ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Measuring Mastery: Best Practices for Assessment in Competency-Based Education. AEI Series on Competency-Based Higher Education
Author: McClarty, Katie Larsen
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Competency Based Education,Best Practices,Higher Education,Educational Assessment,Credentials,Prior Learning,Nontraditional Students,Measures (Individuals),Evidence,Mastery Learning,Advanced Placement,Validity,Models,Outcomes of Education

Competency-based education (CBE) programs are growing in popularity as an alternative path to a postsecondary degree. Freed from the seat-time constraints of traditional higher education programs, CBE students can progress at their own pace and complete their postsecondary education having gained relevant and demonstrable skills. The CBE model has proven particularly attractive for nontraditional students juggling work and family commitments that make conventional higher education class schedules unrealistic. But the long-term viability of CBE programs hinges on the credibility of these programs' credentials in the eyes of employers. That credibility, in turn, depends on the quality of the assessments CBE programs use to decide who earns a credential. In this paper the authors introduce a set of best practices for high-stakes assessment in CBE, drawing from both the educational-measurement literature and current practices in prior-learning and CBE assessment. Broadly speaking, there are two areas in assessment design and implementation that require significant and sustained attention from test developers and program administrators: (1) validating the assessment instrument itself and (2) setting meaningful competency thresholds based on multiple sources of evidence. Both areas are critical for supporting the legitimacy and value of CBE credentials in the marketplace. This paper therefore details how providers can work to validate their assessments and establish performance levels that map to real-world mastery, paying particular attention to the kinds of research and development common in other areas of assessment. The authors also provide illustrative examples of these concepts from prior-learning assessments (for example, Advanced Placement exams) and existing CBE programs.
Employer Perspectives on Competency-Based Education. AEI Series on Competency-Based Higher Education
Author: Franklin, Chip
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Competency Based Education,Employer Attitudes,Knowledge Level,Educational Benefits,Personnel Selection,Familiarity,Preferences,Criteria,Employment Qualifications,Job Skills,Employer Employee Relationship,Job Applicants

Excitement is growing about the potential for competency-based education (CBE) to become a transformative force in higher education. Yet while much of the attention paid to ever-expanding CBE efforts focuses on student and institutional priorities, little effort has been made to understand the perspectives and needs of the employers who must hire CBE credential- bearing graduates. For CBE to achieve its full potential as a disruptive force in higher education, employers must recognize the validity of specific competencies, assigning labor-market value to the discrete skill bundles required for a targeted job opportunity. Only then can the value proposition of competency-based education be complete. The research of the authors into employer perspectives on CBE, using a first-of-its-kind survey of nearly 500 hiring managers at different companies across the country, identifies several inherent obstacles to the expansion and acceptance of broader CBE efforts across the labor market. Some of the key findings include: (1) Overall employer awareness of CBE is low, despite expanding CBE efforts and increasing efforts to engage employers; (2) Hiring managers already aware of CBE had a favorable view of the model and its graduates, but these individuals constituted a small minority. Employers' lack of awareness seems to correlate with a lack of understanding of the potential benefits to employers of hiring students educated through CBE programs; (3) Employers remain generally unable to articulate discrete needs as competencies; they rely instead on hiring generalizations grounded in the traditional idea of &quot;fit&quot; that lack the specificity needed to create an effective competency map; and (4) Some employers believe that this generalized approach helps them hire the right people, but nearly two-thirds think that they could be doing better at identifying students with the specific skill set required for the job.
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students Who Are Academically Successful: Examining Academic Resilience Cross-Nationally. Policy Brief No. 5
Author: Erberber, Ebru
Date: 2015-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Economically Disadvantaged,Academic Achievement,Resilience (Psychology),Disadvantaged Youth,Grade 8,Incidence,Influences,Predictor Variables,Academic Aspiration,Educational Environment,Mathematics Tests,Mathematics Achievement,High Achievement,Foreign Countries

