ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
What It Takes to Complete High School: The Shifting Terrain of Course and Diploma Requirements
Author: Hoffman, Nancy
Date: 2013-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: High Schools,Graduation Requirements,Required Courses,High School Students,College Readiness,Career Readiness,Vocational Education,Secondary School Curriculum,State Policy,Educational Policy

In recent months, several states have altered their high school course requirements in various ways, from creating endorsements within a single diploma to creating new diplomas. These states appear to be making changes for a variety of reasons: to elevate career and technical education; to emphasize STEM fields; to improve the alignment with nonremedial college entrance requirements; to provide options for students who are not heading to college right after high school. Whatever the reasons, and they do not seem to be in anticipation of Common Core State Standards, the new legislation and accompanying rules and regulations require scrutiny and a careful consideration of implications, both for themselves and for their relation to other categories of graduation requirements such as test scores, Carnegie Units, and new interest in competency- or proficiency-based assessments. Of particular interest is whether changes augment or undercut the ongoing effort to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in postsecondary education--whether headed toward a certificate, an Associate's degree, or a four-year degree. Right now, with systems in flux across the nation, it is critical to track and pay attention to the trends. In that spirit, &quot;What It Takes to Complete High School&quot; focuses on one category of graduation requirement: courses required by states for students to attain a high school diploma.
Empowering Parents with Data: Ensuring Parents Have Data to Make Informed Choices. Data for Action
Author: Data Quality Campaign
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Parents,Empowerment,Data,Decision Making,Public Schools,Parent School Relationship,Access to Information,Academic Achievement,College Readiness,Career Readiness,Elementary Secondary Education

Accessible, tailored, and easy-to-understand data can help parents answer questions about their children's education such as, &quot;Is my child on track to graduate college and career ready?&quot; and &quot;How does my child's school compare to other schools so that I can make the best choice about my child's education?&quot; Information about their children's progress in school over time helps parents establish expectations, have meaningful conversations with their children's teachers, and take action to support their children's success. Information about their children's current school and other schools, such as high school feedback reports, helps parents understand the quality of the schools in their communities. &quot;Empowering Parents with Data: Ensuring Parents Have Data to Make Informed Choices&quot; shows the role that states have in ensuring that parents have access to user-friendly data about their children's academic performance.
Languages for Learning: Granting All Students Access to New Skills. Fishman Prize Series
Author: Sanders, Steven
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Public School Teachers,Teacher Effectiveness,Awards,Music Education,Mathematics Instruction,English Language Learners,Science Instruction,Secondary School Teachers,Elementary School Teachers,Teaching Methods,Classroom Techniques,Calculus,Physics,Engineering Education,Secondary School Mathematics,Secondary School Science,High School Students,Elementary School Students,Second Language Instruction,English (Second Language)

A single great teacher can change a life by introducing a new language, helping you master a new skill or opening a door you never knew was there. That's why every year, TNTP awards the Fishman Prize for Superlative Classroom Practice: to celebrate a select cohort of public school teachers who demonstrate exceptionally effective teaching with students from high-poverty communities. Founded in 2012, the Prize is named for Shira Fishman, a TNTP-trained math teacher who has received local and national recognition for her achievements at McKinley Technology High School in Washington, D.C., where she continues to teach today. Each year the selection process becomes more difficult. The winning teachers receive $25,000 each--one of the country's largest monetary awards for practicing teachers. During the summer of their award year, they collaborate during a month-long virtual residency, reflecting on their classroom practices, exploring the larger issues that shape their profession and contributing to TNTP's own efforts to understand and support great instruction. A central part of the residency experience is the chance for the winners to capture some essential elements of their practice in writing, telling the stories of their classrooms in their own voices. TNTP publishes the essays in an annual collection highlighting the skills and strategies the Fishman Prize winners use to achieve extraordinary results. This year's essays are presented as follows: (1) Own Your Own Sound (Steven Sanders); (2) You had my Number (Kelly Zunkiewicz); (3) Room for Debate (Laura Strait); and (4) Use your Own Voices (Michael Towne).
School Improvement Grants: Guidance and Tools for the 2015 Amended Regulations--Maximizing the Optional Planning/Pre-Implementation Year
Author: Redding, Sam
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Educational Improvement,Grants,Federal Aid,School Turnaround,Disadvantaged Schools,Academic Achievement,Educationally Disadvantaged,Federal Legislation,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Legislation,Eligibility,Intervention,Models,Educational Change,Program Implementation,Educational Planning,Needs Assessment,Sustainability,Check Lists,Recruitment,Personnel Selection,Educational Facilities Improvement,Educational Policy

