bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Alternative School Programs on High School Completion and Labor Market Outcomes
Authors: Catterall James S , Stern David
Published: March 2008

This research probes two questions regarding participation in alternative high school programs: Does participation reduce the likelihood of students dropping out? Does participation lead to enhanced experiences in the labor market after students leave school? Using the California subsample of the 1980 and 1982 High School and Beyond surveys (involving nearly 3,000 sophomores and 3,000 seniors), vocational education and participation in other alternatives are scrutinized. Our findings regarding the dropout-preventing effects of these programs are mixed: The assessment varies across different procedures used to control for prior propensity to dropout. Our findings for labor market effects are more definite. Participants in vocational and other alternative programs have generally higher employment rates and, for some, higher wages. Suggested extensions of this work are offered.
Evaluating Preschool Programs: A Meta-Analytic Approach
Authors: Goldring Ellen B , Presbrey Laurie S
Published: March 2008

There are many individual evaluation studies regarding the effectiveness of preschool intervention programs. In this study, a meta-analysis of such evaluation studies is performed to arrive at an overall effect size of preschool intervention programs. The results of this analysis indicate that despite the diversities in intervention sites, ages of subjects at intervention, lengths of intervention, and curricula models, there is a positive homogeneous effect on the variables IQ, math and reading achievement, and percent of students not meeting educational requirements. The methods used in this analysis have implications for policymakers wishing to arrive at decisions about the overall merits of educational programs.
Extended Year Programming: A Policy Analysis
Authors: Crouch Robert C.
Published: March 2008

Most school systems are not blessed with unlimited funds, yet court rulings require them to provide certain handicapped children with educational programs beyond the usual 180-day year. Although these programs must meet the unique educational needs of qualifying students, they are not required to be the best that money can buy, nor must they be designed to maximize each student’s potential. This article explores the development of judicial interpretations affecting extended year programming and analyzes, according to four policy choice criteria, five policy options available to school systems. The article concludes with a recommendation for policy selection based on a set of presuppositions applicable to many school systems.
Teaching in Public and Private Schools: The Significance of Race
Authors: Richards Craig E. , Encarnation Dennis J.
Published: March 2008

This paper explores variations in the employment of minority teachers in elementary and secondary public, Catholic, and private (non-Catholic) schools. Our data are drawn from a survey of public and nonpublic schools in the six counties surrounding San Francisco Bay. The survey was conducted during 1981–82 by the Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance, Stanford University. We analyze several determinants of minority employment in public and private schools to explain variation among the three sectors. Subsequently, we present a more detailed analysis of the different employment experiences of black and Hispanic teachers within two of these sectors, public and Catholic schools. Based on these analyses, we conclude with a discussion of implications for public policy.
Assuring Quality in Educational Evaluation
Authors: Trochim William M. K. , Visco Ronald J.
Published: March 2008

Quality assurance methods are seldom used in educational evaluations despite ample evidence of serious research implementation problems and data errors. In this paper a number of quality assurance methods are illustrated using evaluation data obtained from the Providence, Rhode Island, School District. The methods are as follows: (a) from auditing, the method of internal control; (b) from accounting, the method of double bookkeeping; and (c) from industrial quality control, the methods of acceptance sampling and of cumulative percentage charts. Methods like these are useful for identifying poor quality research and targeting efforts to improve quality.
Living to Tell the Tale: Researching Politically Controversial Topics and Communicating the Findings
Authors: Kleinfeld Judith , McDiarmid G. Williamson
Published: March 2008

Doing politically controversial research on education issues at the statewide level presents a host of human problems in addition to technical, scientific ones. Drawing on research experience in a highly charged political context, this paper suggests practical strategies for gaining access, developing legitimacy, and communicating information in order to influence policymakers. We emphasize the importance of forming a steering committee to represent major political interest groups.
Education and Training Needs for Using Computers in Small Businesses
Authors: Levin Henry M. , Rumberger Russell W.
Published: March 2008

Small businesses are increasingly considering the application of computers to their office operations. However, little is known about the types of education and training required of their personnel for such applications. This study is based on a survey of almost 3,000 small businesses regarding their consideration, adoption, and use of computers. Education and training requirements that business respondents emphasized were primarily reading, comprehension skills, and reasoning skills, rather than mathematics skills, formal computer training, or prior computer experience.
The Size of Educational Effects: An Analysis of Programs Reviewed by the Joint Dissemination Review Panel
Authors: Lynch Kathleen Bodisch
Published: March 2008