Academically resilient students are those students who are academically successful, despite coming from the socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds that have typically predicted poorer educational outcomes. These students are an important group to study because if policymakers can understand what factors may have contributed to their succeeding against the odds, then they may be better able to support similar students in improving their academic performance. Raising the performance of socioeconomically disadvantaged students benefits both those individual students and the equity of the system overall. This brief uses 2011 eighth-grade data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to explore (1) how prevalent academically resilient students are across education systems, and (2) what factors are associated with academic resilience within those systems.
Education Agenda for the States. Fostering Opportunity from Pre-K through College
Author: Stevens, Katharine B.
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Agenda Setting,Educational Planning,Educational Policy,Educational Change,Change Strategies,Early Childhood Education,Instructional Design,Teacher Qualifications,School Community Programs,School Community Relationship,Elementary Secondary Education,Accountability,State Regulation,Outcomes of Education,Investment,School Choice,Higher Education,Transfer Policy,Entrepreneurship,Innovation

Above all else, the American creed is one of liberty and opportunity. In the 21st century, whether the topic is economic opportunity, responsible citizenship, or political engagement, the role of education is more significant than ever before. That means political and civic leaders committed to a vision of opportunity--and especially to equal opportunity--have to be serious about improving education. To help state lawmakers and executives in their efforts to pursue the kinds of education reform needed to truly deliver on the promise of an opportunity society, the authors have penned some crucial dos and don'ts for K-12, higher education, and early-childhood education reform. The hope is that this brief can share some key lessons and point to some promising ideas. A list of additional resources is provided.
Rethinking the Regulatory Environment of Competency-Based Education. AEI Series on Competency-Based Higher Education
Author: Lacey, Aaron
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Higher Education,Competency Based Education,State Regulation,Federal Regulation,Barriers,Instructional Effectiveness,College Credits,Advisory Committees,Certification,Funding Formulas,Educational Finance,Public Colleges,Accreditation (Institutions),Educational Assessment,Federal Aid

In recent years, competency-based education (CBE) has made considerable inroads in higher education. Various institutions have developed or begun developing a range of programs modeled on competency-based principles. CBE is viewed by many, and with good reason, as a potential means to deliver a more effective educational experience at a lower cost. Yet despite increased interest from postsecondary institutions and strong support from policymakers, examples abound of regulatory barriers that not only fail to encourage competency-based learning but in fact impede its progress. The question thus arises as to whether the postsecondary regulatory community can develop an efficient process for approving and overseeing competency-based models, even within a favorable political environment. In this paper, the authors examine current or proposed regulatory frameworks for the management of competency-based programming at the state, accreditor, and federal levels. They highlight key concerns with and among these systems and note where efforts are being made to resolve barriers. Following this exploration, the authors recommend strategies for improving state, accreditor, and federal oversight of CBE programming.
The Paperwork Pile-Up: Measuring the Burden of Charter School Applications
Author: McShane, Michael Q.
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Charter Schools,School Administration,Accountability,Professional Autonomy,Institutional Autonomy,School Districts,State Departments of Education,Nonprofit Organizations

In 1988, Albert Shanker, head of the United Federation of Teachers, suggested that small groups of teachers could design charter (performance-based)schools as alternatives to local public schools. In theory, charter school teachers would be held in check by a performance contract but would be otherwise free from rules, norms, and regulations that have stifled innovation in America's traditional public school system. Charter school leaders would thus make a bargain, trading autonomy for accountability. In practice, however, the charter bargain has become fairly one-sided. Charter school authorizers often include hundreds of tasks in the application to open a charter school, creating an onerous and lengthy process that risks freezing out potential school operators. To be sure, many application tasks are well within authorizers' rights to require, but others are unnecessary and unduly burdensome for applicants. This is a real problem for the groups of teachers that Shanker envisioned, who might lack the time or resources to tackle these outsized applications and create new educational options for students. After coding each of the requirements in applications from 40 charter authorizers, the authors of this report found that while a plurality (43 percent) of the application requirements were clearly appropriate for authorizers to include, the majority of requirements were either unnecessary (34 percent) or clearly inappropriate (23 percent). This means that authorizers could shorten the average application by at least one-third without sacrificing their ability to ensure quality--a change that could save applicants more than 700 hours of work, based on interviewed school leaders' estimates of the amount of time it takes to complete a charter application. This paper describes the study's methodology and results as well as a handful of lessons about charter authorizing based on the interviews and application data. Three appendices are included: (1) How Requirements Were Categorized; (2) Frequency Counts for Major Categories; and (3) Individual Authorizer Breakdown.
New Science Standards: A Readiness Assessment for State Boards of Education
Author: Center on Great Teachers and Leaders at American Institutes for Research
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Standards,State Standards,Science Education,Science Curriculum,Instructional Innovation,Curriculum Implementation,Educational Change,Readiness,Educational Assessment,Strategic Planning,Leadership,Stakeholders,Organizational Communication,Feedback (Response),College Readiness,Career Readiness,Educational Policy,Policy Formation,Teacher Education Programs,Science Teachers,Program Effectiveness,State Boards of Education

