ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Beyond Binary: Using Propensity Scores to Account for Varying Levels of Program Participation in Randomized Controlled Trials
Author: Stuart, Elizabeth A.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Probability,Computation,Intervention,Scientific Research,Research Methodology,Compliance (Psychology),Early Intervention,Premature Infants

The purpose of the current project is to explore the use of propensity scores to estimate the effects of interventions within randomized control trials, accounting for varying levels of implementation or fidelity. This work extends that of Jo and Stuart (2009) to settings with multiple or continuous measures of implementation. Rather than focus purely on a binary measure of compliance or non-compliance in the treatment group, the study looks at levels of compliance to treatment using a continuous measure of participation or fidelity. The methods are investigated using simulated data as well as data from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), an eight-site randomized trial that targeted low-birth-weight premature infants, and offered comprehensive, quality early intervention care with the goal of reducing the developmental and health problems of low-birth-weight infants (IHDP, 1990).
Between-Classroom Differences in Peer Network Features and Students' Perceptions of the Classroom Environment
Author: Zadzora, Kathleen
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Student Attitudes,Academic Achievement,Classroom Environment,Teaching Methods,Peer Relationship,Friendship,Teacher Student Relationship,Student Motivation,Social Cognition,Urban Areas,Rural Areas,Elementary School Students,Social Networks

The objective of this poster is to examine whether differences in the structural features of classroom peer networks (tight-knittedness, hierarchy, salience norms) are associated with differences in how individual students perceive the classroom environment (relational support from teachers and peers) and express achievement-related beliefs (academic striving, school bonding) that suggest a positive orientation to learning. The long-term goal of this research effort is to test long-standing presumptions about the features of peer networks that are associated with positive student social-cognitions, and then to identify teaching practices that may be causally related to any such peer network features. (Contains 2 tables.)
Child Care Subsidy Use and Child Development: Potential Causal Mechanisms
Author: Hawkinson, Laura E.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Kindergarten,Child Care,Cognitive Development,Child Development,Causal Models,Correlation,Preschool Education,Outcomes of Education,Family Environment,Federal Aid,State Aid,Grants

Research using an experimental design is needed to provide firm causal evidence on the impacts of child care subsidy use on child development, and on underlying causal mechanisms since subsidies can affect child development only indirectly via changes they cause in children's early experiences. However, before costly experimental research is undertaken, it is important to identify potential causal mechanisms to include in such research. The purpose of this study is to test potential causal mechanisms to explain the negative relationship between child care subsidy use and cognitive development found in previous research. This study tests the direct relationship between child care subsidy use during preschool and child developmental outcomes at kindergarten entry, and it also tests two plausible causal mechanisms that may explain the relationship between child care subsidy use during preschool and children's cognitive development at kindergarten entry. (Contains 2 footnotes and 1 exhibit.)
A Framework for Designing Cluster Randomized Trials with Binary Outcomes
Author: Spybrook, Jessaca
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Scientific Research,Research Methodology,Statistical Analysis,Sample Size,Models

The purpose of this paper is to provide a frame work for approaching a power analysis for a CRT (cluster randomized trial) with a binary outcome. The authors suggest a framework in the context of a simple CRT and then extend it to a blocked design, or a multi-site cluster randomized trial (MSCRT). The framework is based on proportions, an intuitive parameter when the outcome is binary. In addition, they provide sample power tables to provide readers with some intuition regarding sample sizes for CRTs with binary outcomes. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 2 footnotes.)
Motivational Correlates of Academic Success in an Educational Psychology Course
Author: Herman, William E.
Date: 2011-03-25
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Psychology,Academic Achievement,Attendance,Grading,Predictor Variables,Prediction,At Risk Students,Student Motivation,Correlation,Success,Average Daily Attendance,Academic Failure,Academic Standards,Educational Indicators

The variables of class attendance and the institution-wide Early Alert Grading System were employed to predict academic success at the end of the semester. Classroom attendance was found to be statistically and significantly related to final average and accounted for 14-16% of the variance in academic performance. Class attendance was found to decline over the semester. The new system of Early Alerts that warned students earning the grade of 2.0 and below during the 6th week of the semester was found to only marginally improve the prediction of at-risk students. A public method of sharing Exam #1 to Exam #2 improvement with the entire class is also presented as a reinforcement tool that protects the name of individual students. The implications of such research on teaching for instructor and student decision making and institutional policy decisions are also discussed in the report. (Contains 3 tables.)
Factors Impacting on the School Counselor Hiring Process
Author: Wright, Robert J.
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Employment,Personnel Selection,School Counselors,Counselor Role,Educational Administration,School Counseling,Principals,Conflict,Goal Orientation,Administrator Attitudes