Effect sizes were calculated for educational programs reviewed for validation from the U. S. Department of Education's Joint Dissemination Review Panel (JDRP) during 1980-1983. Characteristics of the programs and their evaluations were documented through content analyses of the written applications the programs submitted to the JDRP. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were then used to see whether differences in the magnitude of effect sizes obtained by the programs were related to differences in features of the educational programs and their evaluations.
Preparing Policymakers for Standard Setting on High-Stakes Tests
Authors: Popham W. James
Published: March 2008

Those individuals who must establish passing standards for important tests typically do so with little or no standard-setting experience. Given the significant impact of the standards set on high-stakes tests, it is contended in this essay that formal preparation should be given to policymakers for their standard-setting tasks. Ten factors relevant to the standard-setting decision are proposed as potential substance for a standard-setting preparation program. It is also recommended that media representatives be given an abbreviated preparation session dealing with essentials of the standard-setting process.
Institutional Choice as a Theoretical Framework for Research on Educational Policy
Authors: Clune William H.
Published: March 2008

This article presents a theory, or theoretical framework, called “institutional choice” ( Gormley, 1987 ) and argues that the theory has two advantages for research on educational policy: It predicts and clarifies significant issues in educational policy, including issues growing out of the recent wave of state reforms; and it suggests significant issues for future research. The opening section presents the theory; the second section, “Institutional Choice and Recent State Reforms,” discusses supportive data from an investigation of recent state reforms by the Center for Policy Research in Education (CPRE); the final section discusses some directions for future research.
Educational Technology, Policy, and Practice
Authors: Cohen David K.
Published: March 2008

This essay probes the relations between educational policy and teaching practice in instructional innovations. It also takes up explanations for the slow pace of instructional reform, and the seeming failure of many exciting instructional innovations. Computer technology is the case in point. One theme in the essay is that policies and programs depend on practice. Another is that instructional practice in schools is situated in a larger organization and a longer history of academic instruction than are usually considered. These angles offer a useful view of educational policy and innovation, that solves some problems in inherited accounts. But they require that analysts cross several academic barriers, joining studies of policy and school organization to studies of instructional practice, and doing so in large social and historical perspectives.
Learning From Experience: Lessons From Policy Implementation
Authors: McLaughlin Milbrey Wallin
Published: March 2008

The first generation of implementation analysts discovered the problem of policy implementation—the uncertain relationship between policies and implemented programs—and sketched its broad parameters. The second generation began to unpack implementation processes and to zero in on relations between policy and practice. Together, these examinations generate a number of important lessons for policy, practice, and analysis; for example: policy cannot always mandate what matters to outcomes at the local level; individual incentives and beliefs are central to local responses; effective implementation requires a strategic balance of pressure and support; policy-directed change ultimately is a problem of the smallest unit. These lessons frame the conceptual and instrumental challenge for a third generation of implementation analysts—integrating the macro world of policymakers with the micro world of individual implementors.
Redistribution and the Education Bloc Grant: An Analysis of State Chapter 2 Allocation Formulas
Authors: Orlando Martin E. , Tillander Staffan
Published: March 2008

This paper has two major objectives. The first is to document the degree to which state allocation formulas under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter 2 bloc grant promote traditional equity or redistribution objectives. The second is to explain factors associated with the variation among states in the redistributive nature of their Chapter 2 formulas. Decision rules are initially posited and then employed to measure roughly the redistributive orientation of state formulas in all 50 states. We then use the redistribution measure as the dependent variable in a multiple regression analysis to address the paper’s second objective. The independent variables used represent common but often competing notions of the contexual factors that are hypothesized as being associated with redistributive policies.
Innovation in Education and Criminal Justice: Measuring Fidelity of Implementation and Program Effectiveness
Authors: Emshoff James G. , Blakely Craig , Gottschalk Rand , Mayer Jeffrey , Davidson William S. , Erickson Stephen
Published: March 2008

The arena of social program implementation has been divided over the issue of whether new programs should be disseminated and implemented with fidelity (i.e., with close correspondence to the original validated model) or implemented according to the idiosyncratic needs, values, and resources of the local adopting organization. To empirically examine this issue, seven innovative programs were examined. Each of the four educational and three criminal justice programs had been carefully evaluated and widely disseminated. Fidelity and effectiveness criteria were developed for each program. A multimethod data collection strategy included lengthy phone interviews, on-site interviews, and archival analysis of program adopters. The results indicated that well-operationalized programs are usually adopted and implemented with a degree of fidelity acceptable to program developers. Furthermore, this fidelity is positively correlated with the effectiveness of the adopted program. Implications for educational policy and construct measurement are discussed.
Educational Change by Commission: Attempting “Trickle Down” Reform
Authors: Ginsberg Rick , Wimpelberg Robert K.
Published: March 2008

