ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Informal Science Education for Girls: Careers in Science and Effective Program Elements
Author: Fadigan, Kathleen A.
Date: 2005-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Informal Education,Science Education,Science Careers,Females,After School Programs,Summer Science Programs,Enrichment Activities,Career Choice,Educational Practices,High School Students,Natural Sciences,At Risk Students

Addressing the need for continued support of after-school and summer science enrichment programs for urban girls and at-risk youth, this paper describes the educational and career paths of a sample of young women who participated in the Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) program during high school. This study also attempts to determine how the program affected the participants&apos; educational and career choices after graduation in order to provide insight into the role informal science education programs play in increasing the participation of women and minorities in science, math, engineering, and technology-related fields. Findings revealed that almost all of the young women enrolled in a college program after completing high school. Careers in medical or health-related fields, followed by careers in science, emerged as the highestranking career paths. The majority of the sample perceived having staff to talk to, the job skills learned, and having the museum as a safe place to go as having influenced their educational and career decisions. (This paper is a summary of Fadigan &amp; Hammrich, 2004.)
Scanner Art and Links to Physics
Author: Russell, David
Date: 2005-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Physics,Science Instruction,Motion,Graphs,Energy,Art Products,Mathematics,Information Technology,Reprography,Electronic Equipment

A photocopier or scanner can be used to produce not only the standard motion graphs of physics, but a variety of other graphs that resemble gravitational and electrical fields. This article presents a starting point for exploring scanner graphics, which brings together investigation in art and design, physics, mathematics, and information technology.
Do Children Have Similar Models of Understanding for Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling?
Author: Cuthbert, Anthony
Date: 2005-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Children,Freehand Drawing,Models,Vision,Hearing (Physiology),Olfactory Perception,Documentation,Concept Formation,Child Development

Some research indicates that a number of children understand vision as an outreaching of the sense, and that they are the originator of the process (Eaton, Anderson, &amp; Smith, 1983; Guesne, 1985). The children draw arrows or rays that point out of the eyes, sometimes returning to the head, and write that vision involves the eyes seeing or looking and that they see things when they turn their head and face towards an object. There is less evidence for the outreaching of the nose in smelling, although there is perhaps some indication of such in Russell et al. (1991) when they say that one fourth of the children, of all ages, explained smelling as something that the nose did. It is evident that children see smelling as an active process in which smells are sought by sniffing. Watt and Russell (1990) did not explicitly say there is outreaching of hearing, although there is evidence of children believing the ear actively listens, as their drawings of hearing and smelling sometimes included an outreaching model shown by an arrow pointing from the sense organ towards the source. This study uses an analysis of children's drawings and annotations to glean their ideas about the senses.
&quot;P.S.-I&apos;m White Too&quot;: The Legacy of Evolution, Creationism, and Racism in the United States
Author: Moore, Randy
Date: 2005-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Science Education,Racial Bias,Evolution,Creationism,Whites,United States History,Court Litigation,Public Schools,Correlation,Biblical Literature,Controversial Issues (Course Content),Theories,Religion,Social Bias

Despite decades of science education reform, creationism remains very popular in the United States. Although neither creationism nor evolution is inherently racist, creationists and evolutionists have used science to justify white supremacy. Powerful racist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and popular racist advocates such as Frank Norris worked together to vilify evolution, promote racism, and begin the evolution-creationism controversy in the United States in the 1920s. The links between racism and creationism became explicit during &quot;Epperson v. Arkansas&quot;, in which the US Supreme Court ruled that laws banning the teaching of evolution in public schools are unconstitutional. Today, the relics of racism, evolution, and creationism persist in many forms, ranging from books such as &quot;The Bell Curve&quot; to educational institutions such as Bob Jones University. This article discusses some of the historical links between evolution (a scientific theory liable to improvement and change), creationism (a non-scientific idea), and racism. Although several people have described how science has been twisted to support racism (e.g., Gould, 1977a, 1980, 1985, 1993), less is known about the more common and older use of creationism and the Bible to justify racism. This discussion tries to further understanding of pseudohistory and pseudoscience. The authors posit that links between evolution, creationism, and racism offer important insights into the creationism-evolution controversy.
Surveillance, Big Data Analytics and the Death of Privacy
Author: Doughty, Howard A.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Information Technology,Computer Mediated Communication,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Employees,Civil Rights,Academic Freedom,Student Behavior,Social Networks,Interaction,Teacher Student Relationship,Internet,Privacy,Postsecondary Education

