ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Social Pedagogy in Modern Times
Author: Rosendal Jensen, Niels
Date: 2013-04-30
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Influences,Teaching Methods,Social Sciences,Political Issues,Social Problems,Social Environment,Holistic Approach,Educational Research,Global Approach,Social Responsibility

The article identifies several key concepts used to describe and categorize social pedagogy. The first section of the paper establishes a framework for considering the diversity that characterizes the field, including reflection on social pedagogy&apos;s theoretical, political and social dimensions. This is followed by a discussion based on a holistic understanding of the interaction between individuals and society, which leads to recognition of the profession&apos;s tendency to present itself with a &quot;Janus face.&quot; The paper concludes by pointing out prospects for further development of social pedagogy in the dialectic between theory/research and pedagogical practice.
More than a New Country: Effects of Immigration and Home Language on Elementary Students' Academic Achievement over Time
Author: Broomes, Orlena P.
Date: 2013-05-20
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Elementary School Students,Native Language,Immigrants,Academic Achievement,Foreign Countries,Reading Tests,Writing Tests,Mathematics Tests,Regression (Statistics),Language Proficiency,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Standardized Tests,Student Characteristics,Probability

This study investigated the effects of immigration and home language on academic achievement over time. Using data from Ontario's Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics administered to the same students in Grades 3 and 6, logistic regression was used to predict if students achieved proficiency in Grade 6 if they were not proficient in Grade 3. The results indicate that home language or interactions with home language are significant in most cases. In addition, students who speak a language other than or in addition to English at home are, in general, a little more likely to be  proficient at Grade 6. Most students who were born outside of Canada were 
significantly more likely than students born in Canada to stay or become proficient in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics by Grade 6. These results highlight the importance of considering the enormous heterogeneity of immigrants' experiences when studying the effects of immigration on academic performance and the dire limitations of datasets that do not collect  such data. (Contains 4 tables and 3 footnotes.)
Assessing Organizational Efforts to Mobilize Research Knowledge in Education
Author: Qi, Jie
Date: 2013-01-14
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Research,Information Dissemination,Web Sites,Organizations (Groups),Usability,Access to Information,Audiences,Foreign Countries

This paper presents a framework for evaluating efforts by organizations to share research as exemplified on their websites, then reports the result of an evaluation of these efforts in 100 organizations. The result shows that the overall research sharing efforts of these organizations are modest and not well aligned to evidence on effective practice in this area. Organizations tend to 
devote more efforts to making products available while interpersonal strategies, though more effective, are less used. Most efforts involve one way communication to potential users. The paper concludes with suggestions for practice and for further research. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures, and 2 footnotes.)
Crafting Coherence from Complex Policy Messages: Educators' Perceptions of Special Education and Standards-Based Accountability Policies
Author: Russell, Jennifer Lin
Date: 2013-02-11
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Policy,Special Education,Accountability,Individualized Education Programs,Standards,Policy Analysis,Teacher Attitudes,Federal Legislation,Guidelines,Inclusion,Teaching Methods,Conflict,Educational Theories,Educational Practices,Superintendents,Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Connected Discourse,Comparative Analysis,Qualitative Research,Semi Structured Interviews

Federal special education and accountability policies requires that educators individualize instruction for students with disabilities, while simultaneously ensuring that the vast majority of these students meet age-based grade-level standards and assessment targets. In this paper, we examine this dynamic interplay between policies through analysis of policy documents and interviews that reveal how a sample of educators grapple with their simultaneous implementation. We found that educators made sense of some facets of the policies as complementary and others as contradictory. NCLB and IDEA offered consistent and specific guidelines defining &quot;highly qualified&quot; teachers and educators reported a clear and accurate understanding of these policy demands. On an issue where there was no specific guidance from NCLB--the placement of special education students--educators interpreted the law as promoting the inclusion of more students in general education courses, often to an extent that contradicted the guidance offered by IDEA. With respect to fundamental issues of teaching and learning, NCLB and IDEA represent contradictory theories of action and educators perceived conflict and expressed concerns about unintended consequences for students. Based on our empirical findings, we conclude with a set of theoretical propositions regarding how the alignment of policy messages influences educators' interpretation of policies, which in turn may have implications for how they enact policies. (Contains 2 tables.)
Social Pedagogy and Liberal Egalitarian Compensatory Programs: The Case of Head Start
Author: Counsell, Shelly Lynn
Date: 2013-04-30
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Disadvantaged Youth,Social Justice,Academic Achievement,Cooperation,Inclusion,Student Development,Economically Disadvantaged,Socioeconomic Status,Income,Accountability,Empowerment,Cultural Pluralism,Educational Practices

