ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Effects of the California High School Exit Exam on Student Persistence, Achievement, and Graduation. Policy Brief 09-3
Author: Reardon, Sean F.
Date: 2009-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Exit Examinations,Academic Persistence,Academic Achievement,Graduation,High School Students,Low Achievement,Urban Schools,Longitudinal Studies,Graduation Rate,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Minority Groups,Comparative Analysis,Disproportionate Representation

In this policy brief the authors summarize the findings from a study investigating the impact of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) on California's lowest performing students. Utilizing longitudinal data from four large urban school districts, the authors compare students scheduled to graduate just before (2005) and after (2006-07) the exit exam became a requirement for graduation from California high schools. They find that the CAHSEE requirement has had no positive effects on students' academic skills. Students subject to the CAHSEE requirement--particularly low-achieving students whom the CAHSEE might have motivated to work harder in school--learned no more between 10th and 11th grade than similar students in the previous cohort who were not subject to the requirement. They also find that the introduction of the CAHSEE requirement had a large negative impact on graduation rates for students in the bottom quartile of achievement, and that this impact was especially large for minority students and for girls. On average, graduation rates were 19 percentage points lower among bottom-quartile female students who were subject to the CAHSEE requirement, but only 12 points lower among male students. The graduation rate for minority students in the bottom achievement quartile declined by 15 to 19 percent-age points after the introduction of the exit exam requirement, while the graduation rate for similar white students declined by only 1 percentage point. The analyses further suggest that the disproportionate effects of the CAHSEE requirement on graduation rates are due to large racial and gender differences in CAHSEE passing rates among students with the same level of achievement. Given that the CAHSEE has not met its intended goal of raising student achievement to meet the state's grade-level standards, and that it appears to have disproportionately negative effects for female and minority students, the authors conclude that policymakers should reevaluate the utility of the CAHSEE in California's accountability system. (Contains 4 figures and 2 endnotes.)
Collective Bargaining Agreements in California School Districts: Moving beyond the Stereotype. Policy Brief 09-1
Author: Strunk, Katharine
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Collective Bargaining,Unions,Negotiation Agreements,Employer Employee Relationship,School District Autonomy,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Best Practices,State Regulation,Educational Administration

In this policy brief the author shows that contracts negotiated by local teachers' unions and district administrations allow for more flexibility than conventional views suggest. CBAs (collective bargaining agreements) are quite varied in their contents, and many school boards and unions have used the flexibility inherent in contract negotiations to create inventive and targeted solutions for specific district problems. Although many districts are making good use of local autonomy, however, the high-need districts that might make the most beneficial use of flexibility are often those with contracts that include the most severe obstacles to departures from conventional policies. This poses a dilemma for state policymakers. Allowing school boards and unions the autonomy to negotiate district-specific solutions through their CBAs might provide the space for innovative and context-driven solutions at the local level. At the same time, however, independence from regulation brings with it the risk that such autonomy will lead to policies that are in the best interests of districts and/or teachers' unions, but not necessarily in the best interests of students. Based on a careful review of data from four main contract areas (compensation, class size, evaluation, and transfer and vacancy provisions) in 464 California school districts, the author argues for the cautious relaxation of state-level regulations. She identifies three policy levers that the state can use to ensure that increased flexibility is used to advance the interests of students: dissemination of information about innovative &quot;best practices&quot; that have been negotiated in current CBAs; incentives to encourage local innovation on matters covered by CBAs; and sanctions for districts that abuse their newly increased autonomy. The author concludes that enhanced local flexibility can help California school districts survive and flourish in this difficult period, as long as careful precautions are taken to ensure that the highest-need students benefit from increased local autonomy. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures, and 1 endnote.)
The Quality Teacher and Education Act in San Francisco: Lessons Learned. Policy Brief 09-2
Author: Hough, Heather J.
Date: 2009-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Teacher Salaries,School Districts,Teacher Effectiveness,Tax Effort,Finance Reform,Partnerships in Education,Compensation (Remuneration),Change Strategies,Educational Change,State Legislation,Interviews,Program Attitudes,Stakeholders,Teacher Improvement,Personnel Policy

