ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Putting Michigan in the Driver's Seat for the Race to the Top
Author: Doherty, Kathryn
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Human Capital,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Educational Change,Competition,Grants,Public Schools,Educational Strategies,State Standards,Federal Aid,Federal Programs,Elementary Secondary Education,Federal Legislation,Higher Education,Teacher Qualifications,Academic Degrees

In this paper, the authors lay out a number of features of &quot;Race to the Top&quot; funding and what states like Michigan should expect from the upcoming competition. They then provide a description of the kind of strategies--including next steps broken down by key actors and back-of-the-envelope cost calculations for implementing such strategies--being promoted both by Department officials as well as the many influential education reform groups that have the Department's ear. National Council on Teacher Quality recently prepared a white paper for Colorado that provided much of the basic advice and information included in this report. The authors outline in this brief the same human capital strategies they provided to Colorado. They issue the same general advice and tips for being competitive in the &quot;Race to the Top&quot;. In this paper, however, they have tailored, where appropriate, their specific implementation recommendations and cost calculations to the particulars of Michigan's education system. The Impact of Teachers' Advanced Degrees on Student Learning (Metin Ozdemir and Wendy Stevenson) is appended. (Contains 44 footnotes.)
A Bayesian Semiparametric Multivariate Causal Model, with Automatic Covariate Selection   and for Possibly-Nonignorable Missing Data
Author: Karabatsos, G.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Bayesian Statistics,Causal Models,Educational Research,Writing Instruction,Reading Achievement,Low Income Groups,Elementary School Students,Grade 4,Sampling,Data Analysis,Inferences,Context Effect

Causal inference is central to educational research, where in data analysis the aim is to learn the causal effects of educational treatments on academic achievement, to evaluate educational policies and practice. Compared to a correlational analysis, a causal analysis enables policymakers to make more meaningful statements about the efficacy of educational treatments. The fundamental problem of causal inference is that, at a given time, each subject can be exposed to only one of the treatments (Holland, 1986). Causal inference becomes inaccurate whenever data violate certain assumptions that are often made in practice, including: (1) the usual assumption of no outliers in the potential outcomes, (2) the typical assumptions that the treatment assignments have no outliers, no hidden bias (e.g., Rosenbaum, 2002), no confounding, and satisfy the Stable Unit Treatment Value Assumption (SUTVA; Cox, 1958); (3) the usual assumption that the missing data values are either missing-at-random (MAR) or missing-completely-at-random (MCAR) (Little & Rubin, 2002; Ibrahim, Chen, Lipsitz, & Herring, 2005), and (4) the usual assumption that parameter estimation requires no penalty for the absolute size of regression coefficients. To address the four open issues of causal modeling, the authors introduce a Bayesian semiparametric causal model, which provides a semiparametric approach to the full Rubin (1978) Causal Model. The paper presents their semiparametric causal model in full detail. The authors then illustrate this model through the analysis of data from the Progress In International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), to infer the causal effects of a writing instructional treatment on the reading performance of low-income students. This analysis is performed in a typical context of an observational study where SUTVA is potentially violated by the interference of subjects within each classroom, with many covariates describing the student, teacher, classroom, and school, where hidden bias and confounding can be present, and where there are missing covariate, treatment assignment, and potential outcome data, that can either be randomly (MCAR or MAR) or nonignorably missing. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.
Ed School Essentials: A Review of Illinois Teacher Preparation. Executive Summary
Author: National Council on Teacher Quality
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Schools of Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Colleges,Accreditation (Institutions),Educational Change,Higher Education,Undergraduate Study,Graduate Study,Evaluation,Special Education,Educational Improvement

There have been many attempts over the years to identify the features of a good education school, but none is like the effort here, a comprehensive examination of the 53 institutions in Illinois. The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has undertaken this outsized effort because it is desperately needed. Well over a century after formal teacher preparation became the norm, followed by decades of multiple attempts at reform by the federal government, state governments and national accrediting bodies, the core components of teacher preparation have yet to be adequately defined. In this effort, the authors pursue what they believe to be a singular definition of high-quality teacher preparation, namely identifying the necessary preparation and assessment that superintendents and principals say their new teachers &quot;should&quot; have had but routinely do not &quot;receive&quot;. If teacher quality is to improve, it is imperative that prospective teachers, school districts, Illinois policymakers and the public learn more about the quality of teacher preparation by institutions of higher education. That was the motivation behind a decision by Advance Illinois, a relatively new state education advocacy group, to ask NCTQ to review all of the education schools in Illinois. In Illinois, they evaluated 111 undergraduate and graduate programs in 53 education schools, as well as three &quot;independent providers&quot; that recruit, but do not fully train, teachers. This is the first time they have evaluated graduate programs, not just undergraduate, and they have expanded the scope of their evaluation of special education. Each program is evaluated against a set of standards drawn from 39 standards in total that indicate if education schools are, first and foremost, attracting talented individuals and, second, preparing them in the specific ways that will make teachers more effective in the classroom. Keep in mind when interpreting the results that the point of this review is not to assess whether an Illinois education school is producing good or bad teachers. The most meaningful way to look at these findings is not at the institutional level, but at the level of the undergraduate and graduate programs housed within those institutions. They provide ratings on individual standards and program grades in their report. [For the full report, see ED512668.]
Compliance-Effect Correlation Bias in Instrumental Variables Estimators
Author: Reardon, Sean F.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Social Science Research,Least Squares Statistics,Computation,Correlation,Educational Research,Statistical Bias,Sampling,Research Design,Evaluation Methods,Intervention,Research Methodology,Research Problems,Measurement

