ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Cost Savings Analysis of School Readiness in Michigan
Author: Chase, Richard
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Cost Effectiveness,School Readiness,Early Childhood Education,Educational Finance,Income,Investment,Educationally Disadvantaged,State Government,State Aid,Welfare Services,Child Welfare,Crime,Health Services,Child Care,Taxes,Special Education,Grade Repetition,Faculty Mobility,Dropouts,Juvenile Justice,Unemployment,Employed Parents,Economic Impact

Educational and economic research shows that investing in school preparedness for low-  income children prevents needless public spending and produces payoffs in K-12, government programs, and the private sector. Conversely, not investing in or cutting programs that produce school readiness results in increased spending and lost benefits for: (1) Schools; (2) Taxpayers; (3) The public; and (4) The economy. This study estimates the current cost savings and revenues to Michigan generated from the investments in school readiness over the past 25 years, the cost burden to Michigan when children are not fully prepared at kindergarten entry, and the additional benefits that could be realized if Michigan were to expand its investment in school readiness to all educationally disadvantaged children. Findings of this study reveal that Michigan has made substantial investments in school readiness over the past 25 years and, accordingly, has reaped the benefits of adequately preparing many children for school success, resulting in more than a billion dollars in annual savings and revenues. If the state's current investments in school readiness were discontinued or reduced, these annual savings and revenues would subsequently erode, causing a significant negative impact on the State of Michigan's future annual budgets and overall economy. Conversely, those benefits will rise if the state sustains its current level of investment and will increase exponentially as a result of increased investment in the Great Start Readiness Program, Great Start system, and other high-quality and comprehensive programs that promote early educational preparation. Appendices summarize the estimated effects and net benefits of early childhood education with regard to special education and grade repetition and also shows Michigan K-12 Enrollment Fall-2008. (Contains 14 figures and 2 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared for the Early Childhood Investment Corporation. For the executive summary, see ED511603.]
Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor[R] Software. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report
Author: What Works Clearinghouse (ED)
Date: 2010-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Computer Software,Computer Assisted Instruction,Algebra,Mathematics Instruction,Textbooks,Mathematics Achievement,Mathematical Concepts,High School Students,Educational Research,Instructional Effectiveness

The combination of &quot;Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor[R] Software&quot; merges algebra textbooks with interactive software developed around an artificial intelligence model that identifies strengths and weaknesses in an individual student's mastery of mathematical concepts. The software customizes prompts to focus on areas in which the student is struggling and routes the student to problems that address those specific concepts. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviewed 24 studies on &quot;Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor[R] Software&quot; for high school students. Two of these studies meet WWC evidence standards; two studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations; the remaining 20 studies do not meet either WWC evidence standards or eligibility screens. Based on the four studies, the WWC found no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for high school students. The conclusions presented in this report may change as new research emerges. Appendices include: (1) Study characteristics; (2) Outcome measures for the mathematics achievement domain; (3) Summary of study findings included in the rating for the mathematics achievement domain; (4) Summary of subscale findings for the mathematics achievement domain; (5) &quot;Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor[R] Software&quot; rating for the mathematics achievement domain; and (6) Extent of evidence by domain. (Contains 7 footnotes.)
Parent Involvement in School: Engaging Immigrant Parents. Snapshot
Author: Thao, Mao
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Outcomes of Education,Parent Participation,Parent School Relationship,Immigrants,Barriers,Values,Language Proficiency,English (Second Language),Parent Teacher Cooperation,Cultural Pluralism,Teacher Attitudes,Bilingualism,Translation

Research has clearly linked parent involvement to positive educational outcomes and academic success, including more positive attitudes towards school, better grades, and higher test scores. So it is concerning that while immigrant parents highly value education, studies find they are also less likely to be involved in their child's education and school than parents born in the United States. Studies find that compared to U.S.-born parents, foreign-born parents are less likely to visit their children's school, participate or attend school activities and events, help with homework, and talk to teachers and school staff. This brief explores why immigrant parents are less involved in their children's education and provides strategies to increase their engagement. (Contains 7 resources.)
Minnesota Family Literacy and School Readiness Study: Results through Year 2
Author: Gozali-Lee, Edith
Date: 2010-03-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: School Readiness,Profiles,Family Literacy,Cohort Analysis,Preschool Children,Parent Participation,Parents,Child Development,Kindergarten,Attendance Patterns,Measures (Individuals),Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation

