ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Supporting Data Use While Protecting the Privacy, Security and Confidentiality of Student Information: A Primer for State Policymakers
Author: Data Quality Campaign
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Information Security,Privacy,Student Records,Confidential Records,Academic Achievement,Technology Uses in Education,Data,Federal Legislation,Accountability,Responsibility,Stakeholders,Confidentiality,Data Collection,State Officials

The education sector is beginning to embrace a culture that values, demands and uses data to support improved decisionmaking at every level--in classrooms, at kitchen tables and in state capitols. This shift is due in large part to state policymakers' leadership over the last six years in building statewide longitudinal data systems that collect and connect student-level data over the course of students' educational careers. States are now focused on critical actions to make sure these data can be used: linking data across disparate data systems, providing timely and appropriate access to stakeholders, and building stakeholders' capacity to use this information responsibly and effectively. While using education data is indispensable to policy, management and instructional decisions, this work must be balanced with appropriate protections for student data. The collective efforts to maximize the great potential of data must be accompanied by the necessary actions to: (1) Meet the moral and legal responsibility to respect the privacy and the confidentiality of students' personally identifiable information; (2) Mitigate risks related to the intentional and unintentional misuse of data; and (3) Ensure clarity around roles and responsibilities. This publication outlines three overarching responsibilities of state policymakers to protect the privacy, security and confidentiality of students' personally identifiable information and a series of questions about state policies and practices for state officials responsible for the stewardship of student data and state data systems to both protect student data and maximize their use to improve student achievement.
Using Data to Increase College and Career Readiness: A Primer for State Policymakers
Author: Data Quality Campaign
Date: 2012-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Change,Elementary Secondary Education,Career Readiness,College Readiness,Educational Improvement,Feedback (Response),Higher Education

Today's global and knowledge-based economy demands that every student graduate from high school prepared for success in college and careers. Meanwhile, the nation's fiscal and economic environment means that states, districts and schools have fewer resources to allocate. These new expectations--to do more than ever before, and to do it with less--require systemic changes and recalibrating the K-12 education system to the goal of graduating every student college and career ready. (Contains 11 online resources.)
Effectively Linking Teacher and Student Data: The Key to Improving Teacher Quality
Author: Data Quality Campaign
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Educational Improvement,Educational Change,Stakeholders,Teacher Role,Program Effectiveness,Information Technology,Federal Legislation,Best Practices

Current state and federal reform initiatives rely heavily on the ability of multiple stakeholders to access and use information from statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) to improve student achievement. State policymakers have indicated through reform plans that states are best positioned to achieve this goal by developing and implementing various policies affecting educators. They will also, for the first time on a larger and more visible scale, use student achievement as a primary indicator of educator and program effectiveness. Therefore, policymakers must understand the importance of defining the purposes for and developing the policies to support a valid and reliable teacher/student data link. This policy brief outlines some of the most critical challenges facing states and districts as they develop and implement policies based on the teacher/student data link and provides guidance on the emerging best practices for effective implementation, including: (1) States must first determine how the data from the teacher/student data link will be used, which should drive the policy conversation around how the state will define teacher of record; (2) Although IT and data staff are critical in developing the technical solution to capture the appropriate data, policymakers and educators must own the process from the beginning because they are best positioned to resolve issues relating to the appropriate attribution of student learning to educators; (3) Teachers must have the means to periodically review their rosters to ensure that they are linked to the correct students; and (4) States and districts must work together collaboratively on all aspects of the teacher/student data link. (Contains 5 resources.)
High School Feedback: An Analysis of States' Current Efforts
Author: Data Quality Campaign
Date: 2011-12-12
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Stakeholders,Feedback (Response),High Schools,Elementary Secondary Education,Academic Achievement,Data,Enrollment,Educational Improvement,Accountability,Career Readiness,College Readiness

There is increased demand from multiple stakeholders for information about K-12 students' success after high school. When this information is provided back to high schools, it is often referred to as "high school feedback" information. This working document captures knowledge about states' capacity to and progress in providing high school feedback information. This information is drawn from several sources, including Data for Action 2010: DQC's [Data Quality Campaign's] State Analysis, states' federal SFSF [State Fiscal Stabilization Funds] Year 1 Reports, and additional research conducted in 2011 by DQC and Education Sector.
Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Program: Data Implications
Author: Data Quality Campaign
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Grants,State Programs,Educational Improvement,Federal Legislation,Early Childhood Education,Kindergarten,Young Children

