ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Nineteenth-Century World's Fairs as Accountability Systems: Scopic Systems, Audit Practices and Educational Data
Author: Sobe, Noah W.
Date: 2014-12-08
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Accountability,Exhibits,Data,Educational History,Audits (Verification),Comparative Education

Late-19th century World's Fairs constitute an important chapter in the history of educational accountability. International expositions allowed for educational systems and practices to be &quot;audited&quot; by lay and expert audiences. In this article we examine how World's Fair exhibitors sought to make visible educational practices and institutions for external validation. Focusing especially on the American education exhibits mounted at Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Chicago (1893), and Paris (1900), we use historical documents connected with the preparation of exhibits as well as reports written during and after the Fairs to bring to light the curatorial principles and exhibitionary practices governing education exhibits. This examination helps us to understand educational accountability mechanisms and procedures not simply as technical undertakings, but as social systems with an important set of effects. The scopic systems at play and in contestation for accurately and fairly presenting education systems for outside scrutiny did much to shape the national/international contexts within which school systems operate as well as in what directions educators and policymakers sought to direct/redirect schooling.
Testing Like William the Conqueror: Cultural and Instrumental Uses of Examinations
Author: Dorn, Sherman
Date: 2014-12-08
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Test Use,Testing,Accountability,History,Cultural Differences

The spread of academic testing for accountability purposes in multiple countries has obscured at least two historical purposes of academic testing: community ritual and management of the social structure. Testing for accountability is very different from the purpose of academic challenges one can identify in community &quot;examinations&quot; in 19th century North America, or exams&apos; controlling access to the civil service in Imperial China. Rather than testing for ritual or access to mobility, the modern uses of testing are much closer to the state-building project of a tax census, such as the &quot;Domesday Book&quot; of medieval Britain after the Norman Invasion, the social engineering projects described in James Scott&apos;s &quot;Seeing like a State&quot; (1998), or the &quot;mapping the world&quot; project that David Nye described in &quot;America as Second Creation&quot;(2004). This paper will explore both the instrumental and cultural differences among testing as ritual, testing as mobility control, and testing as state-building.
Accountability Practices in the History of Danish Primary Public Education from the 1660s to the Present
Author: Ydesen, Christian
Date: 2014-12-08
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Accountability,Public Education,Educational History,Elementary Education,Discipline,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Evaluation,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,Educational Assessment,Tests

This paper focuses on primary education accountability as a concept and as an organizational practice in the history of Danish public education. Contemporary studies of education policy often address questions of accountability, but the manifestations of school accountability differ significantly between different national settings. Furthermore, accountability measures and practices have an impact on both the ways and means by which societies approach their educational systems. Hence there is a need to clarify the characteristics and traits connected with the concept. One way of approaching this endeavor is to turn to the history of education, because the discourse and practice of accountability incorporates numerous historical antecedents, technologies, and arguments. Based on primary as well as secondary sources this article presents the case of Denmark, analyzing the period from 1660 to the present. The article is analytically divided into four chapters, one treating the period of absolute monarchy, from 1660 to 1849; one treating the era of the nation state, from 1849 to 1933; one treating the welfare state, from 1933 to 1990; and one treating the era of globalization and the marketization of education, from 1990 to the present. The key analytical findings are that changing forms of government are reflected in accountability practices and accountability practices exert strong disciplining effects.
The Development of Educational Accountability in China and Denmark
Author: Rasmussen, Palle
Date: 2014-12-08
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Accountability,Foreign Countries,Governance,Educational Administration,Educational History,Cultural Differences,Role,Cultural Context,Educational Policy,Policy Formation,Higher Education,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Quality,Institutional Evaluation,Administrative Organization,Educational Change,Student Evaluation,Parent Participation,Academic Achievement,Teacher Education,Comparative Education,Intellectual Disciplines,Engineering Education,Medical Education,Standards,Accreditation (Institutions)

