ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Meeting the Needs of Struggling Adolescent Readers
Author: Stover, Katie
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Adolescents,Reading Difficulties,Student Needs,Tutoring,Individualized Instruction,Secondary School Teachers,Reading Instruction,Literacy Education,Student Evaluation,Middle School Students,High School Students

Research suggests that additional reading instruction is necessary to support struggling adolescent readers. In addition to time allocated for reading and access to appropriately leveled texts, many students need teacher support in learning and implementing a range of reading strategies. As a high school English teacher and a middle school Social Studies teacher pursuing advanced degrees in literacy, Allison and Carolyn were familiar with current trends in literacy research but lacked practical experience in helping struggling adolescent readers. It was not until working with a struggling reader in a one-on-one tutoring setting that they began to understand how to identify areas of weakness and develop differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners in their classrooms. Following a discussion of Allison's and Carolyn's stories, the authors offer suggestions for transferability to the larger classroom setting.
Using Alphabet Books across Grade Levels: More than 26 Opportunities
Author: Bradley, Karen Sue
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Alphabets,Books,Childrens Literature,Teaching Methods,Concept Formation,Elementary Secondary Education,Student Research,Interdisciplinary Approach,Multicultural Education,Thematic Approach,Sequential Approach,Individualized Instruction,Creativity,Vocabulary Development,Language Usage

In recent years, the popularity of alphabet books has spread into older grades, as they address a variety of themes and can be used across disciplines. Their complexity can stimulate thinking and offer a world of possibilities in the area of research. Students of all ages are motivated to create an alphabet book on a self-selected topic. The purpose of this article is to highlight a selection of alphabet books to highlight the literacy opportunities these books provide across grade levels. Russell (2012) emphasizes the value of alphabet books in abstract concept development, in their artistic creativity with information to stimulate learning, and in their pure aesthetic charm. Alphabet books can provide a model for narrative or expository structure. They can provide a structure for presenting information on a topic and they can facilitate language development. This article will include suggested titles and activities for using these books during instruction.
Teaching English-Spanish Cognates Using the Texas 2x2 Picture Book Reading Lists
Author: Montelongo, José A.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English,Spanish,Picture Books,Reading Lists,Reading Materials,Young Children,Preschool Education,Early Childhood Education,Primary Education,Vocabulary Development,Oral Reading,Spelling,Morphology (Languages),Language Usage,Kindergarten,Grade 1,Grade 2,Lesson Plans

English-Spanish cognates are words that possess identical or nearly identical spellings and meanings in both English and Spanish as a result of being derived mainly from Latin and Greek. Of major importance is the fact that many of the more than 20,000 cognates in English are academic vocabulary words, terms essential for comprehending school texts. The Texas 2x2 Reading List is a list of recommended reading books for children ranging in ages from pre-school to the early primary grades. The list is published yearly by the Children's Round Table, a division of the Texas Library Association. The books that comprise the Texas 2x2 Reading List are a rich source of vocabulary and contain many English-Spanish cognates. Teachers can use the Texas 2x2 picture books to create a cognate vocabulary lesson that can be taught as a companion to a picture book read-aloud. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the different types of cognate vocabulary lessons that may be created to accompany a picture book read-aloud. The lessons are based on the morphological and spelling regularities between English and Spanish cognates and can be used to teach students how to convert words from one language to another. Examples of the different types of regularities and the Texas 2x2 books that contain them are included, as is an example cognate vocabulary lesson plan to accompany the picture book, Oddrey (Whamond, 2012).
Pencil Size and Their Impact on Penmanship Legibility
Author: Sinclair, Becky
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Handwriting,Kindergarten,Preschool Education,Young Children,Resources,Psychomotor Skills,Intervention,Scoring Rubrics,Observation,Interviews,Gender Differences,Age Differences

Legible penmanship is important. However, young students have difficulty producing legible handwriting (Marr, Windsor, &amp; Cermak, 2001). As legible handwriting is a benefit for both the students and the teachers in the classroom setting, this study examined if pencil size had an impact on preschool and kindergarten students' handwriting. The students used four different pencil sizes over a two-week period. The data showed pencil size did not impact handwriting legibility but there was a pencil size preference difference between preschool and kindergarten students, which may impact the yearly student supply lists.
Co-Teaching Students with Mild to Moderate Disabilities Using Literature-Based Reading Instruction
Author: Swicegood, Philip
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Literacy Education,Team Teaching,Mild Intellectual Disability,Moderate Intellectual Disability,Teaching Methods,Reading Instruction,Literature,Inclusion,Regular and Special Education Relationship,Elementary Secondary Education,Program Development

