ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Alternative Savings Approaches on College Aid. Opportunity and Ownership Facts. Number 15
Author: Maag, Elaine
Date: 2009-08-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Paying for College,Student Financial Aid,Tax Credits,Money Management,Banking

To pay for college, many low- and moderate-income students and their families rely on financial aid and savings. How students and families save--and in whose name--affects both the tax consequences and the impact of savings on financial aid. Choosing the wrong way to save can raise the out-of-pocket costs of college by thousands of dollars. Alternately, saving for college can result in tax penalties if families do not use tax-preferred savings for education. This fact sheet describes how taxes and financial aid formulas affect college savings. (Contains 3 notes and 1 figure.)
Testimony of Gina Adams, Senior Fellow, Urban Institute. Before the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Hearing on "Improving Early Childhood Development Policies and Practices"
Author: Adams, Gina
Date: 2009-03-19
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Early Childhood Education,Young Children,Educational Policy,Elementary Secondary Education,Hearings,Educational Improvement,Educational Practices,Federal Legislation,Legislators,Child Care,Employed Parents,Family Problems

This paper presents the testimony of Gina Adams before the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Hearing on "Improving Early Childhood Development Policies and Practices." This testimony was presented to the House Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives last March 19, 2009. She talks about how child care and early education settings have turned into a reality for millions of American families with young children today. Many working families must find someone to care for their children while the parents work, and seek a safe nurturing and learning environment for that purpose. And many families, regardless of their work status, seek out early care and education programs as their children approach the kindergarten years because they want to help prepare them for school. As a consequence, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 12.4 million children younger than 6--or 60 percent of all children--are regularly in the care of someone other than their parents today. In her testimony, the author talks about where children are being cared for, the challenges their families face, and the key policy issues that should be considered to address these problems. (Contains 1 footnote.)
Assessing the Potential of Using Value-Added Estimates of Teacher Job Performance for Making Tenure Decisions. Brief 3
Author: Goldhaber, Dan
Date: 2008-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Tenure,Teacher Selection,Job Performance,Correlation,Personnel Policy,Personnel Evaluation,Predictive Measurement,Predictive Validity,Pretests Posttests,Merit Rating,Feasibility Studies

This research brief presents selected findings from work examining the stability of value-added model estimates of teacher effectiveness and their implication for tenure policies. Findings show year-to-year correlations in teacher effects are modest, but pre-tenure estimates of teacher job performance do predict estimated post-tenure performance in both math and reading, and would therefore seem to be a reasonable metric to use as a factor in making substantive teacher selection decisions. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures, and 15 notes.)
The Stability of Value-Added Measures of Teacher Quality and Implications for Teacher Compensation Policy. Brief 4
Author: Sass, Tim R.
Date: 2008-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Compensation (Remuneration),Personnel Policy,Correlation,Robustness (Statistics),Predictive Measurement,Predictive Validity,Merit Rating

There is little doubt that teacher quality is a key determinant of student achievement, but finding ways to identify and reward the best teachers has proven illusive. This research brief considers the stability of value-added measures of teacher effectiveness over time and the resulting implications for the design and implementation of performance-based teacher compensation schemes. In a companion policy brief, Dan Goldhaber and Mike Hansen explore the long-run stability of value-added measures and the associated implications for tenure policies. In contrast, this brief focuses on the stability of value-added measures over shorter time spans, across school districts, and over test instruments and considers the implications of teacher effect stability for the design and implementation of performance-based teacher compensation schemes. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures, and 6 notes.)
The Qualifications and Classroom Performance of Teachers Moving to Charter Schools. Working Paper 27
Author: Carruthers, Celeste K.
Date: 2009-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public School Teachers,Faculty Mobility,Charter Schools,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Qualifications,Grade 3,Grade 4,Grade 5,Elementary School Teachers,Sampling,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Comparative Analysis

Do charter schools draw good teachers from traditional, mainstream public schools? Using a panel dataset of all North Carolina public school teachers from 1997-2007, this research paper finds nuanced patterns of teacher quality flowing into charter schools. High rates of inexperienced and uncertified teachers moved to charter schools, but among certified teachers changing schools, the on-paper qualifications of charter movers were better or no different than the qualifications of teachers moving to comparable mainstream schools. Estimated measures of classroom performance for a subset of grade 3-5 teachers show that charter movers were more effective in math and reading instruction, relative to other mobile teachers. Charter movers compared less favorably, however, to non-mobile teachers and colleagues within their sending schools. The distribution of classroom performance among future charter teachers, adjusted for sampling error, was significantly lower than the distribution for exclusively mainstream teachers. (Contains 7 tables, 4 figures and 43 footnotes.)
&quot;Who Leaves?&quot; Teacher Attrition and Student Achievement. Working Paper 23
Author: Boyd, Donald
Date: 2009-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Urban Schools,Elementary School Teachers,Middle School Teachers,Teacher Effectiveness,Faculty Mobility,Teacher Persistence,Beginning Teachers,Scoring,Teacher Transfer

