ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Childhood Resiliency Effects from Schoolwide Treatment: A Cluster Randomized Trial
Author: Hinerman, Krystal M.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Resilience (Psychology),Violence,Randomized Controlled Trials,Pilot Projects,Primary Education,Elementary School Students,Crime Prevention,Curriculum Development,Progress Monitoring,Resistance to Change,Behavior Modification,Early Intervention,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Pretests Posttests,Measures (Individuals),Statistical Significance,Infants,Preschool Children,Outcomes of Treatment,Multivariate Analysis,Hierarchical Linear Modeling

The purpose of the Childhood Resiliency Effects from Schoolwide Treatment (CREST) Pilot was to implement a comprehensive school wide social and character development program aimed at decreasing violence among students and assisting students exposed to violence in Belize City. This one-year pilot program implemented portions of the Positive Action curriculum with a randomized controlled design with 13 intervention and 12 control primary schools in Belize City. The Positive Action curriculum was developed and revised by Carol Allred from 1977 to the present using continuous process monitoring and evaluation. The current intervention, although not used with the current population, has been found to be effective in significantly improving school performance and behavior in multi-ethnic and diverse samples from various regions in the United States. Positive effects occur more slowly in older children due to the resistance to change commonly experienced by older children. Early introduction of cognitive-behavioral training is essential if children in Belize are to be able to adapt their behavior in response to what they understand as negative outcomes when they do not adapt positively. Tables and figures are appended.
Consequences of Outcome Reporting Bias in Education Research
Author: Williams, R. T.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Bias,Educational Research,Outcome Measures,Outcomes of Education,Meta Analysis,Statistical Significance

Publication bias is a term that typically refers to the well-known tendency for studies lacking statistically significant results to be less likely to be published in peer-reviewed journals. This happens because authors are less likely to submit, while editors and reviewers are less likely to accept for publication, papers that lack statistically significant results for their primary outcomes. Outcome reporting bias (ORB) is a phenomenon associated with publication bias. The purpose of this study is to investigate the consequences of ORB in education research and how to improve estimation in meta-analysis when ORB is present. One table and 2 figures are appended.
A Randomized Controlled Trial Validating the Impact of the LASER Model of Science Education on Student Achievement and Teacher Instruction
Author: Kaldon, Carolyn R.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Science Education,Teaching Methods,Program Implementation,Federal Aid,Educational Research,Inquiry,Models,Science Achievement,Program Effectiveness,Poverty,School Districts,Intervention,Science Programs,Leadership Training,Educational Change,Science Tests,Scientific Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Grade 3,Grade 6,Elementary School Students,Outcomes of Education,Mixed Methods Research

Previous research has linked inquiry-based science instruction (i.e., science instruction that engages students in doing science rather than just learning about science) with greater gains in student learning than text-book based methods (Vanosdall, Klentschy, Hedges &amp; Weisbaum, 2007; Banilower, 2007; Ferguson 2009; Bredderman, 1983; Shymansky, Hedges, &amp; Woodworth, 1990). The LASER model, being validated in the current study, has already been the subject of a number of case studies (RMC Research Corporation, 2010; Horizon Research, 2010; Vanosdall et al., 2007). However, experimental studies of the type that might establish a causal link between program implementation, student science learning, and other valued outcomes have yet to be conducted. Only a handful of studies have involved random assignment, and most of these have involved random assignment of students in a relatively small number of classrooms (see Furtak et al. 2009). With support from the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation Fund (i3), the current validation study of the LASER Model encompasses approximately 60,000 students, 1,900 teachers, and over 140 district administrators and principals. The efficacy of the LASER program has important implications for both research and practice when working with high-poverty schools and districts, who have limited resources and time available for science interventions. LASER's initial success with early learners also demonstrates its potential for reducing the development of chronic, long-term deficiencies and academic problems. One table and one figure are appended.
Calling Their Bluff: Expressed and Revealed Preferences of Top College Graduates Entering Teaching in Argentina
Author: Ganimian, Alejandro
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: College Graduates,Teaching Conditions,Teacher Education Programs,Foreign Countries,Career Choice,Teaching (Occupation),Student Motivation,Student Surveys,Teacher Salaries,Futures (of Society),Grade Point Average,Scores,College Applicants,Selective Admission,Alternative Teacher Certification,Student Attitudes,Disadvantaged Schools,Teacher Recruitment,Program Descriptions