Using Head Start as an example of a compensatory social program based on a liberal egalitarian view of justice, this paper shows how all such programs are fundamentally flawed. In spite of any good intentions, by creating a discourse of deficiency and attempting amelioration through segregation this approach contains the seeds of its own failure. And, indeed, Head Start has 
floundered since its inception. That there is real need is clear; however, a new way forward is essential. We propose a model, based on social pedagogy, that takes seriously and respectfully the lifeworld of the children and families involved, and works cooperatively to find a way forward for 
everyone instead of imposing an externally-driven system response to an inadequately understood lifeworld. In addition, this reconceptualization must move beyond the exclusiveness of compensatory programs to inclusiveness of all children and families. This approach offers hope both for a more just social world in general based on deliberative justice as well as attaining goals of student achievement and development.
Value-Added Model (VAM) Research for Educational Policy: Framing the Issue
Author: Amrein-Beardsley, Audrey
Date: 2013-01-28
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Outcomes of Education,Teacher Evaluation,Accountability,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Influence,Educational Policy,Educational Research,Teacher Competencies,Research Methodology,High Stakes Tests

In this manuscript, the guest editors of the EPAA Special Issue on &quot;Value-Added Model (VAM) Research for Educational Policy&quot; (1) introduce the background and policy context surrounding the increased use of VAMs for teacher evaluation and accountability purposes across the United States; (2) summarize the five research papers and one research-based commentary that were peer-reviewed and selected for inclusion in this special issue; and (3) discuss the relevance of the papers both individually and collectively. Their importance is discussed in terms of each paper&apos;s contribution to the general research on this topic and each paper&apos;s potential to inform educational policy. In addition, the papers reflect our shared thinking about VAMs, VAM output, and the inference-based decisions for which VAMs are increasingly being used. (Contains 1 footnote.)
The Legal Consequences of Mandating High Stakes Decisions Based on Low  Quality Information: Teacher Evaluation in the Race-to-the-Top Era
Author: Baker, Bruce D.
Date: 2013-01-28
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Employment,Tenure,State Legislation,Academic Achievement,Achievement Gains,Legal Problems,Reliability,Validity,Civil Rights,Statistical Analysis,Federal Legislation,Testing,Educational Policy

In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness.  We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state legislation regarding the use of student testing data within teacher evaluation systems, specifically for purposes of making employment decisions.  Next, we explain the most problematic features of those policies, which include a) requirements that test-based measures constitute fixed, non-negotiable weight in final decisions, b) that test-based measures are used to place teachers into categories of effectiveness by applying numerical cutoffs beyond the precision or accuracy of the available data, and c) that professional judgment is removed from personnel decisions by legislating (or regulating) specific actions be taken when teachers fall into certain performance categories. In the subsequent section, we point out that different types of measures are being developed and implemented across states, and we explain that while value-added metrics in particular are, in fact designed to estimate a teacher's effect on student outcomes, descriptive growth percentile measures are not designed for making such inference and thus have no place in making determinations regarding teacher effectiveness. We also explain that, due to the properties of value-added estimates, they have no place in making high-stakes decisions based on rigid policy frameworks like those described herein.  We evaluate the legal implications of rigid reliance on measures of teaching effectiveness that a) lack reliability and b) may be entirely invalid. (Contains 32 tables and 13 footnotes.)
Exploring Different Perspectives of Social Pedagogy: Towards a Complex and Integrated Approach
Author: Ucar, Xavier
Date: 2013-04-30
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Justice,Misconceptions,Teaching Methods,Educational Theories,Critical Theory,Social Influences,Political Issues,Social Sciences,Social Behavior

Some characterizations describe social pedagogy as a broad, complex, ambiguous and problematic concept that applies to very different things. This is due to the simplicity of the tools used to approach such a complex area. A change of perspective to interpret social pedagogy as a hybrid and complex subject may transform the alleged deficiencies into strengths and promise. This paper provides elements that enable such a change. To this end, some misunderstandings regarding social pedagogy are presented. These misunderstandings are scenarios and factors that have contributed (1) to the generation of inaccuracies and confusions about what social pedagogy is, 
could, or should do, and (2) to the projection of an inconsistent and poorly defined image of social pedagogy, i.e. a discipline without method and an ineffective and inefficient practice for solving social problems. The social pedagogy that emerges from the six misunderstandings (cognitive, 
policy-related, scientist, action-related, normative and social) is complex. From the new perspective, it is more of a hybrid subject (a concept, a discipline and a practice) that is complex, open, dynamic and ever changing. (Contains 10 footnotes.)
Ecologies of Education Quality
Author: Graue, M. Elizabeth
Date: 2013-01-30
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Data,Decision Making,Educational Quality,Teacher Effectiveness,Achievement Gains,Academic Achievement,Urban Schools,School Districts,Classroom Environment,Elementary School Teachers,Grade 3,Grade 4,Grade 5,Principals,Observation,Outcome Measures,Correlation,Educational Environment,Disadvantaged Schools,Mixed Methods Research,Semi Structured Interviews

