ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Classroom Observations: Documenting Shifts in Instruction for Districtwide Improvement. Formative Evaluation Cycle Report for the Math in Common Initiative, Volume 2
Author: Perry, Rebecca R.
Date: 2015-01-26
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Classroom Observation Techniques,School Districts,Educational Improvement,Instructional Innovation,Formative Evaluation,State Standards,Program Implementation,Lesson Observation Criteria,Annotated Bibliographies,Design Preferences,Reliability,Scheduling,Faculty Development,Selection Criteria,Selection Tools,Evaluation Utilization,Mathematics Education,Elementary School Mathematics,Middle Schools

Math in Common® (MiC) is a five-year initiative that supports a formal network of 10 California school districts as they implement the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M) across grades K-8. This research brief explores how best to select or develop and use classroom observation systems in order to document instructional shifts and inform MiC school district improvement efforts. The report is organized into three main sections: (1) An exploration of what the research literature says about existing observation systems and several design considerations for successful observation systems; (2) A detailed discussion of several considerations of these findings for school districts as they implement observation systems in order to better track and understand how teachers are implementing the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics in their classrooms; (3) An annotated bibliography for recent publications on classroom observations that might be of interest to school districts interested in exploring these ideas in more depth. The following are appended: (1) Methods for Annotated Bibliography; and (2) Classroom Observation Analysis Tool. [For Volume 1, &quot;Under Construction: Benchmark Assessments and Common Core Math Implementation in Grades K-8. Formative Evaluation Cycle Report for the Math in Common Initiative, Volume 1,&quot; see ED559581.]
Never Too Late: Boosting Reading Scores in Community College
Author: WestEd
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Community Colleges,Reading Instruction,Remedial Reading,Remedial Instruction,Reading Programs,Instructional Effectiveness,Reading Improvement,Scores

While community college instructors are experts in their academic or technical fields, most do not have training to help adults build postsecondary literacy skills. Researchers with WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) sought to change that. Building on SLI's popular and proven Reading Apprenticeship model for middle and high school teachers, the Community College Faculty Seminars in Reading Apprenticeship evolved in 2007 to meet the demands of institutions serving adult learners. In the higher education setting, Reading Apprenticeship shows teachers how to draw on what they know and do as knowledgeable, discipline-based readers in chemistry, dental hygiene, refrigeration repair, or other academic and technical fields, and then how to share those skills with students. This article article discusses how community college instructors use the Reading Apprenticeship approach to help students collaborate with one another to identify and address their specific reading challenges. [This article was first published in WestEd's R&amp;D Alert, Vol. 14, No.3, 2014.]
Math Placement: The Importance of Getting It Right for All Students. Research Brief
Author: Fong, Anthony
Date: 2014-12-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Mathematics Education,Student Placement,State Standards,Trend Analysis,School Districts,Minority Group Students,Algebra,Repetition,Calculus,Mathematics Achievement,Data Analysis,Disadvantaged,Academic Achievement,Educational Practices,Educational Change,Change Strategies,State Policy,Educational Policy,Articulation (Education),Alignment (Education),Elementary Secondary Education

Given the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, California's history of math acceleration in the middle grades, and the concern for correct math course placement for all students, this brief examines patterns from the past to shed light on considerations for the future. The brief, written by WestEd's Tony Fong and Neal Finkelstein, presents the results of further analyses of data from 24 school districts in California that were previously analyzed in an earlier released report. The additional analysis focuses on the math experiences of minority students: When did minority students take algebra I, how often did they repeat the course, and what proportion of minority students reached calculus by grade 12? The answers to questions like these are critical for ensuring that all students are placed in appropriate courses to enable them to succeed in high school and college.
Academy Breaks the Isolation of Special Education Directors
Author: WestEd
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Special Education,School Administration,Communities of Practice,Social Networks,Regular and Special Education Relationship,Problem Solving,Capacity Building,Investment,Professional Continuing Education,Administrator Education,Management Development,Improvement Programs,State Programs,Elementary Secondary Education

Most special education administrators do not get the chance to network regularly with professional peers to discuss job challenges and strategies. School-district special education directors routinely juggle complex, difficult, time-consuming, and emotion-laden job demands, but when things get tough, they usually find themselves solving problems on their own. The Special Education Leadership Academy in Massachusetts was developed to remedy that situation. Collaboration between special education directors and their general education counterparts to promote inclusive learning is a primary goal of the Academy. Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MA DESE) and free to participants, the Academy aims to build directors' capacities to do their jobs effectively and minimize burnout. In fact, a major reason that MA DESE funds the Academy is to retain veteran directors in their positions longer, so that students and educators--especially those coming up through the special education ranks--can benefit from their knowledge and experience. [This article was first published in WestEd's R&amp;D Alert, Vol. 14, No.3, 2014.]
A Call to Action on Behalf of U.S. Babies
Author: WestEd
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Leaves of Absence,Employed Parents,Prenatal Care,Infants,Toddlers,Child Development,Brain,Federal Legislation,Health Services,Costs,Public Policy,Fringe Benefits