Instrumental variable estimators hold the promise of enabling researchers to estimate the effects of educational treatments that are not (or cannot be) randomly assigned but that may be affected by randomly assigned interventions. Examples of the use of instrumental variables in such cases are increasingly common in educational and social science research. The most commonly used instrumental variables estimator is two-stage least squares (2SLS). Many of the properties of the 2SLS estimator are well-understood, including its identifying assumptions and the issue of finite sample bias. Less well understood, however, is the behavior of the 2SLS estimator when individuals are heterogeneous in their compliance with the instrument (that is, heterogeneous in the extent to which the instrument affects their behavior). This paper investigates the effects of heterogeneous compliance on 2SLS estimates and the conditions under which such heterogeneous compliance results in bias. Findings reveal that the 2SLS estimator may be severely biased by correlations between instrument compliance and mediator effects, even if all the standard IV assumptions are met. This bias is in addition to finite sample bias, and is, in fact, exacerbated by weak instruments. Because there are many conditions that might yield compliance-effect correlations, this source of bias should be considered in designing and interpreting the results of studies that rely on instrumental variables estimation.
Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. National Education Technology Plan, 2010
Author: Department of Education (ED), Office of Educational Technology
Date: 2010-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Research and Development,Technology Planning,Lifelong Learning,Educational Technology,Federal Government,Access to Education,Federal Aid,Technology Uses in Education,Learning,Educational Change,Educational Assessment,Instruction,Productivity,Student Improvement,Academic Achievement,Best Practices,Learning Experience,Teachers,Stakeholders,School Districts,State Government,Government Role,Educational Finance

This report presents the Administration's National Education Technology Plan. This plan calls for applying the advanced technologies used in everyone's daily personal and professional lives to the entire education system to improve student learning, accelerate and scale up the adoption of effective practices, and use data and information for continuous improvement. The model of learning described in this plan calls for engaging and empowering personalized learning experiences for learners of all ages. The model stipulates that educators focus what and how they teach to match what people need to know and how they learn. It calls for using state-of-the-art technology and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) concepts to enable, motivate, and inspire all students to achieve, regardless of background, languages, or disabilities. It calls for ensuring that professional educators are well connected to the content and resources, data and information, and peers and experts they need to be highly effective. And it calls for leveraging the power of technology to support continuous and lifelong learning. The National Education Technology Plan presents five goals with recommendations for states, districts, the federal government, and other stakeholders. Each goal addresses one of the five essential components of learning powered by technology: Learning, Assessment, Teaching, Infrastructure, and Productivity. The plan also calls for &quot;grand challenge&quot; research and development initiatives to solve crucial long-term problems that stakeholders believe should be funded and coordinated at a national level. Appendices include: (1) How This Plan Was Developed; (2) Contributors; and (3) Acknowledgments. (Contains 4 figures.) [For the accompanying draft report, &quot;Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. National Educational Technology Plan, 2010. Draft&quot;, see ED509205.]
Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers: Are Colorado's Education School Graduates Ready to Teach Reading and Mathematics in Elementary Classrooms?
Author: Greenberg, Julie
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Methods Courses,Teacher Education Curriculum,Teacher Effectiveness,Textbooks,Graduates,Program Effectiveness,Basic Skills,Reading Instruction,Textbook Evaluation,College Graduates,Teacher Improvement,Educational Change,Undergraduate Study,Achievement Gap,Elementary Education,Elementary School Teachers,Mathematics Instruction,Algebra,Admission Criteria,College Admission,Exit Examinations,State Standards,Schools of Education

