ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Revisiting School District Consolidation Issues. Education Policy Brief. Volume 8, Number 3, Summer 2010
Author: Spradlin, Terry E.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Feasibility Studies,Consolidated Schools,Educational Opportunities,Educational Finance,School District Reorganization,Cost Effectiveness,Educational History,Educational Research,State Legislation,Case Studies,Academic Achievement,Enrollment Trends,Expenditure per Student,Economic Impact,Policy Analysis

In light of a slow economic recovery from the Great Recession, state and local governments are faced with the challenge of providing services to citizens amidst ongoing budgetary woes. For instance, although the most recent Indiana revenue collections for the month of August were above revised projections to help start fiscal year 2011 (which commenced July 1, 2010), the state's revenues were far below amounts anticipated for the fiscal year 2010 budget. In total, revenue for fiscal year 2010 was $957 million less than budgeted and state revenues have dropped 12.3 percent over the past two years (Berry, 2010). States across the nation face estimated aggregate budget gaps of over $83 billion for the 2011 fiscal year (National Conference of State Legislators, 2010). In the current economic climate it is increasingly important for all levels of government to maximize efficiency and minimize costs wherever possible to prevent further service reductions or the necessity for a tax increase. School and school district consolidation has been debated as a potential source of cost savings for local and state governments. School and school district consolidation is the process of combining schools and/or school district administrative functions for the purpose of improving operating efficiency and/or expanding educational opportunities. The potential for cost savings through consolidation must be examined with respect to the impact such consolidation may have on student achievement. Recently, states have taken varying approaches to promoting consolidation at the school and district level. This policy brief provides a concise summary of the research on school and school district consolidation and a synopsis of the consolidation legislation passed in other states, with an emphasis on Maine, before analyzing legislative proposals and research specific to Indiana. A summary of school district consolidation feasibility studies conducted in Indiana is also included. (Contains 7 tables, 5 figures and 7 online resources.)
College Persistence and Completion Strategies: Opportunities for Scaling up. Education Policy Brief. Volume 8, Number 4, Fall 2010
Author: Spradlin, Terry E.
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Higher Education,College Students,Academic Persistence,School Holding Power,At Risk Students,Dropouts,Literature Reviews,Student Participation,Program Effectiveness,School Policy,Racial Differences,Minority Groups,Costs,Low Income Groups,Paying for College,Student Financial Aid,Psychological Patterns,Faculty Advisers,Teacher Student Relationship,Educational Environment,Transitional Programs,Mentors,State Government,Access to Education,Selective Admission,Scholarships,Grants,Graduation Rate,Intervention

Previous reports by the Center for Evaluation &amp; Education Policy (CEEP) on higher education have dealt with topics such as trends in college remediation courses (Plucker, Wongsarpigoon, &amp; Houser, 2003), post-secondary credit-based transition programs (Plucker, Chieu, &amp; Zaman, 2006), university sponsorship of charter schools (Plucker et al., 2004), and the status of athletics and Title IX in Indiana (Eckes &amp; Chamberlin, 2003). This brief focuses on historically underrepresented college students and the factors that affect their decisions to enter higher education, stay in college, complete their degrees &quot;on time,&quot; or leave college altogether. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education (ICHE) has demonstrated strong leadership on the issues of college access and completion and has established clear goals as detailed in the report, &quot;Reaching Higher with College Completion: Moving from Access to Success&quot; (2008). This brief has three goals: examine national research on enhancing the participation and success of historically underrepresented college students, provide information on the effectiveness of current retention programs in postsecondary institutions, and identify promising policies and strategies that merit further exploration. Recommendations included are similarly aimed at improving the quality of evaluative evidence for college retention and completion. (Contains 4 tables, 3 footnotes, and 12 online resources.)
Making Education Research Behave: Reflections from the Rural Lifeworld
Author: Howley, Craig B.
Date: 2003-11-20
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Rural Schools,Rural Population,Rural Areas,Rural Education,Educational Research,Mathematics Instruction,Program Descriptions,World Views,Educational Philosophy,Rural Environment,Definitions,Research Needs,Role of Education

