk students. Are higher academic standards associated with greater numbers of dropouts? This study examines school average dropout rates for 2 consecutive years in conjunction with percentage covered by Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), total enrollment, achievement, and academic course enrollments for all of California’s regular public high schools. Both AFDC percentage and total enrollment were associated with higher dropout rates. Higher achievement was associated with lower dropout rates even after statistically controlling AFDC percentage and total enrollment. The year-to-year stability of school dropout rates and their correlations with the other study variables were assessed. The findings suggest that school effectiveness measures that result in higher student achievement may also enhance the effectiveness of dropout treatment programs.
State Guidelines Promoting Teaching for Understanding and Thinking in Elementary Schools: A 50-State Survey
Authors: Freeman Donald J.
Published: March 2008

This survey assessed state policymakers’ efforts to promote teaching for understanding and thinking in elementary schools. Data were provided by two rounds of interviews of curriculum specialists in state departments of education nationwide and a review of curriculum-related documents cited during the interviews. Results indicate that state guidelines promoting teaching for understanding and thinking are typically communicated through inservice programs, goals and objectives statements, and/or guidelines for local curriculum planners. These initiatives rarely include statewide tests. The report summarizes similarities and differences in policy initiatives across all 50 states, with closer attention to seven states that are especially active in promoting curriculum reforms (e.g., California). The report also discusses implications for state-level policymakers and others who are eager to reshape the elementary school curriculum.
Understanding Local Control in the Wake of State Education Reform
Authors: Fuhrman Susan H. , Elmore Richard F.
Published: March 2008

In this article we argue that traditional notions of state-local relations as a zero-sum game need recasting. Although some new state education reforms are exerting strong influences on the classroom, there are reasons to think that the reforms left not only considerable room for flexibility but also enhanced local activism. New conceptions of state-local relations must account for the ways in which states mobilize public and professional opinion, districts orchestrate state and local priorities around schools and classrooms, and local political entrepreneurs influence state policy. The result is often that the local effects of state policy are greater than those one would predict on the basis of state capacity, and localities often gain influence as a result of state policymaking rather than lose it.
Job Training and Economic Development Initiatives: A Study of Potentially Useful Companions
Authors: Cantor Jeffrey A.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study was to produce new information regarding interorganizational collaboratives for job training and economic development. The goal was to collect information on innovative practices, defined as interorganizational arrangements with demonstrated exemplary outcomes. The study focused on identifying innovative job creation practices, including those involving (a) assistance to small business, a key ingredient in job creation and economic development for this country, and (b) benefits to Job Training Partnership Act participants or other low-income, hard-to-employ workers in terms of job placement. The study analytically assesses what works and why, and discusses lessons learned for other local sites wishing to consider similar initiatives.
Comparative Perspectives on Educational Decentralization: An Exercise in Contradiction?
Authors: Weiler Hans N.
Published: March 2008

The principal thesis of this article is that policies of decentralizing the governance of educational systems, although often popular and compelling in the abstract, tend to carry the seeds of their own contradictions. Based on material from a number of European and developing countries, the three most common arguments in favor of decentralization—redistributing power, enhancing efficiency, and improving learning—are shown to conflict with powerful forces favoring centralization. In an attempt to make the political dynamics of the debate more transparent, the utility of decentralization as an instrument of conflict management and compensatory legitimation is being analyzed against the background of contemporary theories of the state. Lastly, the article focuses on the uneasy relationship between decentralization and evaluation as a case in point for the tensions surrounding the decentralization issue.
Communicating Evaluation Findings: The Use of a Chart Essay
Authors: Jones B. Kathryn , Mitchell Napoleon
Published: March 2008

In 1989 and 1990, the research and evaluation department in the Dallas, Texas Independent School District (DISD) pioneered the use in a large, urban school district of a policy-oriented report—the chart essay—instead of a methods-oriented report to communicate findings. That experience and resulting changes in the department are documented. Limitations of the methods-oriented report and recommendations for enhancing utilization are reviewed. A definition and a description of the steps in designing, conducting, and presenting information in a chart essay are presented. Training information about the philosophy and the techniques of the chart essay is provided. Local (DISD) reactions and identification of implications of using this process in a large urban district conclude the study.
Minority Participation in Secondary Education: A Fine-Grained Descriptive Methodology
Authors: Paquette Jerald E.
Published: March 2008

