ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Power of Possibility. Defining Moments: How IDRA and Its Partners Are Changing Public Education. IDRA Annual Report 2014
Author: Intercultural Development Research Association
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Public Education,Educational Quality,Equal Education,Family School Relationship,Educational Change,Change Strategies,Preschool Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Postsecondary Education,Higher Education,Partnerships in Education,Leadership Responsibility,Educational Finance,Access to Education,Civil Rights,Readiness,Educational Research,Models,Best Practices,Parent Participation,Teacher Competencies,Dropout Prevention,Graduation Rate,Student Leadership,Annual Reports

Intercultural Development Research Association's (IDRA) 2014 Annual Report highlights seven defining moments in the work of the previous year: (1) Securing Opportunity; (2) Defending Children's Educational and Civil Rights; (3) Building a National Grassroots Family Model; (4) Putting Quality Early Education at the Forefront; (5) Empowering Teachers to Serve Today's Classrooms; (6) Preparing All Students for Post-Secondary Success; and (7) Transforming Lives through Youth Leadership. The report also contains sections on the following areas pertaining to IDRA: (1) Recognition and Awards; (2) Expanding Possibilities: New Tools, Research, and Publications; and (3) Financial Information. [For the 2013 report, see ED560194.]
The Phantom Menace: Policies That Protect Districts from Declining or Low Enrollments, Drive Up Spending, and Inhibit Adaptation. The Productivity for Results Series No. 6
Author: Fullerton, Jon
Date: 2015-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Declining Enrollment,Educational Policy,Expenditures,Educational Finance,Budgets,Accounting,Elementary Secondary Education,Expenditure per Student,Costs,School Districts,Charter Schools,Small Schools,Competition,Resource Allocation,Funding Formulas

Many state education leaders are taking a fresh look at their school finance formulas in hopes of finding ways to contain costs and get more for their dollar. That is an understandable response given that education is the largest item on most state budgets. This paper examines how current funding practices lead to inefficiencies, particularly through the funding of &quot;phantom students.&quot; The authors explain current accounting procedures in K-12 education, propose ways to make them more precise, and discuss how ending these practices would reduce costs and encourage districts to innovate. This paper begins with a short section describing the typical operational relationship between expenditures and revenues in districts to set the stage for how state allocations affect spending behavior in districts. Next, the authors describe each of the four policies funding phantom students and dig deeper into the rationale for the policies, why the rationale doesn't necessarily hold true, and the expense of the policy.
Teacher Effectiveness Research and the Evolution of U.S. Teacher Policy. The Productivity for Results Series No. 5
Author: Goldhaber, Dan
Date: 2015-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Educational Research,Teachers,Productivity,Correlation,Academic Achievement,Educational Attainment,Teacher Certification,Teacher Salaries,Teacher Competency Testing,Mathematics Instruction,Teaching Experience,Educational Policy

This paper focuses on what research has shown about the impact of teacher quality on student achievement, the connection between quality and observable teacher characteristics and traits, and what all this might mean for teacher policy. Teacher quality is the largest factor contributing to student achievement in schools, but teacher characteristics such as education level and certification status are poor proxies for teacher quality. This paper explains the weak relationship between teacher effectiveness and how teacher compensation currently is determined. The author discusses policies designed to act on the differences that exist between teachers, and concludes with possible pathways for improving teacher quality. [An extensive list of resources is included.]
Reforming Educator Compensation. The Productivity for Results Series No. 1
Author: Podgursky, Michael
Date: 2014-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Teacher Salaries,Educational Change,Educational History,Teacher Effectiveness,Retirement Benefits,Comparative Analysis,Teacher Distribution,Teacher Student Ratio

If a rational system of teacher compensation, aimed at recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers, were designed from scratch, it is unlikely it would bear any resemblance to the system that is currently in place. In this paper, the author takes a deep look into how the method of paying teachers evolved. He shows that compensation systems have unintentionally become dysfunctional. He shows how efficiencies can be gained through rethinking decisions such as how many teachers a district actually needs. [An extensive list of resources is included.]
Texas Public School Attrition Study, 2013-14. IDRA Infographic
Author: Intercultural Development Research Association
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Persistence,Public Schools,Secondary School Students,Dropouts,Dropout Rate,School Holding Power,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,Trend Analysis,Graduation Rate,White Students,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,Enrollment Trends,Counties,Intervention

