ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Where Is Cognition If We Talk about the Teaching of English as an International Language?
Author: Falabella, Maria Eugenia
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),English,Second Language Instruction,Official Languages,Language Role,Active Learning

This current piece of writing--placed, in disciplinary terms, between Psychology of learning and Methodology/Didactics--aims mainly at showing, in the light of present and updated authorized works, the unequivocal relation that is existent between the concept of distributed cognitions and task-based learning. The former was coined by Hutchins (1980's) and thoroughly developed by Salomon (1993) in his articles, among others. The latter is based on the claims put forward by Prabhu (1987) and Graddol (2006), and outlined in purely Vygotskian conceptions. Here, task-based learning is also analyzed within the framework of collaborative project work when dealing with the process of teaching-learning English as an International Language. A bibliography is included.
Using Propensity Scores in Quasi-Experimental Designs to Equate Groups
Author: Lane, Forrest C.
Date: 2010-02-18
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Quasiexperimental Design,Research Methodology,Educational Research,Scores,Matched Groups,Predictor Variables,Experimental Groups,Control Groups,Computer Software,Programming,Statistical Bias,Research Problems,Models,Living Learning Centers,College Students,Heuristics,Statistical Analysis,Vignettes

Education research rarely lends itself to large scale experimental research and true randomization, leaving the researcher to quasi-experimental designs. The problem with quasi-experimental research is that underlying factors may impact group selection and lead to potentially biased results. One way to minimize the impact of non-randomization is through the use of propensity scores. First developed by Rosenbaum & Rubin (1983b), these scores allow researchers to balance non-equivalent groups though matching on a singular scalar variable. The present paper will present the theoretical framework behind propensity scores along with a heuristic data set to demonstrate propensity score calculation and evaluation. Appended is: "PASW (v17.0) Syntax for Propensity Score Matching using Matching within Calipers." (Contains 4 tables.)
Differences between Traditional, Transfer, and Online College Students: Measurement Invariance of the University Attachment Scale
Author: Lane, Forrest C.
Date: 2012-02-02
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Factor Structure,Measures (Individuals),Transfer Students,Learner Engagement,College Students,Student Attitudes,Comparative Analysis,Web Based Instruction,Distance Education,Nontraditional Students,Attachment Behavior,Student College Relationship,College Environment,On Campus Students,Student Surveys,Statistical Analysis

School attachment has received considerable attention in K-12 literature but it is relatively unexplored at the post-secondary level. The university attachment scale (UAS) is a new instrument designed to bridge this gap and previous research suggests transfer students score lower on group attachment than non-transfer students. However, these findings are limited to a population of primarily residential and traditional 4-year university students. This study re-examines the factor structure of the UAS at an institution with a large transfer student population and compares the latent means between traditional (N = 561), transfer (N = 372) and online (N = 50) students. These results of this study and their implications for higher education are discussed. (Contains 5 tables.)
Teacher Belief, Knowledge, and Practice: A Trichotomy of Mathematics Teacher Education
Author: Belbase, Shashidhar
Date: 2012-03-07
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Mathematics Education,Teacher Characteristics,Teacher Education,Teacher Education Curriculum,Mathematics Teachers,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Teacher Attitudes,Beliefs,Epistemology,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Literature Reviews,Mathematics Instruction,Standards,Educational Technology,Technology Integration

In this paper I reviewed and analyzed three important constructs--beliefs, knowledge, and practices in mathematics teacher education. I carried out a literature review of teacher beliefs and practice, and beliefs and change in mathematics education in to order draw some pedagogical and research implications. I was able to draw three themes from the reviews--beliefs impact practice but within a supportive environment, teacher beliefs impact teacher change (development), and teacher knowledge is not just content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge, and their possible combinations but it opens a new dimension of thinking such as pedagogical-philosophical-psychological knowledge for which we have to conceptualize an interiorized other--the epistemic student. (Contains 3 figures.)
English/Spanish Dual Immersion Elementary School Programs: Factors to Consider
Author: Drozdowicz, Sara
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Immersion Programs,Elementary Education,Bilingual Schools,Bilingualism,Bilingual Education Programs,Interviews,Success,Performance Factors,Effective Schools Research,Best Practices,Partnerships in Education,Parent School Relationship,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Professional Development,Teacher Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,English Instruction,Spanish