Many school systems today are trying to attract top college graduates into teaching, but little is known about what dissuades this target group from entering the profession. This study randomly assigned applicants for a highly-selective alternative pathway into teaching in Argentina either to a survey about their motivations for applying to the program or to surveys that revealed information about their future pay or working conditions. The study found that applicants who received information about pay or working conditions were much more likely to report that they intended to drop out of the selection process, but were no more likely to actually drop out. Applicants with higher undergraduate grade point averages and/or scores in the selection process, however, were both more likely to report that they will drop out and to actually do so. The overall picture that emerges is one in which applicants &quot;bluff&quot;--that is, those who receive this information are more likely to report that they will drop out of the selection process, but they are no more likely to actually drop out. Tables and figures are appended.
Assessing the Effectiveness of New Mexico's K-3 plus Summer Learning Initiative
Author: Cann, Damon
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Primary Education,Foreign Countries,Summer Programs,Program Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Reading Skills,Mathematics Skills,Low Income,Enrichment Activities,Grade 1,Elementary School Students,Expressive Language,Basic Writing,Vocabulary Development,Alphabets,Achievement Gains,Disadvantaged Schools,Interpersonal Competence,Receptive Language

Students' basic reading and math skills can decline significantly during the summer months. Most attribute this to the prolonged period during which young students are outside of a structured learning environment (Cooper et al 1996). While summer learning loss occurs among all income groups, the effects are more pronounced for those from lower-­-income households than those from higher-­-income households where families have sufficient resources to provide enriching summer activities including camps, lessons, tutoring, art programs, and such (Entwisle, Alexander, and Olson 1997). These losses begin even in the earliest years of K-12 schooling and accumulate from year to year as students move through the crucial years of learning to read and have lasting impacts on student achievement (Alexander et al 2007). Moderate levels of evidence suggest that summer programs provided as school can ameliorate regression in achievement over the summer holidays (e.g. Borman and Dowling 2006). These findings have led to renewed interest in summer programs designed to mitigate, or even reverse, the trend of summer learning loss. This paper shares additional findings on the effect of the program through the first grade year. The results show that across four outcome domains of interest--Expressive Vocabulary, Letter-Word ID, Applied Problems, and Basic Writing--students randomly assigned to spend the summer in K-3 Plus outperformed those who were randomly assigned to receive regular school year services only. Results, while preliminary, suggest that the K-3 Plus model is an effective way to improve student achievement in high-poverty schools by ameliorating summer learning loss. A table is appended.
Effects of 8th Grade Algebra on High School Course-Taking and Math Achievement: Evidence from Changing Practices in a Large Urban District
Author: Rickles, Jordan
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Urban Schools,School Districts,Educational Policy,Academic Achievement,Algebra,Grade 8,Eligibility,Mathematics Education,Advanced Courses,College Attendance,Correlation,Graduation Rate,High School Students,Required Courses,Salaries,Statistical Significance,Student Characteristics,Institutional Characteristics

Between 1990 and 2012, the percentage of 13-year-olds (most of whom are 8th graders) taking algebra more than doubled, from 15% to 34% (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). Yet recent education policy changes suggest that this movement to encourage algebra-taking in 8th grade has begun to reverse course. Existing research suggests that taking more advanced math courses has positive effects on academic achievement, college enrollment, and adult earnings. Preliminary analyses results suggest that exposure to 8th grade algebra may improve math course-taking and completion but that these effects do not translate into statistically significant improvements in high school graduation rates or satisfying college eligibility course requirements. Tables and figures are appended.
Collective Efficacy and Adult Community: Teacher and Principal Perceptions after Two Years of Implementing &quot;Leading Together&quot; in Schools
Author: Paxton, Carol L. C.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Mixed Methods Research,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Intervention,Faculty Development,Program Descriptions,Program Design,Trust (Psychology),Attitude Change,Task Analysis,Interviews,Outcomes of Education,Social Development,Emotional Development,Communities of Practice,Surveys,Teacher Effectiveness

