ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Seeking Accountability through State-Appointed Emergency District Management. Working Paper #28
Author: Arsen, David
Date: 2012-10-24
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Accountability,School Districts,State Action,State Legislation,State Regulation,Policy Analysis,State Policy,State Government,Case Studies,Educational History,Intellectual History,Politics of Education,School Administration,School Accounting,Audits (Verification)

Michigan's Local Government and School District Accountability Act of 2011 empowers the governor to appoint emergency managers (EMs) in financially-troubled school districts. EMs assume all powers of the superintendent and school board. They can reshape academic programs, nullify labor contracts, and open and close schools. This paper analyzes the law's political origins and early implementation. Relative to prevailing accountability mechanisms applicable to all school districts, in what respects are EM districts are more accountable, and in what respects are they less accountable? Our analysis reveals that although the law concentrates control over school operations, it weakens most standard dimensions of district accountability. (Contains 15 footnotes. Work for this article was supported in part by the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University.)
Can Value-Added Measures of Teacher Performance Be Trusted? Working Paper #18
Author: Guarino, Cassandra M.
Date: 2012-05-24
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Grouping (Instructional Purposes),Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation

We investigate whether commonly used value-added estimation strategies can produce accurate estimates of teacher effects. We estimate teacher effects in simulated student achievement data sets that mimic plausible types of student grouping and teacher assignment scenarios. No one method accurately captures true teacher effects in all scenarios, and the potential for misclassifying teachers as high- or low-performing can be substantial. Misspecifying dynamic relationships can exacerbate estimation problems. However, some estimators are more robust across scenarios and better suited to estimating teacher effects than others. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables, and 16 footnotes.)
Key Success Factors of eLearning in Education: A Professional Development Model to Evaluate and Support eLearning
Author: FitzPatrick, Thaddeus
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Influence of Technology,Electronic Learning,Secondary Schools,Success,Academic Achievement,Program Implementation,Educational Policy,Teacher Educators,Professional Development,Models,Educational Assessment

Technology has changed the way that we live our lives. Interaction across continents has become a forefront of everyday engagement. With ongoing enhancements of technology, people are now able to communicate and learn in a virtual environment similar to that of the real world interaction. These improvements are shared in the field of education, where eLearning is becoming less static and more socially interactive. However, even though technology enhancements are enabling us to be more eLearning successful, there is still an enormous amount of uncertainty in how to implement eLearning successfully. This is particularly the case in education for secondary schools. There is an evident struggle for schools to successfully implement eLearning effectively. With this in mind, the goal of this paper is to outline a professional development model, created to evaluate and support eLearning in education. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)
Work Place Oriented Learning With Digital Media--Consequences for Competency Development
Author: Spottl, Georg
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Work Environment,Workplace Learning,Praxis,Technology Uses in Education,Blended Learning,Competency Based Education,Educational Research,Skilled Workers,Construction Industry,Competence,Learning Processes,Web 2.0 Technologies

Due to their increasing availability and prevalence, digital media allow for a relocation of learning to work processes and support work process oriented learning. This can be put into practice with the aid of different medial/technological and didactical settings. Some examples are the application of mobile terminals, interactive platforms, or blended-learning approaches. The paper sketches different project approaches and illustrates the theoretical-didactical basics for the respective learning approaches as well as their relevance for different sectors (automotive sector and construction sector) and target groups (skilled workers and trainees). The central question is how the learning potential of the workplace can be used for self-guided and guided learning and for competency development with the aid of digital media. (Contains 1 footnote.)
A Review of Special Education Services Delivery in the United States and Nigeria: Implications for Inclusive Education
Author: Michael, Eskay
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Disabilities,Inclusion,Special Education,Foreign Countries,Delivery Systems,Comparative Analysis,Comparative Education,Educational Policy,Accessibility (for Disabled),Placement,Compliance (Legal),Educational Environment,Disability Identification,Referral,Instructional Development,Testing Accommodations,Intervention,Performance Factors,Barriers,Special Needs Students