Literacy instruction for students with mild to moderate special needs should include authentic literature. Literature-based reading instruction provides time for students to develop new knowledge and strategies in a supportive context. When reading instruction occurs in an inclusion classroom, it also allows time for general education and special education teachers to work together to intensify and individualize instruction for all students within the inclusion classroom. In this article, a systematic process for designing, implementing, and assessing instruction is presented.
High School Leadership: The Challenge of Managing Resources and Competencies
Author: Alsaaty, Falih M.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: High Schools,Public Schools,Principals,Leadership,Institutional Mission,Leadership Effectiveness,Administrator Surveys,Questionnaires,Educational Facilities,Technology Uses in Education,Teaching Load,Graduation Rate,College Bound Students,Governance,Academic Achievement,Faculty Development

High schools play a vital role in achieving and reflecting American ideals and culture. They provide the foundation for the country's economic, social, and political systems as well as the impetus for its scientific progress and technological superiority. The purpose of this study was to explore the challenges facing high schools' leadership in their efforts to manage available resources and accomplish their mission of educational excellence. Contrary to popular perception, the study found that the overall situation of the schools surveyed was highly satisfactory even though additional financial and other resources--coupled with strategic planning--could enhance the schools' competencies and intensify their contribution to the nation's global competitiveness.
Ensuring That Family Engagement Initiatives Are Successful, Sustainable, and Scalable
Author: Geller, Joanna D.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Family Involvement,Family School Relationship,Grants,Interpersonal Relationship,Sustainability,Financial Support,Human Resources

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education launched the highly competitive Investing in Innovation (i3) initiative. School districts and nonprofit partners nationwide have competed for coveted funds to develop a new program, validate an existing program with some evidence of success, or scale up a program backed by ample evidence. Very quickly, however, it became clear to the community of family engagement grantees that i3 was not going to be the panacea for the field's struggles to prove itself worthy. This issue of &quot;Voices in Urban Education&quot; (&quot;VUE&quot;) provides an opportunity for i3 grantees to share the real story of what it takes to successfully implement and scale up a family engagement initiative across schools, districts, and states. &quot;VUE&quot; gave authors a fairly general prompt: &quot;What lessons can we learn from i3 grants about how to build the right conditions for family engagement initiatives to flourish?&quot; Interestingly, author(s) focused on the people--and the relationships among those people--that made their work possible. The authors describe the transformative work that has happened both within and outside of schools, and they openly share the long and sometimes painstaking journeys that have led them to where they are today. Together, the articles in this issue have important implications for family engagement practitioners, funders, and policy-makers.
Early College High Schools: A Proposed Solution to Secondary Transition Services
Author: Bridges, Jeanne M.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: High Schools,College Preparation,College Readiness,Special Education,Student Needs,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Rural Schools,Disabilities,Transitional Programs,Educational Legislation,Equal Education,Federal Legislation,Interviews,Data Analysis

This qualitative case study examines the challenges facing rural secondary schools in transitioning youth from high school to post-secondary education and careers, and whether the interventions, strategies and support built into the Early College High School could offer a solution to this long-standing challenge to better meet the needs of special education students.
Fostering Family Engagement through Shared Leadership in the District, Schools, and Community
Author: Martinez, Patricia
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Districts,Low Income,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Cultural Differences,Program Descriptions,Partnerships in Education,Grants,Disadvantaged Youth,Preschool Education,School Readiness,Academic Achievement,Elementary School Students,Classroom Techniques,Community Involvement,Educational Change,Parent Education,Family School Relationship,Public Agencies,Instructional Leadership

