ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Dear Colleague Letter: School Enrollment Procedures
Author: Lhamon, Catherine E.
Date: 2014-05-08
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Enrollment,School Districts,Children,Access to Education,Public Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Equal Education,Educational Opportunities,Federal Aid,Compliance (Legal),Civil Rights,Laws,Federal Courts,Court Litigation,Immigration,Public Schools,Civil Rights Legislation,Federal Legislation,School Desegregation,Desegregation Litigation,Undocumented Immigrants

Under Federal law, State and local educational agencies (hereinafter &quot;districts&quot;) are required to provide all children with equal access to public education at the elementary and secondary level. Thie Dear Colleague letter was written to remind school districts of the Federal obligation to provide equal educational opportunities to all children residing within each district and to offer Federal assistance to ensure that the districts comply with the law. To comply with these Federal civil rights laws, as well as the mandates of the Supreme Court, districts must not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and that students are not barred from enrolling in public schools at the elementary and secondary level on the basis of their own citizenship or immigration status or that of their parents or guardians. Moreover, districts may not request information with the purpose or result of denying access to public schools on the basis of race, color, or national origin. This letter updates and replaces the May 6, 2011 letter and provides examples of permissible enrollment practices, as well as examples of the types of information that may not be used as a basis for denying a student entrance to school.
Addressing the Role of Working Memory in Mathematical Word-Problem Solving When Designing Intervention for Struggling Learners
Author: Fuchs, Lynn
Date: 2019-07-03
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Short Term Memory,Mathematics Instruction,Word Problems (Mathematics),Problem Solving,Intervention,Learning Problems,Cognitive Processes,Learning Strategies,Capacity Building,Schemata (Cognition)

The focus of this article is the well documented association between low working memory capacity and difficulty with mathematical word-problem solving. We begin by describing a model that specifies how various cognitive resources, including working memory, contribute to individual differences in word-problem solving and by then summarizing findings on the relation between working memory and word-problem solving. This sets the context for the article's main purpose and major section: to describe the findings of research studies that take one of two approaches for addressing the needs of students with low working memory within word-problem solving intervention. One approach focuses on &quot;compensating&quot; for working memory limitations; the other on &quot;building&quot; working memory capacity. We then suggest the need for research on integrating the two approaches by embedding working memory training within explicit word-problem solving intervention. [This is the in press version of an article published in &quot;ZDM Mathematics Education.&quot;]
Spending More on the Poor? A Comprehensive Summary of State-Specific Responses to School Finance Reforms from 1990-2014. CEPA Working Paper No. 19-01
Author: Shores, Kenneth A.
Date: 2019-02-12
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Finance,Resource Allocation,School Districts,Finance Reform,Income,Predictor Variables,Expenditure per Student,Economically Disadvantaged,Influences,Politics of Education,Educational Policy,Elementary Secondary Education

Sixty-seven school finance reforms (SFRs) in 26 states have taken place since 1990; however, there is little empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of SFR effects. We provide a comprehensive description of how individual reforms affected resource allocation to low- and high-income districts within states, including both financial and non-financial outcomes. After summarizing the heterogeneity of individual SFR impacts, we then examine its correlates, identifying both policy and legislative/political factors. Taken together, this research aims to provide a rich description of variation in states' responses to SFRs, as well as explanation of this heterogeneity as it relates to contextual factors.
Separate Remains Unequal: Contemporary Segregation and Racial Disparities in School District Revenue. CEPA Working Paper No. 19-02
Author: Weathers, Ericka S.
Date: 2019-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Segregation,Racial Segregation,School Districts,School Desegregation,Educational Trends,Racial Differences,School District Spending,Income,Educational Finance,Funding Formulas,Educational Equity (Finance),Expenditure per Student,School District Wealth

Resource exposure is believed to be a key mechanism linking patterns of racial segregation and student outcomes during the Brown v. Board of Education era. Decades later, literature suggests that past progress on school desegregation may have stalled, raising concerns about resource equity and associated student outcomes. Are recent trends in segregation associated with racial disparities in school resources? Drawing on national data from the School Funding Fairness Data System and the Common Core of Data, this study examines the partial association between contemporary patterns of segregation between districts within a state and racial disparities in school district revenue over time. We find that increases in racial segregation, net of racial socioeconomic segregation and other racial differences between districts, are associated with racial disparities in revenue. These findings suggest that purportedly race neutral funding formulas and policies may not be completely race neutral and could be reproducing social inequality.
Test Score Growth among Chicago Public School Students, 2009-2014
Author: Reardon, Sean F.
Date: 2017-11-01
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Standardized Tests,Scores,Achievement Gains,Academic Achievement,Grade 3,Grade 4,Grade 5,Grade 6,Grade 7,Grade 8,Mathematics Achievement,Language Arts,Instructional Program Divisions,Age Differences,Racial Differences,Ethnicity,National Competency Tests,Reading Achievement

