ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
PLA from the Student&apos;s Perspective: Lessons Learned from Survey and Interview Data. Recognition of Prior Learning in the 21st Century
Author: Leibrandt, Sarah
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Prior Learning,Student Evaluation,Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Adult Students,Two Year College Students,Recognition (Achievement),Information Sources,Barriers,College Credits

This brief is part of a broad landscape analysis focused on policy and practice issues related to the recognition of prior learning. The landscape analysis focuses on issues arising in the practice of the recognition of prior learning, policies that encourage or limit its adoption, and key research needs and future directions for the field. This brief draws on data from a survey administered to 1,184 current undergraduate students and from interviews with six college students. The survey asked the undergraduate students about their prior learning experiences, access to and use of prior learning assessment programs, and their perspectives about their experiences. The interview protocol asked the six college students about their background, their previous work and college experience, their future career and education goals, and their experience with and perspectives on prior learning assessment (PLA). Key highlights of this brief include: (1) Students gain college-level learning outside of the classroom in a variety of ways. Adult learners in this study were more likely to report work experience, completing a certificate or professional license, or enlisting in the military; students under the age of 25 were more likely to report having taken an AP/IB course or volunteer experience; (2) Students cited conversations with individuals (such as high school counselors, counselors or academic advisors on the college campus, other students, or family members) as the main sources of knowledge about PLA, not written material on college catalog; (3) Students cited time and cost savings as two benefits to their college career from PLA. Adult learners also cited benefits to their careers; and (4) Students cited lack of information about PLA as a top barrier to accessing PLA. Adult learners cited money and time required with more frequency than younger students. Younger students cited credit limitations (such as number of credits eligible, how/if a student can apply the credits to their program of study) at a higher rate than older students.
Expanding the Toolkit: The Potential for Bayesian Methods in Education Research. Symposium Abstract, SREE 2017 Spring Conference
Author: Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE)
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Bayesian Statistics,Educational Research,Statistical Analysis,Decision Making,Educational Technology,Statistical Inference,Sample Size,Research Utilization,Evaluation,Data Use,Randomized Controlled Trials,Online Courses

Bayesian statistical methods have become more feasible to implement with advances in computing but are not commonly used in educational research. In contrast to frequentist approaches that take hypotheses (and the associated parameters) as fixed, Bayesian methods take data as fixed and hypotheses as random. This difference means that Bayesian inference can take the form of an intuitive probabilistic statement about the likelihood of a particular hypothesis being true. Frequentist results are sometimes framed this way, but this framing is incorrect and can be very misleading. Bayesian methods also allow the incorporation of prior information and can facilitate the systematic combination of evidence from multiple sources. The papers in this symposium explore the potential for using Bayesian methods in education research and decision-making. The first paper, &quot;Why Bother With Bayes?&quot; (Thomas Louis) provides an introduction to Bayesian methods and some examples of how they are used outside of education research. The second paper, &quot;Comparing Bayesian and Frequentist Inference for Decision-Making&quot; (Ignacio Martinez) presents results from an experimental study of how people interpret and use the results of a study of an educational technology when the results are presented with frequentist versus Bayesian framing. The third paper, &quot;Simple Application of Bayesian Methods for School-Level Decisions&quot; (Alexandra Resch) presents an application of simple Bayesian analyses to real-world education technology evaluations. The fourth paper, &quot;What Works for Whom? A Bayesian Approach to Channeling Big Data Streams for Policy Analysis&quot; (Jonathan Gellar) presents a more complex application of Bayesian analyses, using a simulation study to demonstrate that a Bayesian adaptive design can provide better inference with smaller samples. This symposium summary provides abstracts for each of the four papers. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Social Effects of School Choice Programs. SREE 2017 Symposium Proposal
Author: Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE)
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: School Choice,Educational Change,Private Schools,Charter Schools,Educational Vouchers,Educational Finance,Financial Support,Cost Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Urban Schools,Elementary Secondary Education,State Programs,Foreign Countries

