ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Research Brief: Small Learning Communities--Recommendations for Success
Author: Temple University, Urban Education Collaborative
Date: 2010-01-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: High Schools,At Risk Students,Educational Change,Grade 9,Curriculum,School Districts,High School Students,Educational Improvement,Educational Environment,Research Methodology,Community Involvement,Parent Participation,Communities of Practice,Urban Education,Case Studies

Over the last 15 years, a variety of efforts to transform American high schools have gained both public and private support. Significant among these efforts are initiatives to implement small learning communities (SLCs). Like other reform efforts, SLCs have several goals, including "downsizing large schools, meeting the needs of at-risk students, solving the problem of failing schools, modeling the process of school restructuring, personalizing education for all students, empowering teachers and extending their roles, preventing dropping out, and finding an equitable substitute for tracking" (Raywid, 1996, p. 9). In 2004, Delaware's Christina School District (CSD) was among many high-poverty districts awarded funding for implementation in its three high schools theme-specific SLCs--at the time, an emerging model with a strong "theoretical" base. The district's 3-year federal grant, designed to build on a 9th-grade academy piloted in 2003-04 at one high school, would create 9th-grade transition academies and career-themed SLCs in all high schools. These reform structures were to be characterized by (a) interdisciplinary teams of core subject teachers across all grade levels to foster personalized and continuous relationships between the teams of teachers and their students; (b) rigorous curricula to meet the needs of all children; and (c) the provision of high-quality, sustained professional development in core subjects and SLC implementation. This brief provides an overview of CSD's efforts to establish SLCs, both at the district and school level, highlighting challenges to the SLC design and its implementation. [For the full report, "Districtwide Implementation of Small Learning Communities: A Case Study on Improving School Climate," see ED532051.]
Principal Effectiveness: A New Principalship to Drive Student Achievement, Teacher Effectiveness and School Turnarounds with Key Insights from the Urban Excellence Framework[TM]
Author: New Leaders for New Schools
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Effectiveness,Instructional Leadership,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,School Culture,Alignment (Education),School Administration,Disadvantaged Schools,School Turnaround,Urban Schools,Educational Improvement,Educational Development,Case Studies

In increasing numbers of individual schools across the country, a new kind of principalship is taking hold and producing well-documented breakthrough results for children. This report uses findings from these schools and principals to inform a new definition of principal effectiveness. It makes recommendations for school leadership policies geared toward dramatically increasing the number of successful principals. These recommendations will contribute substantially to scalable improvements in both teacher effectiveness and the ability to turn around the nation's lowest-achieving schools. Renaissance at Dodge: A Case Study is appended. (Contains 4 figures, 30 endnotes and 8 footnotes.) [For &quot;Principal Effectiveness: A New Principalship to Drive Student Achievement, Teacher Effectiveness and School Turnarounds with Key Insights from the Urban Excellence Framework[TM]. Executive Summary,&quot; see ED532065.]
Principal Effectiveness: A New Principalship to Drive Student Achievement, Teacher Effectiveness and School Turnarounds with Key Insights from the Urban Excellence Framework[TM]. Executive Summary
Author: New Leaders for New Schools
Date: 2009-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Effectiveness,Instructional Leadership,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,School Culture,Alignment (Education),School Administration,Disadvantaged Schools,School Turnaround,Urban Schools,Educational Improvement,Educational Development

In increasing numbers of individual schools across the country, a new kind of principalship is taking hold and producing well-documented breakthrough results for children. This executive summary presents the highlights of a report that uses findings from these schools and principals to inform a new definition of principal effectiveness. This report makes recommendations for school leadership policies geared toward dramatically increasing the number of successful principals. These recommendations will contribute substantially to scalable improvements in both teacher effectiveness and the ability to turn around the nation's lowest-achieving schools. (Contains 10 endnotes.) [For the full report, "Principal Effectiveness: A New Principalship to Drive Student Achievement, Teacher Effectiveness and School Turnarounds with Key Insights from the Urban Excellence Framework[TM]," see ED532064.]
Student-Teacher Linkage Verification: Model Process and Recommendations
Author: Watson, Jeffery
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Audits (Verification),Data,Teacher Student Relationship,Teacher Influence,Academic Achievement,Information Systems,Planning,Quality Control