This study analyzes participation of selected minorities and female students in particular secondary-school courses in six Southwestern Ontario boards of education during the 1988–1989 school year. Relative over- or underrepresentation of each group studied was tabulated by course type, grade, and level of difficulty. Results taken across all six boards indicate, among other relationships, overrepresentation of recently immigrated students in advanced-level university-entrance English classes, modest underrepresentation of Black students in advanced-level core subjects, and strong underrepresentation of Native Canadian Indian students in advanced-level English and math. Individual board analyses showed considerable deviation from across-board patterns.
School Size, Characteristics, and Outcomes
Authors: Fowler William J. , Walberg Herbert J.
Published: March 2008

To investigate school size effects for secondary schools, 18 school outcomes, including the average scores on state-developed tests, student retention, suspensions, postschool employment, and college attendance for 293 public secondary schools in New Jersey were regressed on 23 school characteristics, including district socioeconomic status and percentages of students from low-income families; school size and number of schools within each district; and teacher characteristics encompassing salaries, degree status, and years of experience. District socioeconomic status and the percentage of students from low-income families in the school were the most influential and consistent factors related to schooling outcomes. School size was the next most consistent and was negatively related to outcomes. This finding corroborates previous research conducted primarily on public elementary school and suggests that smaller school districts and smaller schools, regardless of socioeconomic status and grade level, may be more efficient at enhancing educational outcomes.
Merit Pay and Job Enlargement as Reforms: Incentives, Implementation, and Teacher Response
Authors: Firestone William A.
Published: March 2008

Based on intensive district case studies, this study presents a comparison of two teacher work reforms. Merit pay gives individual teachers more money to do the same work better. Job enlargement pays them more to do different work. The study suggests that job enlargement is more likely than merit pay to improve teacher motivation. It also enriches teaching practice while merit pay standardizes it. Job enlargement increases intrinsic incentives for teachers, but these must be bought by purchasing more time. The way these reforms play out at different sites will depend on the extent of teacher participation in program design and on the vision for the program projected by top administrators.
Incentive Funding Programs and School District Response: California and Senate Bill 813
Authors: Picus Lawrence O.
Published: March 2008

In 1983, the California legislature enacted a series of incentive programs intended, in part, to encourage local school districts to devote more resources toward instructional expenditures. Analysis of district response to those incentives shows they were more effective in directing spending toward direct instruction than were general or categorical grants. However, it appears that as the incentive funds were rolled into general aid revenues, district spending patterns began to revert to the same distribution of expenditures observed prior to enactment of the incentives.
The Continuing Evolution of a Federal Role in Compensatory Education
Authors: LeTendre Mary Jean
Published: March 2008

Chapter 1 is now in its 26th year of providing supplementary educational services to low-achieving children who live in low-income neighborhoods. The program has shown positive but not significant gains in the achievement of educationally disadvantaged children. In 1988, Congress reauthorized Chapter 1 with the mandate to the nation’s schools to close the gap between low- and high-achieving students, stressing accountability for performance, program improvement, and flexibility to produce results. Chapter 1 faces reauthorization again in 1993. The author provides perspectives on a number of issues that should be considered in the coming dialogue on the future of Chapter 1.
Chapter 1: A View From Congress
Authors: Jennings John F.
Published: March 2008

Chapter 1 is popular with the Congress because it is perceived as a successful program, but a good program can be made better in response to legitimate criticisms. Legislated changes in 1988 placing a greater emphasis on educational results have led to substantially increased appropriations. The next reauthorization in 1993 will occur at a propitious time because of this increased funding and the likely attitude of the administration. Because of the 1988 amendments, Chapter 1 is evolving into an improved program, but it may have to change more in the 1990s to be relevant in the school environment resulting from accelerating educational reform.
High School Size and Student Indiscipline: Another Aspect of the School Consolidation Issue?
Authors: Haller Emil J.
Published: March 2008

