ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
How Pilot Schools Authentically Assess Student Mastery
Author: Center for Collaborative Education
Date: 2004-01-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Performance Based Assessment,Performance Tests,Program Effectiveness,Pilot Projects,Cultural Pluralism,Student Diversity,Cultural Context,Elementary Secondary Education,School Choice,Program Implementation,Accountability,Context Effect

The purpose of this study is to document how member schools of the Boston Pilot Schools Network use authentic assessments to understand what their students know and can do. These principles not only reflect the belief that a student's learning must be measured in multiple, authentic ways, they also reflect the Network's focus on equitable practices--schools should take responsibility to encourage students from different contexts and cultures to show in diverse ways what they know and how they learn. This study provides documentation of a new generation of schools that have come of age after most of the foundational research on authentic assessment was produced. This paper offers a snapshot of the use of authentic assessment in the Pilot Schools and identify the challenges the schools face as they try to advance this work. This study contributes to the field by documenting performance assessment schools as they struggle to continue the work in a difficult political context. The researchers hope to inform those working with authentic assessment or evaluating its impact. Ideally, their work will also be of use to practitioners as they implement personalized assessments in an increasingly standardized environment. Pilot Schools Network Statement on Accountability is appended. (Contains 1 footnote and 26 resources.) [Funding for this report was provided by the Barr Foundation, the Goldberg Family Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation.]
The Difficult Transition to Adulthood for Foster Youth in the US: Implications for the State as Corporate Parent. Social Policy Report. Volume XXIII, Number I
Author: Courtney, Mark E.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Collected Works - Serial
Subjects: Foster Care,Children,Youth,Child Welfare,Welfare Services,Developmental Tasks,Readiness,Transitional Programs,Independent Living,State Government,Role,Child Rearing,Young Adults,Federal Legislation

Although they make up a relatively small proportion of all children in the U.S. foster care system, foster youth approaching adulthood have over the years attracted considerable attention from policymakers. Three times in the past 25 years the Social Security Act has been amended to try to better support the transition to adulthood for foster youth. The new Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act represents a fundamental shift away from the goal of preparing foster youth to be independent of state assistance by the age of majority towards an active engagement by government in parenting foster youth into adulthood. This policy shift reflects an evolving understanding of normative transitions to adulthood and growing knowledge of the particular challenges faced by foster youth in transition. In this report, I briefly describe the U.S. child welfare system, summarize research on the transition to adulthood for foster youth showing that they generally face a very difficult transition, and examine the evolution of U.S. policy towards foster youth using the concept of &quot;corporate parenting.&quot; I conclude that recent policy developments provide an excellent opportunity to improve transition outcomes for foster youth, but that lingering challenges still exist including: likely state reluctance to expand the parenting role; a poor knowledge base regarding the effectiveness of independent living services; the lack of established and well-evaluated models of coordination between child welfare agencies and other public institutions in supporting foster youth; the complex nature of &quot;permanency&quot; for foster youth in transition; and the fact that the new law still excludes important populations of foster youth. I argue that policy and program development must be accompanied by strategic use of research and evaluation to maximize the opportunity provided by the new policy regime. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [Commentaries by Jane Waldfogel, Robert Schwartz, and Jennifer Pokempner are included.]
Access to Pre-K Education under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Pre-K Policy Brief Series
Author: Boylan, Ellen
Date: 2010-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Homeless People,Disadvantaged Youth,Federal Legislation,Access to Education,Preschool Education,Public Education,Barriers,Student Transportation,Immunization Programs,Records (Forms),State Aid,Educational Finance,Enrollment,Federal Aid