The national commission has proven to be a venerable and persistent source of reform ideas for American education. Nearly 100 years old, the national commission has become especially popular in the 1980s. In a generic configuration, it uses the elements of the expert panel and information analysis (if not controlled research), and produces a report that includes recommendations for change as a formula for dealing with whatever inadequacies are felt to encumber elementary and/or secondary schools. Despite their popularity, little systematic analysis of the processes and procedures of national commissions has been reported, and even less frequently are concepts from political science and policy analysis enlisted to help understand the phenomenon. This article responds to these inadequacies in two ways: (a) it reviews national commission reports published since the early 1890s and finds four elements of commonality in them—their longevity as an activity, the general nature of their recommendations, their lack of attention to implementation, and the limited direct impact they have had on schools and classrooms; and (b) it compares two competing explanations of the commission processes’ popularity—a rational, prescriptive approach and a symbols-and-ceremony depiction. Finally, a composite sociopolitical thesis is advanced, based on the economic image of “trickle down.”
Relating School District Resource Needs and Capacities to Chapter 1 Allocations: Implications for More Effective Service Targeting
Authors: Orland Martin E.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this paper is to provide the most recent national information available on the relationship between school district poverty, local fiscal needs and capacities, and Chapter 1 allocation levels. Two central questions will be addressed. First, what is the relationship between a school district’s poverty rate (the primary basis for Chapter I allocations) and its local revenue raising capability? Second, how are Chapter 1 funds allocated among districts with different poverty rates, fiscal capacities, and local revenue bases? Following a presentation of findings related to these questions will be a discussion of some of their implications with regard to targeting federal compensatory aid to the “right” school districts, schools and students.
Cost-Effectiveness and Educational Policy
Authors: Levin Henry M.
Published: March 2008

The present time of educational reform and budgetary stringency is a propitious one for improving resource allocation in education through a greater reliance on cost-effectiveness analysis. This article provides a summary of the technique and its applications to educational policy. It concludes that there is great potential for the use of cost-effectiveness applications in education, but there is little capability for doing so among most policymakers. Examples are provided of productive cost-effectiveness applications, and recommendations are made with regard to increasing the capacity of educational evaluators, policy analysts, and decision-makers to use the tools appropriately for more efficient resource allocation.
Determinants of Postsecondary Education Attendance: Some Implications of Alternative Specifications of Enrollment
Authors: Hearn James C.
Published: March 2008

This paper proposes four defensible alternative definitions of “postsecondary education attendance,” then uses data for 1980 high school seniors to examine influences on attendance under each of the definitions. The results suggest that these influences vary somewhat, depending upon the enrollment definition one chooses. For example, the findings suggest that studies focusing solely upon a traditional definition of enrollment (e.g., entry into a two- or four-year institution immediately after high school graduation) may overstate the limiting effects of socioeconomic factors on overall enrollment, and may also understate the positive effects of being female. Some policy studies make recommendations on the basis of analysis using traditional enrollment definitions, even though such definitions are much more restricted than those of the major financial aid programs (e.g., the Federal Pell Grant program). The findings of the present study suggest that such studies may misspecify policy impacts. The implications of these results are discussed.
Participatory Evaluation: Towards a Transformation of Assessment for Women’s Studies Programs and Projects
Authors: Shapiro Joan Poliner
Published: March 2008

This paper addresses some of the concerns inherent in evaluating women’s studies programs and projects. It focuses on the following four areas: a) discussion of objections raised by feminists about traditional forms of assessment; b) consideration of criticisms of traditional evaluations expressed by nontraditional evaluators; c) description of the strengths and weaknesses of illuminative evaluation as an alternative approach to assessing women’s studies programs; and d) introduction of a new model of evaluation which is herein termed “participatory evaluation.” Participatory evaluation is a process allowing for the use of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. It recognizes the importance of the evaluator’s role as knowledgeable insider rather than neutral outsider and facilitates development of trust between assessor and those being assessed. Evaluations based on trust permit a highly interactive form of assessment. Participatory evaluation is not only compatible with feminist theory and practice, but it is also appropriate for the assessment of women’s studies programs and projects.
School System Size and Performance: A Contingency Perspective
Authors: Friedkin Noah E. , Necochea Juan
Published: March 2008