This report presents findings from the two-year Minnesota Family Literacy and School Readiness study. It provides information on the impacts of participating Family Literacy programs and on the first and second cohorts of children (and their families) enrolled in these programs. The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation provided the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation (Wilder Research) a two-year grant through its Innovation Projects to conduct the study. The goals of the study are to answer three questions: (1) What gains in developmental skills important for school readiness do children make at different levels of participation in Family Literacy? (2) What level of Family Literacy program dosage do children need to substantially benefit from the program with regard to preparation for kindergarten? (3) How is parents' involvement in their children's learning affected by level of participation in Family Literacy? The first section of the findings begins with a profile of the Family Literacy programs followed by a profile of the families including children and parents within these families, and family literacy dosage, including amount of participation (total hours) and attendance rate. The second section describes the child assessment results, parents' involvement in their child's learning and parents' literacy outcomes. The relationships between demographic characteristics and participation levels and child and parent outcomes are examined. Before presenting the findings, a description of the study methods is provided. Appended are: (1) Profile of Family Literacy programs; (2) Profile of children and parents; (3) Family Literacy dosage; and (4) Participant progress. (Contains 13 figures and 1 footnote.) [This study was funded by and prepared for The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation.]
Severely Troubled Children and Youth: What Everyone Needs to Know
Author: Wilder Research
Date: 2004-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,At Risk Persons,Emotional Disturbances,Severe Disabilities,Youth Programs,Child Development,Resilience (Psychology),Early Intervention,Behavior Problems

An estimated 6,000 children and youth in Ramsey County have severe, long-term difficulties that make it very hard for them to function at home, at school, and in the community. The suffering and hardship for these children and youth is severe. The harm also extends beyond the youth themselves, affecting their families, their schools, their neighborhoods, and all of the people. Without help, severely troubled youth tend to become severely troubled adults. It's not easy to help them, but it is possible. These children are not doomed. Three best ways to protect youth from severe, entrenched problems: Reduce their risks, build up their resilience (ability to cope and bounce back) and act early to head off problems. Complex, long-term problems need to be treated with approaches that are backed up by solid evidence of effectiveness. This paper discusses everything individuals need to know about the "severely troubled" youth.
Increasing Postsecondary Education Access and Success: Raising Achievement through Outreach Programs. Brief
Author: Broton, Katie
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Role Models,Outreach Programs,Family Involvement,Academic Achievement,At Risk Students,Enrollment,Minority Groups,Community Support,College Attendance,Disproportionate Representation,First Generation College Students,Low Income Groups,Achievement Gains,Instructional Effectiveness,Public Schools,Self Esteem,Alignment (Education),High School Students

Closing the achievement gap depends on highly effective public schools, strong community support, and family involvement. Raising the overall rates of achievement in Minnesota is a vital part of this goal. Research has shown that pre-college outreach programs improve college access for underrepresented groups, including low-income, first-generation, and minority students. The most effective programs do this by promoting college awareness and attendance, improving academic skills, building student self-esteem, and providing role models. One study found that such programs can nearly double the odds of college enrollment for moderate- to high-risk students. Key features of an effective outreach program are discussed in this paper. [This briefing paper presents highlights of the report &quot;Increasing postsecondary enrollment: A literature review of the effectiveness of outreach programs&quot; with additional information from Perna's &quot;Improving the transition from high school to college in Minnesota&quot;.]
Tackling the Achievement Gap Head on: A Background and Discussion Paper for Community Groups Interested in Helping All Children Succeed in School
Author: Mueller, Dan
Date: 2005-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Public Schools,Federal Legislation,American Indians,Academic Achievement,Advantaged,Community Support,White Students,Educational Legislation,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,Asian American Students,Graduation Rate,Economically Disadvantaged,Achievement Gap,Community Organizations,Scores,Limited English Speaking,Mathematics Skills,Mathematics Tests,Reading Skills,Reading Tests

