ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Exploring Writing Analytics and Postsecondary Success Indicators
Author: Burstein, Jill
Date: 2019-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Writing (Composition),Writing Evaluation,Learning Analytics,Writing Research,Grade Point Average,Writing Achievement,Natural Language Processing,Predictor Variables

Writing is a challenge and a potential obstacle for students in U.S. 4-year postsecondary institutions lacking prerequisite writing skills. This study aims to address the research question: Is there a relationship between specific features (analytics) in coursework writing and broader success predictors? Knowledge about this relationship could contribute to more immediate personalized learning support for students. To investigate, we collected authentic coursework writing from students enrolled at one of six 4-year colleges. We then extracted natural language processing (NLP) writing features (analytics) from the writing samples and examined relationships between the analytics and college grade point average (GPA). Consistent with Burstein et al. (2017), findings suggest that NLP writing analytics may contribute to college GPA prediction. Our findings imply that real-time NLP writing analytics from authentic coursework writing could be used to efficiently track success and flag potential obstacles during students' college careers. [This paper was published in: &quot;Companion Proceedings 9th International Conference on Learning Analytics &amp; Knowledge&quot; (LAK19), p.213-214, 2019.]
What You Don&apos;t Know Won&apos;t Hurt You, Unless You Don&apos;t Know You&apos;re Wrong
Author: O'Reilly, Tenaha
Date: 2019-09-27
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Middle School Students,High School Students,Knowledge Level,Affordances,Reading Comprehension,Content Area Reading,Individual Differences,Learning

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the impact of students' background knowledge and how they utilized &quot;don't know&quot; affordances to comprehend and learn from text. In two studies, over 8,000 middle and high school students interacted with a content-area learning environment in which they answered a series of background knowledge questions before they completed a unit on the same topic. Students were given the opportunity to indicate they &quot;did not know&quot; the answers to the knowledge questions. Higher knowledge was related to higher understanding, and the use of the &quot;don't know&quot; option further explained variability in students' understanding of the sources beyond background knowledge. When responding to knowledge questions, students who selected incorrect options before the task understood less and were less likely to learn content when given the opportunity compared to students who indicated they did not know. Thus, low knowledge students were still able to comprehend and learn as long as they acknowledged they lacked background knowledge. One's comprehension and learning can be facilitated or impaired, depending upon the veracity of their knowledge, and whether students choose to acknowledge their lack of background knowledge. Implications of this work are discussed in terms of learning and instruction. [This paper was published in &quot;Reading Psychology&quot; v40 n7 p638-677 Sep 2019 (EJ1230363).]
A Government Official&apos;s Guide: Quality Assurance of Higher Education in an International Setting. Policy Brief. Number 1
Author: Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) International Quality Group (CIQG)
Date: 2013-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Quality Assurance,Educational Quality,Higher Education,Educational Policy,Global Approach,Definitions,International Organizations,Guidelines,Peer Evaluation,Institutional Evaluation,Qualifications,Accreditation (Institutions)

Quality assurance, external review to affirm and enhance academic quality of higher education institutions, has emerged as a central and critical issue for governments around the world. Whether operating in-country or crossborder, it is a matter of urgency that higher education institutions offer reliable quality teaching, learning, research and service to the community. Quality higher education is essential for economic development, social equity and mobility, as well as creativity and innovation. All of these elements are vital to the future success of countries and their citizens. This is the first in a series of policy briefs on key issues for higher education quality assurance internationally.
An Impact That Lasts: KIPP Middle Schools Boost College Enrollment. Evaluation Issue Brief
Author: Coen, Thomas
Date: 2019-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Middle School Students,Middle Schools,College Attendance,Program Effectiveness,Charter Schools,At Risk Students,Disadvantaged Youth,Academic Achievement,College Students,Correlation,College Admission,Graduation,Academic Persistence

This issue brief presents results of a long-term tracking study that follows 1,177 students who applied to enter 1 of 13 oversubscribed KIPP [Knowledge Is Power Program] middle schools through a 5th- or 6th-grade admissions lottery in 2008 or 2009. Those students are now old enough to have attended college for at least two years. This study uses a randomized controlled trial design to ensure that students who were offered admission to a KIPP middle school (the treatment group) are similar on average to students who did not receive an offer of admission (the control group) on both observable characteristics, such as prior test scores, and unobservable characteristics, such as levels of motivation and parental support.
Consultation for Classroom Management and Targeted Interventions: Examining Benchmarks for Teacher Practices That Produce Desired Change in Student Behavior
Author: Owens, Julie Sarno
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Classroom Techniques,Intervention,Student Behavior,Consultation Programs,Behavior Problems,Teacher Response,Benchmarking,Best Practices,Elementary School Teachers,Elementary School Students,Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