In this article, Howard Doughty examines how today&apos;s technological devices alter and increasingly substitute for one&apos;s body/mind, sociality and (a)morality. He claims that today, under the crushing weightlessness of virtuality, citizens are less confident, more willing to retreat into the idiocy of private life. He goes on to address the promotion of paranoia that accompanies electronic communications and privacy breaches. He points out that not only are electronic communications monitored with the intent both of selling commercial products and also detecting dissenters from whatever dominant social, economic or political agenda is operative at any particular time and in any particular place; but, according to those who know it best (Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and the rest of the usual suspects), the extent of this surveillance has made the entire concept of privacy obsolete, something future generations will never experience and will not be able to imagine (Greenwald, 2014). Doughty goes on to introduce four hierarchical levels of electronic information media and surveillance issues that, while categorically distinct, are interconnected: (1) the &quot;micro&quot; level (includes educators&apos; work in relation to students, classrooms, chat rooms, curriculum design, teaching &quot;strategies&quot; and &quot;delivery systems,&quot; and the like); (2) the &quot;meso&quot; level (involves educators&apos; institutional settings, focuses on educators&apos; relationship to their immediate administrative arrangements and college management structures and involves their frontline supervisors, CEOs, and Human Resources department); (3) the &quot;macro&quot; level (deals with educators&apos; institution&apos;s organizational superiors, commonly in the form of some governmental ministry, local Board of Governors, Trustees, Regents, etc. and whatever accrediting agency is authorized to take responsibility for the bulk of their funding and academic legitimacy); and (4) the &quot;meta&quot; level (connects educators to broader cultural, social and economic patterns in compliance with which they describe, explain and justify their overall enterprise and which subtly or stridently imposes its norms and practices upon them). His discussion focuses on the &quot;micro&quot; and &quot;meso&quot; levels and delves into the following four issues: (1) employee rights and academic freedom; (2) student vigilantes; (3) social media interaction with students; and (4) student tracking devices.
Issues of Teacher Performance Stability Are Not New: Limitations and Possibilities
Author: Good, Thomas L.
Date: 2015-01-05
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Instructional Effectiveness,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gains,Evidence,Sustainability,Achievement Tests,Standardized Tests,Teacher Evaluation,Outcome Measures,Educational Policy,Educational Practices,Educational Opportunities,Educational Research,Participant Characteristics,Research Methodology,Observation,Context Effect,Achievement Rating

Morgan, Hodge, Trepinski, and Anderson (2014) have written an article that continues to confirm what we have known for some time-teacher effects on student achievement have limited stability. In this commentary, we address the other potential contributions this work can make to inform practice, policy, and research. While illustrating Morgan et al.&apos;s inattention to history, we take the opportunity to reframe their findings. Considering the authors&apos; work in the context of past and current research, we illustrate that this collective set of stable evidence should convince policymakers that it is not reasonable to assume that teachers and teaching is stable across time. Beyond this important opportunity to influence policy, we believe these findings underscore the need to build upon and expand the dependent measures we use to define and understand good teaching. After all, as we have noted (Lavigne &amp; Good, 2014; in press) good teaching involves much more than increasing students&apos; scores on standardized achievement tests.
Looking Beyond School Walls: An Environmental Scan of Minneapolis Public Schools, 2004-2008
Author: Alexander, Nicola A.
Date: 2015-01-05
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Public Schools,Urban Schools,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Budgets,Funding Formulas,Community Needs,Economic Factors,Economic Impact,Political Influences,Child Development,School Statistics,Information Sources,Guidelines,Statistical Data,Data Analysis,Strategic Planning,Educational Trends,Change Strategies,Educational Finance,Demography,Outcomes of Education,Case Studies,Educational Policy,Elementary Secondary Education,City Government,Private Sector,Nonprofit Organizations

We provide an expanded environmental scan to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) faced by education communities. Grounded in the literature, we identified 48 indicators and grouped them into 6 broad categories: (1) budget levels, (2) funding patterns, (3) community needs, (4) external economic conditions, (5) political culture, and (6) children outcomes. We then created sub-categories for each of these six groupings based on whether the data came from school reports, non-school, governmental data, or not-for-profit entities. From these data, we developed a template with strategic guidelines for education leaders in varying environmental contexts. The discussion integrates school finance, fiscal condition analysis, leadership and organizational research to develop a framework that is then applied to the Minneapolis Public Schools for school years 2004 through 2008. The retrospective examination supports the utility of the strategic guidelines offered in the framework. Education leaders found a mixed educational climate in Minneapolis Public Schools for the years examined. There was cause for concern in the declining revenues for children services by other governmental agencies and increasing numbers of schools not making annual yearly progress. However, there were also opportunities apparent in the number of schools that offered International Baccalaureate and other rigorous programs and the support of schools as indicated by passage of local referenda.
The Use of Online Strategies and Social Media for Research Dissemination in Education
Author: Cooper, Amanda
Date: 2014-09-01
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Online Systems,Social Networks,Mass Media Use,Research Reports,Knowledge Management,Information Dissemination,Web 2.0 Technologies,Educational Practices,Incidence,Use Studies,Technology Uses in Education,Consortia,Web Sites,Media Research,Educational Research,Foreign Countries

