ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Decision Making of Adult Learners below Level 2. Research Report
Author: Department for Education (DfE) (United Kingdom)
Date: 2021-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Adult Students,Decision Making,Foreign Countries,Access to Education,Learning Motivation,Barriers,Student Attitudes,Electronic Learning,Influences,Blended Learning,Student Recruitment,Retraining,Adult Education

The United Kingdom (UK) Government has committed to the creation of a National Retraining Scheme, which will aim to prepare workers for future changes to the economy, including through automation, to retrain into better jobs. This will help to address challenges to the economy, including automation and advances in technology that are changing the nature of work; an ageing population and extended working lives; an entrenched productivity gap relative to other advanced economies; and low social mobility by international standards that does not appear to be improving. Despite the evidence on the benefits of learning, the UK has seen a recent decline in the number of adults participating in learning and skills training. In addition, studies have consistently demonstrated persistent patterns of inequality in participation. For the National Retraining Scheme to be effective, these entrenched inequalities in participation in learning need to be addressed. Doing this requires a better understanding of how adults can be successfully engaged in learning. Learning and Work Institute (L&amp;W) was commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) to undertake research to better understand how adults with qualifications below Level 2 make decisions about whether or not to take up learning. The research took a qualitative approach involving in-depth interviews with adult learners and focus groups with adults who are currently not engaged in learning. The research builds on a previous study conducted by L&amp;W and Kantar Public, which explored the decision-making of adults learning at Levels 2-5. This report presents the findings from the study and recommendations for the development of the Government's National Retraining Scheme, particularly in relation to how best to engage adults in learning. [For the previous study conducted by L&amp;W and Kantar Public, &quot;Decisions of Adult Learners,&quot; see ED590017.]
A Federal Policy Agenda for English Learner Education
Author: Villegas, Leslie
Date: 2021-03-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Public Policy,Educational Policy,English Language Learners,State Policy,Bilingual Education,Bilingual Students,Access to Education,Equal Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Second Language Learning,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Accountability,Academic Standards,Data Collection,Student Evaluation,Language Teachers,Educational Finance

English learners (ELs) represent a growing share of the student population in the United States, yet are often sidelined in federal education policy discussions. At present, an uneven approach has yielded sharp differences in ELs' educational experiences, with some states prioritizing bilingual education models and others emphasizing English-dominant models. A new presidential administration brings the opportunity to reassess the condition of federal EL education policy and identify areas of prioritization and improvement. This paper takes stock of key areas in need of improvement in federal policy impacting ELs and dual language learners (DLLs), and offers recommendations aimed at improving their access to an equitable education throughout the early education and PreK-12 continuum.
Chinese Students&apos; Attitudes toward African American Standard and Vernacular English
Author: Chmarkh, Mustapha
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Attitudes,Language Attitudes,Sociolinguistics,Positive Attitudes,North American English,Whites,Asians,Social Bias,Comparative Analysis,Audio Equipment,Validity,Gender Differences,Undergraduate Students,Foreign Students,Writing Instruction,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first sociolinguistic matched-guise experiment that examined Chinese students' attitudes toward African American English in both its standard and vernacular variants. This pilot study explored Chinese students' implicit bias--if any--toward African American English compared to white American English. For this purpose, seventy-two undergraduate Chinese students pursuing their studies in the US rated standard and vernacular English recordings of a White American female speaker and an African American female speaker. To optimize the validity of this experiment, two non-guises were included as distractors. The findings suggest that the participants held a more positive attitude toward White American English. Interestingly, female respondents rated the African American guise slightly higher than their male counterparts. Finally, when the African American speaker's teaching-related traits were rated, participants favored the standard over the vernacular recording. In sum: the findings suggest that respondents might have an existing/emerging implicit bias toward the African American speaker.
Harnessing Micro-Credentials for Teacher Growth: A Model State Policy Guide
Author: Tooley, Melissa
Date: 2021-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Credentials,State Policy,Educational Policy,Best Practices,Faculty Development,Licensing Examinations (Professions),Teacher Promotion,Human Capital,Alternative Teacher Certification,Program Design,Educational Assessment,Competency Based Teacher Education,Educational Quality