This paper contains empirical support for a new theory on the relationship between the size and performance of school systems. The theory predicts that the strength and direction of the relationship depend on the socioeconomic status (SES) of school systems. This prediction is supported with data from the California Assessment Program on both schools and districts. We find that as the SES of a school system goes up, the association between the size and performance of school systems goes from negative to positive. We also find that the negative association among low SES school systems is much stronger in magnitude than the positive association among high SES school systems. Thus, it appears that school system size has strong negative effects on performance that are eliminated, but not strongly reversed, in high SES settings.
Building Commitment in Urban High Schools
Authors: Firestone William A. , Rosenblum Sheila
Published: March 2008

A conceptual framework for understanding student and teacher commitment is presented and illustrated with data from a field study of 10 urban high schools. Three points are made. First, alienation and commitment are multidimensional; teachers and students make a variety of commitments that affect the nature of their work. Second, teacher and student commitments are mutually reinforcing. If one is low, it will depress the other. Finally, five school factors are identified that can increase commitments: relevance, respect, support, expectations, and influence. Policy implications of changing these factors in schools are discussed.
Courts Continue to Address the Wealth Disparity Issue
Authors: La Morte Michael W.
Published: March 2008

Lawsuits in nearly three dozen states have challenged the constitutionality of state school finance provisions on equal protection or educational adequacy grounds. Presently, the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appellate court, and 10 state supreme courts have upheld state provisions, and 7 state supreme courts have held school financing provisions unconstitutional. Although wealth-related school finance litigation began in 1968 and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the issue in 1973, the judicial caldron continues to boil. Protracted rounds of litigation over the years in several states and a rash of recent suits reveal this issue to remain lively and contentious.
Fund Distribution Issues in School Finance: Priorities for the Next Round of Research
Authors: Barro Stephen M.
Published: March 2008

During the 1980s, school finance research in general, and research on fund distribution and equity issues in particular, has been in a depressed state, with little progress being made on either the substantive or the methodological fronts. There is a backlog of old issues requiring attention, and certain new finance issues are emerging, mainly in connection with current education reform efforts. The priority tasks to be undertaken in the next round of research would seem to include (a) upgrading the methods used to address the traditional core topic in school finance research, equity in the distribution of funds among school districts; (b) extending the research on fund distribution issues to deal with hitherto-neglected dimensions of finance, including allocations of funds by type of resource, by level of education and type of pupil, and by curricular area or program; and (c) initiating new research into the relationships between education finance and efforts to improve the schools. The research on the finance-reform relationship should deal not only with the financial implications of particular reforms but also with the broader question of how school finance systems can be used to facilitate reforms and stimulate better performance.
An Economic Analysis of Student Loan Default
Authors: Greene Laura L.
Published: March 2008

An existing model of student loan default uses discriminant function analysis to identify the characteristics of borrowers who repay their loans and those who default. This paper uses data on National Direct Student Loan borrowers at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to confirm the results of a previous paper’s discriminant function analysis and to present an alternative method of analysis, the Tobit technique. An advantage of Tobit is that it uses information not only from the categorical default/no default decision but also from the magnitude of the default.
Race, Gender, and Opportunity: Supply and Demand for New Teachers in North Carolina, 1975–1985
Authors: Murnane Richard J. , Schwinden Michael
Published: March 2008

This paper examines two related questions. First, what changes took place between 1975 and 1985 in the number and characteristics of college graduates who obtained teacher certification? Second, do demographic characteristics, subject specialties, and scores on National Teacher Examinations (NTE) predict which certificants became teachers in North Carolina and which did not (40% of certificants never taught in the state). We find not only that the number of new certificants was sensitive to the demand for classroom teachers but also that certificants’ choices of subject field were sensitive to demand. We also find an important difference between Black and White certificants in the relationship between NTE scores and the probability of entry into teaching in North Carolina.
Enhancing Girls’ Learning Through Single-Sex Education: Evidence and a Policy Conundrum
Authors: Jimenez Emmanuel , Lockheed Marlaine E.
Published: March 2008

A key consideration in the policy debate on the appropriate role of single-sex education in predominantly coeducational school systems is relative benefit for male and female students. This paper analyzes the relative performance of single-sex education and coeducation in Thailand in enhancing eighth-grade male and female student scores on standardized mathematics tests, holding constant student background, peer, and school characteristics. Its main conclusions are that (a) single-sex schooling is more effective for female students and coeducational schooling is more effective for male students in improving student performance in mathematics and (b) these differentials are largely due to peer effects rather than to specific characteristics of single-sex and coeducational classrooms or schools.
District Policy Choices and Teacher’s Professional Development Opportunities
Authors: Little Judith Warren
Published: March 2008