This infographic shows how Texas public schools are losing one out of four students. The statistics show that schools are twice as likely to lose Hispanic students and Black students before they graduate, and universal high school education is at least a quarter of a century away. The flyer also provides information on getting informed, getting connected, and getting results in order to take action to hold on to students. [For the &quot;Texas Public School Attrition Study, 2013-14. IDRA Report,&quot; see ED560200.]
Operating in the Dark: What Outdated State Policies and Data Gaps Mean for Effective School Leadership
Author: Briggs, Kerri
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Instructional Leadership,Principals,State Policy,Educational Policy,Administrator Effectiveness,Teacher Selection,Faculty Development,Academic Achievement,Educational Change,Government Role,State Surveys,Administrator Education,Data,Elementary Schools,Secondary Schools

The &quot;Principal Policy State Survey&quot; is a first-of-its-kind effort to capture the current state of affairs in state principal preparation, licensure policy, principal tenure, and data collection on the output of these policies. This report explores how states are using their authority to increase the supply of effective principals focused on raising student achievement. The findings are based on self-reported data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. &quot;Operating in the Dark&quot; includes state policy recommendations to drive needed reforms and gives the educational community new insights on promising efforts by states to improve the supply of high-quality principals. This report, supplemented by the individual state snapshots and the state database, details the findings. It is hoped that these will be used to drive needed reforms and give state policymakers new insights on what their peers are doing to improve the supply of high quality leaders. [For the executive summary, see ED560210.]
Operating in the Dark: What Outdated State Policies and Data Gaps Mean for Effective School Leadership. Executive Summary
Author: Briggs, Kerri
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Instructional Leadership,Principals,State Policy,Educational Policy,Administrator Effectiveness,Teacher Selection,Faculty Development,Academic Achievement,Educational Change,Government Role,State Surveys,Administrator Education,Data,Elementary Schools,Secondary Schools

The &quot;Principal Policy State Survey&quot; is a first-of-its-kind effort to capture the current state of affairs in state principal preparation, licensure policy, principal tenure, and data collection on the output of these policies. This report explores how states are using their authority to increase the supply of effective principals focused on raising student achievement. The findings are based on self-reported data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. &quot;Operating in the Dark&quot; includes state policy recommendations to drive needed reforms and gives the educational community new insights on promising efforts by states to improve the supply of high-quality principals. This report, supplemented by the individual state snapshots and the state database, details the findings. It is hoped that these will be used to drive needed reforms and give state policymakers new insights on what their peers are doing to improve the supply of high quality leaders.This executive summary presents these cross-state findings. [For the full report, see ED560209.]
Peer Evaluation of Teachers in Maricopa County's Teacher Incentive Fund Program
Author: Milanowski, Anthony
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Peer Evaluation,Teacher Evaluation,Case Studies,Teacher Salaries,Incentives,Federal Programs,Counties,Program Design,Program Effectiveness,School Districts,Elementary Secondary Education,Teacher Effectiveness

This case study describes the peer evaluation system the Maricopa County Educational Services Agency (MCESA) is using in the districts participating in its Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) 3 and 4 grants. Maricopa County's TIF districts cover much of the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area. Including both TIF 3 and 4 cohorts, 12 districts with a total of 82 schools are participating in the TIF project. This brief first discusses the potential advantages and challenges of implementing peer evaluation and then describes the design and evolution of MCESA's peer evaluation process and what is currently known about its impact on teachers and school leaders. The results of teacher evaluation results indicate that the peer evaluation process results in a more symmetric distribution of teacher effectiveness many have expected more rigorous evaluation systems to yield. The article concludes by presenting the lessons MCESA learned in operating the peer evaluation program since the 2012-13 school year.
Development and Implementation Costs of Student Learning Objectives: Considerations for TIF Grantees
Author: Fermanich, Mark
Date: 2015-09-23
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Educational Objectives,Costs,Program Development,Program Implementation,Grants,Interviews,School Districts,Teacher Salaries,Incentives,Merit Pay,Elementary Secondary Education,Program Design,Federal Programs

This brief explores the costs of developing and implementing Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in order to help Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees interested in adopting SLOs anticipate and understand the costs of implementing them in a district or school. The brief focuses on the costs involved with the initial design and implementation of an SLO system. The brief begins with an overview of SLOs and the SLO process, then moves to a description of a cost framework developed for this effort. Those sections are followed by a discussion of the costs likely faced by grantees engaged in this work. The discussion of costs is supplemented with actual cost data provided through interviews with two TIF grantees that have gone through the SLO development and implementation process. This brief provides one of the most complete looks to date at the types and magnitude of costs school districts will face when implementing SLOs and demonstrates how the costs will vary by the design and implementation of the SLO process. Total spending by the two TIF grantees for design, implementation, and initial educator training for SLOs was $371 per teacher by Grantee A and $281 by Grantee B, or an average over the two grantees of $309 per teacher (weighted by the number of teachers for each grantee). Finally, the brief offers several conclusions based on the two grantees' experiences. The appendix contains the &quot;SLO Cost Checklist.&quot;
Teacher Leader Programs: Structure and Staffing in Four TIF Districts
Author: Pyatigorsky, Mikhail
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Leadership,Teacher Salaries,Incentives,Merit Pay,School Districts,Teacher Role,Grants,Federal Programs,Administrative Organization,Teacher Recruitment,Teacher Selection,Mentors,Training,Occupational Information,Compensation (Remuneration),State Programs,Elementary Secondary Education