This brief draws upon its companion report, &quot;Harnessing Micro-credentials for Teacher Growth: A National Review of Early Best Practices,&quot; as well as New America's previous work on educator micro-credentials, to outline a set of model policy proposals for states to effectively incorporate high-quality micro-credentials into educator policies and practices for ongoing professional development, license renewal, and advancement. [For the companion report, see ED612409.]
Harnessing Micro-Credentials for Teacher Growth: A National Review of Early Best Practices
Author: Tooley, Melissa
Date: 2021-01-13
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Credentials,Public Policy,Educational Policy,Alternative Teacher Certification,Best Practices,Faculty Development,Teacher Promotion,Program Design,Educational Assessment,Competency Based Teacher Education,Human Capital,Case Studies,Educational Quality

New America analyzed the national landscape of educator micro-credentials (MCs) to determine how to best harness their potential to more successfully attract, develop, and retain great teachers. We find MCs to be a promising alternative to more traditional (and largely ineffective), compliance-focused teacher professional development, as well as an effective vehicle for defining and determining eligibility for some teacher roles. Whether MCs will fulfill their promise will depend largely on the ability of education leaders to set an appropriately and consistently rigorous bar for quality in MC offerings, as well as to ensure sufficient and appropriate implementation processes and supports outside of the MC offerings themselves. To aid in these efforts, we summarize early best practices for ensuring quality MC offerings as well as lessons learned about the necessary conditions for teachers to succeed with MCs. As an added resource, New America has built a companion &quot;State Policy Guide&quot; with recommendations for policymakers looking to integrate MCs into their educator professional development, license renewal, and advancement systems. [For the companion state policy guide, see ED612408.]
Building Organizational Capacity &quot;for&quot; Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Roadmap to Healthy Schools
Author: New America
Date: 2021-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: COVID-19,Pandemics,School Safety,Disease Control,Communicable Diseases,Elementary Secondary Education,Prevention,Teamwork,Training,Ventilation,Staff Development,Educational Environment,Data Collection,Administrator Role,Work Environment,School Personnel,Responsibility,School Districts,Agency Cooperation,Sanitation,Screening Tests,Immunization Programs,Classroom Environment,Space Utilization,Government Role,Board of Education Role,Local Government,State Government,State Departments of Education

The goal of safely and sustainably reopening K-12 school buildings for in-person learning is widely recognized as critical to minimizing the impact of academic, social, emotional, and mental strains brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic. In order for in-person learning to succeed on an ongoing basis, schools must be able to offer safe environments, taking into account high levels of community spread of COVID-19. Health and safety are foundational for learning and educating. Scientific research and case studies have shown that robust, school-based infection prevention and control (IPC) programs are essential to establishing this solid foundation. Infection prevention and control consists of a set of practices to reduce the risk of disease transmission and achieve healthy and safe workplaces. By providing layered protection strategies, IPC programs can reduce transmission to at or near zero levels, even where there is high community spread. With the knowledge of &quot;what&quot; to do now clearly articulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and scientific experts, implementing this function effectively for K-12 schools now requires focusing on &quot;who&quot; should do the work of infection prevention and control and &quot;how&quot; it should get done. This Roadmap provides general guidance on these questions, with a focus on building organizational capacity. The Roadmap is structured with the twin understandings that state and local governmental structures and labor-management collaboration take many forms and can differ between and within states, and that, to be effective, IPC initiatives must be shaped to align with those contexts. [This report was co-produced by COVID Collaborative, Harvard's Safra Center for Ethics, and Brown School of Public Health. Support for this publication was provided by Rios Partners.]
Women and STEM in Europe and Central Asia. Report No: AUS0002179
Author: Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Females,Gender Bias,Equal Opportunities (Jobs),Equal Education,Womens Education,Employed Women,STEM Education,Labor Market,Wages,Employment Level,Job Skills,Public Policy,Academic Achievement,Aspiration,Motivation,Student Interests,Self Esteem,Postsecondary Education,Occupational Aspiration,Outcomes of Education,Career Readiness,Gender Differences,Occupations