Improving teacher effectiveness is high on the list of most education reformers in Colorado, as it is nationally. Effective teaching in the elementary years is of vital importance to ensure not only that children master fundamental skills, but that performance gaps narrow rather than widen beyond repair. Disadvantaged students can catch up academically with their more advantaged peers if they have great elementary teachers several years in a row. This study evaluates Colorado's 15 undergraduate elementary teacher preparation programs across four critical areas: (1) Admission standards; (2) Teacher preparation in reading; (3) Teacher preparation in elementary mathematics; and (4) Exit standards. Findings of this study include the following: (1) Colorado's colleges and universities are more selective than colleges and universities across the country, allowing some of its teacher preparation programs to benefit from a more selective pool of applicants; (2) While most preparation programs in Colorado provide some exposure to effective reading instruction, they do not fully prepare candidates to teach the science of reading; (3) Programs use a wide variety of reading textbooks, many of which do not address the science of reading; (4) Only two Colorado preparation programs satisfactorily cover the mathematics content that elementary teachers need, and eight are seriously deficient. Algebra instruction, while stronger than the national average, is still inadequate; (5) Colorado's preparation programs vary widely in selected textbooks for mathematics content coursework; (6) Most of Colorado's preparation programs have a dedicated elementary mathematics methods course; and (7) No preparation program in the state ensures that aspiring elementary teachers know the science of reading instruction and understand elementary mathematics content at a depth that is sufficient for instruction. Appendices include: (1) Ratings of Reading Textbooks; (2) Ratings of Elementary Content Mathematics Textbooks; and (3) Comments from Colorado Teacher Preparation Programs. (Contains 28 footnotes.)
Navigating the Race to the Top Traffic Jam
Author: National Council on Teacher Quality
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Performance Based Assessment,Academic Achievement,Evaluation,Public Agencies,Federal Government,Education,Educational Change,Tenure,Program Proposals,Accountability

Early last week the U.S. Department of Education announced an unexpected 16 finalists for the first round of Race to the Top (RTT) funding--a veritable traffic jam in the Race to the Top. The finalists have requested a total of $6.5 billion in funds, but only $4.3 billion is up for grabs, and that needs to be spread over two rounds of competition. So this week, as they pitch their proposals in the nation's capitol, the Department is seeking to narrow considerably the field of contenders. To help navigate the traffic, the National Council on Teacher Quality has reviewed the "Great Teachers and Leaders" section of each finalist application, and this report provides a take on which applications are a "go" (green light), in which instances the Department should proceed with caution (yellow light), and in which cases the Department ought to put on the brakes (red light). To begin, this report offers a few observations about general road conditions, looking across the finalists.
A Race to the Top Scorecard: How the "Great Teachers and Leaders" Assurance Area Can Help States Maximize Their Odds of Winning a "Race to the Top" Grant
Author: National Council on Teacher Quality
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Human Capital,Educational Change,Federal Aid,Grants,Competition,Educational Planning,Teacher Effectiveness,Leadership,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gap,Achievement Gains,School Effectiveness,Scores,Institutional Evaluation,Academic Standards,Educational Improvement,Low Achievement

Most states are now working in earnest to respond to the U.S. Department of Education's invitation for applications for the $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" fund (RTT), described by Secretary Arne Duncan as a "once in a lifetime chance to change our schools." Although the Department is clear that states must articulate a coherent and comprehensive plan across four reform areas--Standards and Assessments; Data Systems; Great Teachers and Leaders; and Turning Around Low-Achieving Schools, there is one critical take away for states to understand: The Great Teachers and Leaders area of the application is a clear make or break for states. It is the most important single assurance area in terms of points assigned. It alone can earn a state 138 points out of the 500 total points for the application, more than a quarter of the entire RTT point allocation. The Department is sending a clear message about tackling human capital reform. It recognizes that human capital is an area where bold change is needed in education, and also where states can leverage strong influence. However, there are currently few state exemplars. Human capital reform will be challenging and contentious and, to date, states have been unwilling to take it on in a comprehensive manner. It will require break the mold initiatives and iron political will on the part of states to undertake a human capital reform agenda--and, accordingly, the Department has assigned the big points and promised the big money for this tough work. The scorecard presented in this report offers smart guesses for how much various human capital strategies might be worth. Each of the five areas presented were defined by the Department and assigned various point values in the RTT notice. This paper takes their thinking a step further and assigns points for particular strategies. (Contains 1 footnote.)
Read Alouds Enhanced with Tier 2 Instruction: Closing the Vocabulary and Comprehension Gap in First Grade
Author: Baker, Scott
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Small Group Instruction,Vocabulary Skills,Vocabulary Development,Grade 1,Reading Comprehension,Effective Schools Research,Oral Reading,Reading Instruction,Reading Research,Curriculum Implementation,Reading Achievement,At Risk Students,Instructional Effectiveness,Federal Aid,Language Skills,Pretests Posttests,Comparative Analysis,Matched Groups,Reading Improvement