Accountability in education has prompted policy makers and practitioners to focus on data use for instructional and organizational decision-making. The popular media have seized on Value Added (VA) measures as a key type of data use for reforming U.S. schools. Among education researchers, however, there are both critics and proponents. We examined data use by the district leaders and staff members of 12 schools in a large urban district, with attention to the role VA metrics play in their decisions and their conceptions of themselves. VA is only one of many types of data that can be used to portray quality. While there was a soft relationship between VA and classroom quality measured by CLASS, we found that understanding the schools' contexts, particularly the use of resources and the coherence of actions to improve student achievement, greatly enhanced the power of our descriptions. As a result, we suggest that policies promoting multidimensional approaches to quality will better capture the complexity of education. (Contains 2 figures and 12 tables.)
Social Pedagogy in the UK: Gaining a Firm Foothold?
Author: Petrie, Pat
Date: 2013-04-30
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods,Educational Policy,Child Welfare,Disadvantaged Youth,Educational Practices,Educational Theories,Social Development,Socialization

The paper asks why, unlike much of Europe, the UK has until recently taken very little interest in social pedagogy. It looks at the meanings of social pedagogy, including the importance of both &quot;social&quot; and &quot;pedagogy&quot; in understanding the term and argues that social pedagogy policy, practice, and theory are interlinked and develop out of specific national contexts. There is an account of the fairly new UK interest in the subject, including some interest from government and some higher education institutions. The paper argues that this interest springs largely from concerns about the welfare of disadvantaged children, especially those that are in care, and an aspiration to improve the practice of people who work with them. There has been much less interest in social pedagogic theory. The paper concludes that unless theory, grounded in a UK context, is given equal prominence to practice, together with education and qualifications in the subject, social pedagogy will not achieve a firm footing in the UK. (Contains 1 box.)
Value-Added Teacher Estimates as Part of Teacher Evaluations: Exploring the  Effects of Data and Model Specifications on the Stability of Teacher Value-Added Scores
Author: Kersting, Nicole B.
Date: 2013-01-29
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Competencies,Accountability,Teacher Evaluation,Evaluation Methods,Teaching Skills,Student Characteristics,Prior Learning,Sampling,School Districts,Mathematics Teachers,Environmental Influences,Urban Schools,Mathematics Achievement,Standardized Tests,Elementary Schools,Racial Differences,Special Education,Socioeconomic Status,Scores,Cohort Analysis

If teacher value-added estimates (VAEs) are to be used as indicators of 
individual teacher performance in teacher evaluation and accountability systems, it is important to understand how much VAEs are affected by the data and model specifications used to estimate them. In this study we explored the effects of three conditions on the stability of VAEs and evaluated their relative impact. We varied how we accounted for differences among students in their prior learning; whether we estimated VAEs from single or multiple cohorts of students; and the number of students 
contributing to the VAE for each teacher. Using data from one of the largest school districts in the nation, we created a single, complete data set and used it to estimate several sets of VAEs for each of the 3,651 5th grade mathematics teachers. We found that approximately two thirds of teachers' were stable in that they remained in the same performance group across all conditions. We also found that differences in number of students used for VAEs accounted for up to one third of teacher reclassifications into 
different performance groups; single versus multiple cohort models accounted for about one fifth; and different methods for controlling for student prior learning accounted for about one sixth (16%) of teacher reclassifications. We relate our findings to characteristics of our data and discuss implications for educational policy. (Contains 7 tables and 5 figures.)
Findings vs. Interpretation in &quot;The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers&quot; by Chetty et al.
Author: Adler, Moshe
Date: 2013-02-01
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Income,Scores,Achievement Gains,Educational Research,Research Problems,Statistical Significance,Sample Size,Elementary School Teachers,Data Interpretation

The authors of the study &quot;The Long-Term Impact of Teachers&quot; claim that their study shows that increases in teacher value-added lead to significant and lasting increases in test scores and significant increases in income that will last throughout adulthood. Instead, I show that these claims are false because they are contradicted by the findings of the study itself. In fact, the results of the 
Chetty et al. study raise serious questions about the benefits of using the value-added method for evaluating teachers. (Contains 2 figures and 8 footnotes.) [This document presents a review of: &quot;The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood. NBER Working Paper No. 17699&quot; (ED528374).]
Legal Issues in the Use of Student Test Scores and Value-Added Models (VAM) to Determine Educational Quality
Author: Pullin, Diana
Date: 2013-01-29
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Quality,Accountability,Scores,Legal Responsibility,Outcomes of Education,Teacher Competencies,Teacher Qualifications,Teacher Evaluation,Merit Pay,Achievement Tests,Teacher Effectiveness,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,State Standards,National Standards,Court Litigation,Cheating,Social Sciences,Legal Problems,Constitutional Law,Civil Rights,Access to Education