A comprehensive inventory of formal staff development activity and costs in 30 California districts yields a portrait of locally organized opportunities for teachers and reveals the policy stance taken by districts toward teachers and their professional development. Present patterns of resource allocation consolidate the district’s role as the dominant provider of teachers’ professional development; other sources, including the university or the larger professional community of teachers, are less visible. Expenditures reflect a conception of professional development based almost exclusively in skill acquisition, furthered by a ready marketplace of programs with predetermined content and format; other routes to professional maturation are less evident.
How Standardized Is School Testing? An Exploratory Observational Study of Standardized Group Testing in Kindergarten
Authors: Wodtke Kenneth H. , Harper Fredrika , Schommer Marlene , Brunelli Perry
Published: March 2008

A qualitative observational study of standardized group testing in 10 kindergartens revealed many variations in testing conditions, numerous discrepancies from standardized administration procedures, and children’s behavior that contributed to difficulties in maintaining a uniform testing process. Testing practices in a number of kindergartens were so nonstandardized as to render their scores incomparable and quite possibly unreliable as well. Because one school district used the scores to place children in pre-first-grade transitional classrooms, the possible detrimental consequences to the children raises serious ethical concerns. Two teachers who were under considerable pressure to increase test scores exhibited a pattern of nonstandard testing procedures suggestive of “tester effects.” The results call into question the age appropriateness of high-stakes group testing in kindergarten.
A Theoretical Framework for Local Responses to State Policy: Implementing Utah’s Career Ladder Program
Authors: Timar Thomas B.
Published: March 2008

In 1983, the Utah State Legislature enacted a career ladder program for teachers as the centerpiece of the state’s school reform effort. This paper assesses local implementation responses to the career ladder program. Specifically, this paper addresses the question, Under what circumstances and conditions do schools implement the career ladder program in a manner that is consistent with state policy intent? Additionally, the author argues that local implementations of the program can be classified into four types of implementation response.
Evaluating College Programs Using Measures of Student Achievement and Growth
Authors: Steele Joe M.
Published: March 2008

Within the context of the national debate on improving the quality of college general education programs, this paper provides a brief review of the validity and reliability of some measures of general education outcomes of college attendance. It reports on research to improve the accuracy of concordance estimates of mean gains based on analysis of 22, 4-year, longitudinal studies, using instruments from the College Outcome Measures Program (COMP). It examines sensitivity to treatment effects of mean gains across all levels of entering ability. It presents evidence that institutions can collect and use outcome data in ways that may lead to changes that increase student performance.
A Study of School Board Minutes: Records of Reform
Authors: Nowakowski Jeri , First Patricia F.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which the Illinois Educational Reform Act of 1985 was being implemented at the local school district level as measured by the number of reform-related board motions, discussions and reports documented in local school board minutes the year preceding passage of the reform act and the 2 years following its passage. The study provides evidence of the amount and nature of local policy-making directly responding to legislated reform. Further, it indicates that school boards are responding to some areas of the reform bill more than to others, and that some school boards are responding to reform provisions more than to others. Finally, the study raises serious policy questions about why local school boards have been neglected in the eighties reform movement and about the role of these boards in the future of educational governance.
Benefits and Costs of Dropout Prevention in a High School Program Combining Academic and Vocational Education: Third-Year Results from Replications of the California Peninsula Academies
Authors: Stem David , Dayton Charles , Paik IL-Woo , Weisberg Alan
Published: March 2008

This paper reports 1987–88 results from an evaluation of 11 academy programs in California high schools. Academies are schools within schools, combining academic and vocational courses in a program designed to reduce dropout rates. The evaluation used a matched comparison group for each cohort of academy students at each site. Results for in-school outcomes were generally positive. Focusing on one grade-level cohort for which graduation rates are available, the number of dropouts saved was estimated, along with the costs and economic benefits to society. The estimated net benefit from dropout prevention among this cohort of 327 students is between $1.0 and $1.3 million.
Evaluating the Systems: Teachers’ Perspectives on Teacher Evaluation
Authors: Peterson Penelope L. , Comeaux Michelle A.
Published: March 2008

