ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Vocational Education and Training in Cyprus. Short Description
Author: Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Lifelong Learning,Vocational Education,Foreign Countries,Educational Change,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Educational Needs,Educational Objectives,Educational Policy,Educational Planning,Counseling Services,Guidance Programs,Incentives,Labor Market,Labor Needs,Qualifications,Quality Assurance,Accreditation (Institutions),Recognition (Achievement),Training Methods,Training Objectives,Performance Factors,Political Influences,Economic Factors,Population Trends,Educational Attainment,Economic Impact

Cyprus takes over the European Union Presidency in the second half of 2012 in a period of continuing uncertainty due to the world economic crisis. The vocational education and training (VET) system of Cyprus is playing a significant role in dealing with the immediate adverse effects of the crisis on the labour market as well as in laying the foundations for future development. Cyprus, a country with limited natural resources, has always relied on its human resources to achieve a competitive advantage in an era of globalisation, technological advances and demographic changes. The education and training system is vital in providing Cyprus with people who have the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes and are able to respond flexibly and efficiently to the challenges of the 21st century. To continue to fulfil the expectations of the Cypriot economy and society, the education and training system, including VET, is undergoing essential reforms. The major challenges of the education and training system, as outlined in the national reform programme, is to encourage further participation in lifelong learning and to increase participation in VET. Crucial milestones in this direction are the establishment of post-secondary institutes for technical and vocational education and training, which will offer students an intermediate level of education between upper secondary and tertiary education, as well as the establishment of new modern apprenticeship, designed to constitute a viable, alternative form of training and development for young people. This report provides a concise insight into the state of the VET system of Cyprus in a period of major reforms and amidst the uncertainties resulting from the economic crisis. Appended are: (1) Acronyms and abbreviations; (2) Bibliography; (3) Websites; and (4) Members of the Cyprus ReferNet consortium. (Contains 10 tables, 8 figures and 40 footnotes.)
More Effective VET and Lifelong Learning Policies: Awareness Raising, Analysis and Advice--Cedefop's Achievements in 2012 and Plans for 2013. Briefing Note
Author: Cedefop - European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training
Date: 2013-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Stakeholders,Lifelong Learning,Vocational Education,Foreign Countries,Educational Policy,Consciousness Raising,Policy Analysis,Educational Indicators,Organizational Effectiveness,Organizational Objectives,Organizational Theories,Transitional Programs,Career Guidance,Skill Analysis,Competence,Efficiency

Reform of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe is complex, especially at a time of economic crisis. Cedefop raises awareness and provides analysis and advice to policy-makers at European level and in Member States to help them decide on policies and actions. Cedefop's work supports the European policy agenda for VET and lifelong learning. Cedefop's medium-term priorities 2012-14 guide its work. They reflect the European Union's (EU's) priorities for VET and include tasks that the Council of Ministers, European Commission, Member States and social partners have specifically asked Cedefop to carry out. Cedefop's impact depends largely on the value and trust stakeholders place on the authority, reliability and usefulness of its results. This depends on solid analysis and effective communication. Performance indicators show that stakeholders value Cedefop's work and demand for its expertise is rising. This paper discusses Cedefop's achievements in 2012 and plans for 2013. (Contains 2 boxes and 1 footnote.)
Designing and Implementing the Next Generation of Teacher Evaluation Systems: Lessons Learned from Case Studies in Five Illinois Districts. Research Brief
Author: White, Bradford R.
Date: 2012-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Change,Case Studies,Teacher Evaluation,Instructional Improvement,School Districts,Principals,Student Development,Interviews,Student Evaluation,Faculty Development,Formative Evaluation,Capacity Building

In a very short period during the spring and summer of 2012, researchers at the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) and the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) collected data from respondents in five districts across Illinois to examine how school districts in the state approach designing and implementing new teacher evaluation systems. Drawing on research in these districts, which are located in north, central, and southern Illinois, this report describes the challenges experienced across the districts. In addition, the authors present strategies the districts used to address these challenges as they occurred and their reflections on lessons learned: (1) Cultivating Buy-In and Understanding; (2) Using Evaluations for Instructional Improvement; (3) Reducing the Burden on Principals; and (4) Incorporating Student Growth into Teacher Evaluation Systems. For all that has been accomplished by these case study districts, teacher evaluation, in all cases, remains a work in progress. Many in their interview sample described ongoing issues and some complicated problems. The report synthesizes these issues and raises some key questions for districts to consider around three common themes: teacher and principal support, communication, and buy-in; ensuring that ratings are accurate and consistent; and developing high-quality student assessments. Appended are: (1) Matrix of Teacher Evaluation Program Characteristics; and (2) Methodological Notes and Protocols. (Contains 2 tables and 3 endnotes.) [Funding for this paper was provided by the Grand Victoria Foundation.]
The Use of Technology in Chicago Public Schools 2011: Perspectives from Students, Teachers, and Principals. Research Brief
Author: Ehrlich, Stacy B.
Date: 2013-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Technology,Public Schools,Principals,School Culture,Technology Uses in Education,Administrator Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Expectations of Students,Technological Literacy,Student Surveys,Teacher Surveys,Online Surveys,Secondary School Students,Secondary School Teachers,Hierarchical Linear Modeling,Regression (Statistics)