In recent decades, the concept of accountability has attracted more and more attention in public governance and management. The management of education is no exception. This article presents and discusses the evolution and current status of educational accountability in two different national contexts, China and Denmark. Two main sectors of education are covered, general school education and higher education. It is shown that both countries are marked by an increasing concern with educational accountability, that differences in history and culture between the two countries are reflected in the approaches to accountability, but that there are still considerable similarities in the types of accountability pursued. Under the influence of a transnational regime of policy development both countries seem to be moving towards output-based accountability, but more traditional inspection continues to have a role.
Evaluating the Recession&apos;s Impact on State School Finance Systems
Author: Baker, Bruce D.
Date: 2014-09-15
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Finance,Economic Climate,Financial Support,Poverty,Correlation,School Districts,Educational Equity (Finance),Models,State Aid,Federal Aid

The Great Recession&apos;s effect on state school finance systems was unlike previous downturns in the early 1990s and early 2000s in that it: a) involved a greater loss of taxable income in many states, thus greater loss to state general fund revenues, b) also involved a substantial collapse of housing markets and related reduction or at least leveling of growth of taxable property wealth, c) but also involved a substantive infusion of federal &quot;fiscal stabilization&quot; aid to be used to fill holes in state general aid formulas. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effects of the recession on equity of state school funding systems with respect to child poverty concentrations. Using school district level panel data from 1993 to 2011, we evaluate the interplay between local, state and federal source revenues through the course of the recent recession by comparison with the less severe economic downturn of the early 2000s. Then using state level estimates of elasticities between revenue and spending measures and district poverty rates, we estimate whether changes in the distribution of state, local or federal revenue contribute most to changes in overall equity of current spending and whether those contributions changed during the recent recession.
How Consistent Are Course Grades? An Examination of Differential Grading
Author: Rauschenberg, Samuel
Date: 2014-09-22
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Grading,Poverty,Racial Differences,English Instruction,Algebra,Mathematics Achievement,Public Schools,High Schools,High School Students,Student Characteristics,Low Income Groups,Statistical Significance,Gender Differences,English Language Learners,Achievement Tests,Regression (Statistics),Teacher Characteristics,Teacher Student Relationship,Institutional Characteristics,School Districts,Predictor Variables

Differential grading occurs when students in courses with the same content and curriculum receive inconsistent grades across teachers, schools, or districts. It may be due to many factors, including differences in teacher grading standards, district grading policies, student behavior, teacher stereotypes, teacher quality, and curriculum adherence. If it occurs systematically, certain types of students may receive higher or lower grades relative to other students, despite having similar content mastery or ability. Using three years of statewide data on Algebra I and English I courses in North Carolina public high schools, I find that student characteristics are stronger predictors of differential grading than teacher, school, or district characteristics. Female, Limited English Proficient, and 12th grade students earn statistically significant higher grades than other students, holding test scores and student, teacher, school, and district characteristics constant. Low-income students, conversely, earn lower grades than other students, all else constant. With the exception of Algebra I low-income students, these differences are large enough to move a student one grade category on a plus/minus 7-point A-F grading scale. Black students earn higher Algebra I grades but lower English I grades than white or Asian students with the same test score, but these effect sizes are smaller than other student characteristics. Interactions between student and teacher race and gender yielded small estimates that were not consistent between subjects.
The Stability of Teacher Performance and Effectiveness: Implications for Policies Concerning Teacher Evaluation
Author: Morgan, Grant B.
Date: 2014-10-06
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Behavior,Merit Pay,Teacher Evaluation,Low Income Groups,Elementary Schools,Elementary School Teachers,Middle Schools,Middle School Teachers,Predictor Variables,Educational Policy

The last five to ten years has seen a renewed interest in the stability of teacher behavior and effectiveness. Data on teacher performance and teacher effectiveness are being used increasingly as the basis for decisions about continued employment, tenure and promotion, and financial bonuses. The purpose of this study is to explore the stability of both teacher performance and effectiveness by determining the extent to which performances and effectiveness of individual teachers fluctuate over time. The sample consisted of 132 teachers for whom both observational and state standardized test data were available for five consecutive years. Neither teacher performance nor effectiveness were highly stable over multiple years of the study. The observed relationship between teacher performance and teacher effectiveness was reasonably stable over time, but the magnitude of the relationship was quite small. Teacher performance was also likely to be inflated in low performing schools. We also discuss when different observed patterns may be acceptable based on the purpose for which the data are used.
Towards a Comparative and International History of School Testing and Accountability
Author: Dorn, Sherman
Date: 2014-12-08
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Comparative Education,International Education,Accountability,Correlation,Research Needs,Educational Policy,State Standards,Access to Education,Power Structure,Educational Administration,Educational History,Testing

