ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Improving the College Scorecard: Using Student Feedback to Create an Effective Disclosure
Author: Morgan, Julie Margetta
Date: 2012-11-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: College Bound Students,College Choice,College Preparation,Admissions Counseling,College Admission,Student Financial Aid,Feedback (Response),Usability,Testing,Focus Groups,Paying for College,Graduation Rate,Debt (Financial),Costs,Communication Research,Communication Strategies,Information Dissemination

The White House will soon unveil a final version of its &quot;college scorecard&quot;--an online tool giving college-bound students and their families a hype-free snapshot of reliable information about any U.S. campus: real costs, graduation rates, student debt statistics, and earning potential of graduates. The college scorecard is a good idea and it has the potential to make college-bound students smarter consumers. The scorecard is part of a major effort by the White House and the U.S. Department of Education to understand and improve the college selection process. Though policymakers are working diligently and conscientiously to design a scorecard that will help students and families, the college scorecard has not been subjected to systematic testing by actual students and parents. At the White House's invitation, many college admissions and financial aid experts, including some from CAP, are weighing in on the college scorecard design. These experts are making every effort to put themselves in the shoes of prospective college students and are scrutinizing the draft scorecard for potentially confusing language or missing information. But designing an effective information sheet about college costs, debt, and graduation rates is hard without feedback from actual users. This report uses the government college scorecard project as an opportunity to explore how testing might lead to more effective disclosures. The authors took the college scorecard to college-bound high school students, asking them for feedback on design, content, and overall effectiveness. In this paper, the authors discuss the findings of these focus groups, make recommendations specific to the college scorecard project, and draw some overall recommendations for improving the readability and usability of government disclosures. Principles of disclosure design are appended. (Contains 12 figures and 22 endnotes.)
The State of Teacher Evaluation Reform: State Education Agency Capacity and the Implementation of New Teacher-Evaluation Systems
Author: McGuinn, Patrick
Date: 2012-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Educational Policy,Grants,School Districts,Expertise,State Departments of Education,Case Studies,Comparative Analysis,Measures (Individuals),Competition,Educational Change,Teacher Evaluation,Program Implementation,Web Sites,Financial Support,Interviews

The Obama administration's Race to the Top competitive grant program initiated an unprecedented wave of state teacher-evaluation reform across the country. To date, most of the scholarly analysis of this activity has focused on the design of the evaluation instruments or the implementation of the new evaluations by districts and schools. But little research has explored how &quot;states&quot; are managing and supporting the implementation of these reforms. This paper offers an assessment of how early adopter states' departments of education have undertaken the preparation and implementation of new evaluation systems. It also identifies challenges and lessons that can be used to guide future reform efforts in this area. This assessment of the activities of state departments of education is based on comparative case studies of six states: Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. These particular states were selected because they are &quot;early adopters&quot; in the area of teacher-evaluation reform and because their states and/or education agencies have undertaken different approaches to implementing the reforms. Two of the states--Tennessee and Delaware--were initial Race to the Top winners, while the other states won smaller grants in later rounds. Research consisted of a review of the scholarly and think tank research on state education agency capacity and teacher-evaluation systems; analysis of reports and data from the state education departments' websites and from organizations such as the Council of Chief State School Officers; a study of media coverage of the reform efforts in the six states; and 15 interviews with national experts on teacher-evaluation reforms and state education agency and local education agency staff in each state. Interviews are appended. (Contains 48 endnotes.)
Guide for Refining State Assessment Policies for Accommodating English Language Learners
Author: Rivera, Charlene
Date: 2008-00-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Testing Accommodations,English Language Learners,State Policy,Educational Policy,Policy Formation,Educational Assessment,Guides,Educational Research,Best Practices,Disabilities,Language Proficiency,Literacy,Testing