This policy brief reviews the recent experience of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) with the development and approval of Proposition A. Proposition A (also known as the Quality Teacher and Education Act, or QTEA) included a parcel tax mainly dedicated to increasing teachers' salaries, along with a variety of measures introducing flexibility to the current salary schedule and strengthening accountability for teacher performance. Based on interviews with key stakeholders in the district, the author describes how the district and union worked together in SFUSD both to increase general compensation and also to introduce new compensation strategies that support closer alignment between school district goals and expenditures for teacher salaries. The author identifies a number of lessons for other districts interested in seeking additional funds to raise teacher salaries or introduce new systems of teacher compensation or support. (Contains 2 figures, 1 table, and 11 endnotes.)
Reshaping Teacher Policies to Improve Student Achievement. Policy Brief 08-3
Author: Koppich, Julia E.
Date: 2008-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Personnel Policy,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Educational Improvement,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Improvement,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Government Role,State Regulation,Improvement Programs,Personnel Management

Local school administrators, board members, and unions are in the best position to devise the compensation, evaluation, and professional development models that work for their communities. Many changes in personnel policy will be the subject of negotiations between school boards and local unions. But the state also has a vital role to play in encouraging innovation by providing financial and other incentives to districts that are willing to experiment with alternative policies. The state should not mandate specific strategies but can nevertheless implement a set of coherent, cohesive, sustainable policies designed to enhance the quality of teaching and attract and retain able teachers, especially in high-needs fields and priority (low-performing) schools. The state can also ensure that new and innovative policies are carefully evaluated, and that new knowledge about what works and what doesn't is widely shared across schools and school districts. This policy brief makes the case that the state can intervene in six teacher-related policy areas to improve the prospects that there will be high-quality teachers in all of California's classrooms. (Contains 2 figures.)
Learning What Works: Continuous Improvement in California's Education System. Policy Brief 08-4
Author: Loeb, Susanna
Date: 2008-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Best Practices,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Academic Achievement,Improvement Programs,Change Strategies,Strategic Planning,Performance Factors,Alignment (Education)

What will it take to bring about dramatic improvements in the performance of California's education system? The fact is, everyone does not know. California does not know how to collect the kind of educational data that would allow it to accurately measure the performance of schools and students, or to evaluate the effectiveness of different educational policies and practices. Individuals design and implement policies in ways that make it difficult or impossible to identify whether new approaches improve performance or increase learning. In this report the authors argue that to raise student performance and satisfy public expectations, California's education system must be transformed into a continuously improving system that encourages innovation, carefully measures the effectiveness of different policies and practices, and--most importantly--learns from experience. The essential features of a continuously improving system include: (1) clear and specific goals; (2) timely, reliable information; (3) strong capacity; (4) decision-making flexibility; and (5) aligned incentives. The key to change is the commitment to learning how to do things better, and to continuously improve the performance of the schools and of the children under their care. Reorganizing the education system to support continuous improvement will make it possible for California to keep its promises to students, and help to ensure the continued prosperity of the state. (Contains 1 figure and 3 endnotes.)
Community Voices: California Preschool Directors Speak on Policy Options. Working Paper 07-1
Author: Fuller, Bruce
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Economically Disadvantaged,Community Organizations,Child Care,Child Development,Preschool Children,Preschool Education,Preschool Teachers,Access to Education,Administrators,Educational Finance,Expenditures,Middle Class,Educational Policy,Public Officials,Surveys,Enrollment,School Size,School Location,Teacher Education,Program Improvement,Unions,Preschool Curriculum,Competition,Nursery Schools,Teacher Effectiveness

California continues to widen access to local child care and preschool programs--albeit in fits and starts--for a variety of families. About 65% of all four year-olds statewide now attend a preschool center. Government spends $3.6 billion on early care and education programs statewide, including a three-fold increase in state spending since 1996. Yet preschool access and quality remain unfairly distributed among the state's diverse communities. Four year-olds from poor Latino families remain about half as likely to attend a preschool center, compared with their counterparts from affluent families. Young children from blue-collar and lower middle-class families are slightly less likely to enter preschool, even relative to poor children. One persisting question is how to grow more plentiful and higher quality preschools, and how to ensure a robust balance between organizations run by schools or community organizations. About three-fifths of California four year-olds enrolled in preschool attended an organization supported through parental fees in 2005. The remaining two-fifths attended a publicly subsidized program. Voters went against Proposition 82 in 2006, which aimed to expand preschools via county education offices. Despite rising interest among policy makers, the authors know little about how preschool directors understand and evaluate policy options. This statewide survey of 439 directors of community preschools--those funded outside of school districts--inquired about basic facts and their perceptions of long-term issues. They examined: (1) The size, venue, and types of children served by community-based preschools; (2) How these local programs are financed, including support from parents and government; (3) The extent to which community preschools face excess demand from families, or worry about vacant enrollment slots; (4) How preschool directors prefer to improve the quality of their programs, including teacher training options; (5) Whether directors welcome or question the possibility of stronger state control over child development practices; and (6) How directors view the prospect of a unionized teaching staff. (Contains 13 figures, 5 tables, and 8 endnotes.)
The Unequal Opportunity to Learn in California's Schools: Crafting Standards to Track Quality. Working Paper 07-2
Author: Venezia, Andrea
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Achievement Gains,Academic Achievement,Policy Analysis,Educational Policy,Academic Standards,State Standards,Educational Indicators,Educational Quality,Educational Resources,Accountability,Limited English Speaking,English (Second Language),Equal Education