In the last decades, developed economies have witnessed significant declines in wages for low-skill workers, increases in employment in high-skill occupations, rapid diffusion of new technology, and expanding offshoring opportunities. Labor markets in developed countries have reallocated labor from manual to cognitive jobs and from routine to non-routine work. Overall, workers are now required to do more complex tasks than before. In a changing labor market, education systems should impart the right skills, ideally both foundational ones and additional skills that will be amenable to adaptation and re-training to match with job opportunities. This is even more important in the ECA region given the context of the increasing share of older people who will depend on today's generation of children when they join the working age population. Women's access to and progress in what is generally referred to as STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are topics that have been growing in significance in recent years. The interest in gender segregation in STEM, as in other sectors, arises mainly from the role segregation plays in gender inequality in the labor markets. Gender differences in productivity and earnings are systematic and persistent as women exhibit lower average productivity and earn lower wages than men across the board. The report is organized into three chapters. The first one looks at education -- including STEM content and fields of study that are within the education realm. The second one follows women into the labor market and looks at employment and wages in STEM sectors and for STEM occupations. The final section looks at policies, from the many initiatives and efforts in place to promote women's participation in STEM, with a focus on those that have documented results.
Credentials Matter. Report 1: A National Landscape of High School Student Credential Attainment Compared to Workforce Demand
Author: Foundation for Excellence in Education
Date: 2019-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Credentials,High School Students,Educational Attainment,Career Readiness,Education Work Relationship,Vocational Education,Labor Market,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Data Collection,Alignment (Education),State Policy,Program Improvement,Supply and Demand

U.S. employers are struggling to find qualified applicants across a range of career sectors. In 12 career areas--including healthcare, computers and mathematics--demand for workers exceeded available supply by a total of 4.4 million job openings in 2016. This gap threatens the economy, undermines the innovation and competitiveness in many of the leading industries and will only worsen in a fast-changing market where jobs increasingly blend capabilities from different domains. Industry-recognized credentials help address this skills gap by conveying a student's career readiness because they validate the knowledge and skills required for success in a given occupation or industry. In fact, full-time employees with an industry credential earn more than their counterparts without one, and in some cases, the salaries of nondegree credential holders' were found to be similar to workers with college degrees. During the research process, many states indicated they are working to improve the link between their career and technical education (CTE) programs and their labor markets. Yet the research found that half of all states are not collecting the necessary data to know how aligned their credential programs are with employer demand, and not a single state's secondary credential program measures as &quot;highly aligned&quot; with the job market. The 2018 reauthorization of the $1.2 billion Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act offers states an ideal opportunity to reassess the impact of their programs and make credentials a metric for success. This report serves as a jumping off point for states to begin conversations about which credentials are most valuable and lead students to good careers. The findings provide a basis for practical changes in credential programs that can improve the chances of job market success for many young people.
Using Libraries to Support National Literacy Efforts. UIL Policy Brief 6
Author: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) (Germany)
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Librarians,Literacy Education,Lifelong Learning,Emergent Literacy,Adult Literacy,Sustainable Development,Educational Policy

Used strategically, libraries have the potential to play a key role in promoting national literacy efforts, as they are trusted by people in the communities they serve and are in a good position to provide a wide variety of literacy opportunities. Libraries provide literacy resources for children, youth and adults at all proficiency levels, thereby making an enormous contribution to supporting a reading culture and the creation of a literate society. They are also an ideal community space for facilitating intergenerational and family learning. The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) believes in and advocates for learning both in- and outside of formal education settings. It works with formal, non-formal and informal centres of learning, including libraries. The Institute has now released a policy brief entitled &quot;Using Libraries to Support National Literacy Efforts,&quot; which examines the role of libraries in supporting lifelong literacy. The policy brief looks at how libraries nurture early literacy skills up to advanced levels of literacy proficiency, and the need for libraries to be involved in policy dialogue connected to literacy. The publication goes further to highlight the fact that libraries at every level, local and national, should be well-resourced to serve their surrounding communities and users in order to create a successful learning environment. Harnessing the potential power of libraries by integrating their activities with national literacy efforts and strategies at local, regional and national levels will help countries achieve the literacy targets set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Building Back Better: A National Jobs Strategy. Policy Proposals and a Framework for Action
Author: McCarthy, Mary Alice
Date: 2021-02-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Federal Programs,Employment Programs,Public Policy,Educational Policy,Labor Market,Job Development,Program Implementation,Guidelines,Federal Government,Government Role,Labor Force Development,Labor Legislation,Unions,Equal Protection