Technology use is ubiquitous in America's colleges and most workplaces, and it is fast becoming accepted as fact that all students--elementary and high school--must be exposed to technology. Whether schools are doing this is an open question. A 2002 report by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) revealed large differences in how well schools in Chicago were structured to support student and teacher use of technology. Since then, technology use has become an integral part of people's work and private lives. This report attempts to update previous CCSR research on technology use in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) by focusing on the most basic skills and experiences students need in order to become technologically literate--e.g., the extent to which students are using technology for school and whether factors such as school culture and expectations of technology use by their teachers and principals contribute to this. Appended are: (1) Survey Items; (2) Methods; and (3) Tables from HLM and Regression Analyses. (Contains 16 figures, 14 tables, and 43 endnotes.)
Turning around Low-Performing Schools in Chicago: Research Report
Author: de la Torre, Marisa
Date: 2013-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Research Methodology,Educational Change,Scores,School Restructuring,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Educational Trends,Trend Analysis,Low Achievement,School Turnaround,Outcomes of Education,Institutional Characteristics,School Demography,Labor Force,Intervention,Instructional Leadership,Governance,Teachers,Students,Elementary Secondary Education,Tables (Data),School Closing

Specific strategies for &quot;turning around&quot; chronically low-performing schools have become prominent, with the U.S. Department of Education enacting policies to promote four school improvement models that include &quot;fundamental, comprehensive changes in leadership, staffing, and governance.&quot; Despite the attention and activity surrounding these types of school improvement models, there is a lack of research on whether or how they work. To date, most evidence has been anecdotal, as policymakers have highlighted specific schools that have made significant test score gains as exemplars of school turnaround, and researchers have focused on case studies of particular schools that have undergone one of these models. This has led to a tremendous amount of speculation over whether these isolated examples are, in fact, representative of turnaround efforts overall--in terms of the way they were implemented, the improvements they showed in student outcomes, and whether these schools actually served the same students before and after reform. To begin addressing this knowledge gap, the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research and American Institutes for Research (AIR) partnered to examine five different models initiated by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in 36 schools. The goals of the study were to make clear how school reform occurred in Chicago--showing the actual changes in the student population and teacher workforce at the schools--and to learn whether these efforts had a positive effect on student learning overall. Appended are: (1) Description of Low-Performing Schools that Underwent Intervention; (2) Data and Data Sources; and (3) Research Methods and Results. (Contains 19 figures, 24 tables, 62 endnotes.)
From High School to the Future: The Challenge of Senior Year in Chicago Public Schools. Research Report
Author: Roderick, Melissa
Date: 2013-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Graduation Requirements,Educational Attainment,Colleges,Graduation,Young Adults,High Schools,Labor Market,Labor Force,Grade 11,Grade 12,High School Seniors,Public Schools,College Preparation,Student Needs,Predictor Variables,Multivariate Analysis,Access to Education,Course Selection (Students),Academic Achievement,Career Readiness,College Readiness,Advanced Placement,College Admission,Core Curriculum,Comparative Analysis,Advanced Placement Programs