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world without a paid leave policy for parents at or around the birth of a child. Prenatal care in the U.S. remains expensive, while virtually all other industrialized countries provide free or affordable prenatal care. While families in the U.S. pay about 80 percent of the direct cost of child care services, parents in European countries pay about 30 percent. WestEd's J. Ronald Lally says we can--and must--do better. With more than 45 years of experience developing programs and policies to improve the lives of infants, toddlers, and their families, Lally understands the urgency and necessity of supporting the healthy development of America's next generation. The latest research in brain science confirms what Lally and other child development experts and practitioners have known for decades: a healthy, nurturing, and engaging first three years are critical to babies' brain development, which supports their later success in school and life. Problems that result from inadequate care of children ages zero to three are difficult, costly, and sometimes impossible to correct. Unfortunately, the United States has a long way to go to adequately nurture its young. It currently lags far behind virtually all other industrialized countries in the support it provides to infants, toddlers, and their families. &quot;American babies are getting inadequate prenatal care, less time at home with their parents during the first year of life, and fewer and lower-quality child care services, compared to babies in other industrialized countries,&quot; says Lally, Co-Director of the Center for Child &amp; Family Studies at WestEd. &quot;The United States needs to become much more strategic and farsighted in the way it supports its children during their critical first few years of life.&quot; This reality is why Lally and his colleagues launched For Our Babies, a national initiative to promote healthy development in U.S. children from conception to age three. During this period of life, a baby's brain undergoes an enormous transformation--growing from 25 to 85 percent of its adult size. The latest scientific research indicates that the actual physical structure of a baby's brain, as well as its functioning, is significantly shaped by experiences and environments in the baby's first three years. [This article was first published in WestEd's R&amp;D Alert, Vol. 14, No.3, 2014.]
Equity-Focused Schools Carry All Students to High Levels
Author: WestEd
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Effective Schools Research,High Achievement,Equal Education,Disadvantaged Schools,Poverty,Individualized Instruction,Formative Evaluation,Professional Education,Systems Approach,School Effectiveness,Best Practices,Professional Continuing Education,Faculty Development

Despite decades of experience supporting efforts from local to state levels to improve learning for underserved students, Sonia Caus Gleason and WestEd's Nancy Gerzon could not point to examples of entire schools accomplishing what they believed was possible: high-poverty public schools personalizing learning for all students to consistently reach high achievement. They began asking colleagues to identify exemplary schools that met their dual criteria of high poverty and high achievement. A typical response: &quot;I don't know any, but tell me when you find them.&quot; Gleason and Gerzon persisted, eventually selecting four schools to study in depth. &quot;The schools actually exceeded our expectations,&quot; says Gerzon, a WestEd Senior Program/Research Associate. &quot;The sophistication and intensity with which they personalize learning for students and staff goes well beyond what we thought we'd see.&quot; She and Gleason capture what they learned from these four exemplary schools in a new book, &quot;Growing Into Equity: Professional Learning and Personalization&quot;. [This article was first published in WestEd's R&amp;D Alert, Vol. 15, No.1, 2014.]
How Arizona's Dropout Crisis Affects Communities, Creates Economic Losses for the State of Arizona
Author: WestEd, Arizona Mayors Education Roundtable
Date: 2014-06-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Dropout Rate,Dropout Research,Dropouts,Economic Impact,High School Graduates,Graduation Rate,Profiles,Audits (Verification),Computation,Cost Effectiveness,Costs,Wages,Tax Credits,Taxes,Educational Benefits,Educational Attainment,Youth Problems,Community Benefits,Investment,Dropout Prevention,Youth Employment,Youth Programs,Youth Opportunities,Productivity,Labor Economics,Economic Development,State Surveys,Statewide Planning