In the context of best practices consultation with high needs teachers, we examined (1) relations between teachers' appropriate response to student rule violations and rates of rule violations, and (2) rates of student misbehavior among teachers who do and do not achieve various benchmarks of integrity and/or growth in skills. Participants were 48 teachers, 48 target students with or at risk for ADHD (one per teacher) and remaining students in each classroom. Teachers received up to eight consultation sessions on classroom management and implementation of a daily report card (DRC) with the target student. We observed classwide rule violations, target student rule violations, and DRC violations, as well as the percent of rule violations to which the teacher provided an appropriate response. Teachers who responded to a higher percentage of rule violations had fewer classwide rule violations (rs=-0.32 to -0.53) and target student rule violations (rs=-0.22 to -0.51) at baseline, Months 1 to 2, and Months 3 to 4 of consultation. Teachers who reached the minimum benchmark of 51% appropriate response and who demonstrated greater growth in appropriate responding witnessed fewer rule violations than teachers who did not achieve these benchmarks. Implications for pre-service training, professional development, and consultation are discussed. [This is the online version of an article published in &quot;Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders.&quot;]
Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline
Author: Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Discipline,Disproportionate Representation,Public Schools,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,Students with Disabilities,Males,Juvenile Justice,Correctional Institutions,Urban Schools,Dropout Rate,Graduation Rate,Emotional Disturbances,Attendance,Suspension

Despite continual gains in the number of students graduating from Boston Public Schools, inequities remain in school discipline and dropout rates. These indicators, which are linked to incarceration rates, disproportionately affect young men of color. The school to prison pipeline refers to policies and practices that push our schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of classrooms and into the juvenile justice systems. In this policy, brief we teamed up with the Boston Opportunity Youth Collaborative and the Boston Public Schools to take a look at this critical issue in Boston.
Assessing the Validity and Reliability of a New Video Goniometer App for Measuring Joint Angles in Adults and Children
Author: Baraldi Cunha, Andrea
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Adults,Children,Measurement,Validity,Reliability,Video Technology,Measurement Equipment,Computer Oriented Programs,Correlation,Human Body,Motion

Objective: To assess the convergent validity and reliability of joint angle measurements from a new video goniometer iPhone/iPad application separately in adults, older and young children. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Child care and university environments. Participants: Fifty-four adults (mean SD=22.5 [plus or minus] 4.5y), 20 older children (mean [plus or minus] SD=10.9 [plus or minus] 2.2y), 20 younger children (mean [plus or minus] SD=1.6 [plus or minus] 0.8y) (N=94). Interventions: Adults and older children performed both standardized static positions and functional activities. Younger children performed only a functional activity protocol. Main Outcome Measures: Joint angle measurements using the app were validated against a commercially validated two-dimensional goniometric software program. In addition, validity of the app was compared to a standard mechanical goniometer for the measurement of angles drawn on a white board. Intra- and interrater reliability were assessed through independent rescoring of videos. Results: Correlations between joint angle estimates obtained from the app and goniometer software or a mechanical goniometer were positive and very strong (r&gt;0.900; P&lt;0.0001). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for repeated scoring from the app indicated excellent intra- and interrater reliability (ICC&gt;0.900). Conclusions: High correlations for repeated measures and comparison to gold standard angle measurement instruments suggest that the new app is a valid and reliable tool for assessing joint angles during functional activity. This tool may provide clinicians an inexpensive yet accurate method for quantification of movements and immediate feedback on range of motion during tasks in a natural environment. [This is the in press version of an article published in &quot;Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.&quot;]
Developing a Continuity of Operations (COOP) Annex for K-12 Schools and School Districts. School COOP Fact Sheet
Author: Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Guides - General
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,School Districts,Emergency Programs,Crisis Management,School Administration,Planning