This talk addresses the connections between rural life and education research centered on rural places. It's informed by the author's experience of all three realms--life, education, and schooling. The author discusses how rural education consists of meanings related to the rural lifeworld as those issues confront the conventional agenda for schooling. He finds the oversight of the rural lifeworld by rural schooling as terribly irksome. Just as the rural lifeworld harbors meanings that are generative for rural people, it harbors issues generative for rural education researchers. He advises that in order to articulate rural issues properly in the research mode one needs to populate a center with scholars devoted to critique--people who understand the tensions of the rural lifeworld--and he needs consistently to enable their empirical work. These folks will want to do that work, because they will be able to do it hardly anywhere else. An appendix, describing the work of the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics, is included. (Contains 10 footnotes.) [This paper was prepared for Pennsylvania State University's Center on Rural Schools and Communities.]
Understanding the Meaning of Rural within a Middle School Mathematics Professional Development and Research Project in Nebraska. Working Paper No. 40
Author: Heaton, Ruth
Date: 2008-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Professional Development,Interviews,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Responsibility,Teacher Role,Influences,Rural Areas,Rural Environment,Secondary School Mathematics,Mathematics Teachers,Instructional Leadership,Partnerships in Education,Communities of Practice,Semantics

Improving teacher quality in P-12 mathematics is a national need, and many universities and schools are working to address it. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), twelve math and science institutes across the country are helping P-12 teachers strengthen their capacity to support students' learning. These NSF Institutes operate under the leadership of STEM university faculty, representing colleges of arts and science as well as colleges of education. The strategy is to build capacity by improving teachers' content knowledge, pedagogy, and leadership skills. One such venture is The Math in the Middle Institute Partnership (M2) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). As part of their efforts to understand the place of rural in M2, the research team systematically interviewed the 63 rural participants from the first three cohorts in summer 2006. During those 30-60 minute interviews they asked participants about the contexts in which they teach, their professional roles and responsibilities, and circumstances that influence their teaching. They soon found that teachers they called &quot;rural&quot; did not necessarily refer to themselves that way, and sometimes even teachers from the same town did not agree on whether or not to call themselves rural. (Contains 1 figure and 1 footnote.)
The Social Construction of Rural Mathematics. Working Paper No. 17
Author: DeYoung, Alan
Date: 2003-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: High Schools,Rural Schools,Mathematics Education,Mathematics Instruction,Secondary School Mathematics,Context Effect,Outcomes of Education,Ethnography,Observation,Interviews,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Competencies,Educational Quality,Standardized Tests,School Districts,Accountability

An announced aim of the research group for the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM) is to gather landscape information related to mathematics teaching and learning in rural Appalachian high schools. Does context (i.e., rural and Appalachian) have meaningful impacts upon the math instruction and outcomes in rural high schools? This small research project aimed to give some preliminary data on these topics. The task as defined was an exploratory one, and its focus was primarily interpretive and not statistical. This work was primarily interested in more subjective variables: perceptions, understandings and interpretations of the meaning and use of mathematics among teachers, students and administrators in two participating rural Kentucky high schools. (Contains 3 tables and 1 footnote.)
Findings from Inverness Research Associates' Evaluation of the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM). Working Paper No. 39
Author: St. John, Mark
Date: 2008-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Graduate Students,Mathematics Education,Program Effectiveness,Administrative Organization,Case Studies,Rural Education,STEM Education,Educational Assessment,Interviews,Elementary Secondary Education,Higher Education,Mathematics Teachers,Professional Development,Student Surveys,Teacher Education,Program Evaluation

The purpose of this summary is to provide the public with an independent external assessment of ACCLAIM (Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics). The authors draw upon all the knowledge of this Center for Learning and Teaching that they have accumulated in past years, and they refer to that data throughout this report. They begin their assessment by outlining their assumptions about the role and purpose of the Centers for Learning and Teaching (CLT) Initiative, designed and funded by the National Science Foundation: They understand that the primary purpose of the CLT initiative is to build the capacity of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field for undertaking future improvement efforts. Again, they base their findings and interpretations on the data that come from three years of interaction with the Center. Specifically the sources include: (1) Interviews with ACCLAIM Faculty, Leadership Institute participants, Professional Development Teams participants, ACCLAIM management team, and doctoral students; (2) Surveys of doctoral students and Teacher Education conference participants; (3) Observations of ACCLAIM major events and programs; and (4) Case studies of graduate students. Appendices include: (1) Case Studies of Individual Acclaim Doctoral Students; and (2) Faculty Interviews. (Contains 10 footnotes.)
A Rural Community's Perceptions of the Importance of Math and Math Education in Appalachia. Summary Report. The Padua Project
Author: Ohio Univ., Athens. Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics.
Date: 2005-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Qualitative Research,Mathematics Education,Mathematics Teachers,Researchers,Interviews,Surveys,Teacher Role,Advanced Courses,Mathematics,Attitudes,Personal Narratives,Public Opinion,Rural Areas,Rural Population,Rural Schools