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of tier 2 instruction on the comprehension and vocabulary of first grade students identified with low language and vocabulary skills. Specifically, the authors conducted a pilot study within the context of federally funded efficacy research to examine whether students participating in interactive read alouds during regular classroom instruction (Read Aloud Curriculum--tier 1) benefited from additional small group instruction. Small group instruction was used to enhance whole class read alouds with pre-teaching and review activities. A total of 18 classrooms from nine Title I schools in the Pacific Northwest participated in the study. The preliminary results indicate that small group instruction appears to enhance the vocabulary knowledge of students identified with low vocabulary and language skills. Results are particularly noteworthy given that moderate effects were observed with modest levels of instruction. The tier 2 intervention only consisted of 20 minutes of instruction implemented twice each week. Overall, results support adding a small group component to whole class read alouds. Small group instruction enhanced tier 1 content by adding more opportunities to learn and expressively use vocabulary in text-based discourse. Teachers were able to pre-teach, enhance, and review Read Aloud Curriculum vocabulary for at-risk learners. (Contains 1 table.)
The Targeted Reading Intervention: A Classroom Teacher Professional Development Program to Promote Effective Teaching for Struggling Readers in Kindergarten and First Grade
Author: Vernon-Feagans, Lynne
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Rural Schools,Teacher Effectiveness,Intervention,Consultants,Educational Technology,Kindergarten,Reading Skills,Grade 1,Inservice Teacher Education,Educational Strategies,Distance Education,Coaching (Performance),Laptop Computers,Teleconferencing,Video Technology,Computer Software,Word Recognition,Individualized Instruction,Pretests Posttests,Reading Tests,Student Characteristics,Teacher Characteristics,Disadvantaged,Reading Instruction,Curriculum Implementation,Reading Achievement,At Risk Students,Instructional Effectiveness,Federal Aid,Comparative Analysis,Matched Groups,Reading Improvement,Reading Diagnosis,Reading Difficulties

The main objective of the overall Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) was to help the classroom teacher acquire the key reading diagnostic strategies (e.g., Cooter, 2003; Desimone, 2009; Garet et al., 2001; Timperley &amp; Phillips, 2003) relevant to K-1 struggling readers (e.g., Desimone, 2009; Garet et al., 2001; Guskey, 2002; Joyce &amp; Showers, 2002; Penuel et al., 2007; Taylor, Pressley &amp; Pearson, 2004) through the authors' professional development program. In the present study the authors employed an innovative distance technology model to deliver professional development and real-time collaborative coaching to isolated rural schools. Each experimental classroom received a laptop, webcam, and webconferencing software. This technology was used with each experimental teacher so that the authors could see and hear her working with each of her struggling readers in real time and she could see and hear the literacy consultants at their university thousands of miles away. Through this technology the literacy consultants could coach the classroom teacher in using the TRI strategies and also use the technology of grade level meetings and workshops throughout the year. Findings of this study suggests that the Targeted Reading Intervention, using webcam technology with classroom teachers in kindergarten and first grade, can significantly help struggling readers progress more quickly in all of the basic word reading and comprehension skills over one year. In addition, for the basic word reading skills, the TRI can actually help struggling readers catch up with their non-struggling peers in the same classroom by the end of the school year. Future work is needed to understand what actual teacher knowledge and practice constructs that might mediate the relationship between treatment and student outcomes. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)
Multipurpose Spaces
Author: Gordon, Douglas
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: School Space,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Trends,Interior Space,Design Requirements,Food Service,Lighting,Physical Activities,Acoustics

The concept of multipurpose spaces in schools is certainly not new. Especially in elementary schools, the combination of cafeteria and auditorium (and sometimes indoor physical activity space as well) is a well-established approach to maximizing the use of school space and a school district's budget. Nonetheless, there continue to be refinements in technology and design configurations that improve the performance of these facilities. From acoustics and lighting to adaptable seating and efficient use of stage, storage, and food preparation spaces, the design and use of these seemingly simple assembly spaces is actually quite complex. Education institutions have trouble justifying huge spaces that have only one function and sit empty most of the day. The answer is creating multipurpose spaces that can accommodate a number of functions. This paper discusses: (1) the evolution of the concept of multipurpose spaces; (2) key issues for multipurpose spaces; and (3) design principles for multipurpose spaces. [This paper is an updated version of the 2000 publication, "Multipurpose Spaces", by Dan Butin (ED446423).]