On August 22, 2011, the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly released the final application for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, including priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria. RTT-ELC is a competitive state grant program designed to reward states that create comprehensive plans to transform early learning systems with better coordination, clearer learning standards, and meaningful workforce development. Several aspects of the RTT-ELC program have implications for state data systems and would support effective data use. It also establishes definitions for Essential Data Elements for early learning and development data systems. This document summarizes these provisions. (Contains 3 footnotes.)
Spend Smart: Fix Our Broken School Funding System. A ConnCAN Issue Brief
Author: Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN)
Date: 2011-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Educational Finance,Educational Policy,State Policy,Educational Improvement,Low Income Groups,Achievement Gap,Funding Formulas,State Aid,School Choice

Our elected officials have some big math problems to solve this year, from an unsustainable $3.7 billion deficit to zero job growth. Education is the most important investment we make in our state's future, but it's where we're getting the worst return on our money. Low-income students are further behind in Connecticut than in every other state, and even our highest performing students are behind the top students in Massachusetts. It's time to change the way we deliver public education. Our system is systematically failing far too many Connecticut students who slip through our fingers every year. They can't wait any longer, and neither should we. (Contains 3 figures, 1 table and 17 footnotes.)
The State of Connecticut Public Education: A 2009-2010 Report Card for Connecticut Public Schools and Public Policies
Author: Truscheit, Tori
Date: 2010-01-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Public Education,Public Policy,Annual Reports,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,State Policy,Academic Standards,Best Practices,Teacher Education,Teacher Educators,Teacher Effectiveness,Federal Programs,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Achievement Gains,Achievement Gap,Achievement Rating,Achievement Tests,Progress Monitoring,State Standards

This paper presents Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now's (ConnCAN's) fourth annual &quot;State of Connecticut Public Education&quot; report. In addition to ConnCAN's traditional look at the state of Connecticut public schools, this year's report takes a look at Connecticut's policy environment: namely, where it stands in the &quot;Race to the Top.&quot; This report gives facts about how districts are performing, how well teachers are being trained, and how educational standards measure up to other states. Methodology of ConnCAN's School &amp; District Report Cards are appended. (Contains 4 figures, 19 tables and 11 footnotes.) [Foreword by Alex Johnston. Introduction by Tori Truscheit.]
School Finance in Connecticut. Issue Brief
Author: Truscheit, Tori
Date: 2009-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Achievement Gap,Educational Finance,State Aid,Urban Schools,School Districts,At Risk Students,Federal Aid,Financial Support,Resource Allocation,Educational Equity (Finance),Educational History,Grants,Equal Education,Expenditure per Student,Funding Formulas

Closing the achievement gap is about improving teaching and learning, but it's also about money: teachers and principals must be paid, books must be ordered, and facilities must be built. How our schools are financed can play a major role in student achievement. Where money comes from, how much is spent, and what it is spent on are issues that drive policy and energize stakeholders. Connecticut's school finance system aims to serve a noble purpose: ensuring that our schools, especially our historically underfunded urban schools, receive equitable amounts of state aid. In practice, our school finance system is a confusing hodgepodge that has built up over time. Twenty years of funding debates have not translated into improved student achievement for our neediest students. Our poorest districts now receive significantly more state aid than our richest districts, but the achievement gap between Connecticut's poor students and their wealthier peers is the worst in the nation. This brief examines how our school finance system has evolved--and why it's still under-serving our kids. (Contains 45 notes.)
Connecticut's Teachers, Principals &amp; Race to the Top. ConnCAN Issue Brief
Author: Truscheit, Tori
Date: 2010-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Policy,State Policy,Federal Programs,Achievement Gap,Teacher Effectiveness,Educational Improvement,Principals,Teacher Evaluation,Evaluation Methods,Educational Change,Administrator Evaluation,Evaluation Problems,Evaluation Criteria,School Districts