High school teachers (N = 48) in four schools in two districts in Florida and Wisconsin analyzed two behavioral teacher evaluation systems used in Florida (Florida Performance Measurement System [FPMS] and Teacher Assessment and Development System [TADS]), a Self-Evaluation Checklist, and an Alternative System designed to assess teachers’ reflection on practice. Overall, teachers rated the Alternative System most highly because they thought the system would facilitate professional growth by encouraging teachers to reflect on their teaching. However, Wisconsin teachers rated this system more highly than did Florida teachers, who rated TADS more favorably. Teachers’ ratings of TADS were significantly related to their agreement with a teaching effectiveness perspective, and Florida and Wisconsin teachers differed in their agreement with this perspective. Comparisons of teachers’ judgments who had actually used particular systems with those who had not showed the importance of considering the context as well as the content of evaluation systems.
Gender Equity in Teachers’ Salaries: A Multilevel Approach
Authors: Lee Valerie E. , Smith Julia B.
Published: March 2008

This study investigates the possibility of differences in the salaries of male and female teachers in America’s secondary schools, once differences in their qualifications are taken into account. The random sample of 8,894 teachers in 377 high schools is from the Administrator and Teacher Survey, which collected data in 1983–1984 from a random subset of the schools originally sampled in the High School and Beyond study (Moles, 1988). In examining salary differences in public, Catholic, and other private schools, the study uses two techniques: ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). HLM allows for adjustment of differing labor market conditions between schools and districts, a factor identified in the literature as important but not systematically controlled heretofore. Qualification differences considered include training (education and courses taken in major teaching area), type of teaching (mathematics, science, coaching), and experience (years of experience and new teacher status). Other school factors that might justifiably affect salary levels are considered, including market conditions, the proportion of female faculty, school sector, whether the school offers extra pay for extra responsibilities, and whether the school participates in a merit pay program. Unadjusted salary differences of about $2,600 favoring males are reduced to about $1,100, $1,700, and $2,600 for public, Catholic, and other private schools, respectively, by statistical adjustment for qualifications, market, and responsibility differences. We must conclude, however, that significant salary discrimination against female teachers exists in all high school sectors.
College-Going Decisions by Chicanos: The Politics of Misinformation
Authors: Post David
Published: March 2008

Even as California increases the presence of Latino students in its public university systems, the net college-going rates for the group have fallen off markedly. To understand the decision process, this study examines Chicano students in one large high school. In particular, the effect of cost on demand was sought by using a survey of graduating seniors. Logistic regressions on college plans revealed differential effects of estimated cost, depending on ethnicity and language background. For the children of Spanish-speaking parents, costs were largely determinant of college plans, whereas they were not for the children of English speakers. Significantly, it was the children of Spanish speakers who had the highest and most unrealistic estimates of college tuition.
Policy and Practice: An Overview
Authors: Cohen David K. , Ball Deborah Loewenberg
Published: March 2008

Policymakers in the U. S. have been trying to change schools and school practices for years. Though studies of such policies raise doubts about their effects, the last decade has seen an unprecedented increase in state policies designed to change instructional practice. One of the boldest and most comprehensive of these has been undertaken in California, where state policymakers have launched an ambitious effort to improve teaching and learning in schools. We offer an early report on California's reforms, focusing on mathematics. State officials have been promoting substantial changes in instruction designed to deepen students' mathematical understanding, to enhance their appreciation of mathematics and to improve their capacity to reason mathematically. If successful, these reforms would be a sharp departure from existing classroom practice, which attends chiefly to computational skills. The research reported here focuses on teachers' early responses to the state's efforts to change mathematics instruction. The case studies of five teachers highlight a key dilemma in such ambitious reforms. On the one hand, teachers are seen as the root of the problem: their instruction is mechanical, often boring, and superficial. On the other hand, teachers are cast as the key agents of improvement because students will not learn the new mathematics that policymakers intend unless teachers learn that math and teach it. But how can teachers teach a mathematics that they never learned, in ways they never experienced? That is the question explored in this special issue.
The California Study of Elementary Mathematics
Authors: Peterson Penelope L.
Published: March 2008

The purpose of the California Study of Elementary Mathematics is to examine the effects of state education reform in elementary mathematics curriculum on teaching and learning in elementary mathematics classrooms. In this article, we describe the methodology used in the study. We begin by providing an overview of the state policy that is aimed at realizing anew vision of mathematics teaching and learning. Then we describe participants and data collection procedures at each of four levels—state, school district, school, and classroom (teachers and students). We conclude with a description of methods used to collect the classroom-level data from which we constructed the cases in this issue.
Reflections and Deflections of Policy: The Case of Carol Turner
Authors: Ball Deborah Loewenberg
Published: March 2008