When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the economy back into recession in early 2020, it laid bare a fragile and profoundly inequitable labor market. The economic expansion that reigned from 2009 through 2019 brought historically low unemployment and inflation but failed to reduce income inequality or arrest the decline in the number of high-quality, well-paying jobs. Wages for all but the highest earners stagnated, volatility in household incomes increased, and the racial wealth gap and urban-rural economic divide widened, all fueled by the declining quality and security of jobs. By the close of the decade, four in ten Americans said they would struggle to cover an unanticipated expense of just $400. In the absence of a robust and coordinated recovery strategy focused on increasing the supply of good jobs, the same labor market pathologies that plagued the last recovery will re-emerge: the long-term unemployed will struggle to land jobs and many will give up; private sector job growth will be slow and uneven; many new jobs will be worse than those they replace; unemployment among Black and Latinx workers will remain elevated; and income and wealth gaps will widen. According to the Better Employment and Training Strategies Taskforce (BETS), the Biden-Harris administration has an historic opportunity to lay the foundation for an economy built on good jobs, one that ensures the benefits of economic growth are broadly and fairly shared. A recent national survey points to strong, bipartisan support for a robust governmental response to the recession that creates new jobs, prevents job loss, and improves job quality. The administration's Build Back Better plan includes investments and executive actions that will create and improve jobs for U.S. workers. The plan also makes clear that a Good Jobs Economy will require action on multiple fronts, from many federal agencies, and across all levels of government. This report provides a set of concrete recommendations to help guide an all-of-government jobs strategy, including three goals to guide a national jobs agenda, a suite of distinct but reinforcing strategies to achieve them, and a framework for coordinating activities across government.
When the Type of Practice Matters: The Relations between Writing Instruction, Student Practice, and Writing Achievement in First Grade
Author: Coker, David L, Jr.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Writing Instruction,Writing Achievement,Elementary School Students,Grade 1,Predictor Variables,Spelling,Handwriting,Vocabulary,Reading Skills,Gender Differences,Minority Group Students,Teaching Methods,Writing (Composition),Writing Skills,Learning Activities,Writing Assignments,Kindergarten,Program Effectiveness,Student Characteristics,Reading

A substantial body of research has demonstrated the efficacy of early writing interventions that target skills and composing processes; however, much less is known about the effectiveness of classroom writing instruction outside of the context of an intervention. The goal of this study was to investigate if writing instruction and student practice predict first-grade writing achievement and if the relations between writing instruction, practice and achievement depend on student factors. Assessments of students' spelling, handwriting, vocabulary, and reading were collected in the fall of first grade, and norm-referenced and researcher-designed writing tasks were administered in the spring (N=391). During the school year, four full-day observations of classroom instruction and student writing practice were conducted in 50 classrooms. The effects of writing instruction and student writing practice on spring writing achievement were analyzed using two-level, fixed-effects hierarchical linear models. Composing instruction was negatively related to contextualized spelling, but no other main effects of instruction were found. One type of writing practice, generative writing, was positively related to all three measures of writing achievement. Interactions were also found between student gender, minority status and multiple types of writing instruction and practice. These results point to the potential benefit of generative writing practice and indicate that efforts to differentiate instruction and practice may be beneficial for students. Additionally, the findings raise doubts about the effectiveness of current writing instruction. [This paper was published in &quot;Contemporary Educational Psychology.&quot;]
Missing Out: Arkansas&apos; Teacher Shortage and How to Fix It. Executive Summary
Author: TNTP
Date: 2021-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Shortage,Teacher Supply and Demand,Geographic Regions,Minority Group Students,African American Students,Diversity (Faculty),Student Diversity,Teacher Certification,Teacher Salaries,Academic Degrees,School Districts,State Programs,Incentives,Partnerships in Education,Paraprofessional School Personnel,Substitute Teachers,Teacher Aides,Elementary Secondary Education

Unfortunately, Arkansas has faced a massive shortage of certified teachers for decades. Statewide, 4 percent of public school teachers are uncertified, with another 3 percent teaching out of field. In many districts, the percentage of uncertified is much higher: as high as 56 percent in the Helena-West Helena School District, and 52 percent in the Forrest City School District. Luckily, there are steps the state can take to address this problem. Especially given the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students, it has never been more important to get an effective, qualified teacher in every Arkansas classroom. This executive summary highlights two findings about teacher shortage, three likely causes of the shortage, and three recommendations to fix the problem as detailed in the full report, &quot;Missing Out: Arkansas' Teacher Shortage and How to Fix It.&quot; [For the full report, see ED612403.]