This paper analyzes attrition patterns among teachers in New York City public elementary and middle schools and explores whether teachers who transfer among schools, or leave teaching entirely, are more or less effective than those who remain. We find that the first-year teachers who are less effective in improving student math scores have higher attrition rates than do more effective teachers. The first-year differences are meaningful in size; however, the pattern is not consistent for teachers in their second and third years. Attrition patterns differ between schools having disproportionate numbers of low- vs. high-scoring students. A relatively high percentage of the ineffective first-year teachers in low-scoring schools leave teaching altogether; whereas inefficient first-year teachers in higher-scoring schools disproportionately transfer within NYC. In general, first-year teachers who transfer, on average, are less effective than their peers in their new schools, as was the case in their original schools. Furthermore, the more effective first-year teachers who transfer differentially move to schools with fewer low-scoring, poor, Black and Hispanic students, possibly contributing to achievement gaps. As discussed in the paper, these findings raise important questions about policies and policy proposals intended to reduce teacher attrition. Value-added analysis and estimation of attrition model are appended. (Contains 12 figures, 8 tables and 19 footnotes.) [This research was supported by the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER).]
The Narrowing Gap in New York City Teacher Qualifications and Implications for Student Achievement in High-Poverty Schools. Brief 6
Author: Boyd, Don
Date: 2008-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Federal Legislation,Teacher Qualifications,Academic Achievement,Labor Market,Accountability,Educational Resources,Teacher Influence,Poverty,At Risk Students,State Standards,Elementary School Students,Middle School Students,Public Schools,Teacher Recruitment,Teacher Persistence,Teacher Competencies,Teacher Selection,Minority Group Children,Urban Schools

Arguably the most important educational resource is teachers. Teachers and teaching quality are a central feature of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) which requires a &quot;highly qualified teacher&quot; in every core academic classroom. Many states and large districts also have policies in place to attract qualified teachers to difficult-to-staff schools. NCLB, state assessment-based accountability policies and new routes into teaching have all had profound effects on the labor market for teachers. In this research, the authors explore the effect of these changes on the distribution of teacher qualifications and student achievement. This analysis employs individual student and teacher-level data for grades 3 through 8 for each year from 2000 through 2005. This paper suggests that selection of teachers with stronger qualifications has made an important difference in New York City public schools and that recruitment and retention of teachers with stronger measurable characteristics can lead to improved student learning. (Contains 3 figures.) [This research is part of the activities of the National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER).]
Do Disadvantaged Urban Schools Lose Their Best Teachers? Brief 7
Author: Hanushek, Eric A.
Date: 2008-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Urban Schools,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Teaching Experience,Inferences,Disadvantaged Schools,Teacher Persistence,Labor Turnover,Teacher Competencies,Educational Policy,Institutional Characteristics,Teacher Influence,Public Schools,Faculty Mobility,Teacher Characteristics,Teaching Skills

A growing body of research confirms the long-held belief of parents, school administrators, and policy makers that teachers are the key component to a good education and that there is substantial variation in teacher quality. This research differs fundamentally from prior work on teachers by focusing directly on differences in student learning outcomes across classrooms rather than differences in teacher experience, salary, education, or other quantifiable characteristics. Moreover, it raises questions about studies that draw inferences about implications for teacher quality based entirely on observable characteristics. When looked at in terms of teacher effectiveness, many of the policies commonly discussed are suspect if not wrong. The authors investigate teacher quality differences by transition status and school characteristics for teachers in a large urban district in Texas using estimates of teacher contributions to student learning as their measure quality. Further investigation confirms the finding that teachers who exit the Texas public schools are less effective on average than their colleagues in the same grade regardless of school average achievement or proportion black. More interestingly, the average value-added of school leavers in the sorted sample (described previously) tend to be more negative, particularly in the low proportion black and high achievement samples. This suggests that a difficult classroom placement may both downward bias estimated quality and precipitate a school change, though these results are far from definitive. (Contains 4 notes.)
Which Students are Left Behind? The Racial Impacts of the No Child Left Behind Act. Working Paper
Author: Krieg, John M.
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Racial Differences,Racial Bias,Sanctions,Federal Legislation,Academic Achievement,Mathematics Tests,Grade 4,Educational Resources,Educational Legislation,High Stakes Tests,State Standards,Grade 3,Mathematics Achievement,Achievement Gains,Elementary School Students,Public Schools,African American Students,White Students,Hispanic American Students,Asian American Students,English (Second Language),American Indians,Socioeconomic Status