The speed and extent of modern school accountability have obscured the history of testing and accountability. This brief introduction identifies central themes of historical research into educational accountability and recurring traits associated with accountability practices. We hope our colleagues and this special issue will also help to identify future research paths in this field. Some of the central themes found in the historical research on educational accountability contained in this special issue are the connections between accountability and the purposes of schooling in a specific time and place, the relationships between school accountability structures and the state, as well as accountability as a cultural phenomenon. One of the recurring traits found in accountability practices is the role of accountability as a phenomenon that cannot be treated in isolation from society at large along with the attendant questions of power, education access, education management, and social selection. Another key trait is that accountability practices always seem to encompass a certain historically given configuration of stakeholder positions. The research paths pointing beyond the themes treated here are identified as a post-colonial perspective, differences and similarities between public and private sector accountability measures, the &quot;engines&quot; promoting the rise, proliferation and implementation of accountability measures, and finally the exploration of the travelling and movement of accountability ideas, knowledge and practices and how they actually impact and connect with national, regional and local practices.
Exploring the Identity of Pre-Service NNESTs in Taiwan: A Social Relationally Approach
Author: Wang, Li-Yi
Date: 2014-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Native Speakers,Language Teachers,Professional Identity,Preservice Teachers,Self Concept,Questionnaires,Interviews,Discourse Analysis,Social Environment,Teaching Methods,Educational Change,Teacher Education Programs,Statistical Analysis,Mixed Methods Research,Student Teacher Attitudes,Teacher Competencies

Teachers' professional identity influences the way they think and teach. For pre-service non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs), they are at the crucial stage of constructing self-image and self-perception as English language teaching (ELT) professionals, their beliefs about English teaching and learning and their attitudes towards changing teaching contexts. Applying a closed-ended questionnaire and in-depth interviews, this study investigated the impact of Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) on 258 pre-service NNESTs' professional identity in Taiwan through the lens of social relationality. The results show that NESTs as significant &quot;others&quot; to the participants have brought conflicting discourses to the ELT profession (the micro-social context) and the policy discourse and the society (the macro-social context). In the micro-social context, the participants encounter contradictory discourses brought by the presence of NESTs in terms of what the participants can offer as opposed to what ideal English teachers should possess. In the macro-social context, the participants face competing discourses caused by the presence of NESTs, in terms of what constitutes good teaching practice, as opposed to what is valued by the government and the major stakeholders in the society. Arguably, the participants' professional identity is shaped through the process of interpreting and conjoining these contradictory and competing discourses. To help pre-service NNESTs construct a positive professional identity to support their professional lives, reforms in teacher education programs should focus on developing the teachers' &quot;non-native&quot; status into resources for ascertaining the needs of the teaching contexts they are operating within.
Exploring the Discursively Constructed Identities of a Teacher-Writer Teaching Writing
Author: Cremin, Teresa
Date: 2014-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Writing Teachers,Writing Instruction,Self Concept,Writing (Composition),Teacher Role,Ethnography,Research Methodology,Discourse Analysis,Teaching Methods,Demonstrations (Educational),Semiotics,Professional Identity,Video Technology,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Semi Structured Interviews,Interaction,Learning Modalities,Elementary School Teachers

In the light of international interest in teachers' literate identities and practices, this paper addresses the under-researched area of teachers' writing identities. It examines the multimodal interactive discursive practices at play in the writing classroom of a teacher in the UK who, in order to support the pupils, consciously positions herself as a writer in this context, seeking to model engagement through demonstrating writing in whole-class sessions and composing alongside pupils in groups. Drawing on previous empirical work which explored the fluid identities performed and enacted by this teacher (Cremin &amp; Baker, 2010), the paper, examining video material, affords detailed analysis of the multimodal interactive discourses indexed in demonstration writing and writing alongside. It maps specific instances of discursive practice onto a model for conceptualising teachers' writing identities: a teacher-writer, writer-teacher identity continuum. It reveals on-going conflict between the teacher's intended discourse positions/identities and the recognition (Gee, 2005) and acceptance of these attempts by the pupils. The paper, in contributing new understandings about the microscopic, fluid and conflictual dimensions of identity positioning in these particular practice contexts, highlights the importance of the embodied discoursal voice of the pedagogue. Additionally, it offers a new analytic tool for understanding how teacher behaviour opens and constrains identity positions and argues that multimodal interaction in teaching writing deserves increased methodological attention.
Enabling/Disabling English Teachers&apos; Identities as Innovative Professionals
Author: Kempe, Elspeth
Date: 2014-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English Teachers,Professional Identity,Communities of Practice,Case Studies,Self Concept,Interviews,Discourse Analysis,Cooperative Learning,Graduates,Outcomes of Education

