ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Specifications and Prototype of the  Knowledge Repository (V.3.0) and the Knowledge Mediator (V.3.0)
Author: Andreou, Dimitris
Date: 2009-02-09
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Program Implementation,Programming,Computer System Design,Educational Technology,Computer Software,Internet,Program Descriptions,Instructional Development,Design Requirements,Workplace Learning,Knowledge Management,Teacher Education,Higher Education,Networks,Standards

This deliverable reports the technical and research development performed until M36 (January 2009) within tasks T5.2 and T5.4 of WP5 in the KP-Lab project, per the latest Description of Work (DoW) 3.2 [DoW3.2]. The described components are included in the KP-Lab Semantic Web Knowledge Middleware (SWKM) Prototype Release 3.0 software that takes place in M36. This release builds on the Prototype Release 2.0 that was presented in [D5.4].  The present deliverable includes both the specification, as well as the implementation details for the described components. The description of the features of the new functionalities is provided based on the motivating scenarios and the subsequent functional requirements. The focus and the high-level objective of the new services is the provision of improved scalability and modularity properties on the existing services, as well as improved management abilities upon conceptualizations. The implementation of the services is described by providing the related services' signatures, their proper way of use, the accepted input parameters, as well as their preconditions and effects. Initially, we describe the Delete Service, which is a Knowledge Repository service allowing the removal of existing namespaces from the repository; such removal includes the deletion of the contents of said namespaces, as well as the deletion of any reference to the namespaces themselves that exists in the repository. This new service enhances SWKM management capabilities upon conceptualizations. Then, the Named Graphs functionality is described, which is a new feature that allows a very flexible modularization of the information found in RDF KBs. We describe in detail the semantics of this feature, as well as the offered capabilities for querying and updating RDF KBs that include modularization information (i.e., information on named graphs) and the implications from their use. Finally, in the context of the Knowledge Mediator, we present the Persistent Comparison Service, which is a variation of the existing (Main Memory) Comparison Service (see M24 release, [D5.3], [D5.4]); unlike the original version, the new service works exclusively on the persistent storage, guaranteeing improved scalability features. A bibliography is included. (Contains 3 tables and 9 figures.)
Online and Hybrid Course Enrollment and Performance in Washington State Community and Technical Colleges. CCRC Working Paper No. 31
Author: Xu, Di
Date: 2011-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Electronic Learning,Technical Institutes,Online Courses,Student Characteristics,Blended Learning,Educational Technology,Computer Uses in Education,Conventional Instruction,Community Colleges,Employment Level,Enrollment Trends,Faculty Development,College Preparation,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Age Differences,Student Financial Aid,Socioeconomic Status,Remedial Programs,Language Arts,Mathematics,Language Proficiency,English (Second Language),Dual Enrollment

This report investigates enrollment patterns and academic outcomes in online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses among students who enrolled in Washington State community and technical colleges in the fall of 2004. Students were tracked for nearly five years, until the spring of 2009. Results were similar to those found in a parallel study in Virginia (Jaggars &amp; Xu, 2010). Students who were employed for more hours and students who had demographic characteristics associated with stronger academic preparation were more likely to enroll in online courses; however, students who enrolled in hybrid courses were quite similar to those who enrolled in a purely face-to-face curriculum. After controlling for student characteristics using multilevel regression techniques, results indicated that students were more likely to fail or withdraw from online courses than from face-to-face courses. In addition, students who took online coursework in early terms were slightly but significantly less likely to return to school in subsequent terms, and students who took a higher proportion of credits online were slightly but significantly less likely to attain an educational award or transfer to a four-year institution. In contrast, students were equally likely to complete a hybrid course as to complete a face-to-face course. Additional analyses with a new cohort of students entering in 2008 showed short-term results consistent with those of the 2004 cohort. Given the importance of online learning in terms of student convenience and institutional flexibility, current system supports for online learning should be bolstered and strengthened in order to improve completion rates among online learners. Specific recommendations are discussed in the report's conclusion. (Contains 9 tables, 4 figures and 23 footnotes.)
What Does Washington State Get for Its Investment in Bonuses for Board Certified Teachers? Schools in Crisis: Making Ends Meet. Rapid Response
Author: Simpkins, Jim
Date: 2011-03-22
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Poverty,Incentives,Teacher Certification,Program Costs,Retrenchment,Disadvantaged Schools,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Evidence,Rewards,Educational Legislation,Low Income Groups,Faculty Mobility,Program Effectiveness

