ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
WWC Review of the Report &quot;Effects of the FITKids Randomized Controlled Trial on Executive Control and Brain Function.&quot; What Works Clearinghouse Single Study Review
Author: What Works Clearinghouse (ED)
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Physical Fitness,After School Programs,Executive Function,Brain,Preadolescents,Program Effectiveness,Educational Research,Randomized Controlled Trials,Accuracy,Reaction Time,Inhibition,Attention

This study measured the impact of the &quot;Fitness Improves Thinking in Kids&quot; (&quot;FITKids&quot;) afterschool program on the executive control (i.e., maintaining focus, performing multiple cognitive processes) and physical fitness of preadolescent students. The &quot;FITKids&quot; program was held at the University of Illinois' campus and included 2 hours of afterschool activities each day. Study authors randomly assigned 221 students ages 7-9 to either participate in &quot;FITKids&quot; or to be in a business-as-usual comparison group. Executive control was measured before and after the &quot;FITKids&quot; program by assessing students' response accuracy and response time on two tasks: (1) attentional inhibition (flanker task) which required students to resist distracting information; and (2) cognitive flexibility (switch task) which required students to perform multiple cognitive duties at the same time. Study authors also measured fitness levels of students both before and after the intervention using body mass index (BMI) and maximal oxygen consumption during aerobic activity. The study authors found that the &quot;FITKids&quot; program increased accuracy in the attentional inhibition task and accuracy in the more difficult portion of the cognitive flexibility task. However, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) did not confirm this finding to be statistically significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. The study also showed a statistically significant positive impact for one subscale of the attentional inhibition task, and the WWC confirmed this finding to be statistically significant. Additionally, the study authors found that &quot;FITKids&quot; had a statistically significant positive effect on aerobic fitness. Moreover, BMI for students in &quot;FITKids&quot; increased by a smaller amount than for students not in the program, and this result was statistically significant. The WWC confirmed the findings for aerobic fitness and BMI. The research described in this report meets WWC group design standards without reservations. A glossary of terms is included. The following are appended: (1) Study details; (2) Outcome measures for each domain; (3) Study findings for each domain; and (4) Supplemental findings for the executive control domain (flanker task). [The following study is the focus of this &quot;Single Study Review&quot;: Hillman, C. H., Pontifex, M. B., Castelli, D. M., Khan, N. A., Raine, L. B., Scudder, M. R., Drollette, E. S., Moore, R. D., Wu, C-T, &amp; Kamijo, K. (2014). Effects of the &quot;FITKids&quot; randomized controlled trial on executive control and brain function. &quot;Pediatrics,&quot; 134(4), 1062-1071.]
World of Learning: Houston Independent School District 2014 Annual Report and 2015 Calendar
Author: Houston Independent School District, TX.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Public Education,Educational Quality,Global Education,Income,Expenditures,Educational Finance,Enrollment Trends,School Personnel,Student Financial Aid,High School Seniors,Language Usage,Bilingual Education,College Credits,Bond Issues,State Standards,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gains,Educational Technology,Community Involvement,Cultural Pluralism,Instructional Leadership,Literacy,Teaching Methods,Partnerships in Education

No other city in the nation more clearly exemplifies the dramatically changing social, political, and economic landscape of America's urban centers than Houston. Houston has transformed from a bi-racial southern city on the bayou to one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the nation. Houston Independent School District (HISD) faces unique challenges in this new landscape and the solutions require leadership, innovation, collaboration and hard work. Quality education transforms the lives of children and is the cornerstone for Houston's future prosperity and success. It is every Houstonian's responsibility to ensure that every child has access to a high quality education regardless of ZIP code. This 2014 annual report presents HISD's vision for graduates as leaders, critical thinkers, college-ready learners, and skilled communicators who are adaptable and productive. In an effort to produce adaptable and productive graduates with cross cultural skills, HISD is expanding its dual language offerings in 2015 from 28 elementary schools to roughly 50 campuses. HISD also has a number of other initiatives designed to prepare students to 2015. Included in this report are highlights of revenues and expenditures, numbers of students served, number of employees, number of schools serving HISD students, amount of scholarships and financial aid offered to seniors in 2014, number of languages spoken across the district, dual language instruction provided, number of dual credit courses, bond initiative building modern schools across Houston, percent of rated HISD schools that met state student progress standard, and percent of rated schools that met state closing performance gaps standard.
Enterprise Risk Management Can Be a Strategic Opportunity. Perspectives…Presenting Thought Leaders' Points of View
Author: Beasley, Mark S.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Risk Management,Higher Education,College Administration,Strategic Planning,Institutional Characteristics,Success,Change Strategies,Commercialization,Educational Change,Educational Practices,Leadership Role