In an effort to discern the perceptions of the importance or value of mathematics education held by ordinary people in Appalachia, a qualitative research study was performed in accordance with an agreement with the ACCLAIM Research Initiative. The study engaged the qualitative research method known as &quot;folknography&quot; and targeted the community of Padua (a pseudonym), in a state in the Appalachian south. The study was conducted in late March, 2004, by undergraduate students previously enrolled in a related course taught by the principal investigator. This report was developed from data analyzed after the completion of the field work. The student researchers collected nearly 650 surveys and conducted nearly 250 interviews with informants in three age groups (youth, adults, seniors). Overall, Padua residents were quick to respond and eager to discuss mathematics and mathematics education. Informants were found to value mathematics principally for its utility, to esteem good mathematics teaching and good mathematics teachers, and few blamed any failure to understand mathematics on teachers. Many, however, appeared to believe that some mathematics teachers could be more sympathetic in their instructional role. Across age groups, informants easily related mathematics to other life experiences. Possibly because of the prevailing utilitarian outlook, many informants saw little use in the community or region for higher forms of math should the current economic decline persist in the region. Without improvement, youth were predicted to leave in search of more acceptable employment choices. Appendices include: (1) Padua Project Undergraduate Student Folknographers; (2) Perceptions of Math in Appalachia Interview Questions; and (3) Shadows of the River. A bibliography is included. (Contains 10 figures.) [This paper was presented by David M. Lucas.]
The Impact of Looping Practices on Student Achievement at a Minnesota Inner City Elementary School: A Comparison Study
Author: Caauwe, Carole Margaret
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Achievement Tests,Urban Schools,Grade 6,Grade 5,Looping (Teachers),Teaching Methods,Educational Practices,Program Effectiveness,Elementary Schools,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Scores,Comparative Analysis,Achievement Gains

The purpose of this study is to determine if the practice of classroom looping impacts the academic achievement scores at a Minnesota inner city elementary school. Reading and math academic achievement score comparisons were used based on the Stanford Achievement Test Series 10 (SAT10). Target population consisted of 38 students from looping classrooms at School A, and 33 students from non-looping classrooms at School B. Looping students attended School A, and had been with the same teacher for two consecutive years. Non-looping students attended School B for two years, and had been in traditional one-year classrooms. Fifth grade examination scores from spring of 2005 were compared with gains made on the sixth grade examination scores from spring of 2006. Academic progress in reading and math was measured for these students through causal-comparative regression analysis. The results of this study indicated no statistical significant academic difference in reading between looping students and the non-looping students. Because of the small sample size, a Type II error may be a possibility. A longer and larger study would need to be completed to determine the accuracy of these results. The results of this study indicated a statistical significant academic difference in math gain scores between looping students and the non-looping students. Appendixes present: (1) School A Student Data; and (2) School B Student Data. (Contains 5 tables.)
A New Equation: How Encore Careers in Math and Science Education Equal More Success for Students
Author: Foster, Elizabeth
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Careers,Retirement,Baby Boomers,Engineering,Occupational Mobility,Labor Force,STEM Education,National Surveys,Generational Differences,Employment Opportunities,Case Studies,Academic Achievement,Experienced Teachers,Teacher Retirement,Teaching (Occupation),Career Change,Midlife Transitions

Shifts in the work force (both in education and more broadly) provide an opportunity to apply other creative approaches in the quest for more effective STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching. Increasingly, professionals change careers and explore new and varied professional opportunities, rather than remain in a single track for their entire careers, balancing work and life to create a career &quot;lattice&quot; rather than a career ladder. For instance, the percentage of veteran teachers who identify themselves as both &quot;teaching&quot; and &quot;retired&quot; shows a marked increase in the most recent (2007-08) federal Schools and Staffing Survey results. Schools recognize the value of employing retired teachers but haven't undertaken the policy changes that would make extended flexible career options an enticing alternative to retirement. In addition, there is a great opportunity to mobilize STEM professionals from fields outside of education, individuals interested in taking on new roles or even wholly new encore careers after retirement. Such careers allow people to use their skills in new ways to serve society. Boomers seeking encore careers present a unique opportunity. This generation built the space program, started the environmental movement and sparked the technology age. Boomers make up the healthiest and wealthiest generation of retirement-aged folks the country has ever seen--and many of them are staying put during retirement because they are eager to give back to the communities where they have lived and worked. This paper highlights how boomers with various professional backgrounds can help improve how schools deliver science, technology, engineering and math education. The stories in this paper illustrate how three individuals--former teacher Rick Marquart, retired engineer Alan Cleland and former corporate executive Bob Abrams--are making that happen through innovative programs. (Contains 14 endnotes.) [Support for this report was provided by the Deerbrook Charitable Trust.]
Capturing Quality in Formative Assessment Practice: Measurement Challenges. CRESST Report 770
Author: Herman, Joan L.
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Elementary School Students,Science Programs,Formative Evaluation,Hands on Science,Program Effectiveness,Student Evaluation,Elementary School Curriculum,Science Curriculum,Evaluation Methods,Comprehension,Scientific Concepts