A growing number of states and local schools across the country have adopted educator evaluation and accountability programs based on the use of student test scores and value-added models (VAM). A wide array of potential legal issues could arise from the implementation of these programs. This article uses legal analysis and social science evidence to discuss potential legal challenges by educators to the use of VAM that should be considered by public policy makers. It also discusses potential ways VAM might be used as evidence in support of legal claims by students concerning access to educational opportunity. (Contains 1 footnote.)
A Look at Returning Teachers
Author: DeAngelis, Karen J.
Date: 2013-02-18
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Labor Turnover,Career Change,Career Choice,Teacher Attitudes,Decision Making,Longitudinal Studies,Teaching Conditions,School Size,School District Size,Geographic Location,Gender Differences,Teacher Supply and Demand,Institutional Characteristics,Racial Differences,Educational Attainment,Teacher Background,Teaching Experience,Teacher Certification,Urban Schools,Suburban Schools,Rural Schools,Minority Group Students,Regression (Statistics)

Research shows that one-quarter to one-third of teachers who leave the profession return, the majority after only a short absence. Though returning teachers can constitute a substantial share of newly hired teachers in schools each year, little is known about them, the factors associated with 
their decisions to return, or the schools to which they return. In this study, I use a 20-year longitudinal dataset to examine the characteristics of returning teachers as well as the personal, school, and district factors associated with their return both to the profession and to particular schools. In addition, I consider the extent to which returning teachers contribute to the systematic 
sorting of teachers across schools. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the loss of teachers to attrition from the profession is more likely to be permanent for smaller schools and districts outside of urban and suburban areas. In addition, both personal and job-related factors impact whether and where former teachers return, albeit differently by gender. Interestingly, personal and pecuniary factors in teaching appear to play a greater role than non-pecuniary factors on male leavers' decisions regarding whether and where to return, whereas personal, pecuniary, and non-pecuniary factors all influence female leavers' decisions. Finally, the study demonstrates that returning teachers on average reenter schools that are very similar in terms of student and teacher characteristics to those 
that they left. (Contains 6 tables, 3 figures, and 5 footnotes.)
Sentinels Guarding the Grail: Value-Added Measurement and the Quest for Education Reform
Author: Gabriel, Rachael
Date: 2013-01-31
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Measurement Techniques,Teacher Evaluation,Discourse Analysis,Policy Formation,Educational Policy,Competition,Correlation,Educational Change,Teacher Effectiveness,Models,Achievement Tests,Error Patterns

Since the beginning of the federal Race To The Top grant competition, Value-Added Measurement (VAM) has captured the attention of the American public through high-profile media representations of the tool and the controversy that surrounds it. In this paper, we build upon investigations of constructions of VAM in the media and present a discourse analysis of the 
policymaking process within the meetings of Tennessee's Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee (TEAC), a 15-member panel appointed by the Tennessee governor to develop a new teacher evaluation policy under Race to the Top. The data included audio recordings of public meetings 
from March, 2010 through the end of the committee's work in April, 2011. As we analyzed the talk of the TEAC, we oriented to the particular version of VAM worked up within these conversations in relation to a descriptive metaphor in which VAM is compared to a &quot;sentinel of trust.&quot; We present 
examples to illustrate three patterns in the construction of VAM as the sentinel of trust within teacher evaluation: (1) VAM alone defines effectiveness; (2) VAM is the only objective option; and (3) concerns about VAM are minimized. We discuss the implications of this way of thinking and 
talking about VAM and contrast it with other possibilities, including those constructed by teachers, researchers, and the media.
Democracy's College: The American Community College in the 21st Century--Framing the Issue
Author: Topper, Amelia M.
Date: 2013-02-25
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Community Colleges,Democracy,Access to Education,Nontraditional Education,College Role,Two Year College Students,Student Diversity,Academic Persistence,College Transfer Students

In this manuscript, the guest editors of the EPAA Special Issue on &quot;Democracy's College: The American Community College in the 21st Century&quot;: a) introduce the background, history, and context of community colleges in the larger higher education landscape; b) summarize the three research papers and two video commentaries that were peer-reviewed and selected for inclusion in this special issue; and, c) discuss the individual contributions and major themes across the selected papers. Their importance is discussed in terms of each paper's insights for the general research on this topic and each paper's potential to inform community college research, practice, and policy. (Contains 2 footnotes.)