School consolidation is again an issue in rural areas. Traditionally, such controversies have turned on criteria of equity and efficiency: Large schools are alleged to be more equitable and more efficient than small ones. However, the research on both criteria is exceedingly ambiguous; neither goal seems to be routinely served by making small rural schools larger. This article investigates another possible criterion for judging the desirability of creating larger schools, student indiscipline. Both theory and evidence suggest that large schools are more disorderly than small ones. Using data from a nationally representative sample of high schools, this study suggests that creating larger institutions will increase student misbehavior. However, the increase experienced by small rural high schools—those most at risk of consolidation—will border the trivial. Thus, indiscipline provides no less ambiguous a criterion for deciding consolidation issues than does equity or efficiency. Arguably, when “technical” criteria provide no clear guidelines for an important public policy decision, citizen preferences should be determinative.
Access to Excellence: Assignment to Honors English Classes in the Transition From Middle to High School
Authors: Gamoran Adam
Published: March 2008

This article examines the processes and criteria of assignment to honors English classes in five mid western communities. It uses qualitative and quantitative data to study the placement process in the context of the transition from middle to high school. Interviews with school staff provide descriptive accounts of the stratification system in each district, revealing a number of important similarities along with salient differences. These patterns are further elucidated with quantitative analyses of placement criteria. Although student performance affects placement in all districts, at least three of the five rely heavily on students’ past ability-group positions in assigning students for ninth-grade English. This practice limits opportunities for upward mobility for students outside the honors level. Another finding is that the effects of family background depend on student achievement levels: For high-achieving students, socioeconomic status plays little role in placement decisions, but among average achievers, economic advantage is linked to greater access to honors classes.
School-Based Decision Making: A Principal-Agent Perspective
Authors: Ferris James M.
Published: March 2008

A principal-agent framework is used to examine the potential gains to educational performance and the potential threats to public accountability that school-based decision-making proposals pose. Options for minimizing problems arising from divergent objectives and information asymmetry, such as incentive-based contracts, limited school discretion, and school councils, are examined. The analysis underscores the need to tailor the design of decentralized decision making to the sources of poor educational performance and potential threats to school opportunism.
How School District Policy Influences Grade Level Retention in Elementary Schools
Authors: Schwager Mahna T. , Mitchell Douglas E. , Mitchell Tedi K. , Hecht Jeffrey B.
Published: March 2008

Research evidence indicates that retention, requiring students to repeat a grade level, fails to raise achievement or enhance social and personal adjustment. Moreover, it does not produce homogeneous classes, may be discriminatory, and is linked to dropping out. Retention continues, however, supported by public belief and sanctioned by district policy. A sample of district retention policies were rated according to two overarching dimensions: (a) the amount of effort required to implement, and (b) the extent to which objective criteria govern retention decisions. Differences along these dimensions are hypothesized to influence district retention rates. Results support use of this framework for comparing retention policies and retention rates when district size is taken into account. Larger districts retain more students, adopt more comprehensive retention policies, and provide a different policy context for implementation than smaller districts. Identified policy dimensions influence retention rates in opposite ways in large and small districts. We suggest that district cultural beliefs and organizational structures for student mobility contribute to these differences. Policy, rather than directly controlling staff behavior, may provide “signals” that are interpreted through organizational belief systems. Thus, adoption of identical district policy may lead to different staff behavior in different school district contexts.
An Investigation of the Exclusion of Students With Disabilities in National Data Collection Programs
Authors: McGrew Kevin S. , Thurlow Martha L. , Spiegel Amy N.
Published: March 2008

This investigation examined the extent to which students with disabilities are involved in a select sample of national data collection programs that are playing a pivotal role in the measurement-driven educational reform movement. Nine data collection programs that are receiving significant attention in current educational reform initiatives were reviewed. The results suggest that approximately 40% to 50% of school-age students with disabilities are excluded from some of the most prominent national educational data collection programs. In contrast, students with disabilities are included to a greater degree in noneducational data collection programs that do not require participation in direct assessment activities. This study reports on the extent of exclusion, how and why exclusion occurs, and the impact of this exclusion on policy research. Preliminary recommendations for addressing the significant exclusion of students with disabilities from certain national data collection programs are presented.
The Changing Politics of State Education Policy Making: A 20-Year Minnesota Perspective
Authors: Mazzoni Tim L.
Published: March 2008