California policymakers have pursued various strategies for raising student achievement over the past half-century. The state's schools now advance demanding curricular standards which are among the most rigorous in the nation. These are in the form of &quot;content&quot; and &quot;performance&quot; standards. This paper, stemming from a Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) seminar, examines the idea of crafting &quot;opportunity to learn (OTL) standards&quot;--how the state might collect and analyze indicators of school quality that are predictive of student achievement. The idea is not new. Such standards were put forward by Congress over a decade ago. However, questions remain regarding which quality indicators can be feasibly monitored and which are empirically related to achievement gains. Developing, implementing, and monitoring such a system would be challenging. But, as the PACE seminar participants discussed, a well-designed OTL system would provide a tool in helping parents, the public, and policymakers know whether students are receiving the resources they need to succeed. (Contains 40 endnotes.)
State Strategies to Improve Low-Performing Schools: California's High Priority School Grants Program
Author: Timar, Thomas
Date: 2006-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Accountability,Grants,Change Strategies,State Programs,Low Achievement,Educational Improvement,Strategic Planning,Resource Allocation,Institutional Autonomy,Educational Change,Achievement Gains,Audits (Verification),Improvement Programs,Educational Finance,Policy Analysis

Central to California's school accountability system are programs to engage low-performing schools in improvement efforts. One of these is the High Priority Schools Program (HPSGP), created by Assembly Bill 961 (Chapter 747, &quot;Statutes of 2001&quot;) to provide funds to the lowest performing schools in the state. To be eligible for funding, schools must rank in the bottom decile of the state's Academic Performance Index (API). This study seeks to answer the question whether some schools participating in the state intervention program were more successful than others in meeting student achievement goals. Did schools that met their API growth targets each year and by all subgroups share common characteristics? There was not a great deal of difference among schools in how they spent HPSGP funds. Predictably, the greatest proportion of funding went to personnel costs. These included literacy and mathematics coaches; counselors, and administrative personnel. The next largest spending category was professional development followed closely by collaboration and planning. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 40 footnotes.)
Reshaping Personnel Policies to Improve Student Achievement
Author: Koppich, Julia E.
Date: 2007-10-19
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Policy Analysis,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Educational Policy,Policy Formation,Accountability,Student Evaluation,Best Practices,Educational Resources,Performance Factors,Politics of Education,Change Strategies,Educational Administration

The &quot;Getting Down to Facts&quot; (GDTF) studies released in March 2007 offered a clear diagnosis of the issues facing California's education system. Now, as California moves beyond the facts and begins the search for ways to improve the performance of California schools and students, the state faces a critical policy dilemma. On the one hand, the evidence presented in GDTF made it clear that simply putting more resources into California's present education system is unlikely to produce the large gains in performance that Californians expect from their schools. On the other hand, the GDTF studies made it equally clear that bringing about significant improvements in educational performance may require a substantial increase in the resources that the state spends on education, along with increased autonomy and flexibility for local educators to decide how these resources should be used. The policy dilemma that the state faces is how to ensure that local actors use new resources in the best possible ways, without increasing the regulatory burden on schools and school districts or adding to the profusion of categorical funding streams. In Policy Analysis for California Education's (PACE's) view, the solution to this dilemma has two key elements. First, the state needs to focus its reform efforts on creating a system that fosters innovation and learns from experience to support continuous improvement toward the goal of academic success for all students. Second, the state needs to make significant investments in human capital and capacity building at all levels of the education system. The first of these elements--creating a robust and comprehensive data system--is addressed in another PACE policy brief. The second--building a policy framework that supports educators in their efforts to bring about continuous improvement in the performance of schools and students--is addressed in this paper. The authors argue that achieving the challenging goals that Californians have set for the state's students will require educators at all levels to take advantage of increased autonomy and flexibility to find new and better programs and practices. Increased autonomy and flexibility will only lead to improvement if there is capacity at the local level to use new freedoms and resources effectively however, and this capacity is in short supply in California. To support continuous improvement, the state needs to develop incentives to make educators' careers more flexible and attract more educators into leadership roles, and also fund policies that provide educators with the knowledge, skill, and time they will need to improve their own performance.
California and the &quot;Common Core&quot;: Will There Be a New Debate about K-12 Standards?
Author: EdSource
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Academic Standards,State Legislation,State Standards,Academic Achievement,English Curriculum,Mathematics Achievement