The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (&quot;McKinney-Vento&quot;) provides federal funding to states to address the problems that homeless children and youth encounter in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in the nation's public schools. McKinney-Vento requires states to develop plans that ensure homeless children and youth the same access to free public education as is available to other students; eliminate barriers to enrollment, attendance, and success in school; prevent the segregation of homeless students from the mainstream school environment; and provide access to the education and services needed to ensure that homeless students have an opportunity to meet the same academic standards as all other students. Local education authorities (LEAs) are required under McKinney-Vento to ensure that homeless children and youth are immediately identified, enrolled in school, and provided with all necessary services, including transportation, to allow school attendance. This paper discusses the limitations of the McKinney-Vento Act and offers several suggestions on how states can increase homeless children's participation in state-funded Pre-K programs. (Contains 29 endnotes.)
Local Perspectives on WIA Reauthorization from a CAAL Roundtable of February 18, 2010. CAAL Policy Brief
Author: Chisman, Forrest P.
Date: 2010-03-26
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Adult Education,Labor Market,Education Work Relationship,Federal Government,Adult Literacy,Conferences (Gatherings),Career Development,Promotion (Occupational),Government Role,Federal Legislation,Basic Skills,Outcomes of Education,Barriers

On February 18, 2010, the Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy (CAAL) convened a Roundtable meeting of 19 leaders of local institutions identified by their peers as providing exemplary &quot;adult education for work&quot; service within a particular community or local labor market. The institutions are located in 16 states representing all regions of the United States. For this Roundtable project, &quot;adult education for work&quot; is defined as: &quot;the education and training that adults with low basic skills need to become prepared for postsecondary education or training, and for family-sustaining employment and career advancement.&quot; The February 18 Roundtable gave local leaders a forum in which to discuss--from their unique perspectives--changes that should be made in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) to provide greater support from the federal government for adult-education-for-work programs containing the components they had identified at the CAAL/NCEE meeting. A related goal was to identify the changes that should be made in WIA to take adult education for work &quot;to scale&quot;--i.e., to provide this service to a far larger percentage of adults who want and need it. The meeting was timed according to CAAL's best judgment about when Congress was likely to reauthorize WIA. National leadership organizations (including CAAL) have made a variety of proposals for WIA's future form. Due to the intricacies of WIA and the participants' natural focus on service delivery issues, the February 18 Roundtable produced few suggestions for &quot;specific&quot; legislative changes. But participants expressed strong and distinctive views about various aspects of WIA, the context within which reauthorization should be considered, and the form it should take. These views are summarized in this report. (Contains 2 footnotes.)
Policy and Statutory Responses to Advertising and Marketing in Schools. Legislation Policy Brief
Author: Molnar, Alex
Date: 2010-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: School Business Relationship,Corporate Support,Donors,Fund Raising,Educational Trends,Advertising,Marketing,Incentives,Integrity,Educational Policy,State Government,School Districts

This policy brief describes the growth of schoolhouse advertising and marketing activities in the last few decades, assesses the harms associated with commercial activities in schools, and provides advocates, policymakers, and educators with a policy framework and model legislative language designed to protect children and the integrity of education programs from advertising and marketing in schools. It identifies seven categories of commercial activities typically found in schools (exclusive agreements, appropriation of space, corporate-sponsored educational materials, sponsorship of programs and activities, electronic marketing, incentive programs, and fund raising), and provides model legislative language to regulate such activities. These statutory options illustrate three different policy tools: (a) mandates, (b) balancing tests and regulatory requirements, and (c) process-based reform. Multiple options are offered so that state legislatures and local school districts can tailor policy to local contexts, school-specific needs, and community demands. Appendices include: (1) Summary of Selected Legislation Pertaining to Commercialism in Public Schools; and (2) Extended Discussion of Forms of Commercial Activity in Schools. (Contains 1 figure and 86 notes.) [This paper was written with Shannon Hodge, Elizabeth Jansma, Zoe Palitz, and Linda Rangel.]
Making the Difference: The Children's Aid Society. 2009 Annual Report
Author: Children's Aid Society
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Child Welfare,Disadvantaged Youth,Juvenile Justice,Mental Health,Physical Health,Urban Environment,At Risk Persons,Adolescents,Opportunities,Access to Education,Integrated Services,Annual Reports

