ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Test Results Untrustworthy. Point of View Essay
Author: Berliner, David C.
Date: 2005-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Standardized Tests,High Stakes Tests,Test Results,Context Effect,School Administration,Decision Making,Educational Practices,Deception

America's public schools are making harmful, irreversible decisions based on test results that--in an increasing number of cases--can't be trusted, Arizona State University's Education Policy Research Laboratory has found. The pressure of high-stakes tests is forcing school districts and state Departments of Education to take inappropriate and at times unsavory actions to avoid being labeled as failing for not meeting certain benchmarks, says the independent study, funded in part by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. Under pressure to achieve higher scores, teachers concentrate more on the "cusp" kids, those who need a few points more on state tests, thus abandoning the gifted and the slowest students in their classes.
Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations 2004-2005. Seventh-Annual Report
Author: Molnar, Alex
Date: 2005-04-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Charter Schools,Proprietary Schools,Privatization,Charts,Profiles

This annual report, in its seventh edition, found that Education Management Organizations (EMOs) tend to focus on managing charter primary schools and on enrolling relatively large numbers of students in those schools. Fifty-nine EMOs operate in 24 states and the District of Columbia, enrolling some 239,766 students. The report is the most comprehensive resource on the for-profit education management industry. It presents the factors shaping the industry, such as profitability, accountability, and questionable relationships. It also describes a large EMO business model and presents two developments in 2004-05 that merit particular attention. One is the formation of the The National Council of Education Providers. The second is the Department of Education announcement that the Schools and Staffing Survey, which provided information on charter schools, will cease providing such information on all charters nationwide but instead will only cover a random sample. Data in the present report is summarized through charts on for-profit education management companies, including charter schools. Some charts present data by company name and location, the total number of public schools under management, the number of public schools under management that are charter schools, the total number of students in managed schools, and the states in which company is managing public schools. Other charts present charter school administrative services and a detailed directory including discontinued schools. Appendices include: (1) Companies Previously Profiled Not Included in This Report; (2) For-Profit Virtual Schools Listed by State; (3) Methods Related to Common Core of Data Calculations, and Methods for Compiling School Profiles; and (4) National Average Enrollments by Grade Levels.  (Contains 8 tables and 8 notes.)
Does the No Child Left Behind Act Improve Schools and Increase Educational Opportunity? Point of View Essay
Author: Berlak, Harold
Date: 2005-04-01
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Educational Improvement,Standardized Tests,Academic Achievement,Employment Opportunities,Educational Opportunities,Educational Legislation,Academic Standards,Educational Indicators,Federal Programs,Minority Group Children,Minority Groups,Racial Bias

In this paper, the author questions whether the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) achieves its stated purpose: to raise standards of academic achievement. Deeper understanding, subtlety of thought, creativity, critical thinking, perseverance, leadership and sensibility about self and the world cannot be measured by multiple-choice technology. The mindless and ubiquitous use of standardized tests as the sole measure of educational progress is as unjust as it is absurd. It has had the effect of labeling close to one third of the nations 91,400 schools as failing in 2002-03 based on the failure to make AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) targets set by NCLB regulations. Reliance on standardized tests affects all students and communities, but as numerous researchers have carefully documented, there is a particularly adverse impact on students and communities of color. Because there is no evidence to support the claim that standardized tests are a valid and credible measure of academic achievement, these tests are a particularly invidious form of structural racism lending the cloak of science to policies and practices that have denied, and are continuing to deny, persons of color equal access to educational and job opportunities.
Charter Schools' Performance and Accountability: A Disconnect. Policy Brief
Author: Bracey, Gerald W.
Date: 2005-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Charter Schools,Academic Failure,Accountability,Achievement Gains,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Politics of Education,Participant Satisfaction,Parent Attitudes,National Surveys,Case Studies,Evidence

This report argues that evidence exists for the case that the charter school movement is largely a failed reform. The report puts the charter school movement in the context of dissatisfaction with public schools and the public sector in general. It then describes the claims for charters made by the early charter school advocates, emphasizing the advocates' promise of increased achievement. From there, the report reviews evaluations of charter schools in Arizona, California, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas, as well as several national evaluations. The review shows that charters have not lived up to their promise of increased achievement. This failure is surprising given that charter schools are small (most have fewer than 200 students) with small classes, two factors known to increase achievement. This failure becomes even harder to understand given the advantages that charters enjoy in their freedom from the rules, regulations, and contracts that are said to bureaucratically burden the public schools. It appears that charter school advocates who believed that charters could increase achievement and should be held accountable for doing so have lost control of the pro-charter movement to those for whom deregulation is a sufficient condition for declaring success. (Contains 2 tables.)
No Child Left Behind: Where Does the Money Go? Executive Summary
Author: Bracey, Gerald W.
Date: 2005-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Educational Finance,Costs,Federal Programs,Educational Indicators,Sanctions,Privatization,Politics of Education,Accountability,Public Schools,Conflict of Interest,Supplementary Education,Federal Aid