This paper describes a mixed-methods pilot study that was conducted in collaboration with the developers of a new adult community-building intervention called &quot;Leading Together&quot; (LT), which focuses on strengthening relational trust among staff. The primary research focus of the collaboration was to gather and share descriptive information regarding implementation, and to examine program efficacy. From the context of this work, this study examines how principal and teacher collective efficacy beliefs (CEB) change over the two year arc of implementation of the &quot;Leading Together&quot; (LT) professional development program. Ten intervention schools in the northeastern United States were purposefully sampled by the program designers; two of the schools discontinued participation at the conclusion of the first year. The sample at each school included at least one administrator, one school leader teacher, and one school site teacher who did not participate in training or implementation planning. Teams participating in the direct training and facilitation portion of the intervention included principals and school leader teachers, with each of these LT teams ranging from 3-6 members. This study employs a sequential, exploratory mixed methods design. Quantitative analyses are used to identify changes in CE, as well as the subconstructs group competence and task analysis. Interview data are qualitatively analyzed to explore changes in quantitative levels of CE. Results confirm the CE theoretical model and suggest that implementation of LT may provide opportunities to increase CE levels for participants who carry out the program consistently and as intended. Tables and figures are appended.
A Unified Framework for Estimating Minimum Detectable Effects for Comparative Short Interrupted Time Series Designs
Author: Price, Cristofer
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Research Methodology,Quasiexperimental Design,Pretests Posttests,Intervention,Outcomes of Treatment,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Comparative Analysis,Equations (Mathematics)

The Comparative Short Interrupted Time Series (C-SITS) design is a frequently employed quasi-experimental method, in which the pre- and post-intervention changes observed in the outcome levels of a treatment group is compared with those of a comparison group where the difference between the former and the latter is attributed to the treatment. The increase in the availability and quality of extant data (e.g., state test scores, graduation rates, and college application rates in primary and secondary education and cognitive, language, and socio-emotional assessments in pre-school settings) has made the use of C-SITS designs a more viable option for assessing the impacts of interventions. Despite the recent growth in its use, the existing resources on how to estimate minimum detectable effects for this design are still very limited. This paper aims to address the limitations of existing research on this topic by: (1) deriving expressions for the variance of the various C-SITS estimators; and (2) providing plausible values for the critical variance parameters calculated using school-level test scores from state assessments. The study is ongoing at the time of this publication. Preliminary findings show that when appropriate plausible values are entered into the formulae provided in this paper, there is a close correspondence between the standard errors estimated from the formulae and those obtained from fitting models to actual data. The formulae and plausible values in this paper provide analysts with a flexible basis for estimating MDES for various C-SITS designs, and serves as a template for accumulation of relevant information that can be used to build databases of plausible values that inform the designs of future studies. Tables and figures are appended.
Collaboration to Achieve Whole School SEL across a Large, Urban District
Author: Porche, Michelle
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Emotional Development,Social Development,Faculty Development,Urban Areas,Elementary Schools,Educational Environment,Student Behavior,Observation,Student Surveys,Fidelity,Grade 3,Grade 5,Check Lists,Focus Groups,Interviews,Program Implementation,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Principals,Intervention,Measures (Individuals),Pretests Posttests

Research on social and emotional learning (SEL) has largely focused on classroom interventions and student-­ and classroom­-level outcomes. Few studies have examined whole­-school and district-­level SEL implementations, or how to ensure that SEL programs are implemented effectively and sustained over time. This study examines both process outcomes and program impact as Open Circle is rolled out across a large, urban district over a three-year period beginning in June 2012. The study investigates the following research questions: (1) What are the critical factors to successful implementation of a whole­-school, comprehensive SEL program as it is scaled up across one third of elementary schools serving grades K­-5 in a large urban school district over a three-year period?; and (2) How will the implementation of the &quot;Open Circle Curriculum&quot; and corresponding professional development influence school climate, teacher practice, students' social and emotional skill development, and behavior? The sample in this study includes over 7,000 students, 400 classrooms, and 23 schools. Primary data from the first two years gathered through classroom observation and student surveys in grades 3 and 5, Open Circle fidelity checklists completed by coaches and observers, semi­-annual online surveys completed by teachers, administrators and school support staff, focus group and individual interviews with staff, and training attendance and coaching logs provide data to measure program implementation, school climate, and social and emotional development at the student, classroom, school, and district levels. Preliminary results indicate that this whole-­school SEL program is highly scalable, reaching over 7,000 students with training for nearly 800 staff members at 23 district schools in a two­-year period. Key success factors have been robust whole­-school professional development, high quality implementation, initial and ongoing principal and district administrator support, and teacher buy-in. Forthcoming data will enable further conclusions about outcomes and impact. Tables and figures are appended.
Access to Effective Teaching for Disadvantaged Students in 29 School Districts
Author: Isenberg, Eric
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Disadvantaged Youth,Access to Education,School Districts,Value Added Models,Academic Achievement,Equal Education,English,Language Arts,Regression (Statistics),Elementary Schools,Middle Schools,Standardized Tests,Scores