This study examines measures of formative assessment practice using data from a study of the implementation and effects of adding curriculum embedded measures to a hands-on science program for upper elementary school students. The authors present a unifying conception for measuring critical elements of formative assessment practice, illustrate common measures for doing so, and investigate the relationships among and between scores on these measures. Findings raise important issues with regard to both the challenge of obtaining valid measures of teachers' assessment practice and the uneven quality nature of current teacher practice. (Contains 11 tables and 2 figures.)
How Boomers Can Contribute to Student Success: Emerging Encore Career Opportunities in K-12 Education
Author: Foster, Elizabeth
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Baby Boomers,Experienced Teachers,Retirement,Employment Opportunities,Elementary Secondary Education,Teacher Persistence,Mentors,Tutors,Adjunct Faculty,Human Capital,Social Capital,Career Development

Too many students are struggling to succeed, and too many new teachers are quitting the profession, leaving administrators desperately looking for new ways to stop both from happening. At the same time, a growing number of veteran teachers are retiring or approaching retirement, taking with them the very experience that could help students and new teachers. There's a cadre of professionals ready to make an impact on education: Boomers--with the skills, life experience and desire to help--can bring critical, readily available support to schools in need of targeted expertise. Many who are retired or nearing traditional retirement age, including veteran teachers, are looking for opportunities to re-enter or remain in the work force. Surveys show that many of the 78 million boomers want encore careers--a second act that combines social impact with meaningful work and continued compensation. This paper examines the benefits of encouraging experienced boomers to play new roles in classrooms and schools as adjunct teachers, mentors, content advisers, project coordinators and tutors, among others. The findings are drawn from three case studies and the interviews conducted to develop them; an analysis of selected data from the federal Schools and Staffing Survey; and original research by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF). In addition to highlighting some good work already happening, the author offers insight into the ways that both veteran teachers and encore workers from other fields can help make schools and districts more effective, improve teacher retention and ultimately increase student achievement. (Contains 8 notes.)
A Bayesian Network Approach to Modeling Learning Progressions and Task Performance. CRESST Report 776
Author: West, Patti
Date: 2010-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Bayesian Statistics,Computer Networks,Evidence,Learning Processes,Performance Based Assessment,Information Technology,Correlation,Models

A major issue in the study of learning progressions (LPs) is linking student performance on assessment tasks to the progressions. This report describes the challenges faced in making this linkage using Bayesian networks to model LPs in the field of computer networking. The ideas are illustrated with exemplar Bayesian networks built on Cisco Networking Academy LPs and tasks designed to obtain evidence in their terms. We briefly discuss challenges in the development of LPs, and then move to challenges with the implementation of Bayesian networks, including selection of the method, issues of model fit and confirmation, and grainsize. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges we face in ongoing work. IP Addressing Skills Progression is appended. (Contains 2 tables, 11 figures and 1 footnote.)
Validity Evidence for Games as Assessment Environments. CRESST Report 773
Author: Delacruz, Girlie C.
Date: 2010-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Games,Validity,Prior Learning,Scores,Teaching Methods,Predictive Validity,Mathematics Instruction,Mathematical Concepts,Predictor Variables,Knowledge Level,High School Students,Summer Programs,Video Games,Computer Uses in Education,Pretests Posttests,Secondary School Mathematics

This study provides empirical evidence of a highly specific use of games in education--the assessment of the learner. Linear regressions were used to examine the predictive and convergent validity of a math game as assessment of mathematical understanding. Results indicate that prior knowledge significantly predicts game performance. Results also indicate that game performance significantly predicts posttest scores, even when controlling for prior knowledge. These results provide evidence that game performance taps into mathematical understanding. (Contains 2 figures.)