Collaboration is tough even in ideal circumstances. How do you begin to effect change when nearly half of the families in a district speak a language other than English in the home, but traditional education models rarely emphasize the strengths of cultural or linguistic diversity? Or when nearly all students live in low-income families and face social and economic challenges beyond the classroom? The &quot;We Are A Village&quot; initiative began in 2013 as a collaboration--funded by a U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant--between the Rhode Island, Central Falls School District (CFSD), Children's Friend (providing Head Start and preschool), Bradley Early Childhood Clinical Research Center, and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. The project focused on improving school readiness and academic achievement in five schools that serve young children, from preschool to third grade, using strategies recommended in the Head Start Family and Community Engagement framework and embedding the evidence-based Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management and Parenting programs. &quot;Village&quot; draws on the knowledge that collaborative relationships between families and schools, and between schools and community agencies, can greatly benefit children. A culture of collaboration set the standard for the entire district, valuing the resources, energy, time, and expertise of school personnel, families, and the community. In Central Falls, they discovered that the work of true family engagement can be slow, hard, and painful at times, but very rewarding.
Performance of Men and Women on Multiple-Choice and Constructed-Response Tests for Beginning Teachers. Research Report. ETS RR-04-48
Author: Livingston, Samuel A.
Date: 2004-11-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Gender Differences,Multiple Choice Tests,Beginning Teachers,Hypothesis Testing,Secondary School Teachers,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Middle School Teachers,Responses,English Instruction,Social Studies,Science Instruction,Mathematics Instruction,Biology,Scores,Elementary School Teachers

Some previous research results imply that women tend to perform better, relative to men, on constructed-response (CR) tests than on multiple-choice (MC) tests in the same subjects. An analysis of data from several tests used in the licensing of beginning teachers supported this hypothesis, to varying degrees, in most of the tests investigated. The hypothesis was strongly supported in Praxis™ Principles of Learning and Teaching tests for secondary school teachers and in subject-knowledge tests for social studies teachers, science teachers, and middle school mathematics teachers. Evidence for the hypothesis was weak in subject-knowledge tests for middle school English teachers and for secondary school mathematics teachers. Subject-knowledge tests for secondary school English teachers did not show the hypothesized relationship. The analysis was based on plots showing the cumulative percentages of men and women attaining each possible score on the MC and CR tests.
User's Guide for SCORIGHT (Version 3.0): A Computer Program for Scoring Tests Built of Testlets Including a Module for Covariate Analysis. Research Report. ETS RR-04-49
Author: Wang, Xiaohui
Date: 2005-01-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computer Assisted Testing,Statistical Analysis,Test Items,Bayesian Statistics,Markov Processes,Monte Carlo Methods,Computation,Scores,Learning Modules,Item Response Theory,Computer Oriented Programs

SCORIGHT is a very general computer program for scoring tests. It models tests that are made up of dichotomously or polytomously rated items or any kind of combination of the two through the use of a generalized item response theory (IRT) formulation. The items can be presented independently or grouped into clumps of allied items (testlets) or in any combination of the two. When there are testlets, the program assesses the degree of local dependence and adjusts the estimates accordingly. The estimation is accomplished within a fully Bayesian framework using Markov chain Monte Carlo procedures, which allows the easy calculation of many important characteristics of the scores that are not available with other methods. The current version of SCORIGHT, version 3.0, includes a new module that allows the user to include covariates in the analysis.
Alternative Loglinear Smoothing Models and Their Effect on Equating Function Accuracy. Research Report. ETS RR-09-48
Author: Moses, Tim
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accuracy,Equated Scores,Statistical Analysis,Models,Sample Size,Goodness of Fit

This simulation study evaluated the potential of alternative loglinear smoothing strategies for improving equipercentile equating function accuracy. These alternative strategies use cues from the sample data to make automatable and efficient improvements to model fit, either through the use of indicator functions for fitting large residuals or by averaging raw and smoothed frequencies. The strategies were studied across equating conditions based on rights-scored and formula-scored test data. Sample sizes were also manipulated. The results showed that the considered strategies produced equating functions with improved on-average accuracy but with added random variability. Of the considered alternative strategies, the frequency averaging strategy produced the most accurate equating functions for most of the evaluations done in the study. The frequency averaging strategy is recommended for circumstances where the desired loglinear model appears to fit the data poorly and where time constraints and/or data conditions make traditional modeling approaches unrealistic.
Population Invariance and Linear Equating for the Non-Equivalent Groups Design. Research Report. ETS RR-04-47
Author: von Davier, Alina A.
Date: 2004-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Equated Scores,Test Construction,Methods,Comparative Analysis

This study investigates the population sensitivity of the commonly used linear equating methods in the Non-Equivalent-groups with an Anchor Test (NEAT) design: the Tucker, the Levine observed-score, and the chain linear methods. For a detailed analysis of the subject, we apply three distinctive approaches to a real data set from a NEAT design: a) the RMSD index for the NEAT design of von Davier, Holland, and Thayer (2004); b) the parallel-linking system of Dorans and Holland (2000), and c) the pseudo-NEAT design approach of von Davier, Holland, and Thayer (2003). The data set is used to illustrate the derivations on male and female subpopulations. Comparisons of the results obtained using linear and equipercentile equating are also presented. For this particular data set the Levine function seems to vary less across subpopulations than the other methods; the Tucker method seems to vary the most.
Comparison of Unidimensional and Multidimensional Approaches to IRT Parameter Estimation. Research Report. ETS RR-04-44
Author: Zhang, Jinming
Date: 2004-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Comparative Analysis,Item Response Theory,Computation,Statistical Analysis,Maximum Likelihood Statistics,Simulation