One-in-five of Arizona's youth did not complete high school and a similarly large proportion of the state's youth is disconnected from either work or education. These youth face higher risks of unemployment and economic insecurity and are more reliant on government supports. This situation, which fails to ensure that the state's youth are adequately prepared for adulthood creates both social and fiscal losses. This report calculates the social and fiscal losses for high school dropouts and disconnected youth (those not in work or school/college). The social loss reflects lost earnings, higher criminal activity, poorer health status, higher reliance on government programs, as well as productivity losses and tax distortions. The fiscal loss reflects lost taxes and increased government spending on crime, health, and welfare; this loss is split between the federal government and Arizona state/local governments. The losses are estimated for the state of Arizona and for selected localities within Arizona. The economic framework used to model these losses are detailed in Appendix A, and calculations for each locality are provided in Appendix B. An economic model based on national research evidence and Arizona-specific data are used to calculate these losses. The model creates lifetime economic profiles for dropouts in comparison to high school graduates and for disconnected youth in comparison to other youth. These profiles are expressed as present values at age 18 (dropouts) and age 20 (disconnected youth) in 2013 dollars and adjusted for the price level in Arizona. Details outlining the economic framework used to model the losses are contained in the appendix. Policy implications of having large proportions of youth who have neither completed high school or become involved in the labor market are considered.
Core to College Evaluation: Exploring the Use of Multiple Measures for Placement into College-Level Courses. Seeking Alternatives or Improvements to the Use of a Single Standardized Test
Author: Bracco, Kathy Reeves
Date: 2014-03-21
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Student Placement,Student Evaluation,College Readiness,Alignment (Education),Elementary Secondary Education,Postsecondary Education,Academic Standards,State Standards,Measures (Individuals),College Students,Interviews,Administrators

&quot;Core to College: Preparing Students for College Readiness and Success&quot; is a three-year initiative. The initiative's mission is to &quot;facilitate greater coordination between K-12 and postsecondary education systems around implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and aligned assessments.&quot; Its aim is to foster shared ownership of college readiness by the K-12 and postsecondary sectors, including use of the CCSS-aligned assessments to determine a student's readiness for credit-bearing postsecondary courses. WestEd is providing evaluation services over the course of the initiative. The evaluation plan is designed to synthesize the progress of the initiative and its participating states over the next few years, with a focus on the initiative's primary goals of: (1) creating statewide definitions of college and career readiness; (2) Using the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Smarter Balanced assessments to inform decisions about student placement into credit bearing college courses; and (3) aligning K-12 and postsecondary policies to the CCSS. The report begins with a literature review that defines multiple measures and summarizes recent research on the logistics, benefits, and challenges of using multiple measures for student placement. In addition, the literature review categorizes the primary ways in which multiple measures are currently in use, and highlights a few specific examples of how states and institutions are utilizing these different approaches. Next, the report presents profiles of seven Core to College states that are currently implementing, or planning to implement, multiple measures and/or other alternative placement measures at the local and/or state level. The report concludes with key observations and takeaways for states as they consider using multiple measures for placement in the near future. Summaries of placement policies of the Core to College states that are not currently utilizing multiple measures for placement are included in Appendix A. [The &quot;Core to College: Preparing Students for College Readiness and Success&quot; initiative is funded by the Lumina Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.]
Helping English Learners Rise to the Challenge of Complex Texts
Author: Walqui, Aida
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: English Language Learners,Secondary School Students,Instructional Innovation,Pilot Projects,State Standards,Language Arts,Faculty Development,Capacity Building,Language Skills,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Teaching Skills,Teaching Methods,Active Learning,Educational Change,Educational Practices,Change Strategies

The idea that secondary English language learner (ELL) students can master rigorous academic content quickly and deeply goes against much accepted wisdom in the field, but Aída Walqui--the author and Director of WestEd's Teacher Professional Development Program, which houses the Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) initiative--and her colleagues have spent the past 14 years developing and helping educators implement an instructional approach with exactly that goal. QTEL's approach works on the premise that students will rise to the challenge of rigorous subject matter if it sparks their interest, if they receive appropriate support, and if academic content and academic English language skills are taught simultaneously, as a single, integrated process. However, to master this instructional approach, many teachers need to make dramatic shifts in their beliefs and practices. This article discusses a pilot study that was conducted in five urban school districts nationwide through a partnership between the Understanding Language (UL) initiative at Stanford University and the Teacher Professional Development Program at WestEd. For field testing purposes, curriculum developers designed a five-week, Common Core State Standards-aligned English language arts unit on persuasive text and media messages that was aimed at raising learning expectations and experiences for ELL students and their non-ELL peers. One of the key lessons learned from implementation of the unit is that, although teachers can readily add productive activities to their instructional repertoire as a result of this training, more than just a few hours of professional development are needed to make deep and coherent changes to long-held instructional beliefs and practices. [This article was first published in WestEd's R&amp;D Alert, Vol. 14, No.3, 2014.]
Teaching College Courses in Selected Correctonal Facilities in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Author: Barringer-Brown, Charletta Hope
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Programs,Correctional Institutions,Correctional Education,Qualitative Research,College Faculty,Teacher Surveys,Teacher Attitudes,Questionnaires,Comparative Analysis,Teaching Experience,Conventional Instruction,Correlation,Participant Satisfaction,Student Characteristics,Motivation,Barriers,Change Strategies,Institutionalized Persons,College Students