Twenty existing case studies of state decision making on education issues from 1971 to 1991 are analyzed to portray the changing nature of Minnesota’s education policy system and to consider whether Iannaccone’s oft-used “structural linkage” typology retains explanatory power. Minnesota’s system has become more pluralistic, politicized, and bureaucratized. It is buffeted by state revenue fluctuations and by national—and global—forces. But its reformist tradition continues as does its considerable capacity for policy innovation. Reformulations of the Iannaccone typology find some support in Minnesota data. Other perspectives, however, clearly hold more promise for policy process research in education.
Validating Exemplary Programs: Methods and Criteria
Authors: Walberg Herbert J. , Niemiec Richard P.
Published: March 2008

This article explores several validation methods for the identification and dissemination of exemplary educational programs in the nation. It discusses the rationales for methods developed by the Program Effectiveness Panel and its predecessor, the Joint Dissemination Review Panel. Four selected validation methods are analyzed in terms of their comparative advantages and disadvantages. The article ends with recommendations oriented toward the U.S. Department of Education’s clients—educational policymakers and practitioners—and how their needs can be met.
A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Early Intervention Services in Massachusetts: Implications for Policy
Authors: Warfield Marji Erickson
Published: March 2008

This article presents the results of a cost-effectiveness analysis of early intervention services in Massachusetts. The findings indicate that (for a $1,000 investment) children demonstrate different levels of improvement in adaptive behavior and child-mother interaction depending on the severity of their disability and their age of entry into early intervention. Estimates of the number of service hours required to produce maximum gains also varied by outcome measure and child characteristics. Comparisons were made between these estimates and the hours of service received. The implications of these results for policy and future research are discussed.
Education Reform Comes to Ohio: An Application of Mazzoni's Arena Models
Authors: Fowler Frances C.
Published: March 2008

Many have noted the difficulty of policy innovation, yet sometimes innovations do occur. Mazzoni (1991) hypothesized that when the policy process shifts from the legislative subsystem to the macro arena, innovation becomes possible. Applying his theory to the passage of open enrollment in Minnesota, he found that the policy process shifted to the leadership and commission arenas and revised his model. This study applied his models to Ohio's 1989 passage of a law that included an open enrollment policy. In Ohio, the macro arena was relatively inactive, but a shift from the subsystem to the leadership arena occurred, partially validating Mazzoni's revised model.
The Local Impact of School Finance Reform in Four Texas School Districts
Authors: Picus Lawrence O.
Published: March 2008

This article describes how four Texas school districts responded to changed fiscal conditions following the implementation of reforms designed to bring greater equity to Texas school finance. Case studies in two poor districts revealed that although there were substantial increases in funding available, very little of this new money was spent on improvements to the core curriculum. In the two wealthy districts, one struggled to maintain current spending levels, with very few changes in priorities, while the other was able to pass a substantial property tax increase for school improvement. However, a substantial portion of the increased funds was used to replace lost state money.
Work Feature Values of Today's and Tomorrow's Teachers: Work Redesign as an Incentive and School Improvement Policy
Authors: Hart Ann Weaver
Published: March 2008

Although school reform policies often aim to recruit and retain talented and high-achieving teachers, little systematic investigation of the impacts of work redesign on teachers' turnover decisions exists. The impacts of varied teacher work and career redesign incentives, therefore, remain uncertain, particularly as they affect the best teachers. This article presents the policy implications of studies of teachers' responses to features of work redesign as they relate to future career choice decisions, teacher labor market, and teacher supply in specific target areas.
Do High School Dropouts Benefit From Obtaining a GED?
Authors: Murnane Richard J. , Willett John B. , Boudett Kathryn Parker
Published: March 2008

This article uses longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for the years 1979-1991 to study whether male high school dropouts’ trajectories of wages, annual number of hours worked, and annual earnings are affected by acquisition of the General Educational Development (GED) credential. Our analysis takes into account potential heteroscedasticity and possible autocorrelation among the error terms pertaining to different years of longitudinal data on the same individual. We find that acquisition of the GED is associated with an increase in the rate of wage growth. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some dropouts, after obtaining a GED, search for a better paying job or enter a training program.