Recent federal policy initiatives are aimed at improving disadvantaged students' access to effective teaching. These efforts, including Race to the Top and the Teacher Incentive Fund, arise from concerns that disadvantaged students are taught by less effective teachers. A growing body of research uses value-added analysis to measure teacher effectiveness and then examine whether disadvantaged students receive less effective teaching. Value added measures a teacher's contribution to student learning, accounting for the student's previous achievement level and background characteristics. Given the importance of teachers in improving student achievement and concerns about unequal access to effective teachers (Jerald et al. 2009; Brown and Haycock 2011), more evidence on access to effective teaching is needed. To address this need, the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences contracted with Mathematica Policy Research to examine access to effective teaching in a diverse set of school districts nationwide over a five-year period from the 2008-2009 to the 2012-2013 school years. This report addresses access to effective teaching in grades 4 through 8 for the first three years of the study (2008-2009 through 2011).
Compared to What? Estimating Causal Effects for Latent Subgroups to Understand Variation in the Impacts of Head Start by Alternate Child Care Setting
Author: Feller, Avi
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Early Intervention,Disadvantaged Youth,Child Care,Environmental Influences,Family Programs,Low Income Groups,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Early Childhood Education,Randomized Controlled Trials,Student Diversity,Statistical Analysis,Verbal Ability,Intelligence Tests,Vocabulary

Head Start programs currently provide early childhood education and family support services to more than 900,000 low-income children and their families across the United States with an annual budget of around $8 billion in state and federal funds. Researchers and policy makers have debated the program's effectiveness since its inception in 1964. Dozens of studies (see for example Currie &amp; Thomas, 1993; Deming, 2009; Ludwig &amp; Miller, 2007) over the last four decades have provided a mixed picture of results with some showing strong positive impacts and others indicating small or null effects. In an effort to resolve these long standing disputes over the impact of Head Start, the Administration for Children and Families commissioned a random assignment study of Head Start programs in 2000. To date, the results of the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) have done little to settle debates about the effects of Head Start attendance on children's development. Some have suggested that the HSIS results may be attributable, in part, to the fact that more than one-third of children assigned to the study control group enrolled in some form of early childhood education that offered services similar to those provided by Head Start (National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs, 2010). There is some empirical support for this hypothesis. However, unpacking treatment effect by variation in control group setting is difficult using traditional methods. The standard Two-Stage Least Squares (TSLS) framework can be used to estimate effects of Head Start relative to no Head Start among students who are &quot;compliers&quot; with the randomization scheme. Yet, there are many other instances of uncontrolled variation that are of policy interest in the context of HSIS. Given this variation, an important question to ask is whether enrollment in Head Start by virtue of the randomized offer to do so has differential effects according to the alternate care type setting in which a child would otherwise be. In this paper, the authors extend the main HSIS findings to examine whether the offer of Head Start was differentially beneficial for students grouped by the care setting they would have received absent the offer of Head Start. Tables and figures are appended.
Algebra for All: The Effect of Algebra Coursework and Classroom Peer Academic Composition on Low-Achieving Students
Author: Nomi, Takako
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Algebra,Mathematics Instruction,Low Achievement,Educational Policy,Outcomes of Education,Educational Improvement,Secondary School Students,Academic Achievement,Correlation,Remedial Instruction,Peer Relationship,Mathematics Skills,Educational Strategies,Time on Task,Educational History,Required Courses

Algebra is often considered as a gateway for later achievement. A recent report by the Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) underscores the importance of improving algebra learning in secondary school. Today, a growing number of states and districts require algebra for all students in ninth grade or earlier. Chicago is at the forefront of this movement. Many low-achieving students took remedial math before 1997 and the algebra-for-all policy immersed these students in academic coursework for the first time. Moreover, these low-achieving students experienced a rise in the ability levels of their classroom peers. However, this study suggests that simply requiring algebra is insufficient to improve their outcomes, even though students may benefit from having higher achieving peers in their classrooms. Overall, taking Algebra, instead of remedial math, would have no significant effect and this may be because students lack sufficient skills to handle algebra. Chicago subsequently implemented double-dose algebra to address this problem, and research showed that offering extended instructional time and instructional supports to teachers was successful in improving algebra learning of low achieving students (Nomi and Allensworth, 2009; 2010). Table and figures are appended.