This brief examines how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) dollars flow from the federal government through states and districts and into the coffers of companies, mostly for-profit companies. The brief makes the case that the law enriches many private companies and individuals, especially those close to President George W. Bush and his family. The brief describes the essential workings of NCLB, highlighting inherent costs of the law and costs that come with each successive year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The brief emphasizes the sanctions applied after two consecutive years of failure (the requirement that all students be offered the opportunity to transfer to another school) and after three consecutive years (the requirement that districts must hire outside tutors, mostly for-profit companies, to provide Supplementary Educational Services). The brief closes by calling on the U.S. Department of Education to establish policies and procedures to account for the money and to hold private companies to the same standards of accountability which it demands of public schools. [For the full report see, ED508523.]
Academic Achievement of English Language Learners in Post Proposition 203 Arizona
Author: Wright, Wayne E.
Date: 2005-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: State Legislation,Educational Legislation,Language of Instruction,Immersion Programs,Public Education,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,High Stakes Tests,Accountability,Scores,Achievement Tests,Academic Achievement,Elementary School Students,Achievement Gap,Federal Legislation,Norm Referenced Tests,Comparative Analysis,Educational Indicators,Federal Programs,Research Problems

This report reveals the problems with claims made by Arizona state public education officials that English Language Learners (ELLs) are thriving under English-only instruction. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the state's accountability system, Arizona LEARNS, require all students, including ELLs, to participate in statewide high-stakes testing. Test scores are the main measure of student achievement under these systems, and labels based on those scores are given to each school (i.e. Highly Performing, Underperforming, etc.). The state education administration's interpretation and strict enforcement of Proposition 203 has ensured that nearly all ELL students in grades K-3 are instructed through the English-only Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) model. They claim that SEI has led to better test scores and increased achievement among ELLs, using as evidence improved test scores and the decrease in the number of schools labeled as &quot;Underperforming.&quot; However, analyses of test data for students in grades two through five and changes in the state accountability system revealed the contrary; they exposed serious achievement gaps between ELLs and their counterparts, and proved that positive looking improvements in school accountability labels mask test-score decline in a large number of elementary schools. (Contains 18 figures, 8 tables and 55 notes.)
Academic Achievement of English Language Learners in Post Proposition 203 Arizona. Executive Summary
Author: Wright, Wayne
Date: 2005-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: State Legislation,Educational Legislation,Language of Instruction,Immersion Programs,Public Education,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,High Stakes Tests,Accountability,Scores,Achievement Tests,Academic Achievement,Elementary School Students,Achievement Gap,Federal Legislation

This report reveals the problems with claims made by Arizona state public education officials that English Language Learners (ELLs) are thriving under English-only instruction. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the state's accountability system, Arizona LEARNS, require all students, including ELLs, to participate in statewide high-stakes testing. Test scores are the main measure of student achievement under these systems, and labels based on those scores are given to each school (i.e. Highly Performing, Underperforming, etc.). The state education administration's interpretation and strict enforcement of Proposition 203 has ensured that nearly all ELL students in grades K-3 are instructed through the English-only Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) model. They claim that SEI has led to better test scores and increased achievement among ELLs, using as evidence improved test scores and the decrease in the number of schools labeled as &quot;Underperforming.&quot; However, analyses of test data for students in grades two through five and changes in the state accountability system revealed the contrary; they exposed serious achievement gaps between ELLs and their counterparts, and proved that positive looking improvements in school accountability labels mask test-score decline in a large number of elementary schools. [For full report, see ED508517.]
Empty Calories: Commercializing Activities in America's Schools. The Eighth-Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends: 2004-2005
Author: Molnar, Alex
Date: 2005-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Role of Education,Purchasing,Critical Thinking,Criticism,Consumer Economics,Marketing,Contracts,Incentives,Corporations,Administrator Role,School Business Relationship,Corporate Support,Identification,Educational Facilities,School Role,Values,Fund Raising,Child Health,Nutrition,Statistical Analysis