The purpose of this guide is to provide states, districts, and schools with information and support to prepare applications for 2015-2016 School Improvement Grants (SIGs). The guide includes tools, checklists, and questions for SEAs and LEAs aligned with the revised SIG requirements, primarily focused on how to leverage the &quot;planning year&quot; to build a foundation of success for SIG schools. Appended are: (1) Plan-Do-Study-Act; and (2) Essential School Functions. A list of references and resources is also included.
SEA Strategic Communications: A Stakeholder Approach to Prioritize Communications Efforts. Solutions. Issue No. 5
Author: Matta-Barrera, Romanita
Date: 2013-12-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: State Departments of Education,Stakeholders,Organizational Communication,Advocacy,Classification

State education agencies (SEAs) are central players in initiating and leading new reform efforts. However, traditional approaches to providing public information are not adequate for producing the necessary awareness and support to implement reforms statewide and at the local level. SEAs often have very few staff or other resources devoted to communication systems. With limited resources for communications, it becomes even more critical to efficiently plan the allocation of resources for engagement of stakeholders. In addition, stakeholders' involvement in reform vary from &quot;active and supportive&quot; to &quot;inactive and non-supportive&quot;. This issue describes how following the three-step stakeholder analysis process--(1) identify stakeholders; (2) analyze and classify stakeholders; and (3) prioritize stakeholders--ensures that SEAs will accurately inform communications plans so that SEAs can intentionally use limited resources to focus on priority stakeholders. An SEA's stakeholder prioritization process can help avoid the anxiety of how to inform and engage with what may seem to be an infinite number of groups who have interest in, or are affected by the implementation of new education reforms. By following the three-step stakeholder analysis process SEAs can determine with whom to engage and with what level of effort. These determinations can be integrated into the SEA's overall strategic communications plans.
Real Progress in Maryland: Student Learning Objectives and Teacher and Principal Evaluation
Author: Slotnik, William J.
Date: 2014-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Evaluation,Teacher Evaluation,Educational Objectives,State Departments of Education,School Districts,Technical Assistance,Quality Control,Leadership Training,Communication Strategies,Teacher Attitudes,Program Effectiveness,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Educational Quality,Program Implementation,Surveys,Administrator Attitudes,Focus Groups,Administrator Qualifications,Observation,Faculty Development,Teamwork,Leadership Qualities,Administrator Effectiveness

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is making significant strides in guiding and supporting the implementation of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) as well as a teacher and principal evaluation (TPE) system statewide. MSDE support focuses on helping districts prepare for full SLO implementation by providing technical assistance with a focus on quality control, leadership development, and communications. This report, produced by the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center at WestEd, examines educators' overall perceptions of TPE and key issues in implementation, including quality, consistency, and school, district, and state support. In particular, the study looks at the key TPE component of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), an instructional process for improving educator effectiveness and student achievement. The report also includes recommendations that focus on ways to strengthen SLO implementation within and across districts in Maryland, while reinforcing the instructional emphasis of TPE. Supplemental tables and figures are provided in an addendum at the end of the document.
The Chief Performance Officer in Education. Solutions. Issue No. 3
Author: Nafziger, Dean
Date: 2013-08-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: State Departments of Education,Administrators,Administrator Role,Administrator Responsibility,Educational Objectives,Personnel Management,Educational Administration,Administrator Qualifications

A performance management system can help the state education agency (SEA) become more intentional about what it does and does not do, how work is done, and when to change course. Performance management does not define goals or identify specific strategies, but it puts in place systems that enable learning and adaptation to drive improvement and the achievement of goals. In organizations working toward multiple objectives, as is the case with SEAs, performance management supports the alignment of work so as to better advance strategic goals. Several states have established a Chief Performance Officer (CPO) position to assist the Chief State School Officer in improving performance management. This issue answers the question: How does establishing the role of a CPO--a person who works across functional and programmatic lines to assure that state resources are deployed in the most effective manner possible--assist the Chief State School Officer in driving continuous improvement within the state agency? In answering this question, this issue describes the responsibilities of a CPO; other types of organizations that utilize this position; the job description of a CPO within a state; and the qualifications of a CPO.
Functional Coherence in the State Education Agency: A Structure for Performance Management. Solutions. Issue No. 4
Author: Redding, Sam
Date: 2013-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: State Departments of Education,Career Development,College Readiness,College Preparation,Role of Education,Agency Role,Institutional Environment,Educational Improvement,Governance,Performance Based Assessment,Leadership Responsibility,Advocacy,Standards,Information Dissemination,Program Evaluation,Quality Control,Elementary Secondary Education