Teachers are the most important factor in whether a student achieves in the classroom, so closing the achievement gap means improving the effectiveness of our teachers and their principals. But right now, no one really knows how effective our teachers are. The Obama administration recognizes that many states' evaluation systems are broken, and the $4 billion Race to the Top competition incentivizes states to make big changes in this area. When nearly every teacher is considered &quot;satisfactory,&quot; teachers have little understanding of how to improve and great teachers go unrecognized. But as this issue brief shows, enacting key reforms at the state level will help Connecticut make progress in this area, win sorely-needed federal money, and raise student achievement. (Contains 19 footnotes.)
Staff Smart: Keep the Best Teachers in Connecticut's Classrooms. A ConnCAN Issue Brief
Author: Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN)
Date: 2011-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Achievement Gap,Job Layoff,Educational Improvement,Teacher Competencies,Educational Quality,Teacher Persistence,Budgets,Educational Finance,Educational Policy,School Districts,School District Wealth,State Departments of Education,Tenure,Teacher Effectiveness

The research is clear: teachers are the most important factor in raising student achievement in schools. If Connecticut is serious about closing our worst-in-the-nation achievement gap and raising academic performance for all students, there must be an excellent teacher in every classroom. Connecticut's budget crisis will likely lead to widespread teacher layoffs this spring, but if teacher layoffs proceed without intervention, they will be quality blind: through a policy known as &quot;last-in, first-out,&quot; the newest teachers will be forced out without regard for how well they educate students. This foolish, lock-step approach could knock excellent teachers out of their jobs while leaving ineffective ones in the classroom--a move that would be devastating for Connecticut's students. In no other professional setting, especially one so critical to the success of our children, would we make such important staffing decisions based only on employees' amount of time on the job without regard for performance. We need immediate action to provide relief to districts that will otherwise be forced to lay off outstanding teachers in favor of those who simply have more hours on the job. This paper discusses how Connecticut can keep its best teachers. (Contains 5 figures and 27 footnotes.)
Measuring Teacher Effectiveness: A Look &quot;Under the Hood&quot; of Teacher Evaluation in 10 Sites. A ConnCAN, 50CAN, and Public Impact Report
Author: Doyle, Daniela
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Profiles,Teacher Evaluation,Site Analysis,Teacher Competencies,Charter Schools,Nonprofit Organizations,School Administration,Program Implementation,Academic Achievement,Evaluation Methods,Observation,Accuracy,Reliability,Validity,Teacher Improvement

This report highlights 10 of the most advanced and talked-about teacher evaluation systems nationally: Delaware; Rhode Island; Tennessee; Hillsborough County, Florida; Houston, Texas; New Haven, Connecticut; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Washington, DC (referred to throughout just as Washington); Achievement First (a charter management organization, or CMO); and the Relay Graduate School of Education in New York City. Together, these systems serve more than 1.6 million students each year. These are not the only systems taking on this work, but they are trailblazers. None of the sites featured would say they have fully &quot;figured out&quot; teacher evaluation. Nor do the authors hold them up as examples of perfection. Yet they have all worked long and hard to carefully and thoughtfully tackle the most difficult challenges related to developing and implementing a high-quality teacher evaluation system. This report consists of four components: (1) A brief which provides an overview of the report and background on the topics addressed in the other documents, including key questions, implementation options and trade-offs, and key terms; (2) A cross-site analysis that looks across all 10 sites and summarizes key components of their evaluation systems; (3) 10 detailed profiles of the teacher evaluation systems at our featured sites; and (4) A library of documents that are the building blocks of the 10 systems. Individual site profiles contain sources. (Contains 36 footnotes.) [This paper was created with 50CAN and Public Impact. Funding for this paper was provided by H. A. Vance Foundation.]
Using Evaluation Results for Improving Teaching Practice: A Research Case Study
Author: Cisneros-Cohernour, Edith J.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Best Practices,Educational Practices,Instructional Improvement,Case Studies,Evaluation Utilization,Feedback (Response),Inquiry,Educational Quality,College Instruction

This study portrays how a male instructor, his peers, and the department head used feedback from  student ratings. A case study approach was employed to provide a holistic mode of inquiry that would be consonant with the exploration of issues addressed by the study. The method selected provided understanding of the process and events taking place and the complexities of the context under which the evaluation was conducted (Patton, 1980). The case study was organized around main questions or issues (Stake et al, 1995).   The study identified critical validity issues when using student ratings results for improving the quality of college teaching. (Contains 3 footnotes.)
Let No Child Be Left Inside - Propping Up Students Alertness to the World Around
Author: Abdul Gafoor, K.
Date: 2012-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Biodiversity,Familiarity,Knowledge Level,Ecology,Environmental Education,Consciousness Raising,Educational Principles,Constructivism (Learning),Critical Theory,Visual Measures,Performance Based Assessment,Elementary School Students

