ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
From GED to College Degree: Creating Pathways to Postsecondary Success for High School Dropouts
Author: Garvey, John
Date: 2011-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Test Preparation,High Schools,Dropouts,College Programs,Adult Programs,Young Adults,Credits,Education Work Relationship,High School Equivalency Programs,College Preparation,Academic Persistence,Transitional Programs,Standards,Reading Instruction,Writing Instruction

For many years, the General Educational Development  (GED) credential has been viewed as the high school dropout's safety net. Though not as well regarded as the high school diploma, the GED has opened up educational and economic opportunity for millions of young people and adults who did not finish high school. Nearly 680,000 people take the full battery of GED tests each year--and more than three-quarters pass. In 2009, 63 percent of test takers were young adults, aged 19-24 (GED Testing Service 2010). With funding from the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, Jobs for the Future (JFF) identified and documented a number of &quot;best in class&quot; &quot;GED to College&quot; programs--those showing early success in helping youth prepare for and persist in college. This study helped surface a number of shifts that policy leaders and program staff are making as they move away from short-term test preparation to more intensive college-connected designs. Work to document &quot;GED to College&quot; programs also led JFF to articulate a multi-phase model design that is helping partners build and scale up GED/Diploma to College programs for older youth (and adults). The model consists of three phases that programs are developing or strengthening: (1) Enriched Preparation: Integrating high-quality college-ready instruction with strong academic and social supports; (2) Postsecondary Bridging: Building college-ready skills and providing informed transition counseling; and (3) First-Year Supports: Offering appropriate support in the critical first year to help students accumulate credits predictive of completion. This paper shares perspectives from the author on the changes and challenges currently in play in GED programming. Its primary focus is on programs serving older youth (although many of the conclusions hold true for programs serving both older youth and adults). Youth-focused GED programming generally offers a more intensive course of study than is generally available in adult programs and emphasizes preparing recent dropouts for a full-time (or near full-time) postsecondary course of study. This gives these programs more time (relatively speaking) to prepare GED seekers to enter postsecondary education &quot;college ready.&quot; Appendices include: (1) College Preparedness Standards: The Work of the American Diploma Project and the Development of the Common Core; and (2) Basic Reading and Writing Course Developed by David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. (Contains 4 tables and 14 endnotes.) [This paper was written with Terry Grobe.]
Greening Community Colleges: An Environmental Path to Improving Educational Outcomes
Author: Rogers, Kimberly R.
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Water Quality,Water,Technical Institutes,Community Colleges,Educational Objectives,Outcomes of Education,Energy,Employment Opportunities,Remedial Instruction,Conservation (Environment),Energy Conservation,Educational Facilities Design,School Buildings

The emerging and expanding green economy has the potential to create not just jobs, but career opportunities across the United States as green manufacturing, green products, and green services fuel demand for workers at all skill levels. Community colleges are leading the way in defining and addressing these opportunities. They are: developing education and training programs in expanding fields from solar energy to green construction; enhancing existing green-connected programs and creating new training programs for green jobs; and developing educational pathways that lead to the Associate's and Bachelor's degrees that are essential for continued advancement in these emerging careers. In addition, many community colleges are taking steps to raise environmental awareness within the communities they serve. They are greening their own campuses and working on local environmental remediation. Some colleges are integrating their on-campus sustainability efforts into academic programs so that installing solar cells or creating a composting system for campus waste becomes an instructional tool. Often, they undertake this work through innovative partnerships that bring together environmental groups, local employers, and community-based organizations. The continuing recession and the prospect of longer-term changes in local economies provide opportunities for all community colleges to demonstrate their value by helping businesses and individuals adjust to challenging economic environments and increase their resilience and chances of prospering. At the same time, community colleges have the power to be agents for change in other spheres within their communities by developing approaches to both new and long-standing problems. These include the need for renewable energy sources and water conservation, as well as unmet social needs, such as environmental remediation to make areas more habitable to residents and more attractive to potential employers. This brief highlights the approaches of three community colleges to &quot;greening&quot; their operations, curricula, and communities, while simultaneously addressing local and regional employment and environmental needs. The community colleges featured in this brief are: (1) Santa Fe Community College in New Mexico; (2) Central Piedmont Community College in North Carolina; and (3) Clover Park Technical College in Washington State. (Contains 3 endnotes.)
Creating Opportunities in Health Care: The Community College Role in Workforce Partnerships
Author: Biswas, Radha Roy
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Nontraditional Students,Careers,Community Colleges,College Role,Community Organizations,Employment Opportunities,Labor Force Development,Partnerships in Education,Health Services,Allied Health Occupations,Certification,Associate Degrees,Nursing