The purpose of the state education agency (SEA) is to focus the entire education system on helping students become capable in college and career in an increasingly complex world. One of the most vexing problems facing SEAs today is how to meet increasing demands for performance while adjusting to significant resource reductions. Meeting that demand is complicated, because SEAs sit at the center of a sprawling array of institutions and organizations that each have a role in educating students. Meeting the demand requires that an SEA not only become more effective and productive in its own work, but that it will stimulate the same in local education agencies and other organizations that provide education services. This paper addresses one aspect of that challenge--creating an organizational structure that fosters a coherent and powerful system that continuously improves outcomes. The discussion of organizational function and structure also provides a framework for establishing a performance management system for SEAs.
Fast Start: Training Better Teachers Faster, with Focus, Practice and Feedback
Author: Menzes, Ana
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Preservice Teacher Education,Educational Change,Teaching Skills,Basic Skills,Teacher Effectiveness,Feedback (Response),Teacher Education Curriculum,Coaching (Performance),Experiential Learning,Student Teaching,Teacher Education Programs,Program Effectiveness

The field of teacher preparation is falling short of its most important responsibility: ensuring that the teachers we train are ready to do the job. For more than a decade,TNTP preparation programs produced teachers who were no more or less effective than teachers from any other program-- some were great, some were poor, most were about average. Over the course of several years TNTP has worked to develop a new approach to teacher preparation. They began by clarifying higher expectations teachers need to meet in their first year in order to earn certification. TNTP also recognized the needed to help teachers meet those expectations and thus decided to rebuild their pre-service training program from the ground up based on the latest research and their own experience with tens of thousands of new teachers. This new approach to teacher preparation is called Fast Start. Radically different from typical pre-service training programs, Fast Start places a singular focus on helping novice teachers master basic, essential teaching skills instead of racing to cover every aspect of good teaching. Fast Start focuses on four skills teachers must master to be effective right away, and lays the foundation for learning more advanced skills down the road. Unlike most programs, Fast Start is grounded in intensive practice of skills teachers are called upon to use every day because what teachers can actually accomplish in their own classrooms today matters more than what they have read about in a textbook. Instead of expecting prospective teachers to improve on their own, Fast Start gives teachers specific feedback on what they should do differently in their very next lesson. This paper tells the story of Fast Start, and explains exactly how TNTP transformed their approach to pre-service training. What they have learned along the way is also shared in the hope that their experience and failures can serve as a road map for other preparation programs that wish to explore new ways to help novice teachers succeed.
The Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching and Assessing: Current Practices at Polytechnics in Bangladesh and Its Effects in Developing Students' Competences.
Author: Haolader, Faruque A.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Taxonomy,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis,Surveys,Observation,Foreign Countries,Educational Quality,Graduates,Instructional Materials,Student Evaluation,Test Items,Classification,Teaching Methods,Competence,Technical Education,Vocational Education,Curriculum Implementation,Educational Objectives,Cognitive Processes,Metacognition,Engineering Education,Profiles,Engineering,Teacher Attitudes,Evaluation Methods

Polytechnics in Bangladesh endeavour to produce quality graduates for national and international job markets. The quality of graduates depends on several factors. This study examines the implementation process of the polytechnic curriculum with the objectives of determining the current level of practices in learning/teaching material design, in delivering curriculum content, in assessing students and its effect on students' competence development. Data was collected through observation, opinion survey and competence test. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used for data interpretation and analysis in this descriptive type of research study. Findings revealed that the learning materials are mainly theory oriented and mostly cover those contents usually common in exams. About half of teachers are aware of the taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing, but they rarely put importance on it. In the classroom, teachers spend only a little time for delivering content at the level of &quot;apply/analyse.&quot; However, a significant number of tasks performed in labs are practical and occupation relevant and can be classified at higher levels of the taxonomy. In student assessment, the test-items assess mainly theoretical knowledge at the level of &quot;remember.&quot; The effect of these practices is reflected in demonstrating student performance in a competence test. The study concludes with some recommendations.
Models for Information Assurance Education and Outreach: Year 3 and Summative Report
Author: Wang, Jianjun
Date: 2015-09-30
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Technology,Computer Security,Crime Prevention,Computer Networks,Summer Programs,Undergraduate Study,Accountability,Models,High School Students,Program Effectiveness,Stakeholders,Workshops,Faculty Development,Elementary Secondary Education,Outreach Programs,State Colleges,Information Security,Community Programs,Program Development,Student Research,Student Projects

