ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Strengthening College Opportunity and Performance: Federal, State and Institutional Leadership
Author: National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Educational Opportunities,Higher Education,Labor Force Development,Educational Attainment,Leadership,Federal Government,State Government,Government Role,Leadership Responsibility,College Administration,Educational Change,Educational Policy

Leaders in all sectors--government, business, philanthropy--are calling on American colleges and universities to enroll and graduate more students to bolster the nation's economic competitiveness and to enhance its standard of living. The urgency of strengthening college opportunity informed President Obama's articulation of what amounts to a national goal for higher education--that the U.S. will have the best-educated workforce in the world by 2020. But the collective effort to strengthen higher education performance has yet to materialize. And in the current environment, the public is wary of ambitious new initiatives that may fail to deliver. Over the last year, instead of vigorous debate about strategies for increasing educational attainment, everyone saw technical arguments among a few think tanks and foundations about how goals are set. This paper offers several recommendations that can help leaders strengthen college opportunity and performance.
13th Annual Comparative Analysis of the Racine Unified School District: Demographics, Attendance, Finances, Student Engagement, and Achievement
Author: Henken, Rob
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: School Districts,Comparative Analysis,School Demography,Attendance,Educational Finance,Learner Engagement,Academic Achievement,Scores,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Graduation Rate,Dropout Rate,Achievement Gap,Taxes,Enrollment,Enrollment Trends,Educational Trends,Truancy,Teacher Salaries,Income,Fringe Benefits,Expulsion,Suspension,College Entrance Examinations,Expenditure per Student

This is the 13th annual report on the conditions affecting the Racine Unified School District (RUSD). This year, the analysis again focuses on the long-term historical trends in RUSD and compares the district to nine peer districts across the state. The peer districts are those with the most similar enrollments to RUSD. The report is configured in accordance with district-determined quality objectives of operational efficiency, student engagement, and student achievement. To assess RUSD's progress in meeting those objectives, the report analyzes finance data, attendance and disciplinary data, and standardized test scores and graduation rates. Context is provided with enrollment and demographic data. New to the report this year are three features intended to better link the report to district reform efforts. Throughout the report, data that speak to any of the district's North Star performance targets are highlighted in a blue sidebar. In addition, the five-year trends in third grade reading are organized into school performance quadrants to better identify those schools demonstrating high achievement and score improvement, as well as those with low initial achievement, but demonstrated improvement. Finally, this year's report includes aggregate results of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test administered to most students twice a year. These scores provide a better understanding of student learning over time. (Contains 28 tables and 27 figures.)
Public Schooling in Southeastern Wisconsin: 2009-2010
Author: Schmidt, Jeff
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Public Schools,Elementary Secondary Education,School Effectiveness,Achievement Gap,Racial Differences,Gender Differences,Enrollment,Educational Finance,Income,Expenditures,Cohort Analysis,Reading Achievement,Scores,Achievement Gains,Mathematics Achievement,College Entrance Examinations,Advanced Placement Programs,Graduation Rate,Minority Group Students,Low Income Groups,Attendance,Truancy,Dropout Rate

For 24 consecutive years, the Public Policy Forum has compiled and analyzed data from southeastern Wisconsin's public school districts in order to better inform policymakers and the public about the effectiveness of the region's K-12 education system. This analysis of the 2009-10 academic year, like many of the previous reports, indicates cause for concern.  Despite a consensus on the importance of quality schooling to the region's economic growth and quality of life, the data reveal a continued need for better educational outcomes. The purpose of this report is to highlight the gaps and trends that reflect the region's educational progress and achievements, as well as areas that require renewed emphasis and improvement. The sections presented here will examine several data sets that provide insight into the characteristics and achievement of school districts throughout the southeastern Wisconsin region, providing corresponding tables and charts for comparison and tracking. Appended are: (1) Glossary; and (2) Union District Breakdown. (Contains 1 figure, 4 charts, 21 tables and 3 footnotes.) [This research was sponsored by the Multiple Listing Service, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Southeastern Wisconsin Schools Alliance and Stifel Nicolaus.]
Assessing the Workforce Development Needs of Healthcare Employers in Southeastern Wisconsin. Research Brief. Volume 98, Number 3
Author: Million, Laura
Date: 2010-04-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Labor Force Development,Allied Health Personnel,Employment Opportunities,Occupational Surveys,Job Skills,Demand Occupations,Job Applicants,Ethnic Diversity,Disproportionate Representation,Females