This article presents a case of Carol, an accomplished second grade teacher who was disposed to teach in ways that seem consistent with the California Mathematics Curriculum Framework. Her approach-grounded in her conceptions of mathematics and her notions about how children learn mathematics—seemed, however, to have been virtually untouched by the policy initiative. Her practice, reflecting glimmers of the new ways, somehow also deflected them. Because the visions of mathematics and mathematical pedagogy represented in the Framework are multiple, Carol could be seen at once as complying with the Framework, or as subtly contradicting it. This raises questions both about the intentions of the Framework and about the nature of this reform. Would a state like California be happy if it could move all teachers to where Carol is? Alternatively, do the state policymakers want to change all teachers-those in the mainstream and on the fringe? The case highlights the complexity of the changes implied by California’s curriculum Framework and the difficulties inherent in communicating those changes in ways that can influence both pedestrian and accomplished practice.
A Revolution in One Classroom: The Case of Mrs. Oublier
Authors: Cohen David K.
Published: March 2008

This essay probes the relationship between instructional policy and teaching practice. In the mid 1980s, California State officials launched an ambitious effort to revise mathematics teaching and learning. The aim was to replace mechanical memorization with mathematical understanding. This essay considers one teacher’s response to the new policy. She sees herself as a success for the policy: she believes that she has revolutionized her mathematics teaching. But observation of her classroom reveals that the innovations in her teaching have been filtered through a very traditional approach to instruction. The result is a remarkable melange of novel and traditional material. Policy has affected practice in this case, but practice has had an even greater effect on policy.
Education Fiscal Policy in the Reagan Administration
Authors: Verstegen Deborah A.
Published: March 2008

The Reagan administration’s “New Federalism” agenda focused on redirecting national priorities and decentralizing domestic programs through budgetary policy. This research analyzes the consequences of national policy shifts occurring over the decade of the 1980s for public education. Utilizing a multimethod research design, it addresses four fundamental questions: (a) What have been the federal investments in education during the Reagan years? (b) How has the overall Department of Education (ED) budget fared over this time? (c) How have individual programs in ED been affected? (d) In sum, what fiscal changes have occurred in education during the Reagan presidency and to what extent have devolution and diminution in federal education policy been influenced by the Administration’s policies? The author finds significant shifts have occurred in federal education policy and finance during the 1980s. Tax reductions, deficit financing, dwindling productivity, and an uncertain economic outlook indirectly accomplished what could not be otherwise achieved, and set the basis for a new era in national education policy and finance well beyond the Reagan years.
Fiscal Impacts and Redistributive Effects of the New Federalism on Michigan School Districts
Authors: Kearney C. Philip , Kim Taewan
Published: March 2008

Using a quasi-experimental time-series design and employing a multiple regression technique, we examined the fiscal impacts and redistributive effects of the recently enacted federal education block grant on Michigan’s 525 K–12 school districts. Two important policy questions were addressed: Are resource allocations for targeted school districts likely to be affected by the adoption of different federal grant mechanisms? If so, will there be a shifting of resources away from or toward these districts? We found that the movement to the block grant mechanism resulted in a definite shift of funds away from former Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) districts, districts with high proportions of poverty children, highly urbanized districts, and large districts toward smaller and rural districts. The implications of these changes in federal policy are discussed.
Reading Effects of IBM’s “Writing to Read” Program: A Review of Evaluations
Authors: Slavin Robert E.
Published: March 2008

This article reviews evaluations of IBM’s Writing to Read program in kindergartens and first grades. In Writing to Read (WTR), students rotate through five learning stations to learn and practice phonics, to write stories, and to listen to recorded books. Two of these stations involve computers. Twenty-one studies of Writing to Read in kindergartens found a median effect size of 0.23, but in many cases this effect may be due to comparisons of WTR with nonacademic programs. Across 13 first-grade studies, the median effect size was .00. Two-year (K-l) implementations and one-year follow-up studies found no consistent achievement effects. The commercial success of WTR is discussed in light of these disappointing findings and of the existence of more effective and far less expensive alternatives
Creating a System of School Process Indicators
Authors: Porter Andrew C.
Published: March 2008

A system of school process indicators is needed to provide descriptions of educational opportunity, to monitor reform, and to explain student outputs. Several conceptual and technical problems must first be overcome. A model of school processes is offered against which problems of definition, measurement, and sampling are identified. Using criteria of importance, validity, and cost, a recommendation is made for an initial system of school process indicators. The recommendation illustrates the analytic framework and is meant to begin a conversation.
The Effects of the Educational Reform Movement on Departments of Educational Leadership
Authors: Murphy Joseph
Published: March 2008