In a 2010 address to the College Board, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan laid out a vision for high school that advances the Obama administration's goal of the U.S. once again leading the world in educational attainment. There is no grade in which the magnitude and complexity of this shift becomes clearer than in senior year. Historically, senior year has been a time of finishing up graduation requirements as most students entered the work force after high school. In this new economy, most students now hope to go to college and those who are not entering college face a rapidly eroding labor market for young adults with only a high school education. This changing educational landscape means that students' coursework and activities in senior year are becoming increasingly important. If the new purpose of high schools is to be a &quot;launching pad rather than a last stop destination,&quot; what does that mean for senior year? The bottom line is that there is much work to do if CPS is to shift the focus of twelfth grade from finishing graduation requirements to preparing for college and employment or training. A central theme of this report is that there is no single answer to the question, &quot;What is a good senior year?&quot; Students are coming into senior year with very different needs. In order to look at differences in needs across students, the authors group students by their college qualifications at the end of eleventh grade. Thus, throughout this report, the authors focus on identifying the set of issues that educators need to grapple with for students on different trajectories. Appended are: (1) Data Used in This Report; (2) Determining Who is a Senior and Who Persists in Four-Year Colleges; (3) Variables Used in the Analysis; (4) Latent Class Analysis; (5) Identifying College Access; and (6) Methodology. (Contains 33 figures, 16 tables, and 70 endnotes.)
Actions Speak Louder than Numbers. ICDI Annual Report 2012
Author: International Child Development Initiatives (Netherlands)
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Child Development,Child Safety,Early Childhood Education,Child Care,Intergenerational Programs,Leisure Time,Publications,Annual Reports,Nongovernmental Organizations,International Organizations,Foreign Countries

In the past years there has been a growing call for (financial) transparency of developmental aid organizations. The general public, or maybe better put: the popular media, are demanding information on cost efficiency and impact of projects. Development aid needs to prove its worth, that's what it basically boils down to. Of course there is nothing wrong with that demand. Sadly the only real, tangible effect so far has been ever in volume size increasing annual reports by the different organizations working in the sector. Each organization is trying to outdo the other in pouring out numbers and more numbers. None of this has of course lead to better or more effective projects, only to more paperwork and probably even less confidence amongst the public. For its 2012 annual report the International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI) has decided to break this trend. ICDI keeps its annual report to an absolute minimum. This report contains programs implemented in various countries, other ICDI activities, ICDI publications 2012, and financial statement.
Successful Practices in the Teaching of English to Bilingual Children in Hawaii. Project in Research in Universities. Bulletin, 1937, No. 14
Author: Coale, Willis B.
Date: 1938-00-00
Type: Historical Materials
Subjects: Cultural Differences,Minority Group Students,Bilingualism,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Bilingual Students,Error Patterns,Rural Schools,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Elementary Schools,Junior High Schools,Language Skills,Oral Language,Written Language,Native Language

The educational welfare of children of native and minority groups in continental United States and its outlying parts involves instructional procedures which in recent years are becoming more and more recognized as constituting specialized problems in education. Bilingualism is generally recognized as offering serious instructional difficulties among minority groups, while social and economic adjustment in the homes from which the majority of bilingual children come are necessarily reflected in the conduct and attitudes as well as in progress in the school studies of the children concerned. The language situation in Hawaii is unique. The population is made up of many races, speaking distinctly different language. Sometimes more than one foreign tongue is spoken within a single home.  This bulletin is a report on two studies, the first of which is concerned with the type of errors commonly found among school children in Hawaii and, in some instances, the evidence accounting for their prevalence. The other is an account of successful practices in teaching English followed by teachers of bilingual children in Hawaii. Both sections are suggestive to school officials dealing with similar problems and will, it is believed, be of value to the large number of school officials to whom the education of bilingual children is entrusted. This bulletin is one of a series reporting the findings of investigations undertaken during 1936-37 under the Project in Research in Universities of the Office of Education. The project was financed under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, and conducted in accordance with administrative regulations of the Works Progress Administration. Appended are: (1) Master Outline of Elements in the Problem; (2) Copy of Preliminary Letter Sent to Cooperating Teachers; (3) Bibliography of Books Helpful in Teaching English to Bilingual Children; and (4) Frequency and Type of Errors in Oral and Written English. Individual sections contain footnotes. (Contains 26 tables.) [This bulletin was written with the assistance of Jitsuichi Masuoka. Best copy available has been provided.]
Project in Research in Universities: Learning English Incidentally--A Study of Bilingual Children. Bulletin, 1937, No. 15
Author: Meriam, J. L.
Date: 1938-00-00
Type: Historical Materials
Subjects: Minority Groups,Bilingualism,Mexican Americans,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Immigrants,Teaching Methods,Educational Administration,Language Usage,Vocabulary,Elementary School Students,Oral Language,Vocabulary Development,Written Language,Spelling,Grammar,Writing Skills,Language Skills