Washington State is set to spend nearly $100 million in the next two years on pay bonuses for teachers who receive national board certification. This investment is supposed to improve the state's teaching force and encourage the most capable teachers to work in high-poverty schools. Does it accomplish those goals? Governor Christine Gregoire's 2011-13 budget proposal called for suspension of annual $5,000 bonuses for national board certified teachers (NBCTs) and the additional $5,000 bonuses paid to NBCTs who teach in low-income &quot;challenging&quot; schools. Suspending these incentives is projected to save the state $99.5 million over the biennium. This paper examines the available evidence in an effort to shed light on what the NBCT bonus program set out to do--namely, to reward strong teachers across the state and encourage them to teach in high-poverty schools--and whether it is achieving the desired effects. A study of the four years since the current incentive program began reveals that: (1) The number of NBCTs statewide has nearly tripled, causing the state's program costs to escalate by about $10 million per year; (2) Even with an additional $5,000 &quot;challenging schools&quot; bonus, fewer than 1% of Washington's NBCTs move from low-poverty to high-poverty schools each year; (3) The proportion of NBCTs teaching in challenging schools is increasing, but only because teachers already in those schools are gaining certification and because the state's challenging schools list has grown each year; (4) Washington's NBCTs appear no more likely than other teachers to stay in challenging school assignments; and (5) Some districts have worked hard to garner more bonuses for their own teachers. Per-pupil state NBCT bonus funding varies by a factor of more than 15 to 1 from one district to another, raising the question of whether bonuses are being distributed equitably across schools in the state. As legislators consider whether to restore the program to the proposed state budget, they may want to review and adjust the program as it now operates and consider whether it is achieving what they had hoped. (Contains 1 table, 4 figures, and 14 footnotes.)
Toward Increasing Teacher Diversity: Targeting Support and Intervention for Teacher Licensure Candidates
Author: Tyler, Linda
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Testing,Minority Group Teachers,Diversity (Faculty),Intervention,Teacher Education Programs,Preservice Teachers,Racial Differences,Ethnicity,Scores,Licensing Examinations (Professions),Teacher Competency Testing,Interviews,College Faculty,Asian Americans,Whites,Hispanic Americans,African Americans,American Indians,Teacher Education,Teacher Competencies,Grade Point Average

Since 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) and Educational Testing Service (ETS) have been working collaboratively to support teacher candidates in preparing for &quot;The Praxis Series&quot;[TM] of teacher licensure assessments, currently used in 41 states and territories. Their focus has been particularly targeted to assisting minority candidates. This work is foundational to the mission of both organizations. As they embarked upon this work, they realized that they needed stronger research into specific areas of performance gaps on teacher assessments between minority and nonminority candidates. They then jointly conducted research into this issue. The research involved both statistical analyses of &quot;Praxis&quot;[TM] data and field research, collecting information from faculty and candidates. The purpose of this research was to form a solid foundation of understanding to inform their efforts to support candidates. In this report, the author and her colleagues share the findings of that research, as well as a summary of their efforts, to date, to support teacher candidates. In the report, they focus on the disparate performance between minority and nonminority teacher candidates on licensure tests. The data show that minority teacher candidates score lower on average on their licensure tests. The data also show that minority teacher candidates take licensure tests later in their academic and professional careers, and that the delay correlates with lower test scores and passing rates. (Contains 8 tables, 2 figures and 11 footnotes.) [This paper was written with Brooke Whiting, Sarah Ferguson, Segun Eubanks, Jonathan Steinberg, Linda Scatton and Katherine Bassett.]
The Politics of Performance Funding in Eight States: Origins, Demise, and Change. Final Report to the Lumina Foundation for Education
Author: Dougherty, Kevin J.
Date: 2011-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Higher Education,Budgeting,Educational Indicators,Educational Assessment,Educational Policy,Merit Pay,State Surveys,Etiology,Comparative Analysis,Retrenchment,Program Effectiveness,Funding Formulas,Finance Reform,Change Strategies,Sustainability,Barriers,Performance Factors,Politics of Education,Political Influences,State Aid,Research Reports,Organizational Change