Alongside a growing interest in knowledge mobilization (trying to increase the connection between research, policy and practice) there has been a transformation of how knowledge is produced, accessed and disseminated in light of the internet and social media strategies. Few studies have explored the use of social media for research dissemination. This paper explores the online strategies used by 44 research brokering organizations (RBOs) in education across Canada. It is organized in four parts. The first provides a literature review of the terminology associated with Web 2.0 and social media as well as outlines the sparse empirical work that exists. The second presents empirical findings of online practices of 44 RBOs. The third section reports on the frequency of social media activity of RBOs as well as the nature of posts in order to ascertain whether or not research is actually being disseminated through these mechanisms. The final section discusses the implications of social media for research dissemination. Overall, use of additional online strategies by RBOs (other than websites) remains modest. Many of the strategies used are passive and do not allow two-way communication. Thirty percent of RBOs use social media; however, this usage in not pervasive and Facebook and Twitter networks are small. Other mechanisms to encourage active participation will be required alongside Web 2.0 and social media tools, if these strategies are to become robust avenues for knowledge mobilization and research dissemination.
Assessing Admission Criteria for Early and Mid-Career Students: Evidence from a U.S. MPA Program
Author: Darolia, Rajeev
Date: 2014-11-17
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Admission Criteria,Evidence,Graduate Students,Prerequisites,Skill Analysis,Public Administration,Predictor Variables,Predictive Validity,Academic Achievement,Adult Students,Success,Debate,College Entrance Examinations,Scores,Grade Point Average,Correlation,College Admission,Reentry Students

As applications for graduate and professional degree programs have reached unprecedented levels over the past decade, the applicant pool has become more diverse with more mid-career students deciding to return to school. Given the growth and diversification of the graduate applicant pool, many graduate programs are struggling to develop stronger admission package criteria that assure students admitted to their program have the pre-requisite skills needed to succeed. We examine which commonly used graduate admission criteria, particularly the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), correlate with the academic performance of both early and mid-career professional students. Using data from student files from a southeastern U.S. graduate public administration program, we find that the GRE score, undergraduate grade point average, and type of undergraduate institution are good predictors of graduate performance, but that the value of these admission criteria differs for early and midcareer students.
Historical Trends in Educational Decentralization in the United States and Developing Countries: A Periodization and Comparison in the Post-WWII Context
Author: Edwards, D. Brent, Jr.
Date: 2014-06-10
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational History,Educational Trends,Trend Analysis,Administrative Organization,Accountability,Educational Change,Educational Administration,Developing Nations,Comparative Education,International Education,Journal Articles,Economic Change,Social Change,School Districts,Decision Making

In the present work, we fill a gap in the writing on the decentralization of educational governance by periodizing and comparing trends that have fallen under this label in both the United States and developing countries in the post-WWII period (1945-present). The findings are informed by a review of 127 decentralization-related studies from seven leading, peer-reviewed journals in comparative and international education, in addition to the &quot;Journal of Education Policy, Journal of Educational Administration&quot;, and &quot;Harvard Education Review&quot;. We combine this review with works that address larger political and economic shifts. One key finding is that the application of community level decentralization in developing countries has not been as widespread as global rhetoric during the 1990s and 2000s would imply. A second key finding is that there has been a relatively recent shift away from decentralization towards other forms of accountability-based reforms in both the United States and developing countries.
&quot;Are We Architects or Construction Workers?&quot; Re-Examining Teacher Autonomy and Turnover in Charter Schools
Author: Torres, A. Chris
Date: 2014-12-22
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Charter Schools,Professional Autonomy,Faculty Mobility,Teacher Attitudes,School Administration,Qualitative Research,Teaching (Occupation),Teacher Characteristics,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers,Models,Socialization