A comparison of Chicago public school students' standardized test scores in 2009-2014 with those of public students across the U.S. reveals two striking patterns. First, Chicago students' scores improved dramatically more, on average, between third and eighth grade than those of the average student in the U.S. This is true for students of all racial/ethnic groups. The average Chicago student's test scores improved by roughly 6 grade-level equivalents in the 5 years from third to eighth grade. Second, at each grade level in grades three through eight, Chicago students' scores improved more from 2009 to 2014 than did the average scores of all students in the U.S. Test scores rose in Chicago by roughly two-thirds of a grade level from 2009 to 2014, compared to an increase of one-sixth of a grade level nationally. Again, this was equally true for black, Hispanic, and white students. These patterns do not appear to result from increasingly test-aligned instruction or from changing city demographics and enrollment patterns. [Some of the data used in this report was provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).]
Connecting High School, College and the Labor Market: Evidence on the Scale-Up of Career Pathways in California. CEPA Working Paper No. 19-03
Author: Bonilla, Sade
Date: 2019-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Vocational Education,High Schools,Colleges,Labor Market,Education Work Relationship,College School Cooperation,School Business Relationship,Partnerships in Education,Career Readiness,Grants,Expenditure per Student,School Districts,Dropout Rate,Gender Differences,High School Students,Grade 11,Dropout Prevention

I examine a new generation of Career and Technical Education (CTE) models that has shifted from isolated courses to sequences of study that integrate academics and skills in specific career areas. I use data for a competitive grant administered by the California Department of Education (CDE) that incentives K-12 school districts to partner with community colleges and businesses to increase the career readiness levels of high school students. This study provides causal estimates of receiving large grants (i.e., up to 15 million dollars) to create aligned pathways by leveraging a natural experiment that occurs at the margin of grant receipt. Per pupil CTE expenditures increased by 21.7 percent at school districts that received the grant compared to unsuccessful applicants. Furthermore, dropout rates declined by 23 percent in districts receiving grants. The reduction in dropout rates appears to be concentrated for females and 11th grade students. The impacts for females may be related to design choices by grant applicants to focus on creating career pathways in traditionally female dominated sectors (e.g. health care support). The cost of preventing a single student from dropping out from this intervention is approximately 18,000 dollars compared to the present discounted value of a high school diploma of 300,000 dollars.
Validation Methods for Aggregate-Level Test Scale Linking: A Case Study Mapping School District Test Score Distributions to a Common Scale. CEPA Working Paper No. 16-09
Author: Reardon, Sean F.
Date: 2019-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Test Validity,Evaluation Methods,School Districts,Scores,National Competency Tests,Error of Measurement,Sample Size,Scaling,Hierarchical Linear Modeling,Achievement Tests

Linking score scales across different tests is considered speculative and fraught, even at the aggregate level (Feuer et al., 1999; Thissen, 2007). We introduce and illustrate validation methods for aggregate linkages, using the challenge of linking U.S. school district average test scores across states as a motivating example. We show that aggregate linkages can be validated both directly and indirectly under certain conditions, such as when the scores for at least some target units (districts) are available on a common test (e.g., the National Assessment of Educational Progress). We introduce precision-adjusted random effects models to estimate linking error, for populations and for subpopulations, for averages and for progress over time. These models allow us to distinguish linking error from sampling variability and illustrate how linking error plays a larger role in aggregates with smaller sample sizes. Assuming that target districts generalize to the full population of districts, we can show that standard errors for district means are generally less than 0.2 standard deviation units, leading to reliabilities above 0.7 for roughly 90% of districts. We also show how sources of imprecision and linking error contribute to both within- and between-state district comparisons within vs. between states. This approach is applicable whenever the essential counterfactual question--&quot;what would means/variance/progress for the aggregate units be, had students taken the other test?&quot;--can be answered directly for at least some of the units.
Individual Growth and Development Indicators--Español: Innovation in the Development of Spanish Oral Language General Outcome Measures
Author: Durán, Lillian K.
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Spanish Speaking,Preschool Children,Screening Tests,Oral Language,Language Tests,Psychometrics,Test Bias,Gender Bias,Dialects,Data Use,Decision Making,Spanish,Naming,Expressive Language,Early Intervention,Receptive Language