There has been a major paradigm shift in the professional expectations for the role of school counselors. The possibility that this shift is having a role in the hiring process for school counselors was studied. The research question was the identification of latent factors that are part of the decision process used by school administrators in selecting school counselors for employment. In a study of 144 building administrators three factors were identified that come into play when a potential school counselor is considered for possible employment. (Contains 1 table.)
Student Perceptions of Oral Participation in the Foreign Language Classroom
Author: Tepfenhart, Karen L.
Date: 2011-04-24
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Classroom Communication,Student Attitudes,Self Efficacy,Second Languages,Measures (Individuals),Classroom Environment,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Spanish,Student Surveys,Questionnaires,High School Students,Middle School Students,Language Proficiency,Barriers,Recognition (Achievement),Student Motivation,Oral Language,Teacher Student Relationship

This study attempts to determine which factors students find most influential in their oral participation in a foreign language class and their thoughts on what actions the teacher should take to encourage more oral participation in class. Participants were 38 students in Spanish 1 and 2 at a rural middle school and high school. Students completed a ten question survey about their Spanish class with emphasis on their perceptions of oral participation. The questionnaire used (Appendix I) consisted of 10 questions related to students' perceptions of their foreign language class and their thoughts on the amount of their personal oral participation in the class. In addition, they were asked if they enjoyed speaking in the Spanish classroom, if they felt that the amount of their oral participation was sufficient to develop proficiency in the language, and their opinion on what the teacher could specifically do to encourage them to speak more in the class.  Results showed that the most positive influences on oral participation in class were fun, recognition and a positive classroom environment. Barriers to oral participation in a foreign language class included student self-consciousness and low self-efficacy. In order to encourage all students to participate orally in foreign language class, teachers need to create a safe and fun environment. Appended are: (1) Student Questionnaire; (2) Letter Requesting School District Permission; (3) Permission from Parents; and (4) Student Informed Consent Letter. (Contains 4 tables).
Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions: The Motivations and Challenges behind Seeking a Federal Designation
Author: Park, Julie J.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Asian Americans,Pacific Americans,Recognition (Achievement),Institutional Characteristics,Motivation,Advocacy,Federal Legislation,Politics of Education

This article examines the development of legislation to create a Minority Serving Institution federal designation for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) serving institutions. Specifically, the article draws from interviews with nineteen policy makers, congressional staffers, and community advocates in order to address their motivations for establishing this designation and the related challenges that they encountered in creating a new Minority Serving Institution designation. Besides the complexities of ushering legislation through Congress, one of the major challenges highlighted includes the lack of political infrastructure for advocating Asian American issues related to education. Recommendations for the future sustainability of federal support for Asian American and Pacific Islander serving institutions are also discussed. (Contains 3 notes.) [Support for this research was provided by the UCLA Institute of American Cultures and the University of California AAPI Policy Multi-Campus Research Program. This article has been published as: Park, J. J., & Chang, M. J. (2010). Asian American Pacific Islander serving institutions: The motivations and challenges behind seeking a federal designation. "AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice, and Community," 7(2), 107-125.]
Shared Stories of Successful Graduates of Juvenile Residential Programs: A Phenomenological Study
Author: Mincey, Barrett
Date: 2011-01-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Recidivism,Sanctions,Delinquency,Residential Programs,Young Adults,Program Effectiveness,Juvenile Justice,Phenomenology,Graduate Surveys,Interviews,Delinquent Rehabilitation,Participant Satisfaction,Program Attitudes,Intervention,Success