The Children's Aid Society's comprehensive, integrated services make the difference in the lives of poor children, bridging the gap between what they have and what they need to thrive. It reaches these children and families at critical moments--when a place to go, a person to talk to, or a connection to community could mean the difference between making it and not making it. It helps by creating healthy and wholesome nurturing communities within which families can grow and thrive. Last year, Children's Aid served 150,000 children and their families at more than 45 locations throughout the city. With services that span lives from the prenatal months to early adulthood years, The Children's Aid Society supports children's emotional and physical health, eliminates barriers to education and offers enrichment opportunities so children can learn to the fullest; it develops individual strengths and leadership potential so children can create the life of their dreams. This paper presents the Children's Aid Society's 2009 annual report. [For the 2008 Annual Report, see ED504232.]
The Role of External Facilitators in Whole School Reform: Teachers' Perceptions of How Coaches Influence School Change
Author: Center for Collaborative Education
Date: 2002-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: School Restructuring,Goal Orientation,Educational Change,Role,Academic Achievement,Educational Improvement,Cooperation,Models,Educational Practices,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Interviews,Coaching (Performance),Surveys,Leadership,Institutional Characteristics

This is the second in a series of reports that examines the role of coaches in facilitating school change. The report explains that as coaching, or external facilitation of school change, becomes a more widespread strategy for helping schools undergo comprehensive restructuring to create more professional collaborative cultures and to increase student achievement, the need for documentation of effective practices becomes greater. At the Center for Collaborative Education, a model of weekly coaching based on four core school-based practices has developed. The role of the coach was first discussed in a paper examining coaches' own perceptions of their role in schools, their relationship building with school staff, their short and long term goal setting, and their beliefs about change. This paper extends those findings by analyzing teacher and administrator perceptions of coaching practices in their schools. (Contains 6 tables, 1 figure, and 5 footnotes.)
The Challenge of Coaching: Providing Cohesion among Multiple Reform Agendas
Author: Tung, Rosann
Date: 2004-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Change,Coaching (Performance),Educational Environment,Educational Strategies,Educational Needs,Educational Objectives,Interviews,Professional Development,School Effectiveness,Definitions,School Districts,Specialists,Nonprofit Organizations,Urban Schools,School Culture,Change Strategies,Principals,Public School Teachers,Program Descriptions,Educational Principles,Equal Education,Minority Groups,Coding,Transcripts (Written Records),Discipline Problems,Educational Testing,Models,Educational Practices,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Questionnaires

This study probes more deeply on defining the &quot;reform agenda&quot; and answering the question, &quot;How do coaches balance pushing the reform agenda and meeting the immediate needs of school staff?&quot; This study first teases apart what coaches mean by &quot;reform agenda&quot; and &quot;immediate needs.&quot; The term &quot;reform agenda&quot; has multiple owners: the district reform agenda, the principal's reform agenda, Center for Collaborative Education's (CCE's) reform agenda, and/or the coach's reform agenda and therefore multiple meanings. The school staff's attitudes towards whole school change depend upon how they perceive and experience each reform agenda. This study identifies some of the &quot;immediate needs&quot; which potentially detract from the work of whole school change. It then describes coaches' strategies for achieving the balance between reform and reality, the challenges faced in achieving this balance, and ways that CCE may address these challenges to develop the coaching and reform models. Three appendices are included: (1) CCE Networks; (2) CCE Mission and Theory of Action; and (3) Interview Protocol. (Contains 1 table.)
A Common Intent to Understand: Boston Pilot School Directors Talk about Diversity
Author: Feldman, Jay
Date: 2003-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Low Income Groups,Academic Achievement,At Risk Students,Disadvantaged Youth,Educational Environment,Governance,Teacher Student Relationship,Teacher Collaboration,Parent Participation,Student Diversity,Minority Group Children,Discussion (Teaching Technique),Pilot Projects,Urban Schools,Interviews,Institutional Autonomy,Consciousness Raising,Racial Differences,Faculty Development,Racial Bias,Racial Attitudes,School Culture,Diversity (Faculty),Homosexuality,Curriculum Development,Personnel Directors