Both Nigeria and the United States represent developing and developed countries respectively, and special education policy between these two countries are different. Both countries have contributed to help learners with exceptionalities in their policies. These policies help in the formulation and implementation of special education programmes for learners with exceptionalities in each of these countries. The authors compared special education policies in relation to placement, legal mandate, assessment, least restrictive environment, identification and referral, instructional programming, and present future perspective.
Collaborative Learning: Increasing Students' Engagement Outside the Classroom
Author: Hernandez, Rosario
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Action Research,Curriculum Development,Feedback (Response),Educational Change,Spanish,Foreign Countries,Cooperative Learning,Student Surveys,Student Attitudes,Educational Innovation,Learner Engagement,Independent Study,Likert Scales,Integrated Learning Systems

Several factors, including the Bologna process, the embargo on university posts, and a larger student population pursuing degrees, have contributed to radical changes in teaching, learning, and assessment in Irish higher education in the last few years. Challenges to academics have resulted in curriculum reform, and most importantly, in innovative practices in which the curriculum is delivered and assessed. It was in this context that a collaborative component has been introduced into Level 2 Spanish language modules at University College Dublin. A small action research project has been undertaken to explore the students' views about this innovative way of learning. This article addresses the extent to which collaborative learning outside the classroom contributes to the enhancement of student learning and it examines the obstacles encountered by the students during the semester. The discussion of the findings focuses on feedback from the students and on group reflections submitted via blackboard, the university's VLE (virtual learning environment). (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)
Focus for Impact: The PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning's Early Childhood Literacy Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case in Brief Number 5
Author: Grantmakers for Education
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Children,Lifelong Learning,Educational Change,Emergent Literacy,Partnerships in Education,Private Financial Support,Grants,Persistence,Sustainability

To better advance its mission of promoting lifelong learning, the PacifiCorp Foundation committed in 2001 to begin devoting 20 percent of its grantmaking budget to a long-term, multi-year initiative to support a small number of grantees; trustees chose the area of early literacy for its first initiative. &quot;Focus for Impact&quot; is intended to help funders see ways of applying &quot;discipline and focus&quot;--one of Grantmakers for Education's Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking--to their work. The case study explores trade-offs, benefits and tensions stemming from choosing a discrete area of focus to guide grantmaking. [For the full report, &quot;Focus for Impact: The PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning's Early Childhood Literacy Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case Study Number 5,&quot; see ED537200.]
Linking Resources to Results: The Chicago Public Education Fund's Master Teacher Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case Study Number 1
Author: King, Caroline
Date: 2006-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Urban Schools,Public Education,Private Financial Support,Master Teachers,Mentors,Academic Achievement,Case Studies,Educational Objectives,Educational Change,Teacher Leadership,Grants,Alternative Teacher Certification,Strategic Planning,Outcomes of Education,Accountability,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Recruitment,Evaluation Criteria

The Chicago Public Education Fund operates as a venture philanthropy: It raises capital from individual and institutional donors and then provides grant funding and direct, hands-on assistance to grantees. With a grantmaking budget totaling $25 million between 2000 and 2008, it seeks to recruit and develop high-potential new teachers and aspiring principals by supporting alternative certification and mentoring programs, such as Teach for America and New Leaders for New Schools; this case study focuses specifically on the fund's effort to nurture and strategically utilize existing teacher talent--its Master Teacher Initiative. As part of the Master Teacher Initiative, the Education Fund has worked since 2000 both to recognize accomplished and effective teachers through the prestigious national board certification process and to help these teachers become school reform leaders. This case study explores the fund's deliberate approach--including specific goals, a clearly articulated grantmaking strategy and benchmarks for measuring progress--to help Chicago's public schools recognize, reward and deploy master teachers. This case study is intended to help grantmakers see ways to more deliberately "link their resources to desired results," which is one of Grantmakers for Education's Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. The case illustrates the importance of making explicit assumptions about how a funder's efforts will create change, specifying measurable outcomes, deploying a funder's resources in addition to money, and being realistic about what can be accomplished under the best of circumstances. (Contains 4 exhibits, 2 figures and 9 footnotes.) [For "Linking Resources to Results: The Chicago Public Education Fund's Master Teacher Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case in Brief Number 1," see ED537198.]
Mining Student Behavior Patterns in Reading Comprehension Tasks
Author: Peckham, Terry
Date: 2012-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Thinking Skills,Behavior Patterns,Reading Comprehension,Student Behavior,Metacognition,Classification,Experiments,Reading,Scores