As momentum grows for tracking the role of individual educators in student performance, school districts across the country are implementing projects that involve linking teachers to their students. Programs that link teachers to student outcomes require a verification process for student-teacher linkages. Linkage verification improves accuracy by allowing educators to check for and correct student and course assignment errors. This paper describes a model process for gathering and verifying student-teacher linkage data and offers recommendations at each stage. The model verification process begins with a planning stage, followed by configuration and testing. Once these steps are complete, teachers and administrators can begin verifying data. During verification, administrators and teachers confirm or modify classroom assignments using computer software or a web-based application. Verification takes place in three main steps: an initial administrator review, a teacher review, and a final administrator check. In addition, users can enter additional data during verification, such as the percentage of instructional responsibility for team teachers. After teachers and administrators verify the data, districts should gather and report information about the linkage verification process. Districts should use this information to continuously improve the accuracy and quality of their student-teacher links. An appendix presents use-cases for linkage verification. (Contains 3 footnotes, 2 tables, and 4 figures.)
Measuring and Promoting Inter-Rater Agreement of Teacher and Principal Performance Ratings
Author: Graham, Matthew
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Interrater Reliability,Evaluators,Observation,Principals,Administrator Evaluation,Teacher Evaluation,Measurement,Training,Selection,Accountability,Scoring Rubrics,Pilot Projects,Video Technology,Correlation

As states, districts, and schools transition toward more rigorous educator evaluation systems, they are placing additional weight on judgments about educator practice. Since teacher and principal observation ratings inherently rely on evaluators' professional judgment, there is always a question of how much the ratings depend on the particular evaluator rather than the educator's actual performance. To help states, districts, and schools measure and maximize consistency of evaluator observation ratings, this paper: (1) draws a distinction between inter-rater reliability and interrater agreement, (2) reviews methods for calculating inter-rater reliability and agreement, (3) reviews thresholds for inter-rater agreement scores, and (4) identifies practices that can improve inter-rater reliability and inter-rater agreement. Two appendixes present: (1) More on Intra-Class Correlations; and (2) Frame-of-Reference Training Outline. (Contains 7 footnotes and 7 tables.) [This report was produced by the Center for Educator Compensation Reform (CECR).]
Emerging Solutions to Improve Student-Teacher Linkage
Author: Graham, Matthew
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Data,Accuracy,Teacher Student Relationship,Teacher Influence,Academic Achievement,Student Educational Objectives,Formative Evaluation,Student Evaluation,Information Systems,Grading,Centralization

Nationwide, states and districts are implementing programs that involve linking teachers with student data. These initiatives range from educator evaluation systems that consider student growth to data-driven professional development decisions and large-scale program evaluations. Establishing accurate links is crucial in any initiative that links teachers and students, as data errors could result in inaccurate program evaluations or erroneous assessments of the role a specific teacher plays on student achievement. This paper summarizes several emerging solutions for improving the accuracy and quality of student-teacher linkage. The emerging solutions fall into two main categories: (1) leveraging different data sources and (2) improving data systems. (Contains 7 footnotes.)
Evaluating Principals: Balancing Accountability with Professional Growth. Executive Summary
Author: New Leaders for New Schools
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Accountability,Professional Development,Principals,Organizational Development,Administrator Effectiveness,Leadership Effectiveness,Administrator Evaluation,Evaluation Criteria,Evaluation Methods,Measurement Objectives,Evaluation Needs,Best Practices,Instructional Leadership

Effective principals are those who boost academic achievement for all students, increase the effectiveness of their teaching staffs, and consistently take leadership actions shown to improve outcomes for students. Therefore principal evaluation systems should place 70% of their weight on the ability of principals to increase student achievement and teacher effectiveness outcomes, with the remaining 30% focused on their demonstration of effective practices and leadership actions. Local school systems should then use these assessments to drive not only key accountability decisions, but also to support professional learning and growth. Bringing significant improvements in student achievement and teacher effectiveness to scale will require substantial improvements in the policies and practices that contribute to the effectiveness of principals. This is a large agenda for change and it can only succeed if individuals accurately and comprehensively measure the effectiveness of principal corps. The goal of this paper is to provide policymakers with recommendations for the design and implementation of strong principal development and evaluation systems. States and local school systems that pursue these ideas can use principal evaluation to drive a powerful vision of principal effectiveness and, by consequence, improve outcomes for all students. A bibliography is included. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [For the full report, "Evaluating Principals: Balancing Accountability with Professional Growth," see ED532073.]
Analyzing the Reliability of the easyCBM Reading Comprehension Measures: Grade 3. Technical Report #1202
Author: Lai, Cheng-Fei
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Grade 3,Curriculum Based Assessment,Educational Testing,Testing Programs,Statistical Analysis,Reading Comprehension,Reading Tests,Test Reliability,Multiple Choice Tests,Item Response Theory,Evaluation Research,Test Construction,Screening Tests