Numerous research studies have focused on recidivism rates ignoring education to inmates as a technique of reducing recidivism. This qualitative study investigates the faculty perception of teaching in selected correctional facilities. A sample of fifty-three faculty members teaching within four selected correctional facilities within a 60 mile radius of the metro Richmond, Virginia area are surveyed on their perception of correctional and prison education. Questionnaires are provided to the faculty for the collection of primary data and the facilitation of an informed analysis on the perspective of the faculty regarding these particular programs in comparison to traditional college programs. Teaching in these correctional facilities brings new challenges to the faculty members, which are also surveyed. Finally, suggestions by the faculty on enhancement of the correctional and prison education programs are considered.
Uncertified and Teaching: Industry Professionals in Career and Technical Education Classrooms
Author: Stephens, Geralyn E.
Date: 2015-08-31
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Vocational Education,Teacher Education,Measures (Individuals),Educational Assessment,Teacher Surveys,Online Surveys,Correlation,Teacher Qualifications,Alternative Teacher Certification,Industry,Vocational Education Teachers,Regression (Statistics)

Industry professionals are permitted to teach in Michigan's federally funded Career and Technical Education (CTE) secondary programs, before completing a teacher certification program, under the Annual Occupational Authorization (AOA) provision. This study reviews their academic foundations, professional credentials and their pedagogical knowledge and skill levels. Findings include that most AOA teachers possess post-secondary academic credentials and extensive service records in their previous industry careers. The study identified relationships between the age and educational backgrounds of AOA teachers and their use of specific instructional activities and a statistical relationship between their years teaching in the CTE classroom and the degree of collaboration with academic, industry and occupational colleagues. While AOA teachers are confident in their ability to share occupational knowledge and skills, they lack an extensive awareness of authentic assessment strategies. Recommendations include establishing Teacher Mentoring programs, where both academic and occupational peers serve as mentors to AOA teachers.
Addressing the Invisible Achievement Gap: The Need to Improve Education Outcomes for California Students in Foster Care, with Considerations for Action. CenterView: Insight and Analysis on California's Education Policy
Author: Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd
Date: 2014-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Achievement Gap,Foster Care,Student Needs,At Risk Students,Public Schools,Child Welfare,Low Achievement,Student Mobility,Standardized Tests,Student Participation,High School Students,Dropout Rate,Graduation Rate,Agency Cooperation,Best Practices,Planning,Educational Research

Students who are in foster care--compared to all other student groups in California--drop out of school at much higher rates and graduate at much lower rates, with only about 58 percent of 12th-grade students earning a high school diploma. These and other findings on California students in foster care are documented in &quot;The Invisible Achievement Gap,&quot; a 2013 study conducted by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd. This issue of &quot;CenterView&quot; draws on &quot;The Invisible Achievement Gap&quot; study, providing background on the topic and summarizing the research findings. The policy brief also suggests some possible next steps toward better meeting the education needs of this particularly vulnerable group, with the overall goal of ensuring that students in foster care thrive in school--with services and supports they need, stable school placements, and preparation to succeed in college and a career.
The National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative: Strategy in Action: Building the Cybersecurity Workforce in Maryland
Author: Business-Higher Education Forum
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Internet,Computer Security,Corporations,College Presidents,Case Studies,Universities,Educational Change,Educational Innovation,Outcomes of Education,Expertise,Program Descriptions,Labor Force Development,School Business Relationship,Administrators,Needs Assessment,Program Development,Undergraduate Students,Strategic Planning,Information Security,National Security

The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) has achieved particular success in operationalizing the National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative (HEWI) in Maryland around cybersecurity. Leveraging its membership of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and government agency leaders, BHEF partnered with the University System of Maryland to build a system-wide response to the state's (and nation's) cybersecurity workforce challenges. BHEF's work in Maryland illustrates that it is indeed possible to effect swift, significant change and innovation in higher education with the goal of better aligning curricula and student outcomes with needed workforce skills. This pace of change hinges on the genuine commitment, expertise, and investment of resources by motivated stakeholders. This case study describes how the Maryland regional initiative, as part of HEWI, operationalizes and implements the BHEF strategies.