Reading comprehension is critical in life-long learning as well as in the workplace. In this paper, we describe how multidimensional k-means clustering combined with Bloom's Taxonomy can be used to determine positive and negative cognitive skill sets with respect to reading comprehension tasks. This information could be used to inform environments that support students improving their meta-cognitive skills. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.) [This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. For the complete proceedings, "Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM) (5th, Chania, Greece, June 19-21, 2012)," see ED537074.]
Using Student Modeling to Estimate Student Knowledge Retention
Author: Wang, Yutao
Date: 2012-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Decision Making,Foreign Countries,Student Behavior,Intelligent Tutoring Systems,Prediction,Tutors,Tutoring,Academic Achievement,Factor Analysis,Retention (Psychology),Memory,Long Term Memory,Short Term Memory,Regression (Statistics)

The goal of predicting student behavior on the immediate next action has been investigated by researchers for many years. However, a fair question is whether this research question is worth all of the attention it has received. This paper investigates predicting student performance after a delay of 5 to 10 days, to determine whether, and when, the student will "retain" the material seen. Although this change in focus sounds minor, two aspects make it interesting. First, the factors influencing retention are different than those influencing short-term performance. Specifically, we found that the number of student correct and incorrect responses were not reliable predictors of long-term performance. This result is in contrast to most student-modeling efforts on predicting performance on the next response. Second, we argue that answering the question of whether a student will retain a skill is more useful for guiding decision making of intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) than predicting correctness of next response. We introduce an architecture that identifies two research topics that are meaningful for ITS decision making. Our experiments found one feature in particular that was relevant for student retention: the number of distinct days in which a student practiced a skill. This result provides additional evidence for the spaced practice effect, and suggests our models need to be aware of features known to impact retention. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.) [For the complete proceedings, "Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM) (5th, Chania, Greece, June 19-21, 2012)," see ED537074.]
Learning by Doing: The Noyce Foundation's Every Child a Reader and Writer Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case in Brief Number 4
Author: Grantmakers for Education
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Experiential Learning,Professional Development,Private Financial Support,Grants,Reading Skills,Writing Skills,Reading Instruction,Writing Instruction,Educational Innovation,Writing Workshops,Partnerships in Education,Program Design,Philanthropic Foundations,Elementary School Students,Program Effectiveness,Educational Assessment,Academic Achievement

Grantmakers for Education's Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking identify &quot;innovation&quot; and &quot;constant learning&quot; as a core proposition for achieving results in education philanthropy. To illustrate this principle, &quot;Learning by Doing&quot; examines the Noyce Foundation's efforts to apply new information to its grantmaking. As part of its significant commitment to the Every Child a Reader and Writer initiative, the foundation worked alongside its grantees, assessed what was needed to solve unexpected problems and provided extra resources and expert assistance when needed. [For the full report, &quot;Learning by Doing: The Noyce Foundation's Every Child a Reader and Writer Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case Study Number 4,&quot; see ED537187.]
Optimizing Learning with Digital Readers
Author: McGowan-Koyzis, Susan
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Global Education,Metacognition,Electronic Publishing,Handheld Devices,Books,Technology Uses in Education,College Freshmen,Textbooks,Measures (Individuals),Student Surveys,Pretests Posttests

University freshman participated in this study to determine the difference in learning gains when using a digital reader rather than a traditional textbook in a participatory learning environment. The findings indicate that a combination of focused reading and participatory instruction result in increased learning, thus, challenging traditional instructional tools and delivery models. The researchers distinguish between digital users and digital learners and discuss the importance of using technology as an authentic and relevant learning tool and of teaching students to monitor metacognitive functions to suit context. (Contains 1 figure.)
Predicting Drop-Out from Social Behaviour of Students
Author: Bayer, Jaroslav
Date: 2012-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Prediction,Foreign Countries,Predictor Variables,Social Behavior,Academic Failure,Dropouts,At Risk Students,Graphs,Gender Differences,Age Differences,College Entrance Examinations,Scores,College Credits,Courses,Grades (Scholastic),Undergraduate Students,Student Characteristics