In order to continue providing educational programming during or after a large emergency event, which may require school dismissal or closure, schools and districts should identify essential functions of the school that must continue under any and all circumstances. These essential functions will likely involve teaching and learning, the physical aspects of buildings and the campus, business functions, and emotional and psychological recovery. As part of the planning process described in this Fact Sheet, a Continuity of Operations (COOP) Annex to the school's emergency operations plan (EOP) that describes how a school or district will ensure the continuation of essential functions during an emergency and its aftermath can be created. The goal of activating a COOP Annex is to restore essential functions within 12 hours of activation and to sustain restored essential functions for up to 30 days or until full operational status is achieved. In addition, the activation of a COOP Annex serves to help protect essential buildings and facilities, equipment, records, students, teachers, staff, and assets; reduce or mitigate disruptions; and minimize damage to life and property. Continuity of operations, including the creation of a COOP Annex, should be coordinated with local community partners, such as emergency management representatives and first responders, to maximize the use of existing infrastructure, facilities, and other resources. This Fact Sheet describes: (1) a range of emergency events that could impact a school or district that may require the activation of a COOP Annex; (2) how the six-step planning process in the &quot;Guide for Developing High-Quality School Emergency Operations Plans&quot; (see ED571878) applies to the creation of a COOP Annex; and (3) nine elements of a COOP Annex. An annotated list of REMS TA Center and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resources to support planning for continuity of operations is also included.
Who Should Be in Charge When School Districts Go into the Red?
Author: Zeehanderlaar, Dara
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Districts,Financial Exigency,Intervention,State School District Relationship,Cooperation,Money Management,Educational Administration

School districts across the land are contending with rising education costs and constrained revenues. Ballooning retirement obligations and ever-growing personnel expenditures in particular are leaving many district budgets in the red. Yet state policies for assisting school districts in financial trouble are uneven and complex. Interventions are often haphazard, occur arbitrarily, and routinely place politics over sound economics. This brief presents a menu of sensible state responses when districts are insolvent or nearly so, as well as a tiered sequence of interventions that range from help to actual takeovers. The tiered interventions for districts in financial distress are: (1) Collaborative supports; (2) Financial management; and (3) Administrative control. [Foreword by Marguerite Roza, Amber M. Northern, and Michael J. Petrilli.]
Three Signs That a Proposed Charter School Is at Risk of Failing
Author: Nicotera, Anna
Date: 2017-04-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Charter Schools,Failure,School Effectiveness,Risk,Leadership,At Risk Students,Academic Support Services,Inquiry,Active Learning,Student Centered Curriculum,Institutional Characteristics

It is well established that some charter schools do far better than others at educating their students. This variability has profound implications for the children who attend those schools. Yet painful experience shows that rebooting or closing a low-performing school is a drawn-out and excruciating process. This report investigates whether or not it is possible to predict which schools are likely &quot;not&quot; to succeed before they even open their doors. The authors examined more than six hundred charter school applications across four states. They found three &quot;risk factors&quot; in approved applications that were significant predictors of a school's future weak performance in its first years of operation: (1) lack of identified leadership; (2) high risk, low dose; and (3) a child-centered curriculum. Further, when an application displayed two or more of these risk factors, the likelihood of low performance rose to 80 percent. The study also found that the following indicators, among others, made it more likely that an application would be rejected entirely: (1) a lack of evidence that the school will start with a sound financial foundation; (2) no description of how the school will use data to evaluate educators or inform instruction; (3) no discussion of how the school will create and sustain a culture of high expectations; and (4) no plans to hire a management organization to run the school. These results are meant to enhance an authorizer's existing review procedures. This report gives authorizers, operators, and advocates one more tool in their toolkit. [Foreword and summary by Amber M. Northern and Michael J. Petrilli.]
Autism in the Classroom: Educational Issues across the Lifespan
Author: Bolourian, Yasamin
Date: 2019-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Autism,Pervasive Developmental Disorders,Students with Disabilities,Educational Strategies,Educational Policy,Teacher Student Relationship,Elementary Secondary Education,Postsecondary Education,Student Placement,Regular and Special Education Relationship,Inclusion,Transitional Programs

