ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Increasing the Academic Momentum of Community College Students
Author: Attewell, Paul
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Two Year College Students,College Freshmen,Academic Achievement,Academic Persistence,College Credits,Randomized Controlled Trials,Evidence,Graduation Rate,Summer Schools,Part Time Students,Full Time Students,Academic Records,Case Studies,Probability,Program Effectiveness,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Comparative Analysis

This paper uses the credits-attempted perspective--in the context of how many credits a student attempts in their first year of college--and reports on several related projects all intended to evaluate potential interventions to raise academic momentum among first-year community college students. The presentation contrasts non-experimental findings from analyses of transcript data with three randomized control trials aimed at assessing the impact of increasing student momentum. The research questions addressed are: (1) Is there evidence that increased academic momentum--defined as increased engagement in course-taking in the first year--improves retention and degree completion among community college students in non-experimental settings?; and (2) Will experimental manipulations or interventions that increase students' momentum result in better retention and degree completion? The research considers three potential interventions, programs, or practices: (1) enrolling in summer school immediately prior to starting at a community college; (2) increasing from a part-time course-load to a full-time course-load during the first year of college; and (3) attending summer school at the end of one's first year at community college. Researchers compare and contrast analyses of nation-wide transcripts, case study, and RCT data for community college students at the City University of New York (CUNY). The total number of participants was 1,570 with 719 in the control and 851 the experimental groups, respectively. Propensity score matched analyses of non-experimental data from national and CUNY transcript studies indicate that all three programs or interventions had significant positive effects on retention and/or degree completion among community college freshmen. Ongoing RCT experimental studies, however, have not shown significant results for all of the interventions. Preliminary results suggest that community colleges should offer bridge programs and summer programs, and encourage part-time students to increase to full time in their second semester. A table is appended.
Impacts of a Program to Improve Girls' Enrollment and Persistence in Liberia Elementary Schools: The Challenge of Using Gender Differences in Aggregate Outcome Trends to Identify Program Effects
Author: Bos, Johannes M.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Females,Enrollment,Academic Persistence,Elementary School Students,Gender Differences,Trend Analysis,Program Effectiveness,Developing Nations,Social Influences,Intervention,Comparative Analysis,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Models,Cost Effectiveness,Grants,Training,Scholarships,Access to Education,Clubs,Case Studies,Qualitative Research

Under-enrollment of girls in primary and secondary is a longstanding and well-documented problem in developing countries. Limited parental and communal resources combine with cultural factors to create a disincentive for parents to send their girls to school and to keep them there throughout the school year and for the full primary and secondary school years. Girls in developing countries often enroll in school later than boys, attend less consistently, and drop out of school earlier. This phenomenon has serious negative consequences for the girls, their families, their future children, and the economic and social development of the communities in which they live. Because of this, girls' education has been a major focus for international aid agencies like USAID and for NGOs engaged in international educational development. The evidence on the effectiveness of programs to promote girls' enrollment and attendance is relatively limited. The project described herein is a demonstration project involving 60 primary schools in three counties in Liberia. The project, funded by USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, provided 40 of these schools with three years of funding and logistical support to implement three different intervention models. The remaining 20 schools functioned as a comparison group. Outcomes for children exposed to three intervention models are compared to identify which model is the most effective one to carry forward in further scale up of the intervention. The purpose of the study is to (1) document the implementation of the three models in the participating schools; (2) measure the impacts of each of the three models on girls' educational outcomes; and (3) analyze the relative cost-effectiveness of the three models under different assumptions.
Do Head Start Impacts Vary by Neighborhood Context?
Author: Morris, Pamela A.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Early Intervention,Disadvantaged Youth,Neighborhoods,Young Children,Environmental Influences,Program Effectiveness,Child Care,Comparative Analysis,Randomized Controlled Trials,Preschool Education,Outcomes of Education,Statistical Analysis,Statistical Significance,Verbal Ability,Intelligence Tests,Vocabulary,Context Effect