Some families, parents and children included, may not be fully prepared or aware as they enter into the commitment of a dual-immersion language elementary education experience. One factor crucial for a dual-immersion program to meet its objectives, parents and students must commit to a minimum of five to six years of their elementary education to the program. The purpose of my research is to describe the elements that contribute to the development of a successful bilingual school program for young children. The principal of a dual immersion elementary school participated in an interview about her views on the elements that make her program, her school successful. Findings mirrored the research literature. Establishment of a strong partnership between parents, teachers and administrators provides a solid foundation that fosters student success. Quality professional development and a committed teaching staff further support the mission of the school which is ultimately to graduate students who are bilingual, bi-literate, and bicultural. The program must be academically rigorous and committed to sticking to the model selected whether the model is referred to as 90/10, 50/50 or a differentiated approach.
The Distance from Public Institutions of Higher Education: Public Perceptions of UW-Madison. WISCAPE Working Paper
Author: Walsh, Katherine Cramer
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Opinion,State Universities,School Attitudes,School Community Relationship

Public opinion matters for the administration of public higher education. Yet, we know little about how members of the public conceptualize these institutions in general, and UW-Madison in particular. This study investigates how Wisconsinites think about UWMadison through investigations of conversations regularly occurring among 36 groups sampled from 27 communities statewide. It reveals a pervasive sense of distance from UW-Madison that is part of a broader sense of disconnection from institutions of authority. The implication is that positive relationships between UW-Madison and the mass public will require innovative means of listening and relationship building. Appended are: (1) Descriptions of Groups Observed and Municipalities In Which They Met; and (2) Listening Investigations Protocol. (Contains 13 endnotes.)
Teacher Pension Systems, the Composition of the Teaching Workforce, and Teacher Quality. Working Paper 72
Author: Koedel, Cory
Date: 2012-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Retirement,Retirement Benefits,Incentives,Teacher Effectiveness,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement,Robustness (Statistics),Statistical Bias,Computation,Faculty Mobility,Career Choice,Educational Finance

Teacher pension systems target retirements within a narrow range of the career cycle by penalizing individuals who separate too soon or remain employed too long. The penalties result in the retention of some teachers who would otherwise choose to leave, and the premature exit of some teachers who would otherwise choose to stay. We examine how the effects of teachers' pension incentives on workforce composition influence teacher quality. Teachers who are held in by the &quot;pull&quot; incentives in the pension systems are not more effective, on average, than the typical teacher. Teachers who are encouraged to exit by the &quot;push&quot; incentives are more effective on average. We conclude that the net effect of teachers' pension incentives on workforce quality is small, but negative. Given the substantial and growing costs of current systems, and the lack of evidence regarding their efficacy, experimentation by traditional and charter schools with alternative retirement benefit structures would be useful. Appended are: (1) Pension-Wealth Calculations; and (2) Supplementary Tables. (Contains 10 tables, 1 figure and 28 footnotes.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by the DC State Office of the Superintendent.]
The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents and the Economy
Author: Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: National Surveys,Teacher Attitudes,Parent Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Teaching (Occupation),Job Satisfaction,Job Security,Faculty Development,Parent School Relationship,Economic Change,Budgeting,Retrenchment,Job Layoff,Academic Achievement,Parent Participation,Educational Finance,Family Needs,Student Needs,Educational Facilities,Educational Resources,Program Termination,Questionnaires,Interviews

"The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents and the Economy" (2011) examines the teaching profession and parent-school engagement at a time when there has been a prolonged economic downturn. The survey explores how teachers, parents and schools are working together to promote student learning and healthy development in the context of reduced budgets, reallocation of resources, and continued attention to improving teaching and learning. These issues are examined from the perspectives of teachers, parents and students. Findings reveal that teachers are less satisfied with their careers; in the past two years there has been a significant decline in teachers' satisfaction with their profession. The effects of the economic downturn are felt widely and deeply in education. Parent engagement has increased in the past 25 years but remains a challenge for many schools. The survey documents--from the perspectives of teachers, parents and students--how schools and parents can and do effectively collaborate to promote student learning, and how factors such as parent engagement and the economy are associated with teacher job satisfaction. Appended are: (1) Methodology; and (2) Questionnaires. (Contains 19 figures and 24 endnotes.)
What Works Clearinghouse Quick Review: &quot;Better Schools, Less Crime?&quot;
Author: What Works Clearinghouse (ED)
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Public Schools,School Choice,Crime,Outcomes of Education,School Effectiveness,Males,Middle School Students,High School Students,Student Behavior,Attendance,Scores,Graduation Rate,Educational Research

