ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Shaping State Policy to Encourage Stewardship of Place
Author: Jones, Dennis P.
Date: 2005-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Leadership,Leadership Responsibility,Government Role,State Government,Citizenship,School Community Relationship,Geographic Location,Context Effect,Quality of Life,Education Work Relationship,Government School Relationship,Educational Policy,Economic Opportunities

Stewardship of place is an idea whose time has come. Much of the improvement in economic opportunity and quality of life sought by policymakers for the citizens of their states depends on the acceptance by universities (especially metropolitan universities) of a leadership role in their communities. But university leadership cannot marshal the forces within their institutions without a supportive state policy environment. At this point in time, development of the necessary policy frameworks is a work in progress; there is no conventional wisdom as to what really works in this regard. This paper suggests the elements of such policy. Further development of these ideas, with all the variations necessary to make them work in diverse state and local settings, is the challenge and the imperative. (Contains 2 figures.)
Major Differences: Examining Student Engagement by Field of Study. Annual Results 2010
Author: Indiana University, National Survey of Student Engagement
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Learner Engagement,National Surveys,Student Surveys,Undergraduate Students,Educational Quality,College Freshmen,Majors (Students),Intellectual Disciplines,Biology,Business Administration,English,Psychology,Student Characteristics,College Seniors,Veterans,Peer Relationship,Logical Thinking,Educational Objectives,Student Attitudes,Difficulty Level,Active Learning,Cooperative Learning,Teacher Student Relationship,Educational Experience,Educational Environment,Information Utilization,Data,Technical Assistance,Educational Assessment,Foreign Countries

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning. Its primary activity is annually surveying college students to assess the extent to which they engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development. The selected results presented in this annual report are based on responses from more than 362,000 students attending 564 U.S. baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities who completed NSSE in spring 2010, as well as subsamples of this group who responded to three sets of experimental questions. Results are also included from the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE), with more than 8,000 entering students from 126 institutions, and the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), with more than 19,000 faculty representing 154 institutions. This report contains a lead story, &quot;Engagement within the Disciplines&quot;. It analyzes results from specific major fields to show how disciplinary influences and student characteristics affect student engagement. It shows that participation in high-impact practices varied by major, and further illustrate this with analyses of seniors majoring in general biology, business, English, and psychology. These four disciplines were selected because they are fairly popular yet represent a wide spectrum of academic traditions. The second story--&quot;The Engagement of Student Veterans&quot;--presents valuable new information about the learning experiences and time use of student veterans, including those who had combat experience. It shows that, in certain areas, student veterans are less engaged than their peers and also perceive less support from their campus environments. Finally, &quot;Exploring New Dimensions of Learning and Engagement&quot; presents interesting results from three sets of experimental questions--curricular peer interaction, quantitative reasoning, and student perceptions of institutional learning goals. (Contains 10 tables, 16 figures and 5 online resources.) [For the 2009 report, see ED507080.]
Utilizing College Access &amp; Completion Innovation Funds to Improve Postsecondary  Attainment in California
Author: Jones, Dennis P.
Date: 2009-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Higher Education,Educational Change,Educational Attainment,Databases,Educational Improvement,Access to Education,Educational Finance,Federal State Relationship,Resource Allocation,Community Colleges,School Role,Criteria,Innovation