Some Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grantees are experimenting with the design and operation of teacher leader (TL) programs as part of their performance-based compensation systems (PBCS). Much of the impetus for this is the U.S Department of Education TIF 4 requirement that grantees' PBCS should provide for &quot;additional responsibilities and leadership roles,&quot; along with other TIF 4 system requirements for PBCS. In addition, districts now view TL programs as a way to provide professional development and advancement opportunities to educators, as well as to leverage the knowledge and experience of their most successful educators. This paper examines four TIF grantees who have developed and implemented TL programs. The paper provides guidelines and recommendations establishing a staffing plan for TL programs including: (a) a description of the TL tasks, duties, and compensation, (b) a process for recruiting and selecting the desired number of TLs, (c) a procedure for making job offers, and (d) onboarding methods that will provide training and mentoring support to newly hired TLs. This information will assist educators and stakeholders with designing staffing plans for TL programs. Additional information about teacher leader programs and standards generally, as well as specific state programs, is available in the appendix.
How Writing Instruction, Interventions, and Assessment Can Improve Student Outcomes. Middle School Matters Program No. 5
Author: Santangelo, Tanya
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Writing Instruction,Intervention,Middle School Students,Writing Skills,Course Content,Instructional Effectiveness,Content Area Writing,Teaching Methods,Evaluation Methods,Student Evaluation,Writing Difficulties

The ability to write effectively and use writing as a tool for learning is essential for students' success in the middle grades--and beyond. This practice guide highlights several research-based practices that can be used school-wide to help middle grades students become better writers. This paper presents four questions middle grades educators might ask about effective writing instruction and assessment, followed by the authors' responses, based on their knowledge of research in this area. The question-and-answer segment summarizes key information from the available literature, including several recent meta-analyses. Educators can use this information to compare and contrast the practices currently implemented at their school with those that have been validated as effective, and then identify ways to improve student success. A list of resources is provided in order to learn more about the recommendations described in this paper.
Great Principals at Scale: Creating District Conditions That Enable All Principals to Be Effective. Executive Summary
Author: Ikemoto, Gina
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Principals,Educational Administration,School Districts,Administrator Effectiveness,Alignment (Education),Administrator Qualifications,Educational Policy,Cooperation,Work Environment,School Culture,Government Role,Federal Government,State Government,Board of Education Policy,Cooperative Planning,Professional Development,Policy Formation,Career Development,Leadership Qualities,Accountability,Administrator Evaluation,Human Capital,Financial Support,Budgeting,Educational Finance,Goal Orientation,Progress Monitoring,Professional Autonomy,Personnel Selection,Teacher Evaluation,Human Resources

School leaders are critical in the lives of students and to the development of their teachers. Unfortunately, in too many instances, principals are effective in spite of--rather than because of--district conditions. To truly improve student achievement for all students across the country, well-prepared principals need the tools, support, and culture that enable them to be the best. New Leaders and the Bush Institute's Alliance to Reform Educational Leadership (AREL) launched the Conditions for Effective Leadership Project and partnered with leading researchers and practitioners to generate a comprehensive and research-based framework outlining the conditions necessary for transformational school leaders to succeed. The project used a combination of literature review, empirical data collection, and expert convening's to build consensus and bundle the disparate ideas into a single framework that is accessible to school system leaders. This report provides a framework to describe the set of conditions that effective school systems have in place that enable principals to be successful. Described are the four strands developed as follows: Strand 1: Alignment among goals, strategies, structures, and resources; Strand 2: Culture of collective responsibility, balanced autonomy, and continuous learning and improvement; Strand 3: Effective management and support for principals; and Strand 4: Systems and policies to effectively manage talent at the school-level. [For the full report, see ED556346; for the toolkit, see ED556350.]
Governing Schools for Productivity. The Productivity for Results Series No. 4
Author: Hill, Paul T.
Date: 2014-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Governance,Productivity,Educational Policy,State Policy,Barriers,Expertise,Teacher Selection,Bias,School Districts,Portfolio Assessment,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education,Public Education,Academic Standards,Shared Resources and Services,Educational Finance