In meeting the inclusion provisions for English language learners (ELLs) in state assessment systems, it is important to assure the meaningful representation of what students know and can do. States have relied on accommodations as one of the principle means to increase the validity of ELL test scores. Yet current knowledge about effective accommodations for ELLs is limited. Moreover, because accommodations were originally implemented to support students with disabilities, many states have not distinguished between accommodations for ELLs and students with disabilities. In contrast to students with disabilities who need accommodations that address their particular disability, ELLs need accommodations that provide "linguistic" support. This support is needed to help them demonstrate what they know and can do on assessments given in English. Additionally, it is important to recognize the heterogeneity of the ELL population. To increase the validity and reliability of assessment results for ELLs, policy makers will need to carefully consider how to accommodate ELLs at varying stages of English language proficiency (ELP), native language literacy, and with differing educational backgrounds. The aim of this Guide is to support states in refining assessment policies so they are more responsive to the linguistic needs of ELLs. It is designed to help state education agencies build policies that coherently address ELLs, and that clearly distinguish the accommodation of ELLs from the accommodation of students with disabilities. The paper also provides an overview of research on accommodations and highlights studies on specific accommodations for ELLs. This is followed by a discussion of the relevant findings from the Descriptive and Best Practices studies, which form the foundation for the organization and content of the Guide. A glossary of terms is included. (Contains 1 table.) [This publication was supported by the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) LEP Partnership.]
Using Teacher Evaluation Reform and Professional Development to Support Common Core Assessments
Author: Youngs, Peter
Date: 2013-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: State Standards,Outcomes of Education,Teaching Methods,Teacher Characteristics,Observation,Professional Development,Educational Change,Teacher Evaluation,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Objectives,Student Surveys,Academic Standards,Alignment (Education),Curriculum Design,Models,Educational Policy,Problem Solving,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Writing Achievement,Teacher Education,Teacher Certification

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, in its aim to align diverse state curricula and improve educational outcomes, calls for K-12 teachers in the United States to engage all students in mathematical problem solving along with reading and writing complex text through the use of rigorous academic content. Until recently, most teacher evaluation systems in this country did not measure or promote the ability of teachers to practice in these ways. This report discusses efforts to develop and implement Common Core standards and assessments in the 45 states and the District of Columbia that are initiative members, and outlines how past attempts to enact standards-based reform have been impeded by limitations in teacher evaluation. It also draws on the notion of &quot;standard of care,&quot; from the field of medicine, to note that advances in the understanding of subject matter, pedagogy, how students learn, and technology call for teachers to continually acquire new knowledge and to refine their instructional practices by participating in comprehensive professional development on a regular basis. Several new approaches to evaluating teachers hold promise for promoting the type of ongoing teacher learning and changes in instruction that would be associated with a professional standard of care in K-12 teaching. These approaches include classroom observation protocols, student surveys, value-added models, and teacher performance assessments. This report details these approaches and explains their potential to strongly support the enactment of the Common Core standards and assessments. At the same time, it also considers a number of challenges connected with implementing each of these. The approaches to teacher evaluation presented here, when combined with comprehensive professional development for teachers and school leaders and changes in the organization and capacities of school districts, have the potential to support the types of teacher knowledge acquisition and changes in instructional practices called for by the Common Core standards and assessments. (Contains 59 endnotes.)
Reforming Teacher Evaluation: One District's Story
Author: Donaldson, Morgaen L.
Date: 2012-12-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Teaching Methods,Cooperation,Unions,Collective Bargaining,Teacher Evaluation,Evaluation Methods,Educational Change,School Districts,Urban Areas,Benchmarking,Program Implementation,Educational Improvement,Teacher Improvement,Labor Relations,Interviews,Economic Factors,Political Issues,Educational Policy,Leadership,Teachers,Principals

In recent years policymakers have seized on teacher evaluation as a primary lever for improving schools. Of all school factors--from expanded school calendars to smaller class sizes to community and family engagement programs--teachers contribute the most to student achievement. Policymakers reason that evaluating teachers based on their students' performance will lead to the removal of underperforming educators and an improvement in the overall quality of the teacher workforce. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that effective evaluation systems may prompt all educators to improve. Some districts have prioritized a collaborative approach to developing new evaluation systems and can provide valuable lessons for others to follow. This report examines one district's efforts to develop and implement a new teacher evaluation system in a cooperative manner with its teachers. For reasons of confidentiality, the authors refer to this district as the Studyville School District, a medium-sized school system in a northeastern urban center with roughly 20,000 students and 1,600 teachers. It has been recognized at both the national and state level for the collaboration that has characterized the development and implementation of the district's new teacher evaluation program and for the use of student achievement as a benchmark in its the evaluation system. Leaders from the teachers union and district have worked together to adopt a framework for the new evaluation system through the collective bargaining process. In this paper the authors present an in-depth case study charting the evaluation program's progress--from concept to initial design to implementation to the program's current state. The authors examine aspects of policy and practice that have facilitated or impeded the program's success and pay particular attention to developments in labor-management relations at the school and district level affecting the reform's development. Based on their interviews with key district and union leaders and with a cross-section of teachers and school leaders, they are able to make the following observations: (1) Economic, political, and policy factors have facilitated the teacher evaluation program's development and acceptance; (2) Collaboration has been at the heart of the teacher evaluation program's creation and development; (3) The teacher evaluation program represents both a process and a product; and (4) The teacher evaluation program's progress reflects strong leadership coupled with broad input. (Contains 1 table and 15 endnotes.)
Teachers' Perspectives on Evaluation Reform
Author: Donaldson, Morgaen L.
Date: 2012-12-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Evidence,Program Effectiveness,Teaching Methods,Feedback (Response),Rewards,Educational Change,Confidentiality,Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Persistence,Teacher Evaluation,Academic Achievement,Interviews,School Districts