The College Access and Completion Innovation Fund proposed by the Obama administration in the FY 2009-10 budget holds considerable promise as a tool to leverage badly needed change in higher education nationally--and especially in California. It is potentially the most flexible tool among those currently available to promote attainment of President Obama's goal for higher education: &quot;by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.&quot; Presumably, states will have considerable latitude in ways they use funds to further the College Completion agenda. Accordingly, this policy brief has been written with two goals in mind: (1) To contribute to the on-going discussion about the design criteria that should be established at the federal level to govern state use of College Completion Program funds; and (2) To recommend a subset of activities that would do the most to further California's contribution toward the national goal. The specific design criteria for the program recommended to the federal government are as follows: (1) Funds should be allocated to state higher education agencies or entities designated to act in their stead; (2) States receiving program funds should commit to establishing College Completion goals that contribute at least each state's fair share of meeting the national goal; (3) The notion of &quot;college completers&quot; should be broadly defined to include certificates with workplace acceptance as well as associate and baccalaureate degrees; (4) The innovations funded should be designed at scale; they should not be &quot;demonstration projects&quot; that might later be taken to scale; (5) The program should fund state initiatives and should not be a device for distributing resources across the full spectrum of institutions. States should be encouraged to direct investments centrally or towards the types of institutions that can make the greatest contributions to achieving the goal; (6) The program should encourage solutions designed to educate more adults; (7) Funds should be used for one-time purposes; they should not be used to create on-going commitments requiring eventual state replacement of federal funds; and (8) The program should emphasize actions taken by postsecondary institutions, not the public schools. This paper catalogues several approaches to utilizing funds within these criteria. These are of two kinds: approaches that fund activities designed to improve college completion directly and incentives that retrospectively reward institutions for greater success. (Contains 6 figures and 9 footnotes.)
State Policies on Student Transitions: Results of a Fifty-State Inventory
Author: Ewell, Peter
Date: 2008-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Higher Education,Educational Policy,Public Policy,Educational Attainment,State Government,Dual Enrollment,Influences,College Graduates,Graduation Rate,High Schools,College Credits,Measures (Individuals),Education Work Relationship

A central objective of state policy is to move larger numbers of citizens through the &quot;educational pipeline&quot; to attain a college degree. In part this objective recognizes that the U.S. is losing its historic dominance in the proportion of young adults with a postsecondary credential (OECD, 2007). Equally important in stimulating change is widespread recognition that possessing a high school diploma no longer guarantees middle class earnings and life styles. But acknowledgement of the importance of this goal across the states does not guarantee equal levels of policy attention and states vary widely in the ways they choose to address these issues. The intent of the NCHEMS (National Center for Higher Education Management Systems) Student Transitions Study, funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education, is to document these many differences. The study concentrates on four key transitions that directly affect the number of college graduates that a state can generate. The first is the transition from high school to college. This transition is influenced by policies that establish high school exit standards, put college-preparatory high school curricula in place, establish explicit competency or skill levels that define &quot;college readiness,&quot; or create dual enrollment programs through which high school students can earn college credit. The second transition is from pre-college to college-level work. This is affected by policies governing basic skills testing and placement. The third transition is from two-year to four-year institutions of higher education. This is affected by state policies about transfer of credits and degrees. The fourth and final transition is from the status of being enrolled in a postsecondary institution to having graduated from one. This is affected by policies on acceleration or the availability of alternative ways for students to make progress, and the provision of incentives to institutions to increase graduation rates or incentives to students to graduate on time. Sections of the report on each of these topics describe the approaches taken by the fifty states. Appendices include: (1) Initial Contact Letter; and (2) Transitions Data Collection Protocol. (Contains 5 tables and 7 footnotes.)
Secondary Preservice Teachers Remember Their Favorite Writing Experience: Insights and Implications for Content Area Instruction
Author: Daisey, Peggy L.
Date: 2010-11-04
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Preservice Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Teacher Educators,Writing Assignments,Writing (Composition),Writing Attitudes,Reflection,Writing Strategies,Teacher Influence,Learner Engagement

(Purpose) The purpose of this study was to describe secondary preservice teachers' (N = 113) past favorite writing experiences and its implications for including writing in their future instruction.  (Methodology) Data was collected through a survey and drawings.  (Results) Preservice teachers' written answers were helpful to inform specifically about what they were writing.  Their drawings were valuable to convey a sense of place where their favorite writing was written and to reveal their feelings.  Although preservice teachers wrote in many different genres, each found an authentic audience. Most preservice teachers recalled that their favorite writing experience was relatively recent: half in college and more than a third in high school or middle school.  About half of preservice teachers (51.3%) had their favorite writing experience due to a school assignment. Preservice teachers thought that their favorite writing experience suggested that as teachers they should offer students choice and a comfortable writing place,as well as make writing relevant and useful, in order to prompt their students to put more time and energy into their work.  Although, the potential of writing depends on the time and work of teachers, few secondary preservice teachers spoke of this responsibility.  (Conclusions) School writing assignments can become favorite writing experiences, if they offer choice, relevance, and therapy. (Recommendations) Thus, teacher educators are encouraged to ask preservice teachers to reflect upon their past writing experiences in order to enrich discussions about fostering engaging and worthwhile writing experiences for their future students. (Additional data) (Contains 4 tables and 11 figures.)
Kentucky Disability Resource Manual: A Handbook of Program Descriptions, Eligibility Criteria, and Contact Information
Author: University of Kentucky, Human Development Institute
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Developmental Disabilities,Program Descriptions,Eligibility,Criteria,Children,Adults,Health Services,Health Insurance,Independent Living,Normalization (Disabilities),Assistive Technology,Supported Employment,Vocational Rehabilitation,Financial Support,Resources,State Programs,Human Services,Insurance,Accessibility (for Disabled),Advocacy,Autism,Down Syndrome,Community Health Services,Health Facilities,Mental Health,Legislators