In the extensive literature on teacher professional development, very little attention has been paid to the role of post-graduate study groups, or to the role of on-going professional conversations, in constituting and sustaining teachers&apos; identities as innovative professionals. The purpose of this article is to suggest that on-going professional conversation is valuable for sustaining innovative identities and practices. The authors present and discuss findings from an analysis, informed by post-structural theory, of lexical artefacts identified in interviews with eight English teachers who had been members of the same study group for the duration of their postgraduate studies. These interviews were conducted two years after their graduation with MA degrees in English Education. A key finding is that at the time of the post-graduation interviews, the figured worlds and identities-in-practice (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, &amp; Cain, 1998) of the teachers differed significantly according to whether or not they had remained in professional conversation with members of the affinity group (Gee, 2000-2001) first constituted by the study group. A second finding showed that on-going, informal professional conversations appeared enabling for the sustaining and further developing of identities as innovative teachers of English. Therefore, we suggest that schools and universities investigate ways of facilitating and supporting such informal conversations as an alternative or as an addition to more formal programmes of professional learning.
&quot;Well, Hang On, They're Actually Much Better than That!&quot;: Disrupting Dominant Discourses of Deficit about English Language Learners in Senior High School English
Author: Alford, Jennifer H.
Date: 2014-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,English Teacher Education,Secondary School Teachers,English Language Learners,Self Concept,Discourse Analysis,Refugees,Critical Literacy,English Instruction,Interviews,Case Studies,High Schools,Coding,Student Characteristics,Social Bias

This paper explores how four English teachers position their English language learners for critical literacy within senior high school curriculum in Queensland, Australia. Such learners are often positioned, even by their teachers, within a broader &quot;deficit discourse&quot; that claims they are inherently lacking the requisite knowledge and skills to engage with intransigent school curricula. As such, English language learners' identity formation is often constrained by deficit views that can ultimately see limited kinds of literacy teaching offered to them. Using Fairclough's (2003) critical discourse analysis method, analysis of 16 interviews with the teachers was conducted as part of a larger, critical instrumental case study in two state high schools during 2010. Five competing discourses were identified: deficit as lack; deficit as need; learner &quot;difference&quot; as a resource; conceptual capacity for critical literacy; and linguistic, cultural and conceptual difficulty with critical literacy. While a deficit view is present, counter-hegemonic discourses also exist in their talk. The combination of discourses challenges monolithic deficit views of English language learners, and opens up generative discursive territory to position English language learners in ways other than &quot;problematic&quot;. This has important implications for how teachers view and teach English language learners and their capacity for critical literacy work in senior high school classrooms.
Inquiring &quot;Tree of Life&quot; at Home: Persian Classic Literature in English Classes
Author: Parsaiyan, Seyyeded Fahimeh
Date: 2014-12-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Translation,English (Second Language),Females,College Students,Interdisciplinary Approach,Action Research,World Views,Politics of Education,Cultural Awareness,Classics (Literature)

The recent decades of English Language Teaching (ELT) appear to be particularly concerned with the marginalisation caused by English linguistic, cultural, and academic colonisation and imperialism. Bold footprints of this academic monopoly can be seen in the wide incorporation of abridged or unabridged British and American literary works in foreign language settings. Such literary products are often legitimised as authentic materials authored by native speakers. Inspired by the idea of incorporating non-native literature and translated first language literature into English classes, the authors of this article sought to explore the possibilities of opening spaces for English translations of Persian classic works of literature in English as foreign language classrooms and tracing the language events that unfolded as a result of incorporating such literature. The participants of this two-semester long action research project were non-English major Iranian female university students, majoring in various fields at Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran. The sense of familiarity the students had with such national literary works led to the emergence of language instances lightened by sparks of virtue, vision, life and art.