It is common to assume during statistical analysis of a multiscale assessment that the assessment has simple structure or that it is composed of several unidimensional subtests. Under this assumption, both the unidimensional and multidimensional approaches can be used to estimate item parameters. This paper theoretically demonstrates that these two approaches are the same if the joint maximum likelihood method is used to estimate parameters. However, they are different from each other if the marginal maximum likelihood method is applied. A simulation study is then conducted in this paper to further compare the unidimensional and multidimensional approaches with marginal maximum likelihood method. The simulation results indicate that when the number of items is small the multidimensional approach provides more accurate estimates of item parameters, while the unidimensional approach prevails if the test length is long enough. Further, the impact of violation of the simple structure assumption is also investigated. Specifically the correlation coefficient between subscales will be highly overestimated when the simple structure assumption is violated. [This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April 2004.]
Making Space for Collaboration and Leadership: The Role of Program Staff in Successful Family Engagement Initiatives
Author: Fletcher, Monique
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Family Involvement,Cooperation,Parent School Relationship,Partnerships in Education,Leadership Role,Leadership Responsibility,Parent Participation,Resource Centers,School Community Relationship,School Community Programs,Transformational Leadership,Elementary Secondary Education

Parent engagement coordinators provide the foundation for family engagement by modeling shared leadership, facilitating trust, and creating space to build partnerships with parents and schools. The Children's Aid Society (CAS) partnered with the New York City Department of Education, schools, and the community to provide resources and supports to students and their families using the Family Success Network community school model. In their work, they found that the success of parent engagement initiatives, particularly with a short-term grant such as the i3, depended heavily on the skills of parent engagement coordinators and the engagement levels of the school staff. Offering training, preparation, and support for parent engagement coordinators allows them to model collaborative leadership, value the voices of parents, and create space for building partnerships with parents within school communities. This model was established in the Washington Heights community schools, and in the South Bronx. Establishing parent leaders is central to the work of parent engagement, and developing a culture of shared decision-making was the first step to preparing the parent engagement coordinators. Once a culture of shared leadership had been established, parent leaders themselves serve as important models to show the entire community how powerful parents can be.
Effect of Repeaters on Score Equating in a Large-Scale Licensure Test. Research Report. ETS RR-09-27
Author: Kim, Sooyeon
Date: 2009-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Equated Scores,Licensing Examinations (Professions),Test Construction,Repetition,Norm Referenced Tests,Test Wiseness,High Stakes Tests,Regression (Statistics)

This study investigated the subgroup invariance of equating functions for a licensure test in the context of a nonequivalent groups with anchor test (NEAT) design. Examinees who had taken a new, to-be-equated form of the test were divided into three subgroups according to their previous testing experience: (a) repeaters who previously took the reference form, to which the new form would be equated; (b) repeaters who previously took any form other than the reference form; and (c) first-time test takers for whom the new form was the first exposure to the test. Equating functions obtained with two subgroups, all repeaters, and first-time test takers were similar to those obtained with the total group, supporting score equatability of the two forms. However, when the repeater subgroup was divided into two groups based on the particular form examinees took previously, subgroup equating functions substantially differed from the total-group equating function, indicating subgroup dependency of score equating. The results indicate that repeater membership needs to be more clearly specified to assess the impact of repeaters on score equating. Such clarification may be especially necessary for high-stakes licensure tests because repeaters tend to perform more poorly on such tests than first-time test takers.
Assessing Fit of Latent Regression Models. Research Report. ETS RR-09-50
Author: Sinharay, Sandip
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Regression (Statistics),Models,Goodness of Fit,National Competency Tests,Statistical Analysis

The reporting methods used in large-scale educational assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) rely on a &quot;latent regression model&quot;. There is a lack of research on the assessment of fit of latent regression models. This paper suggests a simulation-based model-fit technique to assess the fit of such models. The technique consists of investigating whether basic statistical summaries are predicted adequately by the latent regression model. Application of the suggested technique to an operational NAEP data set reveals important information regarding the fit of the latent regression model to the data.