This manual was designed primarily for use by individuals with developmental disabilities and related conditions. It is hoped that it is also useful for families, as well as service coordinators and providers who directly assist families and individuals with developmental disabilities. The main focus of this manual is to provide easy-to-read information concerning available resources, and to provide immediate contact information for the purpose of applying for resources and/or locating additional information. Readers may notice that many of the resources listed in this manual are directly linked to regional Community Mental Health Centers. Often, and especially with children under the age of three and adults, a local Community Mental Health Center will be the point of entry for an individual to gain access to many programs and services. For school-aged children and adolescents, the most direct route to services is often through the local public school system.
Does Remediation Work for All Students? How the Effects of Postsecondary Remedial and Developmental Courses Vary by Level of Academic Preparation. An NCPR Working Paper
Author: Boatman, Angela
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Grade Point Average,Academic Achievement,Developmental Studies Programs,Credits,Program Effectiveness,Remedial Instruction,Academic Ability,College Preparation,School Readiness,Outcomes of Education,College Students,Longitudinal Studies,Difficulty Level,Public Colleges,Higher Education,Regression (Statistics),Academic Persistence,School Holding Power,Graduation Rate,Mathematics Instruction,Reading Instruction

Each year, thousands of American students enter postsecondary institutions unprepared for college-level work and are subsequently placed in remedial or developmental courses. Several recent studies have examined the impact of these courses on student outcomes, but such studies focus exclusively on students who need just one or two classes; the impact of remediation on students with more severe levels of underpreparedness is unknown. This study addresses this hole by examining the impact of remedial and developmental courses on students at multiple points on the preparedness distribution. Using longitudinal data from Tennessee, we estimate the effects of placement into varying levels of mathematics, reading, and writing courses for students attending public four- and two-year colleges and universities. This is possible due to the state's multi-tiered system in which students could be assigned into one of four levels of mathematics and one of three levels of reading and writing courses. Therefore, unlike previous studies, we examine the effects of remediation on a wider range of students than previously analyzed. Using regression discontinuity (RD) techniques, we provide causal estimates of the effects of placement on a number of student outcomes, including persistence, degree completion, the number of total and college-level credits completed, and college GPA. The results suggest that remedial and developmental courses do differ in their impact by the level of student preparation. Similar to other research, we find negative effects for those students on the margins of needing any remediation. However, at the other end of the academic ability spectrum, the negative effects of remediation were much smaller and occasionally positive. These results suggest that remedial and developmental courses help or hinder students differently depending on their level of academic preparedness. Appendices include: (1) Figures; and (2) Tables. (Contains 12 tables, 13 figures, and 8 footnotes.)
Parents' Experiences with the IEP Process: Considerations for Improving Practice
Author: Reiman, John W.
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Individualized Education Programs,Meetings,Parent Participation,Special Education,Federal Legislation,Parent School Relationship,Parent Attitudes,Experience,Literature Reviews,Improvement