In a time of unprecedented, serious and ongoing threat of separation of education from nature, critical pedagogy is expected to play a constructive role in bringing education nearer to students' lives, environment and culture. This paper examines the extent to which students who have completed primary education by following the Kerala state school curriculum that has adopted the principles of critical constructivist pedagogy are able to recognize the local plants, their parts, human (agricultural) activity in relation to them and related pests. A convenient sample of 79 standard VIII students from two classes in a school in Calicut district of Kerala were presented with a picture based group test of local flora and their pests. Findings points to the loss of cultural languages that encode local knowledge of biodiversity among the young population who have completed primary schooling. Paper suggests reconstruction of critical pedagogy itself in light of students' presently disastrous awareness of ecological milieu by provoking students and teachers of critical pedagogy to adjust their thinking and practice of education beyond mere discussion, no thought or gain in eco experience. (Contains 7 tables.)
Integrated Model of Teacher Preparation: An Alternate Representation
Author: Gafoor K., Abdul
Date: 2011-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Education Programs,Preservice Teacher Education,Integrated Curriculum,Educational Principles,Critical Theory,Constructivism (Learning),Models,Alternative Teacher Certification,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Performance Factors

The paper proposes an integrated model of pre-service preparation of teachers by incorporating the principles of critical and constructive approach to teacher education. The paper is an attempt to share the draft of the model with the national audience of teacher educators. The model proposed is integrated, among other things, in that in addition to the impact of teacher education on the behavior of teachers in classrooms the cognitive, moral, and ethical aspects of teacher and their connection with policy levers such as teacher evaluation and course requirements are incorporated. This alternative orientation to teacher education, the author hopes, will help create discussion about ways to meet the age old conflicts in teacher preparation like those between theory and practice and those between liberal and technical nature, and that between more school experience and more academic content courses. The paper is an attempt to share the draft of the model with the national audience of teacher educators.
How Do Interest in Sciences Vary with Gender?
Author: Gafoor, K. Abdul
Date: 2011-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Physics,Females,Chemistry,Student Attitudes,Biology,Males,Raw Scores,Gender Differences,Science Interests,Foreign Countries,Science Instruction,Elementary School Students,Secondary School Students,Scores,Student Interests,Age Differences,Elementary School Science,Secondary School Science

This study explores interest in physics, chemistry and biology among school students in Kerala. It used a sample of 3236 (1659 boys, 1577 girls) students studying in upper primary to higher secondary classes. Three separate versions of scale of interest in science were used to quantify interest in science of upper primary, secondary and higher secondary levels. In order to make the scores from the three versions comparable, raw scores were  transformed into standard scores. Among both girls and boys, interest in science topics is highest during primary stage than during secondary schooling. During upper primary schooling, interests in both physical and biological sciences are equal among girls, while boys have more interest in biology than physical sciences. During secondary schooling the difference between interests in biological science and physical science become more pronounced, while the reverse happens among boys. By higher secondary level, chemistry is the least liked science subject among both boys and girls, but girls like physics only as much as chemistry; while boys prefer physics much more than chemistry. Boys, more than girls, wanted to know more about physics topics whereas girls' interests lay more in the biological sciences; younger students expressed more positive attitudes toward science than did older students. The study concludes that as interest develops very early in life and influences students future choices, monitoring it should begin from primary school itself. Leaving it unnoticed in the developing stages is detrimental as, it would be quite difficult to make people appreciate science. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)
Positive Behavior Support in Delaware Schools: Developing Perspectives on Implementation and Outcomes. Executive Summary
Author: Ackerman, Cheryl M.
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Behavior Problems,Technical Assistance,Research and Development,Behavior Modification,Positive Reinforcement,Student Behavior,Educational Environment,Barriers,Program Implementation,Interviews,College School Cooperation,Focus Groups,Decision Making,Databases,Professional Development,Rewards,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Suspension

In Spring 2010, the Delaware Education Research and Development Center conducted an evaluation of Delaware's PBS project, an initiative focused on developing a school-wide system of strategies to reduce behavior problems and foster a positive school climate. The study focused on facilitators and barriers to PBS implementation, and also included analyses to examine the relationship between PBS and school suspensions. This executive summary presents the findings from the study. (Contains 4 tables.) [For full report, &quot;Positive Behavior Support in Delaware Schools: Developing Perspectives on Implementation and Outcomes. Technical Report No. T2010,&quot; see ED535261.]