Despite growing momentum to reform teacher evaluation in order to increase its impact on teachers' practice and persistence in the profession, very little research examines how current reforms influence teachers' attitudes or reported instructional practices. Do the new evaluation systems lead to enhancements in teachers' instruction overall? And are there real consequences--penalties--for persistently underperforming teachers? Are there rewards for those whose instruction is consistently outstanding? To answer these and other questions related to teacher evaluation, the author and her colleagues conducted a small-scale study that sought to provide evidence to inform the debate among policymakers on how teacher evaluation should be changed to yield the greatest impact. This report provides findings based on a study conducted in one northeastern, urban, and medium-sized school district, which they will call Studyville to maintain confidentiality. A leader in teacher-evaluation reform, Studyville implemented a new system in 2010--the Teacher Evaluation Program, or TEP, which evaluates teachers based on their students' growth on academic performance measures and more conventional observation-based data. This report presents the views of teachers on the district's evaluation reform and the extent to which it has affected their instructional practice. It is based on interviews conducted with 92 educators, including teachers and school leaders during the 2011-2012 school year, which was the evaluation program's second year of existence. This report focuses on how the experiences and views of teachers differed according to their evaluation rating--ratings which ranged from a low of 1 (needs improvement) to a high of 5 (exemplary). In general the teachers in this study viewed the district's new teacher-evaluation program more positively than negatively, although a substantial minority of teachers said that they would not recommend the evaluation program to other school districts, citing concerns ranging from fairness to feedback. This paper briefly reviews what is known about teacher evaluation and pays particular attention to findings that inform current reforms. The paper describes in detail the setting in which this study took place and the specific teacher-evaluation reform that was the subject of this inquiry. It also describes the methods used to collect and analyze data. Finally, it details the findings, concluding with a number of specific recommendations for policymakers. (Contains 20 endnotes.)
Descriptive Study of State Assessment Policies for Accommodating English Language Learners
Author: Willner, Lynn Shafer
Date: 2008-10-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Testing Accommodations,English Language Learners,State Policy,Educational Policy,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Inclusion,Educational Assessment,Decision Making,Mathematics Tests,Reading Tests,Disabilities

In 2006, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED)'s efforts to support states in meeting the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (Ashby, 2006). The study found the requirement to include all students, including English language learners (ELLs) in standards and assessment systems, a continuing challenge for states. The GAO report concluded that states needed more knowledge about how to assess ELLs' academic achievement and recommended that ED provide direct assistance to states. In response, ED established the LEP Partnership. Through the partnership, state representatives working on issues of assessment and accountability are convened. These sessions provide a forum through which ED and the states can address questions and issues, receive expert guidance, and learn from one another regarding the assessment of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students, or ELLs as they are referred to throughout this paper. At the first LEP Partnership meeting in October 2006, state education agency (SEA) staff concurred that it would be beneficial to collaborate in the refinement of state assessment policies addressing the accommodation of ELLs in state content assessments. In response to this recommendation, ED charged The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education (GW-CEEE) to develop a Guide for SEAs to use to improve state policies for accommodating ELLs. As a foundation for developing the Guide, this study of state assessment policies examined the number and types of accommodations specified for ELLs. It provides an in depth analysis of the extent to which state assessment policies address the accommodation of ELLs. This paper provides a review of literature that provides background on the ELL student population shift and ongoing gaps in student achievement which have widened and deepened the challenges faced by US educators. It offers an overview of the legislative mandates for the inclusion and accommodation of ELLs in state assessments and the supporting policy research examining state policies for including and accommodating ELLs. It concludes with an overview of the research base on specific accommodations, research on the assignment of accommodations for particular content assessments, and research on guidance for monitoring the accommodation of ELLs. (Contains 6 figures and 18 tables.) [Funding for this paper was provided by the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) LEP Partnership.]
Summer Reading Summer Not: How Project READS Can Advance Equity
Author: Kim, James S.
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Evidence,Reading Programs,Models,Research and Development,Summer Programs,Program Descriptions,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),Intervention,Check Lists,Elementary Education,Reading Strategies,Program Development,Equal Education,Access to Education