Despite the popularity of performance funding among policymakers and policy advocates, only half of all states have ever created a performance funding system for higher education. State performance funding systems have also been surprisingly unstable. Nearly half of those states that established performance funding systems for higher education eventually discontinued these systems. This report examines the political forces that shaped performance funding policies in eight states. The report begins by analyzing the origins of performance funding, contrasting the experiences of six states that established performance funding systems for higher education (Florida, Illinois, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington) and two states that did not establish such a system, although they considered it (California and Nevada). Second, the report analyzes the forces behind the demise of performance funding in four states that ended their systems at different times: Washington, Illinois, Missouri, and Florida (its Workforce Development Education Fund). Next, the report examines how and why two performance funding systems that have lasted to this day--Tennessee's Performance Funding system and Florida's Performance Based Budgeting system--have changed over time in funding levels and performance indicators. Finally, the report draws evidence-based recommendations for policymakers. (Contains 8 tables and 61 footnotes.)
A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Vouchers. Second Edition
Author: Forster, Greg
Date: 2011-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Public Schools,School Choice,Competition,Program Effectiveness,Educational Change,Educational Vouchers,Evidence,Scientific Methodology,Academic Achievement,Educational Improvement,Parent Attitudes,Tax Credits,Change Strategies,Participant Satisfaction,Meta Analysis,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators

This report collects the results of all available empirical studies using the best available scientific methods to measure how school vouchers affect academic outcomes for participants, and all available studies on how vouchers affect outcomes in public schools. Contrary to the widespread claim that vouchers do not benefit participants and hurt public schools, the empirical evidence consistently shows that vouchers improve outcomes for both participants and public schools. In addition to helping the participants by giving them more options, there are a variety of explanations for why vouchers might improve public schools as well. The most important is that competition from vouchers introduces healthy incentives for public schools to improve. Key findings include: (1) Ten empirical studies have used random assignment, the gold standard of social science, to examine how vouchers affect participants. Nine studies find that vouchers improve student outcomes, six that all students benefit and three that some benefit and some are not affected. One study finds no visible impact. None of these studies finds a negative impact; (2) Nineteen empirical studies have examined how vouchers affect outcomes in public schools. Of these studies, 18 find that vouchers improved public schools and one finds no visible impact. No empirical studies find that vouchers harm public schools; (3) Every empirical study ever conducted in Milwaukee, Florida, Ohio, Texas, Maine and Vermont finds that voucher programs in those places improved public schools; (4) Only one study, conducted in Washington D.C., found no visible impact from vouchers. This is not surprising, since the D.C. voucher program is the only one designed to shield public schools from the impact of competition. Thus, the D.C. study does not detract from the research consensus in favor of a positive effect from voucher competition; and (5) The benefits provided by existing voucher programs are sometimes large, but are usually more modest in size. This is not surprising since the programs themselves are modest--curtailed by strict limits on the students they can serve, the resources they provide, and the freedom to innovate. Only a universal voucher program could deliver the kind of dramatic improvement our public schools so desperately need. (Contains 4 tables and 48 notes.) [This is an updated version of the original paper, &quot;A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on How Vouchers Affect Public Schools. School Choice Issues in Depth&quot;, published in February 2009. To access this report, see ED508324.
The Ramifications of No Child Left Behind and IDEA 2004: Who Is Left Suffering
Author: Wilson, Carolyn H.
Date: 2006-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Disadvantaged,Federal Legislation,Disabilities,Public Education,Special Needs Students,Academic Achievement,Accountability,Accessibility (for Disabled),Change Strategies,Educational Change,Test Score Decline,Underachievement,Educational Assessment,Educational Indicators,Program Effectiveness

There has been a serious decline in academic achievement in both the general and special populations and what we have found is that these students are not doing as well as they should be. Less than one-third of American students are doing well in reading, writing, math, science, and other important subjects. The National Assessment of Education Progress (2002) reported that not only do we see a decline in the achievement of core subjects, but this decline has worsened for African Americans, Hispanics, and low-income students where we find many of these students in special education programs. The 2002 Nation's Report Card showed only a 32% proficiency rate in reading, a 26% proficiency rate in math and a 29% proficiency rate in science for 4th graders nationwide (www.ksaplus.com). Many educators have seen firsthand the ramifications of the No Child Left behind Act and its effects on elementary and secondary children. But what about those children with exceptional learning needs who are being thrust into this solvent solution to what ails the American education system? How do we guarantee them a successful education in the same environment we just said was not meeting their needs? What are the ramifications of the No Child Left Behind and IDEA 2004 on public education and its constituents?
The Empty Cup (Power Teaching in a Digital Age). Occasional Paper #9
Author: Fluellen, Jerry E., Jr.
Date: 2011-01-01
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Figurative Language,Educational Change,Public Education,Educational Technology,Teaching Methods,Educational Quality,Educational Trends,Futures (of Society),Colleges,Educational Theories,Elementary Secondary Education,Instructional Effectiveness,Tests,Measurement,Information Literacy,Evaluation Methods,Ethics,Summer Programs