A growing chorus of state and federal policymakers, large foundations, and business leaders across the country are calling for states to adopt a common, rigorous body of college- and career-ready skills and knowledge in English and mathematics that all K-12 students will be expected to master by the time they graduate. This report looks at the history of efforts to create common education standards, in particular the Common Core State Standards Initiative. It also describes factors California may consider when deciding whether to adopt them. Highlights of this report include: (1) The Common Core is the latest effort to create rigorous, common academic standards among states; (2) California is supporting the concept of common standards, but state law calls for further review and leaves the adoption decision to the State Board of Education; (3) Issues surrounding the adoption include the quality of the Common Core standards and their relationship to the state's current standards as well as costs and other implementation concerns; and (4) Common Core or not, California might decide to review its current standards and expectations for students.
Read Well[R]. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report
Author: What Works Clearinghouse (ED)
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Intervention,Reading Achievement,Phonemic Awareness,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language),Language Acquisition,Pretests Posttests,Literacy,Phonics,Vocabulary,Comprehension,Reading Fluency,Reading Aloud to Others,Instructional Materials,Reading Programs,Control Groups,Emergent Literacy,Reading Tests,Reading Skills

&quot;Read Well&quot;[R] is a reading curriculum for kindergarten and first-grade students whose goal is to increase students' literacy abilities. The program provides instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviewed five studies on &quot;Read Well&quot;[R] for English language learners. One of these five studies meets WWC evidence standards; the remaining four studies do not meet either WWC evidence standards or eligibility screens. Based on the one study, the WWC found no discernible effects in the reading achievement domain and potentially positive effects in the English language development domain for English language learners. The conclusions presented in this report may change as new research emerges. Appendices include: (1) Study characteristics: Frasco, 2008; (2) Outcome measures for the reading achievement domain and the English language development domain; (3) Summary of study findings included in the rating for the reading achievement domain and the English language development domain; (4) &quot;Read Well&quot;[R] rating for the reading achievement domain and the English language development domain; and (5) Extent of evidence by domain. (Contains 10 footnotes.) [The following study is reviewed in this intervention report: Frasco, R. D. (2008). &quot;Effectiveness of &quot;Reading First&quot; for English language learners: Comparison of two programs&quot; (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University, 2008). Dissertation Abstracts International, 69(03A), 141-879. For a previous WWC intervention report on &quot;Read Well&quot;, see ED493775.]
Software Application for Computer Aided Vocabulary Learning in a Blended Learning Environment
Author: Essam, Rasha
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Masters Theses
Subjects: Vocabulary,Computer Software,Computer Assisted Instruction,Blended Learning,Student Attitudes,Web Based Instruction,Learning Strategies,Semitic Languages,College Students,Second Language Instruction,Instructional Effectiveness,Word Recognition,Recall (Psychology),Pretests Posttests,Foreign Countries

This study focuses on the effect of computer-aided vocabulary learning software called &quot;ArabCAVL&quot; on students' vocabulary acquisition. It was hypothesized that students who use the ArabCAVL software in blended learning environment will surpass students who use traditional vocabulary learning strategies in face-to-face learning environment even though both groups were using the same framework for introducing vocabulary. Pre-test and post-test were used for assessing the previously mentioned factors, while a questionnaire with open-ended questions was used to elicit students' attitudes toward using the software. Despite the fact that both the Nation (2001) framework and the ArabCAVL software showed a significant increase in students' vocabulary recognition and usage, the results of the treatment group exposed to ArabCAVL software were clearly higher than those of the control group. Finally, the results supported the previously mentioned hypothesis, and it was shown that students had a positive attitude toward the software. Three appendixes are included: (1) Pre-Test (in Arabic); (2) Post-Test (in Arabic); and (3) Open Ended Questions.