This paper focuses on predicting drop-outs and school failures when student data has been enriched with data derived from students social behaviour. These data describe social dependencies gathered from e-mail and discussion board conversations, among other sources. We describe an extraction of new features from both student data and behaviour data represented by a social graph which we construct. Then we introduce a novel method for learning a classifier for student failure prediction that employs cost-sensitive learning to lower the number of incorrectly classified unsuccessful students. We show that the use of social behaviour data results in significant increase of the prediction accuracy. (Contains 2 figures, 7 tables, and 1 footnote.) [This work has been partially supported by the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University. For the complete proceedings, &quot;Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM) (5th, Chania, Greece, June 19-21, 2012),&quot; see ED537074.]
Further Evidence for the Developmental Stages of Language Learning and Processability
Author: Doman, Evelyn
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Evidence,Developmental Stages,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Observation,Interviews,Interlanguage,Grammar,Foreign Countries,Instructional Effectiveness,Language Processing

Few, if any, researchers would deny the existence of the developmental stages of language learning. However, there are questions about the applicability and the importance of the stages in pedagogy. Up to this point, these questions regarding the ESL (English as a second language) stages have never been addressed in a Japanese post-secondary educational context. This study is the only one of its kind to measure the developmental stages of a group of Japanese university students and to provide the learners with intensive instruction to see how much/if any changes are made to their interlanguage due to the instruction. As predicted by Pienemann's Teachability Hypothesis (1992), only the learners who had met the prerequisites for instruction could acquire the grammatical points which were instructed. The results of this study point to the need among TESOL (Teaching English as a Second or Other Language) instructors to teach students only slightly above their current language levels. (Contains 5 tables.)
Microworlds: Building Powerful Ideas in the Secondary School
Author: Jenkins, Craig William
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Programming Languages,Programming,STEM Education,Secondary School Science,Science Course Improvement Projects,Educational Philosophy,Inquiry,Literature Reviews,Educational Research,Learning Theories,Educational Practices,Educational Innovation,Instructional Innovation

In the 1960s, the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) developed a programming language called LOGO. Underpinning this invention was a profound new philosophy of how learners learn. This paper reviews research in the area and asks how one notion in particular, that of a microworld, may be used by secondary school educators to build powerful ideas in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects. (Contains 4 figures.)
Learning by Doing: The Noyce Foundation's Every Child a Reader and Writer Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case Study Number 4
Author: King, Caroline
Date: 2006-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Private Financial Support,Grants,Reading Skills,Writing Skills,Reading Instruction,Writing Instruction,Educational Innovation,Writing Workshops,Partnerships in Education,Program Design,Philanthropic Foundations,Elementary School Students,Program Effectiveness,Experiential Learning,Budgets,Formative Evaluation,Principals,Accountability,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Educational Quality,Academic Achievement

Even after acting on the best available information to make a grantmaking decision, a grantmaker should seek to learn from grantees, remain adaptable to new ideas and open to unexpected learning, and willing to admit when grants do not turn out as expected. To this end, Grantmakers for Education's Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking identifies &quot;innovation&quot; and &quot;constant learning&quot; as a core principle for achieving results in education philanthropy. This case study indicates the practices and challenges inherent in using new information and knowledge to improve grantmaking. It also touches on another Principle for Effective Education Grantmaking, &quot;effective grantees.&quot; The case features the Noyce Foundation and its flagship initiative, Every Child a Reader and Writer, which aims both to improve literacy achievement for students in grades K-5 and to create a replicable model for improving teaching and learning in school systems. As part of its significant commitment to the initiative, the foundation worked alongside its grantees. It carefully watched the initiative's progress, assessed what was needed to solve unexpected problems, and provided extra resources and expert assistance when needed. (Contains 3 tables, 6 exhibits and 5 footnotes.) [For &quot;Learning by Doing: The Noyce Foundation's Every Child a Reader and Writer Initiative. Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking. Case in Brief Number 4,&quot; see ED537182.]