State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Such an effort at the state level requires extensive support, planning, and resources. Implementing new state standards also requires the support of multiple education leaders--governors, legislators, state departments of education, school and district administrators, teachers, and state boards of education (SBEs)--each of whom holds important and varying roles in the education system. The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) aim to support SBEs in the leadership roles they can and do play relative to implementing new science standards such as the Next Generation Science Standards. Indeed, SBEs can, and often do, provide important leadership in setting policies related to state standards, advocating for change, and bringing multiple stakeholders together. Many states are just beginning to consider whether to modify existing science standards, adapt standards being used in other states, or develop new ones. This document guides SBEs through this complex process. While many organizations have developed resources to support implementation of new science standards, this document goes beyond others by providing clear examples, resources, and a step-by-step process that SBEs can use to begin this work.
Balancing the Equation. Supply and Demand in Tomorrow's School Choice Marketplaces
Author: McShane, Michael Q.
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Supply and Demand,School Choice,Educational Change,Educational Improvement,Federal Regulation,Models

School choice is an education reform premised on a simple proposition: give families more choices, and they will find schools that best fit their children's needs. In short, school choice aims to create a marketplace of schooling options. School choice programs will succeed or fail based on how well they are able to create this marketplace and how deftly they can overcome issues on both the supply (schools) and demand (parents) sides of the school choice equation. Over the past several years, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), has been working to come to a more sophisticated understanding of both the demand and supply sides of school choice marketplaces. This report is a summary of what AEI has learned and a road map for those hoping to improve the design and efficacy of school choice programs in America. Several lessons are offered for improving the demand side of the school improvement equation. Improving the supply side means creating the conditions that help new schools open, and three key forces that shape the supply-side response of schools to school choice programs are outlined.
Civic Education Professional Development: The Lay of the Land
Author: Burgess, Rebecca
Date: 2015-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Civics,Citizenship Education,Faculty Development,Secondary School Teachers,Interviews,Teacher Surveys,Democracy,Educational Finance,Instructional Leadership,Program Design,Program Evaluation

Democracy requires well-informed citizens, with the habits and mind-set required to maintain a free and self-governing society. Teachers, in turn, are key to establishing those habits of heart and mind on which democracies rely. As such, teachers benefit from exposure to professional development (PD) opportunities that refresh and augment their knowledge and classroom skills in the area of civics. Education officials and policymakers face a host of competing priorities, and support for professional development in civics has been limited. One crucial consequence is the lack of research regarding current civics PD programs. Accordingly, the AEI Program on American Citizenship surveyed the providers of civics PD, delving into their purposes, methods, and views to create a first-ever overview of PD in civics. This study revolves around an essential question: What is the nature and range of PD for secondary civics teachers in the United States? The aim of this study is to reveal a portrait of current practice through a combination of interviewing and surveying current civics PD providers and through reviewing the current literature on high-quality PD.
Statement before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) on Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act: Exploring Institutional Risk-Sharing
Author: Kelly, Andrew P.
Date: 2015-05-20
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Change,Educational Policy,Risk Management,Higher Education,Colleges,School Responsibility,Federal Aid,Federal Programs,Student Financial Aid,Grants,Tuition,Paying for College,Access to Education,Low Income Groups

Andrew Kelly, the director of the Center on Higher Education Reform at the American Enterprise Institute, shares his views on the concept of risk-sharing in higher education. The author presents the question: How would a risk-sharing policy--where colleges bear some financial responsibility for a portion of the federal loans that their students do not repay--better align the incentives of colleges, students, and taxpayers? This paper discusses the following: (1) the problems with the current approach to determining student aid eligibility; (2) the principles of risk-sharing and how it could be an improvement over the status quo; (3) basic policy design principles; and (4) important caveats that must be kept in mind.
Building Paths to the Middle Class: Innovations in Career and Technical Education
Author: Kelly, Andrew P.
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Vocational Education,Case Studies,Job Training,Program Effectiveness,Labor Market,Educational Finance,Associate Degrees,Tuition,Auto Mechanics,Cooperative Education,Credentials,School Business Relationship