School choice reforms are increasingly common across the U.S. This symposium summarizes and presents the most recent research on the social effects of private school choice programs and public charter schools. All three papers consider heterogeneity in effects that can and should inform policymaking. The first paper, &quot;Charter School Entry and School Choice: The Case of Washington, D.C.&quot; (Maria Marta Ferreyra and Grigory Kosenok) discusses novel research on estimating an equilibrium model of charter school entry and school choice. From a social standpoint, the paper shows that the existence of charter schools yields net benefits. The second paper, &quot;Squeezing the Public School Districts: The Fiscal Effects of Eliminating the Louisiana Scholarship Program&quot; (Corey A. DeAngelis and Julie R. Trivitt) studies the fiscal effects of reduced funding in a statewide voucher program. This paper adds to the literature by comparing the short-term and long-term savings to the state and individual public school districts due to this policy. The results show that the voucher program generates net cost savings in the long run for almost all educational jurisdictions under reasonable assumptions. The third paper, &quot;The Juice Is Worth the Squeeze: A Benefit/Cost Analysis of the Experimental Evidence on Private School Vouchers across the Globe&quot; (M. Danish Shakeel, Kaitlin P. Anderson, and Patrick J. Wolf) is a benefit/cost analysis of the best available research on private school vouchers. This benefit/cost analysis provides the most comprehensive look at the achievement effects of school voucher programs using lottery-based research designs both in the U.S. and internationally. This symposium summary provides abstracts for each of the three papers. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Diversity, Equity &amp; Inclusion: A Checklist and Implementation Guide for Community College Boards
Author: Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT)
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Diversity,Inclusion,Check Lists,Program Implementation,Community Colleges,Governing Boards,Technical Institutes,Educational Policy,Equal Education

&quot;Diversity, Equity &amp; Inclusion: A Checklist and Implementation Guide for Community College Boards&quot; was created in cooperation with the associations' Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. The release of the guide follows a commitment made by the association to empower community college leaders to make meaningful changes at their institutions in the interests of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The guide details critical steps community college boards must take in order to implement policy through an equity lens, including: (1) create an equity-minded board and institution; (2) monitor and evaluate college progress on equity goals; and (3) annually evaluate board leadership, effectiveness and continuous improvement on these goals. The guide also includes a diversity, equity and inclusion inventory, or checklist, for the board, the college, and faculty and staff, recognizing that all parties must operate in concert to realize meaningful changes on campus.
Financial Aid 102: An Updated Guide to Understanding Federal Financial Aid Programs for Community College Trustees and Leaders
Author: Love, Ivy
Date: 2017-02-00
Type: Guides - General
Subjects: Student Financial Aid,Two Year College Students,Community Colleges,Student Needs,Access to Education,Costs,Tuition,Fees,Federal Aid,Military Personnel,Higher Education,Public Colleges,Private Colleges,Family Income,Grants,Student Loan Programs,Federal Legislation,Loan Repayment,Loan Default,Eligibility,College Students,Work Study Programs,Tax Credits,Welfare Services,Family Programs,Federal Programs,Child Care,Block Grants,Leadership Responsibility

A quality education is the primary instrument of social and economic mobility in the United States. As open-access institutions, community colleges are the gateway to postsecondary education for millions of Americans. Many of these students would be unable to afford college without federal resources, such as student financial aid and tax credits. Students use these funds to pay tuition and fees to colleges, to cover other costs associated with enrollment, such as books and supplies, and for the costs of living and commuting while enrolled. Institutional leaders must have a comprehensive understanding of college financing resources to help them better chart the course for their institutions' future and provide students information on their options. This guide offers an update to the 2011 guide, &quot;Financial Aid 101,&quot; providing detailed explanations of a variety of aid programs, including changes to programs and information on programs that have emerged as important alternate sources of aid for community college students. The authors also present information that is particularly important to institutional leaders looking to advocate for their students and colleges, and offer recommendations on how they can effectively approach this important work. [This paper was sponsored by Student Connections.]
Workforce Preparation. Higher Education Policy Priorities
Author: Excelencia in Education
Date: 2020-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Labor Force Development,Career Readiness,Higher Education,Educational Policy,Hispanic American Students,State Policy,Federal Programs,Experiential Learning,Minority Serving Institutions,Grants,School Business Relationship