Over the past three years, California State University, Bakersfield received NSF funding to support hands-on explorations in &quot;network security&quot; and &quot;cryptography&quot; through Research Experience Vitalizing Science-University Program (REVS-UP). In addition to the summer bridge component, the grant included development of &quot;Multidisciplinary Information Assurance Curriculum&quot; at the undergraduate level and offered Information Assurance (IA) education for community members. In this summative report, a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) model is employed to examine six research questions: (1) How much has been done in the delivery of REVS-UP learning opportunities for high school students during the four-week summer sessions? (2) What strengths did the project demonstrate to support IA education? (3) What is the program impact on key stakeholders? (4) How much has been done through the Dissemination Workshop for K-12 teachers? (5) How well did the program perform in the service delivery? (6) Is anyone better off due to this outreach effort? To sustain the program improvement, qualitative and quantitative data are triangulated to assess &quot;what works,&quot; &quot;for whom,&quot; and &quot;in which context&quot; under a Context, Input, Process, and Product (CIPP) paradigm. The report concludes with a &quot;Future Direction&quot; section to examine the program setting on the REVS-UP platform. An appendix contains: Poster Presentations of Four IA Research Projects.
Bootstrapping Results of Exercise Therapy and Education for Patients with Congestive Heart Failure
Author: Witta, E. Lea
Date: 2003-11-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Heart Disorders,Exercise,Health Education,Therapy,Outcomes of Treatment,Sample Size,Quality of Life,Sampling,Statistical Inference,Probability,Patients

When studies are conducted over a period of time, the sample size typically decreases. In a study of the effects of exercise therapy and education with recovering congestive heart failure (CHF) patients (Brubaker, Witta, &amp; Angelopoulus, 2003), the sample size decreased from over 40 to 9 participants after an 18-month time span. Although the quality of life (QOL) scales and measures of physical ability showed improvement, these results were limited to 9 participants. Thus, there was some question concerning the generalizability of this study to other patients with congestive heart failure. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to use the bootstrapping procedure to provide the confidence intervals and estimate generalization error of both physical and quality of life results for that study, and (2) to estimate the probability of sample results as extreme as the observed sample using permutation methods. Most of the findings from this study support the findings from the original study and provide further evidence of the importance of the exercise and education treatment used in the original study. Further, this is not the only study in which improvement in physical measures and QOL constructs have shown improvement. Although the majority of studies on patients with CHF are less than six-months in duration, evidence has been provided that exercise tolerance and QOL can increase significantly following a supervised exercise program (Holst, Kaye, Richardson, Krum, Prior, Aggarwal, Wolfe, &amp; Bergin, 2001; Quittan, Sturm,Wiesinger, Pacher, &amp; Fialka-Moser, 1999; Tokmakova, Dobreva, &amp; Kostianev, 1999).
Patterns and Impacts of Short-Term Cross-Cultural Experience in Science and Mathematics Teaching: Benefits, Value, and Experience
Author: Kanyaprasith, Kamonwan
Date: 2015-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mathematics Instruction,Science Instruction,Cross Cultural Studies,Foreign Countries,Cultural Awareness,Qualitative Research,Semi Structured Interviews,Observation,Questionnaires,Pretests Posttests,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Graduate Students,Foreign Students,Teacher Education Programs,Cooperating Teachers,Colleges,Secondary Schools,Partnerships in Education,Internship Programs,Program Effectiveness,Second Language Learning,English (Second Language)

This study evaluates a cross-cultural experience in science and mathematics teaching in Thailand--an internship program. In this study, qualitative data sources including semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and pre-post questionnaire were collected from five groups of participants, which were: (a) administrators; (b) Thai cooperating teachers; (c) Thai students; (d) Thai graduate students; and (e) American graduate students. The results of data analysis from this study can be classified into six categories including: (a) role of participants; (b) value in teaching; (c) value in learning language; (d) value in learning different cultures; (e) value in professional and personal change; and (f) suggestions for the program. The research findings suggest that the future cross-cultural internship program can be developed as a school professional development program. The benefits and value that the participants have experienced are beyond the language learning.