What might count as a world class, national public education system in 2020? That empty cup took the floor at the 2010 Future of Learning (FoL) Summer Institute at Harvard University. It traveled from Longfellow Hall's lecture room on Appian Way to several learning groups scattered around campus. Though not deliberately created to think about world class schools tomorrow, interaction amongst speakers, facilitators, and educators from across the United States and 26 other countries as well as ongoing reflection built into the institute all assured that deep thinking about education tomorrow would take place. The institute aimed at putting ideas into action once back home. Thus, as an emergent property of FoL, the power teaching prototype suggested three factors that might frame education at Edward Waters College (EWC) in Jacksonville, Florida. Vision became action. Put simply in a mathematical metaphor, P=fm/c {where P = power teaching; f = future of learning with four levels (teaching for understanding, information literacy, Howard Gardner's five minds for the future, David Perkins's learning by wholes), m = Ellen Langer's mindfulness theory, and c = context (mind brain education and consciousness based education)}. These factors allow educators to design, deliver and assess instruction in K-16 settings. Finally, the model case featured in this occasional paper is a Tests and Measurements course at Edward Waters College, Jacksonville, Florida. Thus, the paper offers chances to &quot;think locally&quot; and &quot;wonder globally.&quot; A working bibliography is included.
Enhancing Multi-Cultural Awareness through Extra and Co-Curricular Activities: The Case of Bangkok University
Author: Ratanakarn, Siriwan
Date: 2011-03-10
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Drama,Cultural Awareness,Service Learning,Foreign Countries,Student Mobility,Cultural Context,Cultural Background,Study Abroad,Extracurricular Activities,Foreign Students,Cultural Pluralism,Undergraduate Students,Workshops,Field Trips,Dance

The increasing academic value of studying abroad has encouraged significant increasing number of students participating in various kinds of student mobility programs. Since 1975, the number of mobile students has grown globally by almost 350%. (Chien, 2010) During July 2008 - July 2009, Thailand admitted over 19,052 students from 124 countries. (Commission of Higher Education, 2009) In fact, over 1500 American students participating in study abroad programs hosted by Thai universities. (IIE, 2010) International students have contributed to the richness of multi-cultural environment on campus. This paper will share some best practices of enhancing multi-cultural awareness on campus through the extra and co-curricular activities; namely, communal development program, service learning program, cultural heritage field trip and Thai drama group.
Adaptive Multimedia Content Delivery for Context-Aware U-Learning
Author: Zhao, Xinyou
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Computer Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Multimedia Instruction,Handheld Devices,Telecommunications,Social Networks,Teaching Methods,Computer Mediated Communication

Empowered by mobile computing, teachers and students can benefit from computing in more scenarios beyond the traditional computer classroom. But because of the much diversity of device specification, learning contents and mobile context existing today, the learners get a bad learning experience (e.g. rich contents cannot be displayed correctly) during ubiquitous learning (u-learning) environment. This paper proposes an adaptive contents delivery model for context-aware u-learning according to three-level service models proposed, which create the adaptive contents for learners to get a seamless access in learning according to learners' interest and contexts. The evaluation on a mobile virtual community system shows that the learners may not only study in rich media on mobile device at anytime and at anyplace, also get a better learning experience, e.g. learners may get instant help from other participates by ubiquitous device and access the rich contents: PowerPoint files. (Contains 5 tables and 9 figures.) [Partial support for this research was provided by the Hara Research Foundation (HRF).]
From Buns to Batgirl: The Changing Image of the Librarian
Author: Limerick, Sheila Blackmon
Date: 2005-04-28
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Information Science Education,Information Science,Librarians,Social Attitudes,Stereotypes,Gender Differences,Age Differences,Generational Differences,Library Education

The image of the librarian has changed much since the first librarian's positions at Ivy League schools in the mid- to late-17th Century. The purpose of this paper is to explore the history and origins of male and female stereotypes of librarians as well as generational stereotypes. Stereotypes in the literature of the field were explored and categorized. During the course of the research, the conclusion was reached that stereotypes do indeed exist and are detrimental to the field and to the professionals in the field. Because negative images are potentially detrimental to librarians and to the fields of library and information science, this paper also covers some possible solutions and steps to take against stereotyping. The paper also discusses some possible solutions to aid in the transition as a new generation of librarians enters the workforce. A bibliography is included.