&quot;Excelencia&quot; in Education's mission is to accelerate Latino student success in higher education--which would increase the number of Latinos entering the workforce with a degree. Despite the pandemic, Latinos' labor force participation over the next decade is expected to increase, while participation is expected to decrease for non-Hispanic Whites. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has made more public what is known--Latinos are heavily represented in both essential jobs and those that were vulnerable and lost when lockdowns began. Latinos' unemployment rates increased from 4.8% before the pandemic to a peak of 18.5% in April 2020. As the country faces a changing workforce and a recession, it must be ensured that Latinos are prepared to enter and succeed as competitive candidates. How can federal and state policy support Latinos' workforce preparation? This report presents and discusses three steps that can be taken: (1) Leverage existing federal programs, such as Federal Work-Study, to support experiential learning opportunities for students; (2) Make workforce development an allowable activity for federal Title V grants to support institutions in creating workforce programs; and (3) Incentivize engagement between employers and the institutions serving Latino students.
Credit by Examination: Recognizing Learning and Supporting Adult Learners. Recognition of Prior Learning in the 21st Century
Author: Falkenstern, Colleen
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Prior Learning,Adult Students,Recognition (Achievement),College Credits,Student Evaluation,Occupational Tests,Standardized Tests,College Students,Educational Research

This brief is part of a broad landscape analysis focused on policy and practice issues related to the recognition of prior learning. The landscape analysis focuses on issues arising in the practice of the recognition of prior learning, policies that encourage or limit its adoption, and key research needs and future directions for the field. This brief summarizes the existing research on two distinct set of exams, College Board's College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and ACT's WorkKeys assessment. While these assessments, CLEP and WorkKeys, measure different skill sets--CLEP is a subject-specific exam of college-level material and WorkKeys is an assessment of foundational work-readiness skills--they both are used in assessing an individual's knowledge and skills and allow the test taker to document the skills and knowledge acquired, which are key components of recognizing learning that may take place outside of the formal classroom setting. In addition to reviewing the existing research on these exams and outcomes of students who participate in credit by examination, this brief offers considerations for future research to better understand the role of credit by examination in supporting student success and ways to promote data-informed decision-making that will better position credit by examination opportunities for students.
Young Parents and Workforce Development in a Post-Pandemic World: Touchstones to Guide Policy and Research
Author: Bergson-Shilcock, Amanda
Date: 2020-09-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: COVID-19,Pandemics,Child Rearing,Parents,Late Adolescents,Young Adults,At Risk Persons,Public Policy,Early Parenthood,Economic Factors,Access to Education,Labor Force Development,Federal Legislation,State Legislation,Labor Legislation,Educational Legislation,Higher Education,Job Skills,Acceleration (Education),Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Child Care

Approximately 3.6 million young Americans ages 18-24 are raising children, and another 900,000 in the same age range are non-custodial parents. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many young parents faced significant challenges in balancing their jobs and child-rearing responsibilities with efforts to build additional skills and advance in their careers. As policymakers and workforce advocates prepare for a post-pandemic world, ensuring that skill-building policies are intentionally inclusive of this population can help to ensure a level playing field for all of America's workers, regardless of their age or parental status. Both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers will be called upon to take action in support of young parents and other constituents who are scrambling to find their economic footing. Three touchstones, based on proven strategies that can effectively serve young parents, will be crucial for policymakers and advocates to incorporate as they develop systems to help jobseekers find solid ground and build their future careers. The three touchstones are presented and described in this report: (1) Invest in accelerated pathways; (2) Respond to evolving digital inclusion needs; and (3) Provide high-quality childcare.
Credit for Prior Learning in the Community College: A Case from Colorado. Recognition of Prior Learning in the 21st Century
Author: McKay, Heather A.
Date: 2020-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Prior Learning,Community Colleges,Recognition (Achievement),College Credits,Program Implementation,Two Year College Students,Federal Government,Academic Achievement,Grants,Federal Aid,Equal Education

This brief is part of a broad landscape analysis focused on policy and practice issues related to the recognition of prior learning. The landscape analysis focuses on issues arising in the practice of the recognition of prior learning, policies that encourage or limit its adoption, and key research needs and future directions for the field. This brief examines an effort by the federal government to promote credit for prior learning (CPL) in community colleges. It also looks at how colleges implement CPL and the impacts of that implementation on student success. The brief identifies practices and challenges in implementation of CPL. Findings suggest that community colleges can make important changes to policy and practice in CPL and that this work helps students complete postsecondary credentials. However, the authors' work also suggests that creating policy is not enough to ensure that students are using and benefiting from CPL. Attention must be paid to implementation and to creating awareness of CPL policies among students, faculty, and staff at colleges. Additionally, the brief notes that more attention must be paid to the outcomes for students of color, students from low-income backgrounds, and other underrepresented groups to ensure that policies and practices are being implemented in ways that address equity.
The Impact of School Improvement Grants on Practices and Student Outcomes: Findings from a National Evaluation Using a Regression Discontinuity Design
Author: Dragoset, Lisa
Date: 2017-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Grants,Federal Aid,Educational Finance,Federal Legislation,School Turnaround,Outcomes of Education,Program Effectiveness,Educational Practices,Educational Improvement,Elementary Secondary Education