This paper capitalizes on the addition of geocodes for Head Start centers in which children were randomly assigned to address questions about the role of neighborhood characteristics in moderating impacts of assignment to the Head Start program. Researchers explore the extent to which impacts of assignment to Head Start on outcomes for children vary by the availability of alternative child care options, as well as the presence of community crime and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage. This research uses data from the Head Start Impact Study and includes 4,440 3- and 4-year-old children who were randomly assigned off a waitlist in 351 Head Start programs across 81 Head Start grantees to either receive an invitation to participate in Head Start services, or to the control group (no offer of Head Start). Randomization was conducted based on 202 center groups: a total of 2,644 children were randomized to receive Head Start services and 1,796 were randomized to the control group. Ultimately, children enrolled in 1,632 classrooms across 930 Head Start and non-Head Start centers. Researchers matched center geocodes to data from the US Department of Education (DOE), the American Community Survey, and Economic Census data to assess availability of alternative child care and preschool options. Initial results demonstrate: (1) a significant effect of child care availability on the treatment impact on children's PPVT scores; (2) no statistically significant effects of neighborhood characteristics on Head Start impacts were found for children's Woodcock Johnson Letter Word Identification; and (3) neighborhood crime analyses reveal evidence for treatment moderation of Head Start's impact on children's PPVT scores. Figures are appended.
Principles of Effective English Language Learner Pedagogy. Research in Review 2012-3
Author: Li, Jun
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: English Language Learners,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Literature Reviews,Educational Principles,Reading Instruction,Writing Instruction,Speech Skills,Listening Skills,Reading Skills,Writing Skills,Curriculum Development,Culturally Relevant Education,Metacognition,Learning Strategies,Language Usage,Vocabulary Development,Reading Comprehension,Oral Language,Written Language,Models,Holistic Approach

The purpose of this literature review is to identify the most effective instructional principles for English language learners (ELLs) as documented by prominent researchers in the field and existing research reviews. This report is intended as a high-level synthesis of existing reviews of the literature rather than a comprehensive search and documentation of all primary research articles on ELL teaching and learning. To this end, this review lists the most effective principles for ELL instruction and documents the supporting research evidence for those principles. Principles 1 and 2 are about implementing challenging curriculum and designing the academic content. Principles 3, 4, and 5 are about effective instruction and the available strategies teachers may use in their teaching. Principles 6 and 7 deal with how to teach ELLs to acquire vocabulary and build reading ability. Principle 8 focuses on how to teach ELLs to use the English language. Last, Principle 9 is about the integration of four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Research on College Board Programs and Services: Annotated Bibliography 2013. Research in Review 2013-1
Author: Barry, Carol
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Reference Materials - Bibliographies
Subjects: Access to Education,College Entrance Examinations,High School Students,Advanced Placement Programs,Annotated Bibliographies,Aptitude Tests,College Preparation,College Readiness,Educational Research,Faculty Development,Graduation Rate,Research Reports,Student Participation

This annotated bibliography contains summaries of research studies examining a number of College Board assessments and programs. To be included in the bibliography, each study needed to meet a number of criteria. First, articles must have been published (as a College Board research report, in an external journal, or as an ETS research report). Conference presentations or proceedings were not included because these materials often do not undergo as much scientific scrutiny as fully published papers. Also, the articles must represent research as either a validity study or an impact/evaluation study. All SAT® studies must have used samples from 2005 or later to account for the new test design, and Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) studies should have been published in the last 20 years. All studies are grouped by assessment/program, and key findings that represent a synthesis across the studies are presented. Key findings refer to results of the most rigorous work to date regarding the College Board program in question. [For the 2012 edition, see ED561019.]
Performance by Gender on an Unconventional Verbal Reasoning Task: Answering Reading Comprehension Questions without the Passages. Report No. 95-2. ETS RR No. 95-14
Author: Powers, Donald E.
Date: 1995-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Reading Comprehension,Gender Differences,Comparative Analysis,Test Wiseness,Test Items,College Entrance Examinations,Reading Achievement,Reading Strategies,Cognitive Processes,Guessing (Tests),Correlation,High School Students

Data were reanalyzed from a previously reported study of the passage dependence of reading comprehension questions being developed for the revised SAT. The objective was to uncover any gender differences in approaches to and performance on a task requiring examinees to answer reading comprehension questions without reading the passages on which the questions were based. Verbally able males and females were compared with respect to their reported use of a variety of test-taking strategies involving reasoning, personal knowledge, and guessing. A few relatively small (and often inconsistent) differences were detected between male and female test takers. However, far more similarities than differences were noted with respect to both test performance and test-taking behavior. If these results are generalizable to more typical tests of verbal ability, they would seem to suggest that males and females employ quite similar approaches to standardized test taking.
Relationship between ELPT™ and TOEFL Performance: A Preliminary Analysis. Research Summary RS-03
Author: College Entrance Examination Board
Date: 1998-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Correlation,Language Tests,Student Surveys,Language Proficiency,Comparative Analysis,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning