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing educators of today is to create and sustain high-quality educational environments for low-income students and students of color. The Boston Pilot Schools Network, a network of eleven small, innovative schools within the Boston Public Schools, can be a model for other schools and districts as to how to create schools in which students of color can achieve at the highest levels. There are several factors that contribute to the success of Pilot Schools. Pilot Schools operate within the Boston Public Schools, but have autonomy from the district over budget, staffing, governance, curriculum and assessment, and the school calendar. Pilot Schools use their autonomies and increased flexibility to organize their schools to meet two conditions known to support high student achievement--creating environments where students are well known to their teachers and providing teachers with adequate time to collaborate. Pilot Schools also use their autonomies to engage parents in the school, and parent engagement is linked to high student achievement, especially among students of color. Another proposed reason for the success of Pilot School students is that most Pilot Schools actively talk about diversity, and these conversations influence the structures, staffing, professional development, pedagogy, and curriculum of the school. The goal of this paper is to show the broad range of how and why Pilot Schools engage in these conversations. After presenting information on the history of the Pilot Schools, this paper describes research that examines the impact of diversity conversations in schools and the negative consequences for students when those conversations are silenced. Next, the results of a study examining how Pilot Schools think about and engage in diversity discussions is described. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for schools to develop the ability to engage in diversity conversations. (Contains 3 footnotes.)
Equity Overlooked: Charter Schools and Civil Rights Policy
Author: Frankenberg, Erica
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Public Policy,Charter Schools,Civil Rights,State Legislation,Racial Segregation,School Segregation,School Choice,Federal Government,Enrollment,Equal Education,Educational Trends,African American Students,Compliance (Legal),Socioeconomic Status,Student Diversity,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning

The Civil Rights Project (CRP) is in the midst of an analysis of rapidly growing charter school enrollment, which the authors anticipate releasing next month. Similar to trends described in their 2003 report and in other research on racial isolation in charter schools, they find higher levels of segregation for black students in charter schools compared to traditional public schools. This finding is particularly striking given that the CRP has reported increasing segregation for black (and Latino) students in public schools for nearly two decades. In other words, charter school segregation levels for black students are even outpacing steadily increasing public school segregation. As new incentives for expanding charter schools continue to emerge, it is critically important for the federal government to issue and enforce new guidance on charter schools and civil rights policy. With many states pursuing the expansion of charter school programs--in the face of mounting evidence linking charters to increased levels of segregation--there should be no further delay. This paper describes the contours of state legislation relating to charter schools and racial diversity, as well as limited oversight activities to monitor compliance with these policies. The authors also highlight serious gaps in charter school enrollment data based on an on-going Civil Rights Project analysis of charter school racial, socioeconomic and linguistic segregation. They conclude with recommendations for designing charter school civil rights policy to ensure that the spread of educational choice continues to provide equal opportunities and integrated education to students from all backgrounds. Survey of State Charter School Legislation about Diversity is appended. (Contains 86 footnotes.)
The Opportunity Illusion: Subsidized Housing and Failing Schools in California
Author: Pfeiffer, Deirdre
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Housing,Grants,Low Income,Tax Credits,Federal Programs,Educational Opportunities,Family Needs,Neighborhoods,Poverty,Building Trades,Construction Industry,Social Justice,Federal Legislation,Compliance (Legal),Program Effectiveness,Public Housing,Hispanic Americans,Racial Integration

Since the late 1980s, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program has funded the bulk of subsidized development nationwide, enabling the construction of over 100,000 units targeted to lower income households in California alone (California Tax Credit Allocation Committee 2009c). Yet, by not encouraging the siting of projects in racially integrated areas, the Department of the Treasury's Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which administers the program, has failed to enforce Title VIII of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. A major concern is that units funded through the program, specifically those targeted to families, are concentrated in poor, minority communities that feed into underperforming schools. This study tests this claim by examining how siting decisions affect families' neighborhood conditions and educational opportunities in Southern California. Between 2000 and 2005, the average LIHTC unit targeted to families was located in a high poverty, predominately Latino neighborhood. Poverty was a key determinant of a neighborhood's receipt of LIHTC family units, with a 10% increase in a neighborhood's poverty rate in 2000 associated with an 87% increase in the odds of receiving family units during the following five years. More heavily Latino neighborhoods, as well as those with existing LIHTC family developments, also were more likely to receive family units. (Contains 11 tables, 3 figures, and 46 footnotes.) [Foreword by Gary Orfield.]