This study examined the effect of public school choice on adult crime and school-based outcomes. Prior to the 2002-03 school year, the Charlotte-Mecklenberg school district switched from forced desegregation to a district-wide open enrollment lottery. This study focuses on more than 2,000 male students in grades 6-11 who participated in the subset of these admission lotteries in which the assignment process was random. By comparing the crime records of students who won a middle school lottery to those of students who did not, the study reported that the number of days incarcerated was significantly lower among lottery winners overall and for those in the top risk quintile. Among high school students, the number of felony arrests was significantly lower among lottery winners for those in the top risk quintile, but not across students overall. The study also reported small improvements in attendance and behavioral measures during school, but no change in test scores or graduation rates. This study &quot;meets WWC (What Works Clearinghouse) evidence standards&quot; because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition for the outcomes related to adult crime. There is not enough information for the analyses of school-based outcomes to provide a rating at this time. A more thorough review (forthcoming) will confirm whether the analyses of school-based outcomes also &quot;meet WWC evidence standards&quot;.
Beyond Access: Explaining Socioeconomic Differences in College Transfer. WISCAPE Working Paper
Author: Goldrick-Rab, Sara
Date: 2008-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: College Transfer Students,Reverse Transfer Students,Socioeconomic Status,Parent Background,Educational Attainment,Social Class,Family Income,Social Differences,Student Characteristics,Academic Achievement,Disadvantaged,Advantaged,Graduation Rate,Expectation,Family Financial Resources,College Choice,Community Colleges

Reducing socioeconomic differences in college transfer requires a better understanding of how and why parental education, occupational class, and family income are associated with changing colleges. Building on prior studies of traditional community college transfer we explore relationships between those factors and two types of transfer among 4-year college students. Our results indicate that reverse transfer--the move from 4-year to community college--is more common among students from less-educated families partly because of lower levels of academic performance during their freshman year. In contrast, students from advantaged backgrounds in terms of class and income are more likely than others to engage in lateral transfer--4-year to 4-year--which may reflect individual preferences for changing colleges rather than a reaction to poor academic performance. Implications for policy and practice are discussed in light of the fact that only reverse transfer is associated with lower rates of degree completion. Description of variables is appended. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure and 12 footnotes.)
What Makes a Test Score? The Respective Contributions of Pupils, Schools and Peers in Achievement in English Primary Education. CEE DP 102
Author: Kramarz, Francis
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Scores,Student Characteristics,Background,Institutional Characteristics,School Effectiveness,Peer Influence,Student Mobility,Elementary School Students,Academic Achievement,Special Needs Students,Ethnic Groups,Low Income Groups,Males,Foreign Countries

What makes a test score? There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the exact contribution of school quality, pupil background, and peers in educational achievement. If peers make most of the difference, then diversity and heterogeneous classrooms may narrow the gap between high- and low-performing students. If pupil background is the first determinant of achievement, then targeting pupils and families may reduce inequalities. If schools make most of the difference, then school quality should be a policy priority. The educational literature in the U.K. and in the U.S. has long argued that schools make less difference than individual determinants or peers. However, most of these analyses relied on fairly basic measures of school quality, such as schools' financial resources. In this paper, we estimate the respective contributions of pupils, schools and peers without relying on proxies for school quality. We estimate the contribution of each school and pupil to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 test scores. We also estimate peer effects, that is, the effect of ethnic groups, of special needs students, of free school meal students, and boys on individual achievement. The paper suggests that most of educational inequalities are pupil-specific inequalities. The variance of test scores is mostly explained by the pupil effect. School quality is the second determinant of educational achievement. Finally, peer effects are significant but explain a small share of overall inequalities at ages 7 and 11. The paper also shows that test scores and value-added as published in the league tables are not an accurate measure of school quality. Value-added at Key Stage 2 cannot be entirely attributed to school quality. Our paper provides methods that may lead to better and more precise estimates of school quality. Appended are: (1) Identification of The Current and Past School Effects Model; and (2) Estimation of the Model with Current and Past School and Pupil Effects (Specification 4). (Contains 16 tables, 2 figures and 17 footnotes.)
University Quality and Graduate Wages in the UK. CEE DP 99
Author: Hussain, Iftikhar
Date: 2009-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Higher Education,Educational Quality,College Graduates,Income,Wages,Outcomes of Education,Foreign Countries