The College Board conducted a survey of students who took the ELPT test in 1996 and 1997. The survey yielded responses from 141 students with self-reported TOEFL scores. The results suggest a strong, near linear relationship between students' performance levels on these two English language proficiency instruments.
Priming the Pump: Strategies for Increasing the Achievement of Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates
Author: Gándara, Patricia
Date: 1999-12-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Minority Group Students,Academic Achievement,High Achievement,Achievement Gap,Higher Education,Undergraduate Students,Affirmative Action,Student Financial Aid,Socialization,College Freshmen,Program Evaluation,College Entrance Examinations,Scores,Disadvantaged Youth,Parent Background,Educational Attainment,Family Income,College Bound Students,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,Diversity (Faculty),Doctoral Degrees

Commissioned by the College Board's National Task Force on Minority High Achievement, this report describes higher education programs and strategies that have the capacity to help many more minority students distinguish themselves academically on the undergraduate level. Chapters included in this report are: (1) Introduction; (2) The Challenge; (3) Academic Interventions for Minority Students in an Era of Waning Affirmative Action; (4) Programs That Strive to Increase Minority Achievement in Higher Education; (5) Confronting the Overprediction Problem and Stimulating High Achievement; and (6) Conclusions and Recommendations. A bibliography is included. The following are appended: (1) List of institutions, agencies, and organizations around the country from which nominees for possible programs concerned with promoting minority high achievement were sought; (2) List of considered, but eliminated, programs; and (3) List of programs serving as exemplars of the vast array of efforts being mounted nationwide. [This report was written with the assistance of Julie Maxwell-Jolly.]
Noninvariant Measurement in Rater-Mediated Assessments of Teaching Quality
Author: Kelcey, Ben
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation,Measurement,Psychometrics,Classroom Observation Techniques,Interrater Reliability,Item Response Theory,Hierarchical Linear Modeling,Scores

Valid and reliable measurement of teaching is essential to evaluating and improving teacher effectiveness and advancing large-scale policy-relevant research in education (Raudenbush &amp; Sadoff, 2008). One increasingly common component of teaching evaluations is the direct observation of teachers in their classrooms. Classroom observations have been long viewed as a promising way to evaluate and develop teachers because they anchor assessments in specific and observable criteria (Gitomer, 2009). Despite the potential of classroom observations to identify strengths and address specific weaknesses in teachers' practices, a significant problem with observed teaching scores is that they confound construct-irrelevant variation with persistent teaching quality (i.e., observed scores are not independent of the characteristics of a specific observation). In observational assessments of teaching, one key source of construct-irrelevant variation is the differences among raters. Research has shown that even after extensive training there are important differences in how raters interpret evidence and that these differences potentially introduce variability in the structure of the scale established by the guiding rubric/instrument (e.g., Eckes, 2009; Hill, Charlambous, &amp; Kraft, 2012; Engelhard, 2002). The focus of this study was to develop and investigate a set of psychometric methods that accommodate, as best as possible, measurement noninvariance among raters. To estimate persistent teaching quality using rater-mediated classroom observations, a cross-classified multilevel random item effects graded response model was developed. Because instruments have different visions of teaching quality and use different systems and sets of competencies to operationalize these theories, instruments may vary in their sensitivity to rater effects. Instruments that are less sensitive to rater differences may reduce the value of the proposed method. Evidence from this study suggests the promise of random item effect models to address measurement non-invariance in rater-mediated assessments. However, there is a question of whether random item effects and the associated approximate measurement invariance can adequately compensate for differences in the scales raters use. Tables are appended.
Methodological Complications of Matching Designs under Real World Constraints: Lessons from a Study of Deeper Learning
Author: Zeiser, Kristina
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Research Methodology,College Readiness,Career Readiness,Teaching Methods,Learning Strategies,Quasiexperimental Design,High Schools,School Districts,Educational Research,Research Design,Intervention,Institutional Characteristics,Mathematical Concepts,High School Students,Secondary School Mathematics,Comparative Analysis,Experimental Groups,Educational Change,Disadvantaged Youth,Student Characteristics,Student Surveys,Problem Solving,Scores