Criminologists, lawmakers, policymakers, educators, and others discuss juvenile delinquency and recidivism and note the relationship to adult offending and cost factors. Poverty, peer relations, family life, and school are risk factors that have been linked to define the problem of juvenile crime. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the stories that successful graduates of residential programs shared regarding their experiences while in treatment. Nine young adults (aged 18 to 23) who had satisfied their court-ordered sanctions in different residential facilities and who had successfully completed their aftercare supervisions were purposely selected as participants. Data were collected through audio taped interviews. Verbatim transcriptions were coded to discover themes, patterns, or clusters of meanings using NVivo software. Participants discussed the impact of counselors, negative and positive aspects of their programs, peer relationships, and their own responsibilities. Counselors had major impacts on how participants perceived their programs and were looked upon as the rationale for why some youth succeed and others fail. Participants discussed the negative aspects of their educational programs, teachers, and staff and provided positive insights regarding their programs including the programs' environments, educational services, and program events. This study explored a social reality that continues today. When society establishes a critical look at the juvenile justice system and qualitatively assesses and determines key factors for success, perhaps a consensus for endorsing methods for reducing juvenile delinquency and recidivism can be reached. Appended are: (1) Program Descriptors; (2) Participant Demographic and Delinquent History; and (3) Interview Protocol.
Designing and Analyzing Studies that Randomize Schools to Estimate Intervention Effects on Student Academic Outcomes without Classroom-Level Information
Author: Zhu, Pei
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Intervention,Academic Achievement,Research Methodology,Research Design,Program Effectiveness,Sampling,Models,Computation,Evaluation Research

This paper provides practical guidance for researchers who are designing and analyzing studies that randomize schools--which comprise three levels of clustering (students in classrooms in schools)--to measure intervention effects on student academic outcomes when information on the middle level (classrooms) is missing. This situation arises frequently in practice because many available data sets identify the schools that students attend but not the classrooms in which they are taught. Do studies conducted under these circumstances yield results that are substantially different from what they would have been if this information had been available? The paper first considers this problem in the context of planning a school-randomized study based on preexisting two-level information about how academic outcomes for students vary across schools and across students within schools (but not across classrooms in schools). The paper next considers this issue in the context of estimating intervention effects from school-randomized studies. Findings are based on empirical analyses of four multisite data sets using academic outcomes for students within classrooms within schools. The results indicate that in almost all situations one will obtain nearly identical results whether or not the classroom or middle level is omitted when designing or analyzing studies. Three-Level vs. Two-Level Model Comparisons: Estimated R-Squared for School- and Student-Level Covariates are appended. (Contains 9 tables and 2 footnotes.)
Inattention and Impulsivity: Differential Impact on School Readiness Capacities
Author: Sasser, Tyler
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Readiness,Reading Readiness,Kindergarten,Attention Span,Self Control,Preschool Children,Disadvantaged Youth,Student Behavior,Early Intervention,Factor Analysis,Teacher Attitudes,Rating Scales,Social Development,Emotional Development,Emergent Literacy,Conceptual Tempo

Despite the conceptual link between self-regulation skills and school readiness capacities, questions remain regarding how distinct but related facets of self-regulation (i.e., attention regulation, behavior regulation) differentially impact the development of school readiness capacities during early childhood. Additionally, little is known about whether these distinct facets of self-regulation moderate children's responses to early interventions designed to target school readiness capacities. The current study addresses these issues, by: 1) conducting factor analyses on teacher ratings of child inattention and impulsivity to validate the separate dimensions of attention and behavior regulation at pre-kindergarten, 2) evaluating the unique impact of teacher-rated inattention and impulsivity on specific school readiness skills and behaviors within the pre-kindergarten year, and 3) examining the moderation of intervention response based upon teacher-rated inattention and impulsivity. In the present study, 44 Head Start classrooms were randomly assigned to an enriched  intervention Head Start (Head Start REDI) or to &quot;usual practice&quot; classrooms. The enrichment  program included Preschool PATHS Curriculum and components targeting language and  emergent literacy skills. Assessments tracked the progress of 356 4-year-old children over the course of the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten years. It was hypothesized that children's initial attention and behavior regulation skills would influence children's acquisition of social-emotional and emergent literacy skills during the pre-kindergarten year, and would serve as moderators of child response to the REDI intervention. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)
Teachers on the Move: A Look at Teacher Interstate Mobility Policy and Practice
Author: Coggshall, Jane G.
Date: 2008-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Employment,Focus Groups,Teacher Shortage,Faculty Mobility,Teacher Recruitment,Teacher Certification,Teacher Surveys,Influences,Teacher Education,Barriers,Military Personnel,Retirement,Education Work Relationship,Nontraditional Education