Declining resources, new delivery models for education, questions regarding the value of research, issues surrounding athletics, physical security threats, and slowing demand for college graduates represent only a few of the risks on the horizon for colleges and universities. Higher education is transforming rapidly, creating both opportunities and threats for academic institutions. Faced with these new challenges, some institutions are reexamining how they identify, assess, and manage risks by embracing a more robust, top-down view of all types of risks. Business officers, who have an enterprise-wide perspective, can provide leadership roles in strengthening the robustness of their institutions' risk oversight processes through enterprise risk management (ERM). Released in conjunction with Business Officer Magazine's &quot;En Garde with ERM&quot; article, this essay in the &quot;Perspectives&quot; series explores North Carolina State University's formalized enterprise risk management process. The essay focuses on the business officer's leadership role in strengthening the institutions' risk oversight process to take advantage of upcoming opportunities and minimize potential threats.
The Roles, Duties, and Ethical Responsibilities of the Chief Financial Officer. Perspectives…Presenting Thought Leaders' Points of View
Author: Ladd, Lawrence R.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: School Business Officials,Ethics,Institutional Characteristics,Leadership Role,Leadership Responsibility,Leadership Qualities,Leaders Guides,Organizational Culture,Occupational Information,College Administration,Communication Skills,Expertise

Released in conjunction with the &quot;Sustaining an Ethical Culture on Campus&quot; webcast, this essay in the &quot;Perspectives&quot; series examines the complexities of the role of the chief financial officer. This white paper focuses on how the financial leader of an institution must balance technical knowledge along with stellar communication and leadership skills in order to fulfill the many institutional expectations required for the job.
Minding the Gap: Investing in a Skilled Manufacturing Workforce
Author: Richard, Alan
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Manufacturing Industry,Skilled Workers,Labor Force Development,Training,Models,Job Skills,Aging (Individuals),Barriers,Partnerships in Education,Career Development,Community Colleges,Talent Development,Apprenticeships,Workplace Learning,Employers,Unions,Labor Turnover,Females,Foreign Countries,Career Readiness

Advanced manufacturing is growing and thriving in the United States. Companies are in great need of reliable employees who can communicate well, effectively make decisions, and are interested in long-term careers with opportunity for advancement. Employers have identified a need for a more robust talent pipeline to narrow America's skills gap--a mismatch between the job-market needs in business and industry and the education and preparedness levels of the workforce. To address this important issue, Jobs for the Future, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, and the Manufacturing Institute convened higher education and business leaders with state labor officials and other experts for a summit called &quot;Minding the Gap: Investing in a Skilled Manufacturing Workforce,&quot; which took place November 18-19, 2014, in Arlington, Virginia. &quot;Minding the Gap&quot; highlighted effective training models from across the country that are already in place and successfully addressing manufacturing workforce needs. This summit sought to maximize and expand the impact of manufacturing training, with a particular focus on work-based learning strategies such as on-the-job training, apprenticeships, and internships. The summit was an opportunity to: (1) collaborate on ways to build and expand the manufacturing workforce pipeline; (2) learn about effective education and training models, especially for work-based learning; and (3) explore how to measure and communicate the value of investing in training. This brief is based on highlights of the summit.
How School Districts Can Support Deeper Learning: The Need for Performance Alignment. Deeper Learning Research Series
Author: Honig, Meredith I.
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Alignment (Education),School Districts,Central Office Administrators,Educational Improvement,School Administration,Administrative Change,Elementary Secondary Education

School district leaders nationwide aspire to help their schools become vibrant places for learning--where students have meaningful academic opportunities and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Historically, though, school district central offices have been ill-equipped to support such ambitious goals. A new wave of research suggests that central offices have a key role to play in creating the conditions that make deeper learning possible, and they can do so by making deliberate efforts to align the work of each and every part of the school system to a set of common priorities. This paper addresses the following questions: (1) Why should district central office leaders make performance alignment a key part of their efforts to help all students learn deeply?; and (2) What, more specifically, does performance alignment entail, and how might district leaders move in that direction? This paper: (1) identifies several challenges that district central offices often face when they try to support the improvement of teaching and learning districtwide; (2) describes how pioneering districts are pursing performance alignment; and (3) recommends specific strategies that can help school districts to realize deeper learning at scale. Findings and observations point to the need for a fundamental redesign of most central office functions, as well as some major departures from business-as-usual for most, if not all, central office staff, especially those in human resources, curriculum and instruction, and principal supervision. Such reforms can be challenging, but they are likely to be necessary for school systems to realize deeper learning in all schools and for all students. A table of Data Sources is appended. [For the Executive Summary, see ED560757.]
How School Districts Can Support Deeper Learning: The Need for Performance Alignment. Executive Summary. Deeper Learning Research Series
Author: Honig, Meredith I.
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Alignment (Education),School Districts,Central Office Administrators,Educational Improvement,School Administration,Administrative Change,Elementary Secondary Education