The achievement gap is clearly visible throughout the school years, from grade-school test scores through high school graduation and higher education. It divides American Indian, Asian, Black, Latino, and White students, and it divides the economically advantaged from the disadvantaged regardless of their race/ethnicity. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the Saint Paul Public Schools (like other districts across the country) face the very daunting challenge of bringing all children up to proficiency in core subjects (reading, math, science, social studies) regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances. Closing the achievement gap is important to the future quality of life of people from the various races, cultures and socio-economic levels in the community. It is also critical to the economic health of the region, as an educated workforce will be a key to future prosperity. The public schools cannot close the achievement gap on their own. There is much they can do, but they will almost certainly fall short of this goal without strong community support. The factors perpetuating the achievement gap go well beyond the school setting. By the same token, working outside the schools to close the achievement gap will not succeed without strong efforts within the schools.
America's Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform: Attracting Entrepreneurs and Change Agents
Author: Hess, Frederick M.
Date: 2010-08-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Municipalities,Urban Education,Public Education,Educational Change,Entrepreneurship,Human Capital,Fiscal Capacity,Charter Schools,Quality Control,Institutional Environment,School Districts,Community Characteristics,Collective Bargaining

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller &quot;hotspots&quot;--are to &quot;nontraditional&quot; problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and culture that only in the most exceptional of circumstances can they be fixed simply by top-down applications of new curricula or pedagogy. To determine the cities with the most reform-friendly ecosystems, analysts examined six domains that shape a jurisdiction's receptivity to education reform: (1) Human Capital; (2) Financial Capital; (3) Charter Environment; (4) Quality Control; (5) District Environment; and (6) Municipal Environment. Drawing on publicly available data, national and local survey data, and interviews with on-the-ground insiders, analysts devised a grading metric that rated each city on its individual and collective accomplishments in each of these areas. What did they discover? Few cities are rolling out the red carpet for education entrepreneurs. No cities were awarded As and just a handful of cities received Bs when measured for their hospitability towards reformers. The majority fell in the C range, half a dozen in the D to F range, and the remainder had too little data to judge (see Table 1, page 8). Low-scoring cities were characterized by lethargic district administration, inert political leadership, arcane staffing policies, and unsupportive (or silent) local business and philanthropic communities. They also found that cities are making greater strides in some areas than others: (1) They do best at drumming up sources of financial capital to advance reform: Nine cities earned As and ten earned Bs; support from outside the district is also strong, with municipal environment seeing nine As and eight Bs; (2) They fare least well when it comes to district environment, where a third got Fs; and (3) Grades were generally mixed with respect to human capital, charter environment, and quality control. Finally, substantial variation exists within states that had more than one city in the study. This suggests that entrepreneurial fate is not sealed by state lines: local officials, educators, and reformers can shape their own destiny. Appendices include: (1) Methodology; (2) Scoring Rubric; and (3) A list of organizations whose members helped to shape the study design and survey instruments. Individual sections contain footnotes and tables. [The foreword for this report was written by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Amber M. Winkler. Funding for this paper was also provided by the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Inc.]
Cost Savings Analysis of School Readiness in Michigan. Executive Summary
Author: Chase, Richard
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Cost Effectiveness,School Readiness,Early Childhood Education,Educational Finance,Income,Investment,Educationally Disadvantaged,State Government,State Aid,Welfare Services,Child Welfare,Crime,Health Services,Child Care,Taxes,Special Education,Grade Repetition,Faculty Mobility,Dropouts,Juvenile Justice,Unemployment,Employed Parents,Economic Impact

Beginning in the 1980s, Michigan began making investments in fully preparing young children for school--cognitively, physically, socially and emotionally. Currently Michigan's Great Start system encompasses both early childhood services and a strategic plan for the state's early childhood system of programs, services, and supports for children from birth to age five and their families. One element of that system, the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP), in concert with federally-funded Head Start programs, serves over 47,000 low-income four-year-olds annually through either a half-day or full-day program of educational preparation. Economists and economic development officials agree that any strategies to enhance the long-term growth of Michigan must include maintaining and upgrading the quality of its workforce. Yet some recent Michigan data raise the discomfiting prospect that the educational attainment of the state's workforce may decline as retiring workers are replaced by the young people who are currently finishing or (in too many cases) not finishing school. This study estimates the current cost savings and revenues to Michigan generated from the investments in school readiness over the past 25 years, the cost burden to Michigan when children are not fully-prepared at kindergarten entry, and the additional benefits that could be realized if Michigan were to expand its investment in school readiness to all educationally disadvantaged children. [For the full report, see ED511595.]
Strategies for Rural Minnesota School Districts: A Literature Review
Author: Broton, Katie
Date: 2009-04-00
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Rural Schools,Teacher Persistence,Academic Achievement,School Districts,Rural Education,Achievement Gains,Achievement Gap,Educational Finance,Instructional Effectiveness,Evidence,Literature Reviews,Educational Strategies,Elementary Secondary Education