The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program received over $3 billion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Through grants to states, SIG focused on turning around the nation's persistently lowest-achieving schools using one of four school intervention models, with the aim of substantially improving student achievement. The main research question for this study is: Did receipt of SIG funding to implement a school intervention model have an impact on the number of SIG-promoted practices used by low-performing schools and student outcomes? This question was answered using a novel research design--a regression discontinuity design (RDD)--and a large sample of schools from many states to provide rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of SIG. The study focused on the effect of SIG awards made in 2010, when over $3 billion in awards were made to all 50 states and DC. The authors selected a sample of 22 states and approximately 60 districts that were geographically diverse, and able to support estimating impacts using a regression discontinuity design (RDD). To efficiently support the RDD analysis, states and districts that had the largest number of schools eligible for SIG, and that had a high proportion of SIG-eligible schools actually receiving SIG funds to implement an intervention model were prioritized. To the author's knowledge, this is the first large-scale RDD that rigorously assesses the effectiveness of SIG using a large sample of schools from many states. The RDD tackles a host of methodological issues simultaneously (including multiple sites, multiple assignment variables, fuzziness, clustering of individuals within schools, and standard errors that take into account the bandwidth selection method). Although many of these issues are not new to the field, this study is the first to face them all at once. Because the analysis methods are based on simulation work and consultation with RDD experts, other education researchers will benefit from learning about how they were used to obtain the findings in this study. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Guam Department of Education (GDOE) Citizen Centric Report FY2019
Author: Guam Department of Education
Date: 2020-08-31
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Kindergarten,Elementary Secondary Education,Early Childhood Education,Graduation Rate,Dropout Rate,Students with Disabilities,Teacher Qualifications,Academic Achievement,Student Evaluation,Readiness,Educational Finance,Benchmarking,COVID-19,Pandemics,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement

The Guam Department of Education (GDOE) is a single unified and accredited school district consisting of Kindergarten through 12th grade which administers Head Start, pre-Kindergarten GATE programs, and is piloting pre-Kindergarten classes at selected schools. Their 26 elementary, 8 middle, 6 high and 1 alternative schools serve about 30,000 students and are managed by the Superintendent, who is the chief executive officer for the department, and the Executive Secretary of the 12-member Guam Education Board. GDOE is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and uses the following two standards-based or criterion-referenced testing to assess student progress: (1) ACT Aspire, based on the Common Core Standards in English/Language Arts &amp; Math for grades 3-10; and (2) Standards-Based Assessments (SBA) for grades 1-12 in English/Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies content areas. This report provides School Year 2018-19 performance statistics, Fiscal Year 2019 financial statistics, and a discussion on the impact of COVID-19 and future challenges. [For the FY 2018 report, see ED611040.]
Guam Department of Education Citizen Centric Report FY2018
Author: Guam Department of Education
Date: 2019-06-12
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Kindergarten,Elementary Secondary Education,Early Childhood Education,Graduation Rate,Dropout Rate,Students with Disabilities,Teacher Qualifications,Academic Achievement,Student Evaluation,Readiness,Educational Finance,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Student Behavior,Truancy,Federal Aid

The Guam Department of Education (GDOE) is a single unified and accredited school district consisting of Kindergarten through 12th grade which administers Head Start, pre-Kindergarten GATE programs, and is piloting pre-Kindergarten classes at selected schools. Their 26 elementary, 8 middle, 6 high and 1 alternative schools serve about 30,000 students and are managed by the Superintendent, who is the chief executive officer for the department, and the Executive Secretary of the 12-member Guam Education Board. GDOE is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and uses the following two standards-based or criterion-referenced testing to assess student progress: (1) ACT Aspire, based on the Common Core Standards in English/Language Arts &amp; Math for grades 3-10; and (2) Standards-Based Assessments (SBA) for grades 1-12 in English/Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies content areas. This report captures the Department's progress on accreditation, performance measurements, and finances for School Year 2017-2018 and Fiscal Year 2018. It closes with a discussion of future challenges. [For the FY2017 report, see ED611041.]