School district leaders nationwide aspire to help their schools become vibrant places for learning--where students have meaningful academic opportunities &quot;and&quot; develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, the ability to communicate effectively, and other deeper learning capacities that are essential to success in later life. Historically, though, school district central offices have been ill equipped to support such ambitious goals. This executive summary discusses the following: (1) deeper learning and its connection to central offices; (2) why the change to facilitate deeper learning is difficult for central offices; (3) how central offices can support systemwide deeper learning; and (4) recommendations for engaging central office staff members in redesigning their roles. [For the full report, see ED560756.]
Leadership for Transformative Change: Lessons from Technology-Mediated Reform in Broad-Access Colleges. CCRC Working Paper No. 8
Author: Klempin, Serena
Date: 2015-08-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Transformational Leadership,Higher Education,Equal Education,Organizational Change,Qualitative Research,Case Studies,Educational Change,Technology Uses in Education,Adoption (Ideas),Academic Advising,Community Colleges,Universities,Statistical Analysis,Leadership Styles,Correlation,Computer Mediated Communication,Educational Planning

Community colleges and broad-access four-year institutions have a crucial role to play in increasing educational equity in the United States. In order to fulfill this role, however, institutions must engage in organizational change to address their low completion rates. Drawing on qualitative case studies of six colleges, this study explores the influence of different types of leadership approaches on the implementation of a technology-mediated advising reform, and assesses which types of leadership are associated with transformative organizational change. Expanding on Heifetz's theory of adaptive change and Karp and Fletcher's Readiness for Technology Adoption framework, we find that transformative change requires multitiered leadership with a unified commitment to a shared vision for the reform and its goals.
Noncredit Education in Community College: Students, Course Enrollments, and Academic Outcomes. CCRC Working Paper No. 84
Author: Xu, Di
Date: 2015-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Noncredit Courses,Two Year College Students,Outcomes of Education,Enrollment,Student Characteristics,Influences,Educational Attainment,Institutional Characteristics

The past two decades have seen a noticeable increase in noncredit instructional offerings in postsecondary education. While noncredit programs have been advocated as a promising way to address educational equity, knowledge about the noncredit sector, such as the types of students enrolled in noncredit courses and their academic outcomes, is sparse. Drawing upon a rich dataset that includes transcript and demographic information on both for-credit and noncredit students in nine community colleges in one state, this study explores the demographic and academic profiles of students enrolled in various fields of noncredit education, their academic outcomes and progress, and potential factors that influence noncredit course completion and transition to the for-credit sector.
Spectral Bayesian Knowledge Tracing
Author: Falakmasir, Mohammad
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Bayesian Statistics,Models,Skill Development,Intelligent Tutoring Systems,Mastery Learning,Probability,Accuracy,Validity,Markov Processes,Evaluation Methods

Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) has been in wide use for modeling student skill acquisition in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). BKT tracks and updates student's latent mastery of a skill as a probability distribution of a binary variable. BKT does so by accounting for observed student successes in applying the skill correctly, where success is also treated as a binary variable. While the BKT served the ITS community well, representing both the latent state and the observed performance as binary variables is, nevertheless, a simplification. In addition, BKT as a two-state and two-observation first-order HMM is prone to noise in the data. In this paper, we present work that uses feature compensation and model compensation paradigms in an attempt to conceptualize a more flexible and robust BKT model. Validation of this approach on the KDD Cup 2010 data shows a tangible boost in model accuracy well over the improvements reported in the literature. [This research paper was partially supported by the Andrew Mellon Pre-doctoral Fellowship and extends a project initiated during the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center's Summer School at Carnegie Mellon University. For complete proceedings, see ED560503.]
Direct Estimation of the Minimum RSS Value for Training Bayesian Knowledge Tracing Parameters
Author: Martori, Francesc
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Bayesian Statistics,Inferences,Prediction,Accuracy,Student Evaluation,Knowledge Level,Mathematical Models,Evaluation Methods,Componential Analysis,Correlation,Mathematics,Computation