Charter school teachers nationwide expressed greater autonomy compared to traditional public school teachers at the turn of the century. But is this trend changing? The recent proliferation of Charter Management Organizations (CMOs), which often have prescriptive organizational models, has raised questions around how teachers perceive autonomy and control in these schools. Researchers consistently find that faculty input into decision-making has a strong influence on staff commitment and turnover. This exploratory, interview-based study critically examines why and how CMO teacher autonomy is linked to turnover. CMO teachers linked various concerns over autonomy, which was limited by their organization's model, with decisions to leave their jobs. Teachers with strong expectations for autonomy or ideas inconsistent with their school's model experienced substantial conflict involving the discipline or socialization of students that affected their career decisions. Teachers' desires to have a voice in issues surrounding students' socialization ultimately hinged upon their skepticism that current practices were adequately preparing students for college and life.
Sorting out the Signal: Do Multiple Measures of Teachers' Effectiveness Provide Consistent Information to Teachers and Principals?
Author: Strunk, Katharine O.
Date: 2014-11-10
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Effectiveness,Measures (Individuals),Evidence,Program Implementation,Principals,Observation,Academic Achievement,Classroom Techniques,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers

There is increasing policy interest in the use of standards-based multiple measure teacher evaluation systems that include both observational and value-added measures of teacher effectiveness. The growing literature that assesses the relationships between these measures does so mainly in academic settings using a validity lens. While valuable in their own right, this evidence from research-based settings provides little evidence about how teachers and principals receive the different signals from multiple measures of effectiveness when implemented in district contexts. Using pairwise correlations and a series of ordinary least squares regressions, this study assesses the relationships between value-added measures of teacher effectiveness and an observational measure of teacher practice as implemented in a district's pilot of a new standards-based multiple-measure teacher evaluation system. We find moderate correlations between value-added and observation-based measures, indicating that teachers will receive similar but not entirely consistent signals from each performance measure. We conclude by highlighting considerations for districts working to develop and implement standards-based multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems.
Houston, We Have a Problem: Teachers Find No Value in the SAS Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS®)
Author: Collins, Clarin
Date: 2014-10-27
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Assessment,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Attitudes,High Stakes Tests,Mixed Methods Research,Teacher Surveys,Online Surveys,Reliability,Validity,Formative Evaluation,Models,Elementary School Teachers,Secondary School Teachers

This study examined the SAS Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS®) in practice, as perceived and experienced by teachers in the Southwest School District (SSD). To evaluate teacher effectiveness, SSD is using SAS EVAAS® for high-stakes consequences more than any other district or state in the country. A mixed-method design including a large-scale electronic survey was used to investigate the model's reliability and validity; to determine whether teachers used the SAS EVAAS® data in formative ways as intended; to gather teachers' opinions on SAS EVAAS[R]'s claimed benefits and statements; and to understand the unintended consequences that occurred as a result of SAS EVAAS® use in SSD. Results revealed that the reliability of the SAS EVAAS® model produced split and inconsistent results among teacher participants, and teachers indicated that students biased the SAS EVAAS® results. The majority of teachers disagreed with the company's marketing claims and did not report similar SAS EVAAS® and principal observation scores, reducing the criterion-related validity of both measures of teacher quality. Many unintended consequences associated with the high-stakes use of SAS EVAAS® emerged through teachers' responses, which revealed among others that teachers felt heightened pressure and competition, which reduced morale and collaboration, and encouraged cheating or teaching to the test in attempt to raise SAS EVAAS® scores. The results of this study, one of the first to investigate how the SAS EVAAS® model works in practice, should be considered by policymakers, researchers, and districts when considering implementing the SAS EVAAS®, or any value-added model for teacher evaluation.
Anticipating and Incorporating Stakeholder Feedback When Developing Value-Added Models
Author: Balch, Ryan
Date: 2014-10-20
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Evaluation,Stakeholders,Teacher Attitudes,Observation,Models,Evaluation Methods,Predictor Variables

State and local education agencies across the United States are increasingly adopting rigorous teacher evaluation systems. Most systems formally incorporate teacher performance as measured by student test-score growth, sometimes by state mandate. An important consideration that will influence the long-term persistence and efficacy of these systems is stakeholder buy-in, including buy-in from teachers. In this study we document common questions from teachers about value-added measures and provide research-based responses to these questions. The questions come from teachers in Baltimore City Public Schools, who are evaluated using a combined measure of which value-added is one component. We focus on teacher questions about value-added because value-added generates the most concern from teachers. We also connect teacher concerns about value-added to other components of the evaluation system, such as classroom observations, although at present these other components have not garnered as much attention from teachers.