This chapter reviews educational strategies and legal policies impacting effective schooling for children, youth, and young adults. Emphasis is on the classroom manifestation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and how general education teachers can effectively facilitate learning. Within early school years, the importance of positive student-teacher relationships (STRs) in the face of challenging behaviors is discussed, including ways to build positive STRs. In middle and high school, social relationships serve as protective factors against mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety). Literature on this topic, including issues related to bullying, is presented. In postsecondary settings, young adults with ASD continue to have poor outcomes (e.g. loneliness, unemployment); strategies for helping adolescents transition to adulthood is discussed. While there are many other aspects to educational program appropriate for individuals with ASD (e.g., curriculum content), this chapter highlights recent issues that may be informative to a wide audience--school teachers and staff, researchers, and parents. [This chapter was published in: &quot;Autism Spectrum Disorders -- Advances at the End of the Second Decade of the 21st Century.&quot; IntechOpen, 2019.]
Exploring Relationships between Writing &amp; Broader Outcomes with Automated Writing Evaluation
Author: Burstein, Jill
Date: 2017-09-08
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Computer Software,Writing Evaluation,Writing Achievement,College Students,At Risk Students,Academic Persistence,Standardized Tests,Essays,Outcomes of Education,Correlation,Predictor Variables,Writing Skills,Critical Thinking,Scores,Timed Tests,Multiple Choice Tests,Computer Assisted Testing,College Entrance Examinations

No significant body of research examines writing achievement and the specific skills and knowledge in the writing domain for postsecondary (college) students in the U.S., even though many at-risk students lack the prerequisite writing skills required to persist in their education. This paper addresses this gap through a novel &quot;exploratory&quot; study examining how automated writing evaluation (AWE) can inform our understanding of the relationship between postsecondary writing skill and broader indicators of college success. The exploratory study presented in this paper was conducted using test-taker essays from a standardized writing assessment of postsecondary student learning outcomes. Findings showed that for the essays, AWE features were found to be predictors of &quot;broader outcomes&quot; measures: college success indicators and learning outcomes measures. Study findings expose AWE's potential to support educational analytics -- i.e., relationships between writing skill and broader outcomes -- moving AWE beyond writing assessment and instructional use cases. [This paper was published in: &quot;Proceedings of the 12th Workshop on Innovative Use of NLP for Building Educational Applications&quot; (p.101-108). Association for Computational Linguistics, 2017.]
GoCPS: A First Look at Ninth-Grade Applications, Offers, and Enrollment. Research Report
Author: Barrow, Lisa
Date: 2019-05-00
Type: Reports - Research-practitioner Partnerships
Subjects: Grade 9,Enrollment,Public Schools,High School Students,School Choice,Neighborhood Schools,Program Implementation,School Districts,Charter Schools,Selective Admission,Competitive Selection,Admission (School),Vocational Education,Eligibility,Hispanic American Students,African American Students,White Students

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offers many options when it comes to high school enrollment. In fact, since the 2015-16 school year, about three out of every four incoming ninth-graders have chosen to attend a high school other than their assigned neighborhood school. Despite the widespread engagement in school choice, the high school application process was complicated. In an effort to simplify and streamline the process, the Chicago Board of Education voted on April 2017 to adopt a common application across all high school choice programs for incoming ninth-grade students with one deadline and a single best offer. The district expected that this common application would make the process simpler, more transparent, and more equitable for students and families. At the time when Chicago passed this measure, similar systems had already been approved and were in use in a number of other urban districts. Beginning in fall 2017, all high school program applications were moved to an online platform known as GoCPS. This new application system eliminated the need to apply school-by-school and program-by-program. In addition, all high school programs had a common deadline for applications and acceptances of offers. Importantly, the selection system alleviated the problem of some students accepting multiple offers to competitive programs while others remained on multiple waitlists with no offers. This report analyzes the first year of GoCPS implementation for students who enrolled in ninth grade in the fall of 2018. [Funding provided by the Consortium Investor Council.]
Using Mnemonics Strategies to Improve Primary Stage Pupils&apos; EFL Vocabulary Learning and Retention Skills
Author: Ghoneim, Nahed Mohammed Mahmoud
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mnemonics,Vocabulary Development,Learning Strategies,Memory,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Retention (Psychology),Grade 6,Elementary School Students,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Pretests Posttests,Foreign Countries

Vocabulary has always been one of the significant issues that affect the English language learning and teaching. The current study aims to improve primary stage pupils' EFL vocabulary learning and retention skills through using mnemonics. Sixty four 6th grade primary school pupils were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received vocabulary instruction using mnemonics strategies while the control group received instruction using the regular method. A pre-post test was administered to the two groups immediately after experimentation and a month after the last treatment session. Findings indicated that the experimental group participants outperformed those of the control group.