Student modeling can help guide the behavior of a cognitive tutor system and provide insight to researchers on understanding how students learn. In this context, Bayesian Knowledge Tracing (BKT) is one of the most popular knowledge inference models due to its predictive accuracy, interpretability and ability to infer student knowledge. However, the most popular methods for training the parameters of BKT have some problems, such as identifiability, local minima, degenerate parameters and computational cost during fitting. In this paper we address some of the issues of one of these training models, BKT Brute Force. Instead of finding the parameter values that provide the lowest Residual Sum of Squares (RSS), we estimate this minimum RSS value from some a priori known values of the skill. From there we perform some preliminary analysis to improve our knowledge of the relationship between the RSS, from BKT-BF, and the four BKT parameters. [For complete proceedings, see ED560503.]
Goodness of Fit of Skills Assessment Approaches: Insights from Patterns of Real vs. Synthetic Data Sets
Author: Beheshti, Behzad
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Goodness of Fit,Student Evaluation,Skills,Models,Data,Data Analysis,Item Response Theory,Bayesian Statistics,Q Methodology,Data Collection,Comparative Analysis

This study investigates the issue of the goodness of fit of different skills assessment models using both synthetic and real data. Synthetic data is generated from the different skills assessment models. The results show wide differences of performances between the skills assessment models over synthetic data sets. The set of relative performances for the different models create a kind of &quot;signature&quot; for each specific data. We conjecture that if this signature is unique, it is a good indicator that the corresponding model is a good fit to the data. [For complete proceedings, see ED560503.]
High School Physics Teacher Preparation: Results from the 2012-13 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Teachers. Focus On
Author: White, Susan
Date: 2015-09-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Secondary School Science,Physics,National Surveys,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Teaching Skills,Self Efficacy,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Primary Sources,Secondary School Teachers,High Schools,Specialists,Professional Associations,Group Membership,Teacher Workshops,Teacher Participation,Teacher Surveys,Teacher Competencies

This report examines teachers' self-assessed preparedness to teach physics, their membership in professional organizations, and where they turn for help when they have questions. Almost every teacher reports feeling at least adequately prepared to teach basic physics knowledge and the application of physics to everyday experience. The smallest group--about seven teachers in ten--reports feeling at least adequately prepared to teach recent developments in physics.
Measuring Up: Educational Improvement &amp; Opportunity in 50 Cities
Author: DeArmond, Michael
Date: 2015-10-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Urban Schools,Public Schools,Academic Achievement,Low Income Students,Minority Group Students,Educational Indicators,Educational Opportunities,Equal Education,Educational Improvement,African American Students,Elementary Secondary Education,Achievement Gap,Graduation Rate,School Effectiveness,Enrollment,Disadvantaged Schools,Suspension,College Entrance Examinations,Advanced Courses,Secondary School Mathematics,Elementary School Students,Middle School Students,High School Students

This report provides a new resource for understanding the state of urban public schools in the U.S. Geared specifically toward city leaders who want to evaluate how well traditional district and charter schools are serving all their city's children and how their schools compare to those in other cities, the report measures outcomes for all public schools, based on test scores and non-test indicators, in 50 mid- and large-sized cities. We selected the cities based on their size and because they reflect the complexity of urban public education today, where a single school district is often no longer the only education game in town. Our research uses nine indicators to examine how well each city's schools are doing overall and how well they are doing for students from low-income households and students of color. Our analysis shows some brights spots, but performance in most cities is flat. Poor and minority students face staggering inequities, and the picture is especially bleak for black students. These problems call for big changes, not incremental tweaks, and highlight the need to identify and learn from cities that are showing that things can get better. The following are appended: (1) Data Tables; and (2) How We Measured the Indicators. [Foreword written by Robin Lake.]
Optimizing Partial Credit Algorithms to Predict Student Performance
Author: Ostrow, Korinn
Date: 2015-06-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Intelligent Tutoring Systems,Scoring,Testing,Credits,Feedback (Response),Models,Mathematics,Computation,Scores,Predictor Variables,Maximum Likelihood Statistics,Probability,Item Response Theory,Statistical Analysis,Accuracy,Evaluation Methods

As adaptive tutoring systems grow increasingly popular for the completion of classwork and homework, it is crucial to assess the manner in which students are scored within these platforms. The majority of systems, including ASSISTments, return the binary correctness of a student's first attempt at solving each problem. Yet for many teachers, partial credit is a valuable practice when common wrong answers, especially in the presence of effort, deserve acknowledgement. We present a grid search to analyze 441 partial credit models within ASSISTments in an attempt to optimize per unit penalization weights for hints and attempts. For each model, algorithmically determined partial credit scores are used to bin problem performance, using partial credit to predict binary correctness on the next question. An optimal range for penalization is discussed and limitations are considered. [For complete proceedings, see ED560503.]