The No Child Left Behind Act imposes sanctions on schools if the fraction of each of five racial groups of students demonstrating proficiency on a high stakes exam falls below a statewide pass rate. This system places pressure on school administrators to redirect educational resources from groups of students most likely to demonstrate proficiency towards those who are marginally below proficient. Using statewide observations of 3rd and 4th grade math tests, this paper demonstrates that students of successful racial groups at schools likely to be sanctioned gain less academically over their subsequent test year than comparable peers at passing schools. This effect is stronger at schools more likely to suffer from NCLB sanctions and is robust to nonrandom sample selection. (Contains 6 tables, 13 notes, and a bibliography.) [Paper presented at the NCLB: Emerging Findings Research Conference at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C., Aug 12, 2009.]
Supplemental Educational Services and Student Test Score Gains: Evidence from a Large, Urban School District. Working Paper
Author: Springer, Matthew G.
Date: 2009-08-12
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Urban Schools,Middle Schools,Federal Legislation,Academic Achievement,Robustness (Statistics),Scores,Tutoring,Elementary Education,Supplementary Education,Academic Support Services,Program Effectiveness,Achievement Gains,Comparative Testing,Longitudinal Studies,Evidence,Academic Records

This study examines the effect of supplemental educational services (SES) on student test score gains and whether particular subgroups of students benefit more from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) tutoring services. The sample used includes information on students enrolled in 3rd through 8th grades nested in 121 elementary and middle schools over a five-year period from 2003-04 to 2007-08. A total of 17 elementary and middle schools were required to offer SES at some point during the period under study, and 9,861 student-year pairings in the sample were eligible to receive SES. While the authors' preferred analytic approach takes advantage of panel data to implement an analysis strategy with student fixed effect regression methods, they also test the robustness of these estimates to a number of alternative approaches, including a comparison of student test score gains between current and future SES participants. The authors find consistently significant and positive average effects of SES on test score gains in mathematics. Results in reading tend to be insignificant. SES tutoring does not appear to disproportionately benefit a particular racial/ethnic group or ability level. Female students and students with disabilities appear to benefit more from participating in SES. SES has a significant, cumulative effect on students in both mathematics and reading. They also demonstrate that not accounting for content area of tutoring can cause downward bias in estimates of the SES treatment effect. These findings are qualified on a couple of dimensions. Summary Statistics for Student Test Scores is appended. (Contains 11 tables, 1 figure, and 15 footnotes.) [This paper was presented at the &quot;NCLB: Emerging Findings Research Conference&quot; at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. on August 12, 2009. Part of the funding for this study was provided by the National Center on School Choice at Vanderbilt University.]
Left behind by Design: Proficiency Counts and Test-Based Accountability. Working Paper
Author: Neal, Derek
Date: 2009-08-12
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Metric System,Standardized Tests,Grade 6,Grade 5,Accountability,Achievement Gains,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Change Strategies,Educational Change,High Stakes Tests,Robustness (Statistics),Achievement Tests

Many test-based accountability systems, including the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), place great weight on the numbers of students who score at or above specified proficiency levels in various subjects. Accountability systems based on these metrics often provide incentives for teachers and principals to target children near current proficiency levels for extra attention, but these same systems provide weak incentives to devote extra attention to students who are clearly proficient already or who have little chance of becoming proficient in the near term. The authors show that, based on fifth grade test scores from the Chicago Public Schools, both the introduction of NCLB in 2002 and the introduction of similar district level reforms in 1996 generated noteworthy increases in reading and math scores among students in the middle of the achievement distribution. Nonetheless, the least academically advantaged students in Chicago did not score higher in math or reading following the introduction of accountability, and the authors find only mixed evidence of score gains among the most advantaged students. A large existing literature argues that accountability systems built around standardized tests greatly affect the amount of time that teachers devote to different topics. Results for fifth graders in Chicago, as well as related results for sixth graders after the 1996 reform, suggest that the choice of the proficiency standard in such accountability systems determines the amount of time that teachers devote to students of different ability levels. Appendices include: (1) Data Construction; and (2) Proof. (Contains 33 footnotes, 14 figures, and 1 table.) [This paper was presented at the &quot;NCLB: Emerging Findings Research Conference&quot; at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. on August 12, 2009.]
Status versus Growth: The Distributional Effects of School Accountability Policies. Working Paper
Author: Ladd, Helen F.
Date: 2009-08-12
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Achievement Gains,Accountability,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Incentives,Robustness (Statistics),Evaluation Methods,Achievement Rating,Achievement Tests,Academic Records,Comparative Testing,Academic Achievement