This article reviews the types of revisions that preparation programs in educational leadership have begun to make in response to three related sets of pressures brought on by the reform movement of the 1980s: pressures bearing on school administrators from the larger reform agenda—that is, improving education across the board, general critiques of and calls for improvement in educational leadership, and specific analyses and demands for change in administrator preparation programs. The results are based on questionnaires completed by 74 chairpersons in departments of educational leadership. The emerging picture is mixed. On the one hand, departments of educational administration have begun to respond to the pressures for change. In addition, for better or worse, discernible patterns in these revisions are generally consistent with the implicit demands for improvement that lace the critical reviews of the field and with the more explicit recommendations contained in the reform reports of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration and the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration. On the other hand, the response has been moderate (at best) in intensity and mixed in focus.
Staffing, Financing, and Governing Professional Development Schools
Authors: Theobald Neil D.
Published: March 2008

The professional development school concept represents an attempt to reshape the relationship between public schools and colleges of education to provide for more effective preservice and inservice education, improved educational programs for K-12 students, and an expanded knowledge base for dealing with the instructional, curricular, and organizational reform agenda facing schools. The purpose of this paper is to (a) confront the financial and organizational problems that school and university personnel are likely to face in developing professional development schools and (b) identify structures and processes that will allow these schools to contribute to the simultaneous reconstruction of the public schools in which teachers work and the university programs in which they prepare.
Using Readiness Tests to Route Kindergarten Students: The Snarled Intersection of Psychometrics, Policy, and Practice
Authors: Ellwein Mary Catherine , Walsh Daniel J. , Eads Gerald M. , Miller Alexandra
Published: March 2008

In this article we examine the validity of inferences drawn from readiness tests when placing children in the regular or a 2-year kindergarten program. Using data from nine Virginia school districts, we studied the technical characteristics of four commonly employed readiness tests. Boys, minorities, children of low socioeconomic status, and young children scored consistently lower on all four tests. Three of the four tests were fairly reliable, but the fourth was highly inconsistent for minorities and those younger than 5 years. None of the four tests were impressive predictors of future test performance. The results are interpreted within specific selection and placement policies.
Stakeholder Participation in Educational Performance Monitoring Systems
Authors: Henry Gary T. , Dickey Kent C. , Areson Janet C.
Published: March 2008

Performance monitoring systems have typically been “top-down” evaluation approaches. In Virginia, however, a stakeholder approach was used to develop an educational-performance monitoring system. Four stakeholder groups (teachers, school superintendents, school board members, and education group representatives) were identified, and representatives of the groups were involved in developing the system. Stakeholder group representatives viewed their impact on the development of the system positively. Teachers, who might be expected to resist a performance monitoring system, were the most positive about their efficacy in the process and the most committed to the system. The responses of the stakeholders generally indicate that some of the preconditions for utilization of the results were met through the approach of involving stakeholders. However, it is not clear whether the opinions of the representatives will spill over to the rest of the education community.
Reply to Bishop and Carter on the Worsening Shortage of College-Graduate Workers
Authors: Kutscher Ronald E.
Published: March 2008

In my reply to Bishop and Carter, I concede the point that there was a bias in the projections that the Bureau of Labor Statistics prepared for 1990, but not for the primary reason they noted. Also, I provide data which question the claims of Bishop and Carter that there is a shortage of college graduates although data on returns to education support their shortage thesis.
The World’s New Political Economy Is Politicizing Educational Evaluation
Authors: Guthrie James W.
Published: March 2008

Educational evaluation conventionally has concentrated on measuring individual student achievement, appraising instructional methods and materials, and assessing program performance. Major issues in the field have been scholarly and methodological. The central career orientation of educational evaluators has been toward academic colleagues and practicing educators. However, contemporary education reform efforts aimed at using schooling to enhance national economic development are altering this conventional orientation. Managerial expectations are replacing professional relations as the prime orientation of the enterprise, and the broader environment in which evaluation takes place is becoming intensely politicized. This essay (a) explains the evolving human capital imperative and its relation to education, (b) links these schooling changes to economic development, (c) summarizes the historic orientation of the education evaluation field, (d) suggests the evaluation dynamics which develop when governments reshape schooling systems in order to enhance national economic growth, and (e) outlines an alternative model for educational appraisal.