To help researchers understand potential issues one can encounter when conducting propensity matching studies in complex settings, this paper describes methodological complications faced when studying schools using deeper learning practices to improve college and career readiness. The study uses data from high schools located in six districts across two states: California and New York. The study used a quasi-experimental matched design, in which each network school was matched to a non-network school within the same (or neighboring) school district. Results from the &quot;Study of Deeper Learning&quot; illustrated the tensions between the realities associated with conducting research based on matching methods and the simplicity of textbook study design and analysis. In this paper, different areas were examined in which the nature of the intervention being studied and the constraints and challenges of working with districts and schools affected design and analysis decisions and the potential threats to the validity of research findings. Tables are appended.
Improving Reading Outcomes in Kenya: First-Year Effects of the PRIMR Initiative
Author: Zuilkowski, Stephanie Simmons
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Reading Achievement,Reading Instruction,Reading Fluency,Reading Comprehension,Reading Improvement,Outcomes of Education,Intervention,Randomized Controlled Trials,Program Implementation,Grade 1,Grade 2,Oral Reading,Benchmarking,Program Effectiveness

If children do not learn how to read in the first few years of primary school, they will struggle to complete the cycle and are at greater risk of dropping out. It is therefore crucial to identify and test interventions that have the potential of making a large impact, can be implemented quickly, and are affordable to be taken to scale by the Kenyan government. This is the goal of the PRIMR Initiative--to test various options for improving learning outcomes and instruction in Kenyan schools, using a randomized controlled design. The design is essential to this contribution, as many pilot programs in the sector do not test the impacts of quality-improvement methods at a medium scale and with enough rigor to identify a causal impact. In this paper, the authors focus on early-grade literacy outcomes--reading fluency and comprehension--after one year of implementation for pupils in grades 1 and 2. Study findings indicated that the first year of PRIMR had a positive impact on the three outcomes of interest--oral reading fluency, the percentage of pupils who read at the MOE's benchmark, and reading comprehension--although not on all combinations of language, grade, and school type. Also, the meaningful first-year impacts of PRIMR on student achievement have implications for teacher professional development in Kenya. One table and one figure are appended.
Is Transition to a Special Education School an Effective Answer to Mathematics Difficulties?
Author: Vanlaar, Gudrun
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Special Education,Learning Problems,Mathematics Instruction,Student Needs,Mainstreaming,Special Schools,Foreign Countries,Quasiexperimental Design,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Mathematics Achievement,Student Characteristics,Databases,Teacher Surveys,Questionnaires,Parent Surveys,Scores,Elementary Schools,Longitudinal Studies

In this paper, the authors looked at the effectiveness of special education schools for mathematics learning. Mathematics education is a key to increasing the later professional and citizenship opportunities of students and mathematical understanding influences decision making in all areas of life. Additionally, math failure correlates highly with referral to special education, grade retention, and school dropout and are cumulative and worsen with time, therefore, early identification and intervention is important. Empirical data from Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, was used, which makes an interesting case study as it has a strong tradition of separate special education. Study results indicated that students with special educational needs are better off in mainstream education than in a special education school, at least as far as mathematics goes. Also, practical implications suggest that transferring students to special schools is, on average, not beneficial. One figure and one table are appended.
Omitted Variable Sensitivity Analysis with the Annotated Love Plot
Author: Hansen, Ben B.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Research Methodology,Quasiexperimental Design,Evaluation Methods,Comparative Analysis,Scoring,Probability,Elementary Secondary Education,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Measurement Techniques,Grade 11,Models,Statistical Analysis,Economics,Educational Research,Participation

The goal of this research is to make sensitivity analysis accessible not only to empirical researchers but also to the various stakeholders for whom educational evaluations are conducted. To do this it derives anchors for the omitted variable (OV)-program participation association intrinsically, using the Love plot to present a wide range of possible values in a compact yet intuitive manner. At the same time it calibrates anchor points for the OV-outcome association extrinsically, drawing on published descriptions of nationally representative samples. The overall approach requires a quasi-experimental comparison using matching or weighting for covariate adjustment. Study results report that what is gained in return is a vast widening of the audience for sensitivity analysis. Broadening participation increases the pool of information brought to bear on the inherently subjective assessments required to assess omitted variable sensitivity. One figure is appended.