This paper has three goals. First, it describes the broader research on summer reading loss. Second, it discusses how research and development efforts informed the key components of Project READS (Reading Enhances Achievement During Summer), a scaffolded voluntary summer reading intervention for children in grades 3 to 5. The second part of the paper also describes results from four randomized experiments, which provide rigorous evidence on the efficacy of the READS logic model. Third, it concludes with a checklist to guide districts and schools interested in implementing and evaluating a scaffolded voluntary summer reading program like Project READS. Project READS Tools and Resources are appended. (Contains 2 figures and 4 footnotes.)
Best Practices in State Assessment Policies for Accommodating English Language Learners: A Delphi Study
Author: Acosta, Barbara D.
Date: 2008-10-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: English (Second Language),English Language Learners,Best Practices,State Departments of Education,Educational Policy,Educational Assessment,Delphi Technique,Language Proficiency,Testing Accommodations,Program Effectiveness,Language Tests,Second Language Learning

Charged by the U.S. Department of Education, The George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education (GW-CEEE) developed a Guide for state education agencies (SEAs) to use to improve state assessment policies for accommodating English language learners (ELLs). As a foundation for the Guide, GW-CEEE designed two studies, the Descriptive Study and the Best Practices Study. For the Descriptive Study GW-CEEE reviewed state assessment policies and examined the number and types of accommodations specified for ELLs (Shafer Willner, Rivera, &amp; Acosta, 2008). The Best Practices Study involved the application of a Delphi technique to obtain consensus from an expert panel about which accommodations identified in the Descriptive Study were ELL-responsive. Members of the panel, which included experts knowledgeable about research, policy and practice in the areas of assessment, psychometrics, language testing, second language acquisition, and instruction of ELLs, relied on professional judgment to vet a list of ELL-responsive accommodations and then mapped these accommodations to English language proficiency (ELP) levels and to selected student background variables. The expert panel concluded with recommendations for states to consider when refining policy for the accommodation of ELLs. Recommendations from the Best Practices Study build on the emerging research base and, together with recommendations from the Descriptive Study, provide the basis for the development of the &quot;Guide for Refining State Assessment Policies for Accommodating English Language Learners&quot;: (1) Screen accommodations for ELL-responsiveness; (2) Standardize and clearly describe accommodations; (3) Distinguish between test administration practices and accommodations; (4) Offer accommodations for ELLs at each English language proficiency level; and (5) Offer accommodations for ELLs with different levels of literacy in English and the native language. (Contains 1 figure and 9 tables.)
Frequently Asked Questions about College Access and Success
Author: Education Resources Institute, Pathways to College Network
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Achievement Gap,College Preparation,Access to Education,Success,At Risk Students,Paying for College,Barriers,Dropouts,Student Financial Aid,Colleges,Student Needs,Disproportionate Representation,Expectation,Curriculum,School Readiness,Economic Factors

This paper presents questions and answers regarding college access and success. These questions include: (1) What is the "achievement gap" and how serious is it?;  (2) Is college the best option for all students? If not, why prepare all youth for college?; (3) Can we afford to send everyone to college?; (4) What prevents students from going to college?; (5) Why do so many students start college leave before finishing degrees?; (6) How does financial aid impact decisions about college?; (7) What does the Pathways to College Network mean by "college?"; (8) What is an "underserved student," as defined by the Pathways to College Network?; (9) When do students need to begin preparing for college?; (10) What is meant by a "college-going culture?"; (11) Why is it important to have "high expectations" for students?; (12) What is meant by a "college-preparatory" curriculum and "college-readiness?"; and (13) What is the single most important action that our leaders need to take in order to make college access and success a reality?