Despite near-record unemployment rates in the region, southeast Wisconsin's healthcare sector faces a distinctive challenge: finding sufficient numbers of qualified and trained workers to fill current and future job openings. A May 2009 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee analysis found that one out of every four full-time job openings and one out of   three part-time openings in the Milwaukee region was in a health-related occupation. Almost 70% of those positions required specialized training beyond a high school diploma. The need for healthcare workers is not expected to subside in the near term. Healthcare jobs in hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities and ambulatory healthcare services are projected to increase 8% in southeast Wisconsin by 2014. Regional efforts are taking shape to address the region's shortage of healthcare workers while connecting low-skilled persons to employment opportunities. The Milwaukee Area Healthcare Alliance (MAHA), a new workforce development partnership between the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Health Education, has emerged as a workforce intermediary to bridge the gaps between employers, prospective applicants, and the region's workforce development and training resources. Successfully building that bridge requires a better understanding of the challenges healthcare employers face in making hiring decisions. MAHA engaged the Public Policy Forum to conduct a survey of health-care industry employers in the seven counties of Southeastern Wisconsin, including Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington, and Waukesha counties. This &quot;Research Brief&quot; details the survey's results and highlights challenges health-care employers face in hiring and retaining a qualified workforce. (Contains 3 charts, 7 tables and 9 footnotes.) [This research was funded by the Milwaukee Area Healthcare Alliance.]
Machine Translation for Academic Purposes
Author: Lin, Grace Hui-chin
Date: 2009-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Computational Linguistics,Educational Technology,Computer Mediated Communication,Academic Discourse,Translation,Chinese,Multilingualism,Computer Uses in Education,Computer Software,Global Approach

Due to the globalization trend and knowledge boost in the second millennium, multi-lingual translation has become a noteworthy issue. For the purposes of learning knowledge in academic fields, Machine Translation (MT) should be noticed not only academically but also practically. MT should be informed to the translating learners because it is a valuable approach to apply by professional translators for diverse professional fields. For learning translating skills and finding a way to learn and teach through bi-lingual/multilingual translating functions in software, machine translation is an ideal approach that translation trainers, translation learners, and professional translators should be familiar with. In fact, theories for machine translation and computer assistance had been highly valued by many scholars. (e.g., Hutchines, 2003; Thriveni, 2002). Based on MIT's [Massachusetts Institute of  Technology's] Open Courseware into Chinese that Lee, Lin and Bonk (2007) have introduced, this paper demonstrates how MT can be efficiently applied as a superior way of teaching and learning. This article predicts the translated courses utilizing MT for residents of global village should emerge and be provided soon in industrialized nations and it exhibits an overview about what the current developmental status of MT is, why the MT should be fully applied for academic purpose, such as translating a textbook or teaching and learning a course, and what types of software can be successfully applied. It implies MT should be promoted in Taiwan because its functions of clearly translating the key-words and leading the basic learners to a certain professional field can be proved in MIT. A Course Syllabus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology is appended. [This paper has been published in: Proceedings of the International Conference on TESOL and Translation 2009. December 2009: pp.133-148.]
Linkages: Connecting Literacy and English as a Second Language. Discussion Paper: What Do We Know about the Connections between Literacy and English as a Second Language in Canada?
Author: Folinsbee, Sue
Date: 2007-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Adult Literacy,Research,Native Language,Immigrants,Refugees,Young Adults,Canada Natives,Agricultural Occupations,Literacy Education,Second Language Programs,Adult Education,Educational Strategies,Program Effectiveness,Educational Policy,Professional Development,Program Development

This discussion paper is part of a larger Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) project entitled &quot;Linkages: Connecting Literacy and English as a Second Language&quot; (ESL). The goal of the overall project is for MCL to work with national organizations that support the ESL/Settlement and literacy fields to identify common issues and concerns and to document areas for mutual cooperation in the future. The purpose of the discussion paper is to highlight and summarize current Canadian research over the last five to seven years in terms of key themes, issues, gaps and needed strategies on connections between literacy and ESL. The paper will also reflect the perspectives of a small number of key informants from the literacy, ESL, and settlement fields on key themes. Appendices include: (1) Key Informants; and (2) Interview Questions. (Contains 2 tables and 41 footnotes.)
Mapping the Field of Family Literacy in Canada
Author: Movement for Canadian Literacy
Date: 2008-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: National Organizations,Foreign Countries,Family Literacy,Interviews,Educational Finance,Financial Support,Program Descriptions,Geographic Distribution,Organizations (Groups),Family Programs