This year's Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends report finds that schools continue to be a prime target of a wide variety of corporate advertising efforts and criticism of marketing to children in schools is mounting. Most of this criticism is directed at marketing activities that are thought to have a negative impact on children's health. Public debate has led to government regulation and bans of commercial activity in some school districts; however, commercial interests show few serious signs of pulling back. From July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, the Education Policy Studies Laboratory's Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University conducted media database searches in Education Index, Google News and Lexis-Nexis, and recorded a total of 5,929 media references related to schoolhouse commercialism. Two appendices are included: (1) Methodology; and (2) Mean Number of Articles and the Lower and Upper Bound 95% Confidence Intervals by Category/Supplemental Search and Press. (Contains 2 figures and 137 notes.)
Empty Calories: Commercializing Activities in America's Schools. Executive Summary
Author: Molnar, Alex
Date: 2005-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Role of Education,Consumer Economics,Marketing,Contracts,Incentives,Corporations,School Role,Administrator Role,Values,Child Health,Nutrition,Fund Raising,School Business Relationship,Corporate Support,Identification,Educational Facilities,Purchasing,Critical Thinking,Criticism,Statistical Analysis

This year's Schoolhouse Commercialism Trends report finds that schools continue to be a prime target of a wide variety of corporate advertising efforts and criticism of marketing to children in schools is mounting. Most of this criticism is directed at marketing activities that are thought to have a negative impact on children's health. Public debate has led to government regulation and bans of commercial activity in some school districts; however, commercial interests show few serious signs of pulling back. From July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005, the Education Policy Studies Laboratory's Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University conducted media database searches in Education Index, Google News and Lexis-Nexis, and recorded a total of 5,929 media references related to schoolhouse commercialism. These references were grouped into eight categories and two supplementary searches (new to this year's report), as follows: Corporate Sponsorship of Programs and Activities;  Exclusive Agreements; Incentive Programs; Appropriation of Space; Sponsored Education Materials; Electronic Marketing; Privatization; Fundraising; Children's Health (supplementary search); and Commercialism (supplementary search). [For the full report, see ED508519.]
Voices from the Classroom: A Statewide Survey of Experienced Third-Grade English Language Learner Teachers on the Impact of Language and High-Stakes Testing Policies in Arizona
Author: Wright, Wayne E.
Date: 2005-12-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Grade 3,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Surveys,High Stakes Tests,Accountability,Federal Legislation,Bilingual Education Programs,Bilingual Education,Immersion Programs,School Policy,Comparative Analysis,Job Satisfaction,Teacher Persistence,Faculty Mobility

This survey of third-grade teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) in Arizona regarding school language and accountability policies--Proposition 203 (a voter-initiative that restricts the use of bilingual education programs in Arizona schools), the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and Arizona LEARNS (the state's high-stakes testing and accountability program)--reveals that (a) these policies have mostly resulted in confusion in schools throughout the state, (b) that there is little evidence that such policies have led to improvements in the education of ELL students, and (c) that these policies may be causing more harm than good. The majority of teachers surveyed reported that Sheltered (or Structured) English Immersion (SEI)--the state's mandated method for teaching ELLs since the passing of Proposition 203--is too restrictive and that this approach, as it is being implemented in Arizona, is inadequate for meeting the language and academic needs of ELL students. Furthermore, teachers reported that English-only high-stakes testing is driving instruction for ELL students which fails to take into account students' current levels of English language proficiency and previous opportunities to learn grade-level academic content. Teachers reported that recent changes in language and accountability policies and the strong pressure to teach-to-the-test and raise ELL student scores--despite the students' lack of proficiency in the language of the test--have decreased the morale and career satisfaction of teachers, and have led to high teacher turnover in schools with large ELL student populations. (Contains 2 figures, 14 tables, and 78 notes.)
Voices from the Classroom: A Statewide Survey of Experienced Third-Grade English Language Learner Teachers on the Impact of Language and High-Stakes Testing Policies in Arizona. Executive Summary
Author: Wright, Wayne E.
Date: 2005-12-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Grade 3,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Surveys,High Stakes Tests,Accountability,Federal Legislation,Bilingual Education Programs,Bilingual Education,Immersion Programs,School Policy,Comparative Analysis,Job Satisfaction,Teacher Persistence,Faculty Mobility