There is currently more focus than ever on the importance of earning a college degree. At the same time, many students and parents are dubious that America's expensive, one-size-fits-all higher education system can adequately educate students for an ever more diverse and sophisticated world of work. There are other educational options that are worth more sustained and serious attention. Technical programs provide many students with marketable job skills, often for far less time and money than four-year bachelor's degrees. Even still, many policymakers are hesitant to endorse tracking students into occupational training programs, and parents tend to have higher aspirations for their children than technical training. In turn, it is unclear that students and parents are learning about these options at an early stage, or that consumers are generally aware of these programs' likely return on investment. American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) Center on Higher Education Reform sought to highlight a diverse array of technical training options available to students today, which led to AEI commissioning four case studies on high-quality occupational training programs that strive to prepare students for the workforce. The case studies answer the following questions: (1) How do students learn about these programs?; (2) What makes them work well, and what challenges do they face?; and (3) How successful are their graduates? These case studies are examples of interesting attempts to align education with the demands of today's labor market, which can not only aid researchers and policymakers, but also help inform practitioners who might consider offering similar programs in the future.
A Million New Teachers Are Coming: Will They Be Ready to Teach?
Author: DeMonte, Jenny
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Education,Teacher Education Programs,Preservice Teacher Education,Beginning Teachers,Student Teachers,Student Teaching,Educational Change,Teacher Certification,Teacher Selection,Teacher Competencies,Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Research shows that the most powerful, in-school influence on learning is the quality of instruction that teachers bring to their students. In the next decade, more than 1.5 million new teachers will be hired for our schools; unfortunately, teacher preparation programs may not be up to the task of delivering the teacher workforce we need, and critics have identified lax selection of teacher candidates, coursework disconnected from classroom practice, and weak clinical opportunities as indications that we are inadequately preparing teachers. It's time to take a start-to-finish look at teacher preparation. For all of those involved in the work of helping students learn, teacher preparation is a central issue that must be addressed. Teacher preparation--from college courses to student teaching to alternative programs--needs to help beginning teachers learn to teach. Anything less will fail these new professionals.
Education Pays in Colorado: Earnings 1, 5, and 10 Years after College
Author: Schneider, Mark
Date: 2015-04-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Educational Attainment,Education Work Relationship,Salaries,Postsecondary Education,Labor Market,Careers,Certification,Academic Degrees,Colleges,Comparative Analysis

Postsecondary education delivers many benefits to students who attend America's colleges and universities and to society in general. But when students are asked about what they want from college, the most frequent responses focus on labor market outcomes, especially good careers and high earnings. However, as more and more students borrow more and more money to fund their postsecondary education, they should explore all of their options, including shorter and less expensive pathways (e.g., subbaccalaureate credentials) to good jobs. This report and the accompanying website (http://co.edpays.org/) present data on the earnings of students who completed certificates and degrees from all public and many private colleges and universities across the state, as far out as 10 years after completing their studies. Among the most important findings of this report are: (1) many postsecondary credentials other than the bachelor's degree are becoming increasingly common, with a particularly rapid increase in the number of associate's degree granted over the last 5 years and (2) many subbaccalaureate credentials can lead to middle-class earnings--sometimes exceeding the earnings of graduates with bachelor's degrees. Appended to this report is: Technical Information.
Aiming High: Setting Performance Standards for Student Success
Author: Phillips, Gary
Date: 2015-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Success,State Policy,Academic Standards,State Standards,Evidence,Standard Setting,Benchmarking,Academic Achievement,Program Implementation,Change Strategies,Predictor Variables,Performance,Elementary Secondary Education

Content standards, not performance standards, have been almost the sole focus of state policies and recent conversations about academic standards. Without rigorous content and performance standards, we cannot adequately prepare students for the global marketplace. A recent AIR study shows that state performance standards are consistently low and extremely variable across states. Low state standards allow many students to be described as &quot;proficient,&quot; when they are not adequately prepared for success beyond high school. To address this issue, this report recommends that states should adopt evidence-based methods for setting standards, such as the benchmark method, to ensure students are prepared to compete in the global marketplace.