The nation's 1,200 community colleges are well positioned to strengthen the workforce of one of America's most critical sectors--health care. They can provide training and credentialing for incumbent workers in health care and to prepare new workers to succeed in and meet the workforce demands for this sector--expanding individual opportunity and economic vitality. These institutions already enroll nearly half (46 percent) of the nation's postsecondary population and the lion's share of nontraditional students (Choitz 2006). They are developing or enhancing health care-related certificate and degree programs to better serve employers, workers, and communities, while also identifying unique, innovative ways for nontraditional students to access, prepare for, and succeed in these programs. This brief highlights some of the ways in which community colleges are preparing frontline incumbent health care workers and low-income individuals for family-sustaining careers in health care careers--including advancement to allied health care and nursing jobs. A common element among the programs featured is a college's participation in a partnership--whether one-on-one with a local health care employer or in collaboration with employers, workforce development agencies, community organizations, and other funders of and players in local and regional workforce development endeavors. (Contains 17 endnotes.) [This report was written with Jeremy Kelley.]
A Route for Every Learner: Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a Framework for Supporting Learning and Improving Achievement for All Learners in Maryland, Prekindergarten through Higher Education
Author: Maryland State Department of Education
Date: 2011-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Learning Theories,Expectation,Curriculum Design,Guidelines,Educational Technology,Politics of Education,Access to Education,Teaching Methods,Equal Education,State Legislation,Interviews,Specialists,Check Lists,Advisory Committees,Educational Planning,Disabilities

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework for curriculum design, instruction, and assessment that gives all students equal opportunities to learn and to demonstrate what they have learned. UDL is built on the premise that there is not one kind of learning. Learning differs across tasks, across development, and among individuals. UDL is particularly relevant to Maryland's systems of education. Maryland is known for its high expectations for all students as well as for the diversity of its student population. The Universal Design for Learning Task Force was established through House Bill 59 and Senate Bill 467. The Task Force was charged with examining the efficacy and feasibility of implementing UDL in Maryland's educational systems, and promulgating proposed regulations. The Task Force members reviewed the literature on UDL, interviewed national experts regarding the application of UDL principles, and experienced the use of those principles within Task Force meetings. As a result of these experiences, the Task Force members reached consensus that the application of UDL principles should be promoted throughout Maryland education systems to ensure all learners have the best opportunity possible to equitably benefit from teaching and learning activities. The Task Force also reached consensus that at this time, it would be premature to promulgate proposed regulations. However, Task Force members recommended the development of a strategic and systematic plan for building stakeholder awareness and capacity at the State, local, and institutions of higher education levels prior to mandating policies through regulation. As a result, the Task Force members have made recommendations for suggested guidance or steps that can be taken by the State Board of Education, the Maryland State Department of Education, institutions of higher education, local school systems, and schools to lay the foundations for increased implementation of the application of UDL principles in the coming years. These recommendations are presented in this paper. Appendices include: (1) References; (2) Literature Review; (3) UDL Guidelines Graphic; (4) UDL Guidelines Educator Checklist; (5) Description of the Task Force Process; (6) Meeting Agendas; (7) Meeting Notes; and (8) Task Force Charge. (Contains 3 figures.)
Getting Ready: The 2010-2011 Maryland School Readiness Report. Children Entering School Ready to Learn
Author: Maryland State Department of Education
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: African Americans,School Readiness,Learning Readiness,Disabilities,Young Children,Partnerships in Education,Kindergarten,School Districts,Language Skills,Literacy,Achievement Gains,Mathematics Skills,Thinking Skills,Science Achievement,Low Income,Statistical Analysis,Statewide Planning