Although the Federal No Child Left Behind program judges the effectiveness of schools based on their students' achievement status, many policy analysts argue that schools should be measured, instead, by their students' achievement growth. Using a ten-year student-level panel data set from North Carolina, the authors examine how school-specific pressure associated with the two approaches to school accountability affects student achievement at different points in the prior-year achievement distribution. Achievement gains for students below the proficiency cut point emerge in response to both types of accountability systems, but more clearly in math than in reading. In contrast to prior research highlighting the possibility of educational triage, the authors find little or no evidence that schools in North Carolina ignore the students far below proficiency under either approach. Importantly, they find that the status, but not the growth, approach reduces the reading achievement of higher performing students. The analysis suggests that the distributional effects of accountability pressure depend not only on the type of pressure for which schools are held accountable (status or growth), but also the tested subject. Descriptive Statistics is appended. (Contains 5 figures, 4 tables and 21 footnotes.) [This paper was presented at the &quot;NCLB: Emerging Findings Research Conference&quot; at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. on August 12, 2009.]
Testimony before District of Columbia City Council on DCPS Human Capital Initiatives
Author: Hannaway, Jane
Date: 2009-01-16
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Human Capital,Teacher Effectiveness,Intervention,City Government,Hearings,Change Strategies,Teacher Distribution,Educational Policy

In her testimony presented before the District of Columbia City Council, the author makes three points. These are: (1) Teachers matter; (2) The variation in teacher effectiveness is greater within schools than the variation between schools; and the variation within schools serving students from the poorest backgrounds is greater than the variation within schools serving more advantaged students; and (3) The variation in teacher effectiveness, both within and between schools, is a &quot;management problem that begs for attention.&quot; She offers key points of intervention. The first is recruitment/hiring. A second point of intervention is when teachers are on the job. There are two strategies, all based on how well a teacher is performing on the job. One is the point of tenure and the other is evaluation of ongoing performance. (Contains 1 footnote.)
The Effects of Open Enrollment on School Choice and Student Outcomes. Working Paper 26
Author: Ozek, Umut
Date: 2009-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Family (Sociological Unit),School Choice,Standardized Tests,Open Enrollment,Outcomes of Education,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gains,Educational Policy,Policy Analysis,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Scores,Incentives

This paper analyzes households' response to the introduction of intra-district school choice and examines the impact of exercising this choice on student test scores in Pinellas County Schools, one of the largest school districts in the United States. Households react strongly to the incentives created by such programs, leading to significant changes in the frequency of exercising alternative public schooling options, as well as changes in the composition of the &quot;opt out&quot; students. However, using &quot;proximity to public alternatives&quot; as an instrument for opting out of the &quot;assigned&quot; public school, the author finds no significant benefit of opting out on student achievement. Also, the author finds those who opt out of their default public schools often perform significantly worse on standardized tests than similar students who stay behind. Results suggest that the short-run detrimental effects of opting out are stronger for students who opt out closer to the terminal grade of the school level, yet weaker for &quot;disadvantaged&quot; students, who typically constitute the proposed target of school choice reforms. (Contains 5 figures, 14 tables and 33 footnotes.)
Overview of Measuring Effect Sizes: The Effect of Measurement Error. Brief 2
Author: Boyd, Don
Date: 2008-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Measures (Individuals),Measurement,Error of Measurement,Effect Size,Item Response Theory,Models,Educational Research,Measurement Techniques,Statistical Bias,Evaluation Research,Achievement Gains

The use of value-added models in education research has expanded rapidly. These models allow researchers to explore how a wide variety of policies and measured school inputs affect the academic performance of students. An important question is whether such effects are sufficiently large to achieve various policy goals. Judging whether a change in student achievement is important requires some meaningful point of reference. In certain cases a grade-equivalence scale or some other intuitive and policy relevant metric of educational achievement can be used. However, this is not the case with item response theory (IRT) scale-score measures common to the tests usually employed in value-added analyses. In such cases, researchers typically describe the impacts of various interventions in terms of "effect sizes", although conveying the intuition of such a measure to policymakers often is a challenge. This paper provides an overview of measuring effect sizes and explains the effect of measurement error. (Contains 2 tables and 6 notes.)