The population of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States continues to increase and there is a significant need to develop psychometrically sound early language and literacy screening measures to accurately capture children's ability in Spanish. In this paper, we describe the innovative design and calibration process of the new Individual Growth and Development Indicators--Español (IGDIs-E). We developed and tested two Spanish oral language measures: Identificación de los Dibujos/Picture Naming and Verbos (Expresivo)/Expressive Verbs with 976 Spanish-speaking preschoolers (4-5-years old; 50% female) across five states. Children were tested in Spanish in fall, winter, and spring across two academic years. Results provide evidence that the new IGDIs-E are psychometrically sound with no significant bias between genders and dialects of Spanish spoken in the United States. Cumulative results, the utility of the final measures, and the implications for data-based decision making with Spanish-speaking preschoolers is discussed.
Perceptions of Turkish EFL Student Teachers towards Learning Phrasal-Prepositional Verbs through Corpus-Based Materials
Author: Girgin, Ufuk
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English Teachers,Student Teachers,Student Teacher Attitudes,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Phrase Structure,Verbs,Gender Differences,Instructional Materials,Undergraduate Students

The current study aims to explore the perceptions of 55 Turkish EFL student teachers towards using corpus-based materials in English phrasal-prepositional verb learning. It also explores gender-based differences and similarities towards using such materials in the learning of English phrasal-prepositional verbs. To do so, the study adopted a mixed method approach. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire, and the qualitative data were collected through focus-group interviews. The results of the questionnaire revealed that the learners had somewhat positive perceptions of using corpus-based materials in their phrasal-prepositional verb learning. The results of the interviews also showed that the learners enjoyed using corpus-based materials in their phrasal-prepositional verb learning, thereby supporting the questionnaire data. Gender differences that emerged from the study showed that the female learners had higher positive perceptions of using corpus-based materials than the male learners. This study provides further evidence that Turkish EFL learners feel that using corpora in language learning is an effective approach, and language teachers questioning whether to use corpora in language teaching can make use of such sources to help their students learn different aspects of vocabulary in English.
Language Shift from English to Mother Tongue: Exploring Language Attitude and Willingness to Teach among Pre-Service Teachers
Author: Alieto, Ericson
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Language Usage,Language of Instruction,Attitudes,Native Language,English (Second Language),Preservice Teacher Education,Foreign Countries,Gender Differences,Language Attitudes

Language-in-education policy becomes a recent tendentious concern in the context of the Philippines as it has recently adopted the Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). Moreover, Baker (1992) claimed that language attitude is a main and vital component of policy and planning. Therefore, this research primarily purposes to determine the language attitude of the respondents and their willingness to teach in the Mother Tongue (MT) as substitute of English as medium of instruction (MoI) in the early stages of education. The study utilized an adapted questionnaire and surveyed 120 would-be mother tongue teachers. The results show that the respondents exhibit an attitude described as &quot;slightly positive&quot;. Furthermore, the respondents were determined to be willing to teach in the MT. Interestingly, there is significant relationship found between the language attitude and willingness to teach in the MT among the respondents. However, contrary to existing trend relative to gender difference on language attitude, the data discounts gender as a factor influencing language attitude and willingness to teach in the MT.
My Science Tutor: A Conversational Multi-Media Virtual Tutor for Elementary School Science
Author: Ward, W.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Elementary School Science,Elementary School Students,Science Education,Intelligent Tutoring Systems,Multimedia Instruction,Multimedia Materials,Natural Language Processing,Dialogs (Language),Oral Language,Speech Communication,Word Recognition,Artificial Intelligence,Computer Interfaces

This paper describes My Science Tutor (MyST), an intelligent tutoring system designed to improve science learning by students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grades (7 to 11 years old) through conversational dialogs with a virtual science tutor. In our study, individual students engage in spoken dialogs with the virtual tutor Marni during 15 to 20 minute sessions following classroom science investigations to discuss and extend concepts embedded in the investigations. The spoken dialogs in MyST are designed to scaffold learning by presenting open-ended questions accompanied by illustrations or animations related to the classroom investigations and the science concepts being learned. The focus of the interactions is to elicit self-expression from students. To this end, Marni applies some of the principles of Questioning the Author, a proven approach to classroom conversations, to challenge students to think about and integrate new concepts with prior knowledge to construct enriched mental models that can be used to explain and predict scientific phenomena. In this article, we describe how spoken dialogs using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and natural language processing were developed to stimulate students' thinking, reasoning and self explanations. We describe the MyST system architecture and Wizard of Oz procedure that was used to collect data from tutorial sessions with elementary school students. Using data collected with the procedure, we present evaluations of the ASR and semantic parsing components. A formal evaluation of learning gains resulting from system use is currently being conducted. This paper presents survey results of teachers' and children's impressions of MyST.
The Impact of Modernism and Postmodernism on Teachers
Author: Kestel, Muharrem
Date: 2019-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Postmodernism,Philosophy,Teacher Attitudes,Epistemology,Foreign Countries,World Views,Secondary School Teachers,Educational Attitudes,Cultural Awareness,Values,Social Sciences,Language Teachers,Science Teachers