This report--based on an exploratory empirical study of state certification and licensure policies, 10 states' employment databases, a survey of teachers with interstate mobility experience, and focus groups of American Association for Employment in Education members and Troops-to-Teachers state directors--focuses on the certification and licensure aspect of the facilitators and barriers to teacher interstate mobility. It also includes an exploration of the unique mobility experiences of participants in the Troops-to-Teachers program. The analysis described in this report indicates that states have much common ground in their policies toward teacher licensure and reciprocity, yet differences remain. Motivated state directors of teacher education and certification must address these obstacles while maintaining high levels of quality. Continuing widespread teacher shortages in certain fields and the dim prospects that these shortages will disappear anytime soon provide a clear impetus for change. Based on the findings of this study, the need to build better infrastructure--including better data systems and communication channels--is clear. The challenges of the 21st century demand that the problems of interstate teacher mobility be addressed. Appended are: (1) Project Design; and (2) State Extant Teacher Data Tables. (Contains 2 tables, 3 figures and 1 footnote.)
Examining the Effectiveness of a Train-the-Trainer Model: Training Teachers to Use Pivotal Response Training
Author: Suhrheinrich, Jessica
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Autism,Behavior Modification,Intervention,Special Education Teachers,Inservice Teacher Education,Program Effectiveness

The train-the-trainer (TTT) model, which has also been called pyramidal training, triadic training, and helper model training, focuses on initially training a person or people who, in turn, train other people at their home agency. The TTT model has promise of being both efficient and cost-effective. The TTT model may be especially useful in addressing issues of translating interventions from research to practice and providing ongoing support to trainees. The TTT model has a sound body of literature supporting its effectiveness in a variety of contexts, including residential centers, hospitals for the mentally disabled, experimental laboratories, and schools. TTT has also involved multiple types of trainees, including direct care providers, university students, parents, and teachers. The broad scope of these studies demonstrating the effectiveness of TTT highlights the strong potential for applicability of TTT methods to translating evidence-based practices (EBP) for children with autism into school environments. One EBP for children with autism is Pivotal Response Training (PRT). PRT is a naturalistic behavior intervention that was developed to facilitate generalization, increase spontaneity, reduce prompt dependency, and increase motivation. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a train-the-trainer protocol for using Pivotal Response Training with community teachers. (Contains 3 figures.)
Evaluating the Effects of Basic Skills Mathematics Placement on Academic Outcomes of Community College Students
Author: Melguizo, Tatiana
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Two Year College Students,Community Colleges,Graduation Rate,Educational Objectives,Course Selection (Students),Mathematics Achievement,Outcomes of Education,Management Information Systems,Transfer Rates (College),Student Evaluation,Student Placement,Mathematics Tests,School Policy,Academic Persistence,Basic Skills,Regression (Statistics)

The main objective of the authors' proposed study is to evaluate the effectiveness of math placement policies for entering community college students on these students' academic success in math, and their transfer and graduation rates. The main research question that guides the proposed study is: What are the effects of various basic skills mathematics paths on the course-taking patterns of community college students? Their study combines descriptive analyses with a regression discontinuity (RD) design to estimate the effect of developmental education. They have two closely related goals: (1) To provide a descriptive analysis of the course taking patterns (basic skills and college level) of community college students; and (2) To use a regression-discontinuity design to test the effect of assignment to different levels of basic skills courses in mathematics on subsequent educational outcomes. The sampling frame for their analysis consists of about 158,000 community college students who were placed into mathematics in one of nine Los Angeles County Community Colleges between June 2001 and September 2009 and for whom a Continuous Placement Score (CPS) is available in the management information system maintained by the Los Angeles Community College District. The authors have been able to identify the assessment and placement practices in 4 of the 9 community colleges. Table 1 describes the placement rules for these 4 colleges. This evaluation provides insights to the district and the state about the effect of placement on successful course sequences that have the potential to promote persistence and save millions of dollars to the state. (Contains 4 tables.)
External Validity in the Context of RCTs: Lessons from the Causal Explanatory Tradition
Author: Jaciw, Andrew
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Validity,Experiments,Research Methodology,Generalization,Inferences,Program Evaluation,Case Studies,Class Size

The purpose of the current work is to apply several main principles of the causal explanatory approach for establishing external validity to the experimental arena. By spanning the paradigm of the experimental approach and the school of program evaluation founded by Lee Cronbach and colleagues, the authors address the question of how research programs that involve experiments can be expanded to make external validity more of a priority. They bring to bear three central concerns of the causal explanatory approach on the activity of conducting randomized trials with a view to establishing external validity: (1) the role of interactions, (2) the need for ecologically relevant generalizations (3) the time-dependency of generalized causal inferences. (Contains 1 figure.)