The purpose of this literature review is to gain greater understanding of strategies that can be effectively applied in Minnesota's rural school districts to address their education challenges. In particular, the authors sought to identify strategies that could either: (1) maintain (or improve) students' academic achievement at less cost to the school district, or (2) improve student academic achievement, or that of traditionally less successful subgroups, at the same cost. For some strategies found in the rural education research literature, study results only addressed the strategy's effectiveness in solving a specific problem (e.g., teacher retention) rather than its impact on student achievement or school costs. The authors employed a &quot;bottom-up&quot; approach in their investigation by focusing on strategies tried by rural school districts and the evidence for their effectiveness. Appended are: (1) Acknowledgments; and (2) Summary of strategies and available level of evidence. [This paper was prepared for the Center for Rural Policy and Development.]
Two Feathers Endowment Scholarship Program: Program Evaluation
Author: Pierce, Alexandra
Date: 2004-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Scholarships,Program Evaluation,American Indians,College Students,American Indian Education,Philanthropic Foundations,Educational Attainment,Graduation,Time to Degree,Stopouts,Barriers,Employment,Financial Aid Applicants,Family Characteristics,Motivation,Majors (Students),School Culture,Occupational Aspiration,Student Educational Objectives

The Saint Paul Foundation contracted with the Wilder Research Center to conduct an evaluation of their Two Feathers Scholarship Program. The Two Feathers Scholarship Program is funded through the Two Feathers Endowment, which is one part of the Foundation's SpectrumTrust. SpectrumTrust is a unique partnership between communities of color and The Saint Paul Foundation. The Two Feathers Endowment provides a long-term capital base from which charitable grants are made each year to support the Native American community. The mission of the Two Feathers Endowment is to provide a culturally sensitive, community responsive philanthropic vehicle for addressing the needs within the Indian communities of Minnesota by supporting artistic, educational, social and cultural development activities. The Two Feathers Scholarship Program began in 1997 and since that time has awarded college scholarships to 55 American Indian college students to further their educations. The evaluation was conducted in January and February of 2004. The feedback of the recipients of Two Feathers Scholarships awards indicate that the program is successful in helping American Indian students succeed in college, and that the award helps recipients to feel supported by a larger American Indian community. The feeling of being supported translates into a greater desire to serve that community for many of the scholarship recipients. (Contains 14 figures.)
Ladders to Literacy. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report
Author: What Works Clearinghouse (ED)
Date: 2010-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Emergent Literacy,Oral Language,Language Skills,Mathematics Achievement,Metalinguistics,Preschool Curriculum,Preschool Children,Educational Research,Instructional Effectiveness

&quot;Ladders to Literacy&quot; is a supplemental early literacy curriculum composed of more than 70 activities designed to develop children's print/book awareness, metalinguistic awareness, and oral language skills. The curriculum, published in the book &quot;Ladders to Literacy: A Preschool Activity Book, Second Edition,&quot; can be used in a variety of early childhood settings and provides guidance on how teachers can adapt the activities for children with special needs. The activities are intended as models or suggestions that teachers can adopt within an existing curriculum. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviewed eight studies on &quot;Ladders to Literacy&quot; for preschool children. One of these studies meets WWC evidence standards; one study meets WWC evidence standards with reservations; and the remaining six studies do not meet either WWC evidence standards or eligibility screens. Based on the two studies, the WWC found potentially negative effects on oral language and no discernible effects on print knowledge, phonological processing, and math for preschool children. The conclusions presented in this report may change as new research emerges. Appendices include: (1) Study characteristics; (2) Outcome measures; (3) Summary of study findings included in the ratings; (4) Summary of follow-up findings; (5) &quot;Ladders to Literacy&quot; ratings; and (6) Extent of evidence by domain. (Contains 7 footnotes.)