We examine the links between various measures of university quality and graduate earnings in the United Kingdom. We explore the implications of using different measures of quality and combining them into an aggregate measure. Our findings suggest a positive return to university quality with an average earnings differential of about 6 percent for a one standard deviation rise in university quality. However, the relationship between university quality and wages is highly non-linear, with a much higher return at the top of the distribution. There is some indication that returns may be increasing over time. Additional tables are appended. (Contains 10 tables and 14 footnotes.)
Use and Impact of English-Language Learner Assessment in Arizona
Author: Lawton, Stephen B.
Date: 2009-05-20
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: English Language Learners,Item Response Theory,Language Proficiency,Scaling,Evaluation Methods,Grouping (Instructional Purposes)

The Arizona English-Language Learner Assessment (AZELLA) is the backbone of Arizona's new English-language learner (ELL) policy in that it is used to assess students' English-language proficiency in order to place them into groups for English-language instruction and to determine when they have become proficient in English. This paper evaluates a central claim for this assessment--namely, that it is unidimensional--and the implications of the dimensionality of an assessment for practice. Unidimensionality is  critical since it is required for Rasch scaling and item response theory (IRT) which are used to array individuals along a single scale that measures English-language proficiency. If AZELLA is not unidimensional, then this ranking process and the programmatic consequences that flow from it would not be valid. It is concluded that AZELLA is not sufficiently unidimensional for its present use, but that it could be used for tailoring English-language programs related to individuals' distinctive skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing English. (Contains 3 tables and 10 footnotes.)
Better Schools through Better Politics: The Human Side of Portfolio School District Reform. Portfolio School Districts Project
Author: Sperry, Sam
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: School Closing,Politics of Education,Educational Change,School Districts,Public Schools,Urban Schools,School Effectiveness,Accountability,School Turnaround

From the Center on Reinventing Public Education's (CRPE's) work examining the efforts to close schools over the past 10 years, in cities of all sizes, two glaring facts stand out: Most city and district leaders are surprised at how difficult it is to close schools. And many of these leaders make mistakes that others before them have learned to avoid. Yes, each city is different. Yet each city's school closure experience shares problems common to the others. CRPE has identified these common problems and distilled these experiences to ferret out solutions to this difficult challenge confronting reform efforts to better the public schools. This working paper series examines the politics of portfolio school district reform, with a primary focus on the issues surrounding high school closures. This publication takes an in-depth look at how school closure policies have played out in four urban districts--New York City, Chicago, Denver, and Oakland--and offers a political assessment of what worked or failed and why. The political analyses, case studies, cross-district comparisons, and analysis frameworks may help education leaders anticipate and better address the challenges of closing schools within their own communities. This publication contains the following articles: (1) Better Schools through Better Politics: The Human Side of Portfolio School District Reform (Sam Sperry); (2) Portfolio Reform in New York City: &quot;Tough Love&quot; Brings Better Schools (Sam Sperry); (3) Portfolio Reform in Chicago: There's Trouble in River City (Sam Sperry);   (4) Portfolio Reform in Denver: A Mile High and Climbing (Sam Sperry); (5) The Triage Model: What Is It and Why Was It Constructed (Kirsten Vital); and (6) School Closure Processes in Portfolio Districts (Cristina Sepe). Individual articles contain figures and footnotes. [This paper was written with Kirsten Vital and Cristina Sepe. Introduction by Paul Hill.]