The educational welfare of children of native and minority groups in continental United States and its outlying parts involves instructional procedures which in recent years are becoming more and more recognized as constituting specialized problems in education. Bilingualism is generally recognized as offering serious instructional difficulties among minority groups, though social and economic adjustment in the homes from which the majority of bilingual children come are necessarily reflected in the conduct and attitudes as well as in progress in the school studies of the children concerned. Research and experimentation concerned with the variety of problems involved in the education of bilingual children is yet quite inadequate to the needs. This bulletin reports a successful experiment in educating children of Mexican extraction extending over a period of years. The situation is probably representative of that in many communities in Southwestern States. It is believed, therefore, that this report of the experiment will be of special interest to teachers and administrators in communities in which Mexican children predominate. It should, however, be almost equally suggestive to schools which children of foreign speaking parents of whatever nationality attend. A bibliography is included. (Contains 19 tables and 4 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]
Student Interests and Needs in Hygiene. Project in Research in Universities. Bulletin, 1937, No. 16
Author: Rogers, James Frederick
Date: 1937-00-00
Type: Historical Materials
Subjects: Colleges,College Students,Public Health,Physiology,Student Interests,Hygiene,College Freshmen,High Schools,High School Students,Student Needs,Health Promotion,College Seniors,Questionnaires,Courses

Health has been proclaimed as the first objective in education. One means of teaching this objective would seem to be the furnishing of adequate instruction in physiology, personal hygiene, and public health through teachers who are as thoroughly prepared for this workers are instructors of mathematics, English, or any other subject. The amount and quality of instruction in physiology and hygiene is of especial concern to a university such as that of Illinois, inasmuch as in this institution these subjects are required in the freshmen year and matriculants come to the college classes in all states of preparation or no preparation. It occurred to those who selected the projects for research in universities that here was an opportunity to find out from students who had recently been exposed to health instruction in high schools and colleges what they thought of the matter and methods used in the courses attended. Students in their senior college year would seem to be in a position to render valuable service in this appraisal and a questionnaire was prepared for presentation to such students. The results from more than 2,500 students were found suitable for statistical tabulation although information on each point was not furnished by all. Of those giving information on the subject, about 90 percent attended a public and 10 percent, a private high school. This bulletin presents the results of the study. (Contains 9 tables and 6 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]
Project in Research in Universities: Opportunities for the Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children. Bulletin, 1937, No. 17
Author: Martens, Elise H.
Date: 1938-00-00
Type: Historical Materials
Subjects: Administrative Organization,Curriculum Development,Foreign Countries,Preservice Teachers,Geographic Distribution,Preservice Teacher Education,Special Needs Students,Special Education Teachers,Questionnaires,Special Education,Deafness,Blindness,Mental Retardation,Special Schools,Cooperation,Universities,School Catalogs

The first published compilation of material relating to opportunities for the preparation of teachers of exceptional children in the United States appeared in 1929 under the auspices of the International Council for the Education of Exceptional Children. At the time 43 institutions in the United States and 2 in Canada were reported which offered courses in this field. In 1931 the Office of Education issued a bulletin on the same subject, with brief descriptions of the courses given. Seventy-one institutions were listed in this report as offering opportunities for study to prospective teachers of exceptional children. In 1936 a third investigation was undertaken as one phase of the Project in Research in Universities, and its findings are reported in this paper. The number of institutions announcing courses preparatory to the teaching of one or more types of exceptional children had by that time grown to 118. This represents an increase of 66 percent in the 5 years between 1931 and 1936--an unmistakable evidence of the mounting importance that is being attached to the special preparation of teachers for children who because of mental, physical, or emotional deviation are in serious need of special educational provision. The present analysis was made on the basis of data accumulated by means of questionnaires, with supplementary information gathered from a study of current catalogs and announcements of courses. In addition to universities, colleges, and normal schools, highly specialized institutions for the deaf, the blind, and the feeble-minded were also considered. General findings of this analysis covered: (1) Number of institutions providing specialized training; (2) Facilities for respective groups of exceptional children; (3) Geographic distribution of training facilities; (4) Content of curriculum; (5) Administrative organization; (6) Cooperative relationships; and (7) State designation of training facilities. Names and geographical distribution of institutions that do not claim to offer a comprehensive unit of teacher-preparation in the field are appended. [For related reports, see &quot;Project in Research in Universities: Preparation for Elementary School Supervision. Bulletin, 1937, No. 18 (ED542577) and &quot;Project in Research in Universities: CCC Camp Education: Guidance and Recreational Phases. Bulletin, 1937, No. 19&quot; (ED542578). Best copy available has been provided.]