In this technical report, we present the results of a reliability study of the third-grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures available on the easyCBM learning system conducted in the spring of 2011. Analyses include split-half reliability, alternate form reliability, person and item reliability as derived from Rasch analysis, top/bottom reliability, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results suggest adequate reliability for the third grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures. Tables are appended.
Urban Excellence Framework
Author: New Leaders
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Principals,Institutional Mission,Strategic Planning,Effective Schools Research,School Administration,Administrator Effectiveness,Instructional Effectiveness,School Effectiveness,Personnel Management,Delivery Systems,Alignment (Education),Organizational Culture,Learning Strategies,Administrator Responsibility,Administrator Role,Best Practices

A principal's job, first and foremost, is to diagnose their school's needs and match them to effective principal actions and school practices that drive student success. Successful principals use their diagnosis to build an action plan that pushes their school--and student achievement--to the next level. New Leaders developed the Urban Excellence Framework [TM] to understand exactly what schools achieving dramatic gains are doing and to share that knowledge throughout its community of leaders. The Urban Excellence Framework focuses on "five categories" of school practices. Among them are two primary drivers of student achievement: rigorous, goal and data-driven "learning and teaching" and achievement and belief-based school-wide "culture". Two additional categories of a principal's work are essential to supporting these drivers: building and managing a high-quality "aligned staff" to the school's vision and instituting "operations and systems" to put the vision into place. Undergirding all of these categories is the "personal leadership" modeled by a principal who sets the tone for all student and adult relationships and practices in the school.
Evaluating Principals: Balancing Accountability with Professional Growth
Author: New Leaders for New Schools
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Accountability,Professional Development,Leadership,Principals,Administrator Evaluation,Measurement Objectives,Measurement Techniques,Evaluation Methods,Program Implementation,Change Strategies,Program Improvement,Evaluation Problems,Personnel Policy,Administrator Effectiveness,Organizational Development,Performance Factors

Effective principals are those who boost academic achievement for all students, increase the effectiveness of their teaching staffs, and consistently take leadership actions shown to improve outcomes for students. Therefore principal evaluation systems should place 70% of their weight on the ability of principals to increase student achievement and teacher effectiveness outcomes, with the remaining 30% focused on their demonstration of effective practices and leadership actions. Local school systems should then use these assessments to drive not only key accountability decisions, but also to support professional learning and growth. Bringing significant improvements in student achievement and teacher effectiveness to scale will require substantial improvements in the policies and practices that contribute to the effectiveness of principals. This is a large agenda for change and it can only succeed if individuals accurately and comprehensively measure the effectiveness of principal corps. The goal of this paper is to provide policymakers with recommendations for the design and implementation of strong principal development and evaluation systems. States and local school systems that pursue these ideas can use principal evaluation to drive a powerful vision of principal effectiveness and, by consequence, improve outcomes for all students. Appended are: (1) New Leaders for New Schools Leadership Domains and Key Levers; and (2) New Leaders for New Schools Leadership Rubric Excerpts. A bibliography is included. (Contains 16 footnotes.) [For "Evaluating Principals: Balancing Accountability with Professional Growth. Executive Summary," see ED532070.]
A Framework for Developing a Comprehensive Plan for Improving Student Health and School Safety
Author: Temple University, Urban Education Collaborative
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: School Safety,Child Health,Elementary Secondary Education,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Objectives,Needs Assessment,Strategic Planning,Intervention,Student Behavior,Behavior Modification,Student Personnel Services,Response to Intervention,Zero Tolerance Policy