The lack of productivity of school systems stems from a number of reasons, including the way in which schools are governed. The author explains in this paper that policies from on high often work against campuses being more productive. His list includes state policies that stop districts from hiring experts to teach subjects that other educators aren't prepared to teach. As with the other papers in this series, Hill explains how to change the bias against productivity. This paper ends with definite recommendations about how new governance arrangements can promote productivity.iii Many of these ideas are already present, in at least rudimentary form, in leading school districts including New York City, New Orleans, and Denver. These are pursuing a &quot;portfolio strategy&quot; of continuous improvement.iv However, districts following this strategy are exceptions to the norm in K-12 public education. This paper will show how, in the vast majority of localities, current governance arrangements encourage little effort on behalf of productivity. It will also lay out preconditions for productivity, which will establish premises for a proposed new governance system. [A list of resources is included.]
Mayors' Report Card on Education: Informed and Engaged for Student Success
Author: George W. Bush Presidential Center, George W. Bush Institute
Date: 2015-01-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: School Districts,Geographic Location,Public Officials,City Government,Context Effect,Public Education,Academic Achievement,Data Collection,Educational Quality,College Readiness,Job Skills,Early Childhood Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Administrator Effectiveness,Principals,Enrollment Trends,Metropolitan Areas,Educational Finance,Income,Teacher Characteristics,School District Size,National Competency Tests,Grade 4,Grade 8,Graduation Rate,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,Teacher Salaries

Making robust and reliable information about schools accessible is one of the most powerful ways to foster engagement and promote informed decisions that will shape our communities. Though education data is frequently collected and aggregated at the state level, data is rarely synthesized across cities. This report provides comparable information at the district and city level so mayors can engage in their city's education landscape by understanding each city's context, charting progress, and identifying challenges in public education. It also helps mayors engage with policymakers, parents, superintendents, educators, and other key stakeholders as they improve public education. The Mayors' Report Card, based on key topics in education and compiled by the Bush Institute's Education Reform Initiative, looks at 33 cities across the nation and presents the information for policymakers and parents in an easy-to-use and illustrated format. This report contains a district report card for each city, showing basic facts such as enrollment and school revenue, student achievement data, early childhood data, information on teachers, and college and career readiness data. The following are appended: (1) Student Achievement: Combined NAEP Score by Subgroup, 2013; (2) College Readiness: Average Composite ACT Scores, 2014; (3) Early Childhood: Pre-K Availability, 2012; (4) Teachers: Average Salaries and Cost of Living, 2011; and (5) Sources and Methodology.
Gwinnett County Public Schools: A Systemic Approach to Scaling Effective School Leadership. Case Study
Author: George W. Bush Presidential Center, George W. Bush Institute
Date: 2015-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Administration,Administrator Effectiveness,Public Schools,Leadership Qualities,Academic Achievement,Case Studies,Board of Education Policy,Interviews,School Districts,Planning,Governance,Institutional Autonomy,Accountability,Expectation,Standards,Recruitment,Principals,Administrator Education,Readiness,Professional Development,Personnel Selection,Peer Influence,Supervisors,Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Persistence,College School Cooperation,Partnerships in Education

There is growing awareness among educators and policymakers that effective school leaders are critical to school success and student achievement. Many studies illustrate the important benefits of effective school leadership for teachers, pointing to the significant influence on teacher satisfaction, development, and retention. This case study highlights the efforts of Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS), located in the metro Atlanta area of Georgia, to create an intentionally systemic school leadership strategy to improve its schools and raise student achievement. What makes the Gwinnett school leadership case particularly interesting is the fact that the district has taken a wholly comprehensive and multi-pronged approach to school leadership that includes: (1) making school leadership a strategic priority; (2) creating the conditions that enable school leaders to be successful in their roles by driving school and student success; and (3) developing a robust leadership pipeline. These individual building blocks are components of a comprehensive leadership development strategy developed by GCPS. Their integration as part of a comprehensive district strategy and vision for change is a unique and powerful example of a district investing in effective school leadership to improve student achievement. This case study is intended to illustrate how essential school leadership is as a driver of student achievement, and to share GCPS' policies and practices that lead to highly effective school leadership. The report also includes the appendices: (1) Interviewees; (2) App Application and Sample Instrument; (3) Guide to University Partner Programs Sample Page; (4) Leadership Development Seminar/Summer Leadership Conference List of Topics; and (5) Sample Principal Evaluations.