One of the ways that Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) fulfills its mandate is by providing a forum where people from provincial/territorial and national organizations can work together to identify, discuss and address issues of common focus. This project, Mapping the Field of Family Literacy, reflects MCL's goal of building consensus, capacity and commitment on the topic of family literacy. This paper provides snapshots of family literacy &quot;activity&quot; in each province and territory with the intent of providing a view of family literacy through a wide angle lens. In other words, to look widely, not deeply, at family literacy. Each snapshot was created from a series of interviews with provincial and territorial literacy coalition staff, key informants working in the field of family literacy, staff from some provincial and territorial governments and/or website and document reviews. The interviews identified two over-arching themes: How family literacy is funded and who provides family literacy programming. Individual sections contain references. (Contains 24 footnotes.)
Environmental Scan: Literacy Work in Canada. Summary Report
Author: Movement for Canadian Literacy
Date: 2007-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Literacy Education,Adult Literacy,Financial Support,Volunteers,Adult Educators,Teacher Characteristics,Work Environment,Salaries,Wages,Professional Development,Teacher Certification,Foreign Countries

During the fall of 2007, Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) conducted an environmental scan of the Anglophone literacy field in Canada. Data was gathered through the use of key informant interviews (19) and a literature review. A cross-national working group guided the development of the scan. Interviews with key informants for the scan revealed that the &quot;system&quot; of delivery is extremely complex, fragmented and diverse across the country. From interviews with key informants, it is clear that funding is variable depending on the province or territory. Interviews with key informants, along with the results from research conducted by the Ontario Literacy Coalition and Literacy Alberta, indicate some key trends in terms of the demographics of literacy workers. The scan tells that the environment in which people work can range widely from being excellent in terms of working space, resources, and equipment, to being very poor. Key informants also reveals that there is a range of pay rates in most provinces and territories. Appendices include: (1) Key informants; and (2) Interview Questions. (Contains 1 table and 27 footnotes.)
California's Teaching Force 2010: Key Issues and Trends
Author: Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Teaching (Occupation),Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Supply and Demand,Teacher Competencies,Teacher Qualifications,State Surveys,Faculty Development,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,State Legislation,Data Collection,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Policy,Public Officials

For more than a decade, the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning has supported the Teaching and California's Future (TCF) initiative to provide California policymakers with objective and timely data on the state's teacher workforce. Each year, the Center publishes a report on the status of teaching profession. This year's report focuses on the implications of the recent budget cuts and policy shifts for the state's teacher workforce. The report is targeted toward a broad audience of policymakers, education leaders, philanthropic organizations, and researchers, with particular attention to issues relevant to the new governor, state superintendent of public instruction, and new legislators as they prepare to take office. This report is organized around four key themes: the contraction of the teacher workforce and other issues affecting the teacher supply pipeline; the weakening of the teacher development system in the context of reductions in funding; ongoing efforts to define and evaluate teacher quality; and the need for a fully developed, robust longitudinal statewide data system. Appendices include: (1) Additional Exhibits and Technical Information; and (2) Excerpts From External Reports on California's Data System. (Contains 30 footnotes and 23 exhibits.) [This report was produced by The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning in consultation with their co-sponsors: California State University; University of California, Office of the President; and WestEd. Additional funding for this report was provided by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation.]
Are Bad Schools Immortal? The Scarcity of Turnarounds and Shutdowns in Both Charter and District Sectors
Author: Stuit, David A.
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Charter Schools,Public Schools,School Districts,School Effectiveness,Disadvantaged Schools,School Closing,Educational Improvement,Institutional Characteristics,Elementary Schools,Middle Schools,Identification,Classification,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement

This study investigates the successes of the charter and district sectors in eliminating bad schools via dramatic turnarounds in performance and/or shutdowns. It identified 2,025 low-performing charter and district schools across ten states, each of which is home to a sizable number of charter schools. These particular schools were tracked from 2003-04 through 2008-09 to determine how many turned around, shut down, or remained low-performing. What did results show? A dismal state of affairs. In all ten states, the charter sector has done a slightly better job of eliminating low-performing schools, but neither sector has cause for celebration. Seventy-two percent of the original low-performing charter schools remained in operation, and remained low-performing, five years later, compared with 80 percent of district schools. Few low-performing schools in either sector--barely 1 percent--managed to dramatically improve their academic performance over this five-year period, and fewer than 10 percent made even moderate gains. Charter schools were not statistically more or less likely to turn around than their district peers. To the extent that this study yields any good news, it is this (and it is modest): In all ten states, low-performing charter schools were likelier to close than were low-performing district schools. Nineteen percent of weak charters were shuttered, versus 11 percent of district low performers. And in both sectors, the majority of schools that closed were lower-performing than their neighboring schools; thus, students leaving closed schools had better academic options nearby. The author concludes that it is easier to close a low-performing school than to turn one around. Rather than pushing dubious turnaround efforts, charter authorizers and education policy makers alike should ramp up their efforts to close bad schools, particularly in cases where higher-performing schools are nearby. (Individual parts contain tables, figures and references.)
Financing Class Size Reduction
Author: Achilles, C. M.
Date: 2005-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Class Size,Federal Legislation,Educational Improvement,Federal Programs,Small Classes,Educational Change,Educational Indicators,Case Studies,Minority Groups,Financial Support,Cost Effectiveness,Low Income Groups,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gains,Educational Legislation

Class size reduction has been shown to, among other things, improve academic achievement for all students and particularly for low-income and minority students. With the No Child Left Behind Act's heavy emphasis on scientifically based research, adequate yearly progress, and disaggregated results, one wonders why all children aren't enrolled in small classes. Unfortunately, concerns about class size reduction's expense and misunderstandings about the research discourage class size reduction implementation. This document addresses these concerns by providing an overview of class size reduction financing that includes: (1) Definitions of class size reduction terminology with implications for class size research; (2) Guidelines for financing class size reduction implementation; (3) Case studies of successful class size reduction implementations at little or no extra expenditure; (4) A summary of class size reduction cost-benefit considerations; and (5) A comprehensive bibliography. This paper also presents finance case studies that provide actual data and examples of class size implementations. Critique of STAR Results Using Crane's (1998) Criteria is appended. (Contains 2 tables and 2 notes.)
In the Works: A Compendium of Projects from across the Country
Author: Movement for Canadian Literacy
Date: 2009-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Literacy,Professional Development,Educational Research,Foreign Countries,Classification,Workshops,Family Literacy,Teacher Education,Program Descriptions,Adult Education,Adult Programs

The Movement for Canadian Literacy (MCL) has created this Compendium to capture a snapshot of the variety of projects currently taking place across the country. The information about each project has been supplied by the lead organization. The projects have been grouped under &quot;themes&quot; rather than by location, timelines or start dates. It must be noted, however, that the classification of a project under any thematic heading has been somewhat arbitrary. For example, a project that has a strong research focus, but also includes a workshop or training event has been classified as &quot;research&quot; rather than professional development. A project that seems to have professional development as its main objective, but also includes a research component has been classified as &quot;practitioner training and development&quot;.
Investigation of the Application of Communicative Language Teaching in the English Language Classroom -- A Case Study on Teachers' Attitudes in Turkey
Author: Coskun, Abdullah
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Teacher Attitudes,Communicative Competence (Languages),Observation,Class Activities,Teaching Methods,Theory Practice Relationship,Qualitative Research,Questionnaires,Class Size,Traditional Grammar,Tests,Time,Instructional Materials

This qualitative study aimed to reveal whether teachers' classroom practices overlap with their attitudes towards certain features of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) such as pair and group-work activities, fluency and accuracy, error correction and the role of the teacher. Before conducting an open-ended questionnaire with two teachers of English teaching a group of intermediate students to reveal their attitudes towards CLT, the researcher had observed each participating teacher's lesson for an hour during which they cover a speaking warm-up, a listening extract and grammar presentation with its practice. The findings have indicated that there is a discrepancy between teachers' classroom practices and the attitudes they expressed. The major challenges in the implementation of CLT from both teachers' perspective are found to be large class size, traditional grammar-based examinations and the little time available to prepare communicative materials. Three appendixes are included: (1) Classroom Observation Checklist; (2) Open-ended Attitude Questionnaire; and (3) Questionnaire about Challenges in Adopting CLT.