Modernism, as a philosophy that is accepted to have started in the 17th century, has influenced various areas such as economy, politics, technology, literature and specifically education in line with the industrial revolution and enlightenment age. It is generally accepted that modernism has kept its overall effect on the mentioned areas until the end of the World War II and after that, it has started to lose its importance against postmodernism. In general perspective, postmodernism is regarded as a response against the shortcomings of modernism. While modernism is based on rapidness, standardization, change, improvement and objective knowledge as a result of positivism and progressivism in education, postmodernism is based on the theory of relativity, which implies the fact that reality will change according to time, place and culture. This study, in the phenomenological design of qualitative research, aims to find out which of the philosophies (modernism and postmodernism) and in what way, has more or higher impact on the teachers' views about knowledge, culture, values and human nature more. To this end, face to face interviews were conducted with the teachers of Turkish, Science and Social Studies lessons and the data obtained were analysed considering the main pillars of modernism and postmodernism.
2014 AASA Superintendents Salary &amp; Benefits Study: Non-Member Version
Author: Finnan, Leslie A.
Date: 2015-01-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Superintendents,Salaries,Fringe Benefits,Public Schools,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,School Districts,Enrollment,Employment Level,Socioeconomic Influences,High Schools,Middle Schools,Elementary Schools,Principals,Beginning Teachers,Teacher Salaries,Teachers,Contracts,Performance Based Assessment,Feedback (Response),Retirement,Health Insurance,Leaves of Absence,Negotiation Agreements,Professional Associations

The 2014 AASA Superintendents Salary and Benefits Study is intended to provide superintendents with actionable information needed to manage their compensation. This edition marks the third year the association has undertaken a comprehensive study on public school superintendent compensation. Using a commercially prepared mailing list of American public school superintendents, more than 9,000 email invitations to participate were distributed during the month of September 2014. At the same time, state association executive directors were contacted to encourage their members to respond to the Internet survey. Superintendents had the capacity to forward the link to their staff members for input in completing the survey in their area of expertise. The 2014 survey resulted in 1,711 responses, or about 19 percent of those surveyed. This report of findings is divided into 9 sections and solely relies on measures of central tendency for this initial analysis of the data collected. These data were generally disaggregated by gender, district enrollment, and racial/ethnic group. The survey's key findings included: (1) Base salaries ranged from $36,000 to $315,000, with an average salary of $122,000 and a median salary of $113,000; (2) Respondents are predominately male (79 percent), White (94 percent) and from intermediate-sized districts (300-2,499 students) regardless of their gender; (3) Female respondents were, on average, older than male respondents (53.1 to 51.7 percent respectively); and (4) A three-year trend of improving economic conditions continues. Slightly more than half of the respondents (53 percent) reported their districts' economic conditions as stable. (50 percent in 2013; 45 percent in 2012). The survey revealed a small trend toward longer longevity compared with 2013 results. Over half of respondents described their districts' economic conditions as stable for the first time; this year, 53 percent said so, compared to 50 percent in 2013 and 45 percent in 2012. Despite this positive change, nearly four in 10 respondents still described their districts' economic conditions as declining. [For the 2013 report, see &quot;2013 Superintendents Salary &amp; Benefits Study&quot; (ED553307).]
Pathways to Success: Towpath Trail High School Gives Students the Tools to Build a Better Future
Author: Millard, Lyman
Date: 2019-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: High School Students,Dropout Prevention,Occupational Aspiration,Educational Strategies,At Risk Students,Vocational Education,Program Effectiveness,Student Attitudes

According to a recent What Works Clearinghouse review, the most effective dropout-prevention strategy is to directly connect schoolwork to students' career aspirations. Towpath Trail High School in Akron is a real life embodiment of that strategy. Author Lyman Millard of the Bloomwell Group offers a fascinating look at a school that engages at-risk young people through career and technical education. He also gives us a look into the lives of three students. One young woman--a refugee from the war-torn Middle East--found a new home at Towpath Trail. She has thrived there and now dreams of becoming a heart surgeon. This is the story--the human face--of dropout prevention done right.