This report was developed in partnership with Ready At Five. It lays out the critical importance of children starting school fully prepared to succeed in kindergarten. Most importantly, the report shares what everyone has learned from the 2010-2011 Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) data about the school readiness of Maryland's children: statewide, by subgroups, and for each of Maryland's 24 local jurisdictions. Some of the highlights are: (1) The percentage of Maryland kindergarteners fully ready to start school increased to 81% in 2010-2011, up 3 points from 2009-2010. This met Maryland's expectation for this year's again, and it continues the remarkable 32-point increase of the past 10 years, which began with school readiness at 49% in 2001-2002; (2) Maryland experienced pronounced gains in school readiness across all Domains of Learning. In the core cognitive Domains, the State saw a 35-point increase from 2001-2002 in Language and Literacy (71% fully-ready for 2010-2011), a 35-point improvement in Mathematical Thinking (75% fully-ready), and a 44-point jump in Scientific Thinking (68% fully-ready); (3) African American kindergartners made statistically significant increases: 76% of African-American children are fully school-ready, up from 37% in 2001-2002 and 71% in 2009-2010; (4) The percentage of kindergarteners from low-income households (as indicated by Free and Reduced Price Meal status) who are fully school-ready rose from 34% in 2001-2002 and 69% in 2009-2010 to 73% in 2010-2011; (5) Children with disabilities made substantial progress: 56% are fully-ready, gaining 5 points from last year--2 points more than the statewide gains; and (6) Kindergartners attending public PreK the year prior to entering school continue to be well-prepared: 81% fully school-ready in 2010-2011. (Contains 9 footnotes.)
Children Entering School Ready to Learn: 2010-2011 Maryland Model for School Readiness
Author: Maryland State Department of Education
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Special Schools,School Readiness,Learning Readiness,Disabilities,African American Students,Models,Kindergarten,Young Children,Preschool Education,Low Income Groups,Scoring,Language Skills,Literacy,Thinking Skills,Mathematical Concepts,Scientific Concepts,Educational Strategies

The report shares what everyone has learned from the 2010-2011 Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) data about the school readiness of Maryland's children: statewide, by subgroups, and for each of Maryland's 24 local jurisdictions. Some of the highlights are: (1) The percentage of Maryland kindergarteners fully ready to start school increased to 81% in 2010-2011, up 3 points from 2009-2010. This met everyone's expectation for this year's gain, and it continues the remarkable 32-point increase of the past 10 years, which began with school readiness at 49% in 2001-2002; (2) Maryland experienced pronounced gains in school readiness across all Domains of Learning. In the core cognitive Domains, the State saw a 35-point increase from 2001-2002 in Language and Literacy (71% fully-ready for 2010-2011), a 35-point improvement in Mathematical Thinking (75% fully-ready), and a 44-point jump in Scientific Thinking (68% fully-ready); (3) African American kindergartners made statistically significant increases: 76% of African-American children are fully school-ready, up from 37% in 2001-2002 and 71% in 2009-2010; (4) The percentage of kindergarteners from low-income households (as indicated by Free and Reduced Price Meal status) who are fully school-ready rose from 34% in 2001-2002 and 69% in 2009-2010 to 73% in 2010-2011; (5) Children with disabilities made substantial progress: 56% are fully-ready, gaining 5 points from last year--2 points more than the statewide gains; (6) Kindergartners attending public PreK the year prior to entering school continue to be well-prepared: 81% fully school-ready in 2010-2011. Appendices include: (1) Maryland Model for School Readiness Kindergarten Assessment: Work Sampling System[R] (WSS) Indicators of Learning; (2) (a) Introduction to Scoring; (b) Presentation of School Readiness Information; (c) Definitions; and (d) School Readiness Information for Maryland, 24 Local School Systems, and Maryland School for the Deaf; (3) Frequently Asked Questions; (4) Percentage of Students Fully Ready by Domain: Maryland 2001-2010 Trend Data; and (5) Maryland Model for School Readiness--Composite Results by Jurisdiction, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. (Contains 9 footnotes.)
Rising to the Challenge: Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning
Author: Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
Date: 2010-01-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Student Evaluation,Standardized Tests,Student Surveys,Measurement Techniques,Accountability,Higher Education,Evaluation Methods,Test Construction,Surveys,Citizen Participation,Skill Development,Scoring Rubrics,Outcomes of Education,Test Validity,Student Experience,Teacher Expectations of Students