Though elementary and secondary schools remain among the safest places for children, school safety concerns continue to garner considerable attention from school and community stakeholders, as well as policymakers. As affirmed in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), it is clear that all children need a safe environment in which to learn and achieve. However, the process for ensuring such a school environment is not always as clear, especially given the nature (both quantity and quality) of available data to assess needs, range of problems to be addressed--from building security to improving student behavior--and the multitude of available programs, policies, and materials being pitched to school administrators and community partners. Decision makers increasingly need information to help them identify needs, set goals, determine strategies and select programs, build partnerships, implement new activities, and assess progress. Perhaps even more important, school decision makers need a framework for ensuring that all of these efforts are strategically aligned and that limited resources are effectively allocated to best address the needs of their students, schools, and district/community. In response, this brief is designed as a framework for assessing student health and school safety and determining appropriate courses of action. All too often, districts and schools make policy, program, and practice decisions in response to specific crises, complaints, or funding opportunities. These responses also tend to be relatively discrete strategies, often isolated from each other and from a larger understanding of the district or school context and other improvement efforts. The challenge is to think about improving student health and school safety in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion.
Safe and Participatory Public Schools. Research Brief
Author: Rogers, John
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Charter Schools,Democracy,State Legislation,School Districts,Boards of Education,Crime,Criminals,Educational Policy,Drug Abuse,Volunteers,School Safety,Racial Differences

The California State Assembly is presently considering AB 2034 which would prohibit school districts, county offices of education (COEs), or charter schools that elect to fingerprint volunteers from allowing individuals who have been convicted of specific sex, drug or violent offenses to volunteer in schools. This policy brief aims to inform policymakers and the general public about research on two topics related to the proposed legislation: a) the racial mismatch between drug users and drug offenders; b) the importance of volunteering to school outcomes, including student safety. (Contains 11 endnotes.)
Finding Common Ground in Education Values: Influential Californians Speak on the Purpose of Public Education
Author: Rogers, John
Date: 2012-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Public Education,Educational Attitudes,Politics of Education,Role of Education,Educational Philosophy,Interviews,Leadership,Educational Policy,Labor,Educational Change,Theory Practice Relationship,Equal Education,Attitudes,Differences,Outcomes of Education

This white paper explores how influential Californians conceive of the purpose of public education. The authors' intention was to learn how the purposes converge and to uncover potential building blocks for a consensus that puts students at the center and rises above disparate beliefs and alliances. The paper draws on 50 interviews they conducted with a bipartisan group of legislators and legislative staff, as well as leaders from business, labor, and civic life. They invited participants to share personal experiences of powerful learning from their youth, and identify what students should learn in California public schools in preparation for life beyond high school. Taken as a whole, the interviews point to several intriguing points of consensus across this diverse group of respondents. Democrats and Republicans, business leaders and labor leaders, policy insiders as well as equity advocates share a broad set of beliefs about teaching and learning. Points of difference tended to cut across conventional lines, except when they asked narrowly partisan questions. By foregrounding the purpose of education, the interviews suggest a different and more promising platform for advancing educational policy in California. The white paper begins with a description of the methods for they study. They then report on how respondents conceive of powerful learning and what they identify as the critical knowledge, skills, and understanding every California student should develop. They go on to consider whether respondents believe California is promoting desired learning outcomes and providing equal learning opportunities for all students. They also report on respondents' views about whether California students should follow a common learning pathway or whether some students should be prepared for college and others for the world of work. Their conclusion addresses perceptions of the value of public education to the future of California.
Analyzing the Reliability of the easyCBM Reading Comprehension Measures: Grade 5. Technical Report #1204
Author: Park, Bitnara Jasmine
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Grade 5,Curriculum Based Assessment,Educational Testing,Testing Programs,Statistical Analysis,Reading Comprehension,Reading Tests,Test Reliability,Multiple Choice Tests,Item Response Theory,Evaluation Research,Test Construction,Screening Tests

In this technical report, we present the results of a reliability study of the fifth-grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures available on the easyCBM learning system conducted in the spring of 2011. Analyses include split-half reliability, alternate form reliability, person and item reliability as derived from Rasch analysis, top/bottom reliability, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results suggest adequate reliability for the fifth grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures. Tables are appended.
Analyzing the Reliability of the easyCBM Reading Comprehension Measures: Grade 4. Technical Report #1203
Author: Park, Bitnara Jasmine
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Grade 4,Curriculum Based Assessment,Educational Testing,Testing Programs,Statistical Analysis,Reading Comprehension,Reading Tests,Test Reliability,Multiple Choice Tests,Item Response Theory,Evaluation Research,Test Construction,Screening Tests

In this technical report, we present the results of a reliability study of the fourth-grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures available on the easyCBM learning system conducted in the spring of 2011. Analyses include split-half reliability, alternate form reliability, person and item reliability as derived from Rasch analysis, top/bottom reliability, and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results suggest adequate reliability for the fourth-grade multiple choice reading comprehension measures. Tables are appended.