This survey of third-grade teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs) in Arizona regarding school language and accountability policies--Proposition 203 (a voter-initiative that restricts the use of bilingual education programs in Arizona schools), the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), and Arizona LEARNS (the state's high-stakes testing and accountability program)--reveals that (a) these policies have mostly resulted in confusion in schools throughout the state, (b) that there is little evidence that such policies have led to improvements in the education of ELL students, and (c) that these policies may be causing more harm than good. The majority of teachers surveyed reported that Sheltered (or Structured) English Immersion (SEI)--the state's mandated method for teaching ELLs since the passing of Proposition 203--is too restrictive and that this approach, as it is being implemented in Arizona, is inadequate for meeting the language and academic needs of ELL students. Furthermore, teachers reported that English-only high-stakes testing is driving instruction for ELL students which fails to take into account students' current levels of English language proficiency and previous opportunities to learn grade-level academic content. Teachers reported that recent changes in language and accountability policies and the strong pressure to teach-to-the-test and raise ELL student scores--despite the students' lack of proficiency in the language of the test--have decreased the morale and career satisfaction of teachers, and have led to high teacher turnover in schools with large ELL student populations.
No Child Left Behind: Where Does the Money Go? Policy Brief
Author: Bracey, Gerald W.
Date: 2005-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Educational Finance,Costs,Federal Programs,Educational Indicators,Sanctions,Privatization,Politics of Education,Accountability,Public Schools,Conflict of Interest,Supplementary Education,Federal Aid,Testing,School Choice,Reading Programs,Curriculum

This brief examines how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) dollars flow from the federal government through states and districts and into the coffers of companies, mostly for-profit companies. The brief makes the case that the law enriches many private companies and individuals, especially those close to President George W. Bush and his family. The brief describes the essential workings of NCLB, highlighting inherent costs of the law and costs that come with each successive year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The brief emphasizes the sanctions applied after two consecutive years of failure (the requirement that all students be offered the opportunity to transfer to another school) and after three consecutive years (the requirement that districts must hire outside tutors, mostly for-profit companies, to provide Supplementary Educational Services). It summarizes the known and potential-but-unknown quantities of money that flows through the states and districts under NCLB. The final destination of these large sums of money is unknown, as is whether these funds are being spent on effective services. The brief closes by calling on the U.S. Department of Education to establish policies and procedures to account for the money and to hold private companies to the same standards of accountability which it demands of public schools. (Contains 3 tables.)
Profiles of For-Profit Education Management Organizations: Eighth Annual Report, 2005-2006
Author: Molnar, Alex
Date: 2006-05-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Proprietary Schools,Industry,Enrollment Trends,Annual Reports,Profiles,Charter Schools,Virtual Classrooms,Government School Relationship

This annual report, in its eighth edition, found that after several years of growth, the EMO (Education Management Organization) industry appears to be entering a period of reconfiguration. In this year's &quot;Profiles&quot;, the number of companies listed and the number of schools they manage are down slightly; student enrollment in EMO-managed schools remains steady. These data, however, are primarily driven by what is happening to smaller firms, particularly in Arizona. Thus, despite slight declines in numbers, this is not an industry in decline so much as one in transition. This report identifies a total of 51 companies, down 13 percent from the 2004-2005 &quot;Profiles&quot;, which identified 59. The steady annual enrollment data along with the declines in number of EMO firms and in number of schools they manage reflect three possible developments, none of which are mutually exclusive. One source of decline may be consolidation in the EMO industry. A second source arises from specific circumstances in Arizona. A third factor may be that firms are shifting business models. Appendices include: (1) Reader's Guide; (2) Special Notes on Company Profiles; (3) No Longer Profiled Companies; (4) Methods; and (5) National Average Enrollments. (Contains 9 tables.) [For the 2004-2005 report, see ED508513.]
An Analysis of the 2005 National Technology Plan: Better for Business than for Children
Author: Hinchey, Patricia H.
Date: 2006-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Technology Planning,Educational Technology,Privatization,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Educational Policy,Business,Influence of Technology,Access to Computers,Student Attitudes,Student Surveys,Teacher Role,Technology Uses in Education

In January 2005, then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige submitted the Department of Education's revised National Education Technology Plan (NETP) to Congress in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The plan, titled &quot;Toward a New Golden Age in American Education,&quot; recommends seven &quot;Action Steps&quot; urging schools to strengthen leadership for technology, to consider innovative budgeting, to support e-learning and virtual schools, to encourage broadband access, to move toward digital content, and to integrate data systems. This report identifies, analyzes, and critiques assumptions underpinning NETP's recommendations. In addition to identifying flaws in key assumptions, this analysis concurrently uncovers embedded advantages for business and privatization supporters. NETP Action Steps is appended. (Contains 1 table and 67 notes.)