&quot;Rising to the Challenge: Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning&quot; was envisioned in response to a 2007 request for proposals from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE). FIPSE called for national, consortial contributions to improving the knowledge and abilities to assess student learning for purposes of accountability and improvement. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&amp;U), the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), collaboratively proposed three complementary projects to expand the understanding of the challenges and opportunities for assessing student learning. The &quot;Rising to the Challenge&quot; project focused on refining the understanding of the most common, standardized instruments for measuring student learning and also on developing new tools and approaches for measuring and reporting student learning in a broad array of important areas of learning. The project involved the development of a new student survey, under the direction of AASCU, for areas of student learning that lack multiple measurement instruments--participation in civic engagement, preparation for success in the workplace, and acquisition of global skills. A second component, under the direction of AAC&amp;U, involved the development of a set of nationally benchmarked rubrics articulating expected performance levels for 15 essential learning outcomes that can be used to assess student learning over time. The final part of the project involved a validity study, under the direction of APLU, of the three major standardized tests of student learning public universities are required to use to participate in the Voluntary System of Accountability's College Portrait Web reporting too. The three are the Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP) (now renamed the ETS Proficiency Profile), ACT's Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), and CAE's Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). Appended are: (1) Degrees of Preparation Workflow; and (2) Rising to the Challenge: Meaningful Assessment of Student Learning Project Participants. (Contains 6 tables, 2 figures and 9 endnotes.)
What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards for Evaluating Single Case Designs (SCDs)
Author: Monahan, Shannon
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Expertise,Evidence,Educational Research,Clearinghouses,Program Effectiveness,Instructional Effectiveness,Research Design,Evaluation Methods,Intervention,Teaching Methods,Evaluation Criteria

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) seeks to provide educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a central and trusted source of scientific evidence for what works in education. The WWC was established in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). It serves as a decision-making resource by helping the education community locate and recognize credible and reliable evidence. Reviewers working for the WWC assess the quality of studies that evaluate the effectiveness of specific educational products, interventions, practices or approaches. To ensure fairness and consistency in the review of these studies, the WWC uses rigorous and transparent standards for systematically reviewing and synthesizing existing research. From its inception, the WWC reviewed experimental and quasi-experimental group comparison studies. In an effort to expand the pool of rigorous scientific evidence available for review, in 2009, the WWC assembled a panel of national experts in single-case design (SCD) and analysis to develop WWC SCD Standards. This presentation delineates the criteria the WWC uses to identify SCDs and the standards that the WWC uses to evaluate the rigor of SCD studies. The WWC SCD standards are bifurcated into Design and Evidence standards. The Design standards evaluate the internal validity of the design. Reviewers trained in visual analysis then apply the Evidence standards to evaluate the effect of interventions and practices on relevant outcomes. (Contains 1 figure.)
How Laptops Digitize and Transform Learning
Author: Corn, Jenifer
Date: 2010-06-29
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: High Schools,Focus Groups,Laptop Computers,Educational Technology,Student Surveys,Student Development,Program Effectiveness,High School Students,Program Evaluation,Educational Policy,Pilot Projects,Acceleration (Education),Matched Groups,Surveys,Longitudinal Studies,Academic Achievement

Laptops have been shown to improve 21st century skills such as life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, and group collaboration, but how does this ever-present technology affect the thinking of today's &quot;screenager&quot;? Through an analysis of focus groups and surveys with students in 1:1 initiatives across North Carolina, researchers have discovered multiple changes in learning and 21st century skills when students have access to laptops. The study included eight Early College (EC) high schools and ten traditional high schools, with a total across the eighteen schools of approximately 9,500 students and 600 school staff.
Integrating Theater Arts into the Classroom: The New Responsibilities of the Elementary School Teacher
Author: Brock, Jessica
Date: 2011-05-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Masters Theses
Subjects: Theater Arts,Lesson Plans,Integrated Curriculum,Instructional Effectiveness,Teaching Methods,Elementary School Teachers,Learner Engagement

This paper researches how teachers can successfully incorporate Theater Arts into their daily schedules and lesson plans without necessarily teaching a lesson on the subject itself. A common problem that teachers face is not being able to engage students in the learning process; likewise, the students do not retain much of what they are taught. The purpose of this study is to find out if, and how, students benefit from teachers integrating Theater Arts into their lessons as well as finding effective ways of doing so. The assumption is that teachers may be able to better engage their students if they are theatrical or involve Theater Arts in their instruction method. The literature that has been reviewed for this study suggests that Theater Arts integration in some subjects improves morale across all subjects, resulting in overall academic improvement. Additionally, an interview with an experienced elementary school teacher confirms that integrating Theater Arts into curriculum engages students and provides an additional way to teach and assess second language learners. This study finds that Theater Arts integration in curriculum engages students in the learning process and promotes a greater affinity for education. If students are eager to learn, they will pay closer attention to subject matter. Once students are more engaged in school, schools will perform better on academic testing and produce students who have a positive attitude towards education.