Since 1975 active parent participation in all aspects of educational programming for students receiving special education services has been legally mandated, initially with the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142), then in 1990 with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (PL 102-119), and most recently with the 1997 and 2004 versions of IDEA (PL 105-17, PL 108-446). Through each reauthorization of IDEA, the individualized education program (IEP) component has continued to direct student educational goals and objectives, placement, and evaluation criteria, as well as standards for educational performance and duration of programming modifications for special education services (Drasgow, Yell, & Robinson, 2001). The IEP meeting between educators and parents is the focal point for collaboration in the development of an educational plan. The quality of this collaboration is a significant determinant of the effectiveness of special education programs. Successful implementation of the IEP depends on all stakeholders' viewing themselves as valued contributors. Given the central and determinative role of the parent-school relationship, it is imperative that professionals in the field of special education reflect upon and learn from the experiences of all IEP meeting participants. By shedding light on the perspectives of parents and schools, individuals further an understanding of how each views the special education process and from this they gain insight that is vital to developing best-practice guidelines for conducting IEP meetings. The authors review literature to explore findings from 10 studies published after 2004 that focus on the experiences and perceptions of parents or other caregivers related to the IEP process. Their objective is to highlight recommendations from this body of literature for improving the experiences of parents and encouraging their participation in IEP meetings.
Perspectives of Participants in Special Education Mediation: A Qualitative Inquiry
Author: Todis, Bonnie
Date: 2008-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Special Education,Arbitration,Case Studies,Satisfaction,Empowerment,Student Needs,School Personnel,Parents,Expectation,Attitudes,Differences,Parent School Relationship

To investigate the potential utility of multiple case study methodology in the area of special education mediation, CADRE (Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education) in 2003 undertook a qualitative inquiry of special education mediations in two states. In this exploratory research, the authors' goal was to gain access to, examine, and compare the perspectives of parents, school personnel and mediators on several dimensions of the mediation experience--expectations, the process itself, outcomes, satisfaction with the process and outcomes, and long term outcomes. By identifying themes and patterns within and across cases, they hoped to identify promising areas for future qualitative and quantitative research. Examination of the themes within and across cases in this admittedly small sample may nonetheless suggest some patterns of potential interest to future researchers in the area of special education mediation. Some of these patterns are similar to those noted by Welsh (2004) and other qualitative researchers in this area. These are: (1) Relationship issues were identified as important factors by both parties in each mediation but were not addressed directly in most cases; (2) Mediation produced settlement but not satisfaction; (3) Empowerment and respect; and (4) Differing views of student needs. (Contains 2 tables.)
Computer-Based Testing: Practices and Considerations. Synthesis Report 78
Author: Thurlow, Martha
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Computer Assisted Testing,Disabilities,Access to Computers,Internet,Federal Programs,Access to Education,Achievement Tests,Testing Accommodations,Language Tests,Formative Evaluation

Computer-based testing (CBT) has emerged as one of the recent &quot;innovative&quot; approaches to assessments most pursued by states. CBT is lauded as the answer to having cheaper and speedier test delivery for state and district-wide assessments. It is also seen by some as an avenue toward greater accessibility for students with disabilities. In this report the authors explore the context of CBT, current state computer-based tests, and considerations for students with disabilities, in part as follow-up to a similar exploration that occurred in the early 2000s when just a few states were beginning to develop and implement CBT for their state assessments. Nine considerations for states and districts are presented: (1) Consider the assumptions and beliefs of various stakeholders about computer-based instruction and assessments; (2) Consider the system as a whole, from the computer infrastructure to classroom and instructional experiences with computers before deciding whether and how to use CBT; (3) Consider the computer or online platform first, with input from individuals who know students with disabilities and their accessibility needs; (4) Consider a process for bringing in the needed expertise to delineate the specific accessibility features of CBT, and to determine what specific accommodations may still be needed by students with disabilities, as well as to determine whether a computer-based test may create new accessibility issues; (5) Determine the policies for which accessibility features will be available to all students and which are designated for specific groups of students, such as students with disabilities; (6) Consider how to track the use of accessibility features incorporated into CBT design; (7) Field test the accessibility features of the computer-based test at the same time that the computer-based test is field tested; (8) Examine results from CBT for students with disabilities to determine whether there are any features or characteristics of the assessment that might need reconsideration; and (9) Develop training for teachers and students to ensure that students benefit from accessibility features. Appendices include: (1) Advantages and Challenges of Computer-based Tests (CBTs); (2) Computer-based Tests: Specifications and Details; and (3) Web Sites used in Analysis of States' Computer-based Tests. (Contains 1 figure and 9 tables.)