ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Aligning Afterschool with the Regular School Day: The Perfect Complement. MetLife Foundation Afterschool Alert. Issue Brief No. 50
Author: Afterschool Alliance
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Achievement Gap,After School Programs,School Support,Academic Achievement,Educational Environment,Enrichment,Educational Opportunities

Afterschool programs that are aligned with the school day curriculum can support student learning and attack the achievement gap by offering additional supports to struggling students that complement and reinforce learning that takes place in the classroom in new and exciting ways. Collaboration and alignment among schools, expanded learning programs and the greater community offers students the opportunity to enjoy a complementary learning environment where they can truly thrive. Many afterschool programs are seeing the need for this type of learning and have taken steps to align their content with that offered during school to ensure youth participants have ample opportunity to reinforce and practice the skills they need to succeed. This paper is a first in a series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This paper discusses: (1) how afterschool programs help in complementing and coordinating the learning that occurs during the formal school day; (2) how afterschool programs are already supporting academics in a multitude of ways; and (3) the importance of school support; and (4) strategies for aligning afterschool programs with regular school day learning. (Contains 20 endnotes.)
Evaluations Backgrounder: A Summary of Formal Evaluations of Afterschool Programs' Impact on Academics, Behavior, Safety and Family Life
Author: Afterschool Alliance
Date: 2011-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Student Behavior,Family Life,Parent Participation,Academic Achievement,After School Programs,Parent School Relationship,Accountability,Outcomes of Education,Evaluation,Summer Programs,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement

Afterschool programs have been operating for decades in communities across the country, and federal investment in afterschool has increased dramatically since the mid-1990s. However, even more investment in the field of afterschool, which includes before school, afterschool and summer learning programs, is needed to keep up with the growing demand. Parents and voters overwhelmingly support afterschool and want to see more afterschool opportunities for children and increased funding for programs. As public demand and need for afterschool have grown, so too has the demand for accountability. This is particularly true for afterschool programs that utilize public dollars. After all, where tax dollars flow, so must accountability to taxpayers. Fortunately for afterschool advocates, a steady stream of afterschool evaluations are showing important gains for children, not only in terms of academic achievement but also in terms of safety, discipline, attendance and avoidance of risky behaviors. In addition, researchers have found that afterschool programs encourage increased parental involvement, an important building block for student success. This updated evaluations backgrounder focuses on the impact of afterschool programs on academic outcomes, student behavior and parental concerns about children's safety.
State Education Agencies as Agents of Change: What It Will Take for the States to Step Up on Education Reform
Author: Brown, Cynthia G.
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Federal Aid,State Programs,Federal Legislation,Leadership Effectiveness,Educational Change,State Departments of Education,State Agencies,Educational Legislation,Academic Standards,State Standards,Student Evaluation,Accountability,Change Agents,Curriculum Development,Teacher Evaluation,School Districts,Educational Finance,Educational Improvement,School Effectiveness,Low Achievement,Barriers,Interviews,Public Officials,Achievement Gains,Academic Achievement,Elementary Secondary Education

Today, state education agencies (SEAs) and their leaders face unprecedented demands. What was once a low-profile job of managing federal aid, providing curricular guidance, and ensuring compliance with various legal obligations is now a far more visible and politically fraught task. The new roles required of state education agencies due to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which required each state to adopt standards, assessments, and accountability programs, and the Obama administration's Race to the Top program, which encouraged and rewarded selected states proposing significant reforms, now push these state agencies more and more into the public spotlight. Heightened attention to issues such as turning around low-performing schools, fixing state data systems, and improving teacher evaluations all require state education officials to play a new and far more demanding role, often under the scrutiny of the media spotlight. These changes have put immense stress on agencies that were initially conceived as tiny departments primarily designed to funnel money to local school districts. Yet it is not at all clear that state education agencies are prepared for this demanding new role or that their leaders are equipped for the challenge. Specifically: (1) What do individuals know about SEA capacity to be effective leaders in school reform?; (2) What are the obstacles that inhibit them from most effectively tackling today's challenges?; (3) What has experience taught the most successful state education chiefs what their role should look like?; and (4) What can reformers or policymakers do to help prepare SEAs for these new challenges? These questions were too rarely asked over the past decade, resulting in state agencies that are unequipped for the duties they now must fulfill. In this paper the authors set out to answer these questions. They turned to the people with the most understanding of the inner workings of the agencies: the SEA chief They identified 13 of the most innovative and successful former and current chiefs and interviewed them about what they see as the obstacles to implementing reform and how, despite these challenges, they were able to move their agency forward. The authors detail their research and provide a list of their findings and recommendations. State education agency staffing levels are appended. (Contains 35 endnotes.) [This report was sponsored by Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.]
Federal Compliance Works against Education Policy Goals. Education Outlook. No. 6
Author: Junge, Melissa
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Federal Programs,Educational Policy,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Compliance (Legal),Federal Regulation,Federal State Relationship,Federal Aid,Problems

While the federal government spends billions of dollars every year on federal education programs, federal policymakers and education advocates often lament that these programs do not achieve their intended results--specifically, increasing student academic achievement. To address this problem, policymakers and advocates typically debate the merits and drawbacks of broad federal education policies and various educational approaches, without examining the underlying federal compliance framework that directly impacts whether and how these policies can be carried out by states and school districts. Reforming little-known and little-understood federal compliance rules could lead to far better educational outcomes than broad changes in federal policy alone. Addressing these rules will improve conditions so schools and school districts can successfully implement programs that will raise student achievement. In this &quot;Outlook,&quot; the authors provide examples of how the current compliance framework is often disconnected from larger federal policy goals and--perhaps more importantly--can get in the way of states and districts trying to implement solutions that would lead to improved educational outcomes. Three key points in this Outlook include: (1) Federal fiscal compliance rules can stifle innovation and hinder federal education programs from achieving their goals; (2) States have authority and responsibility over how federal education programs are implemented and must repay federal money if districts spend funds incorrectly; thus, states often impose more restrictive rules than federal law requires; and (3) Congress and education policymakers should clarify and streamline these compliance requirements so schools can focus less on compliance and more on raising student achievement. (Contains 14 notes.)
Professional Development for Teachers: What Two Rigorous Studies Tell Us
Author: Quint, Janet
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Test Results,Correlation,Scores,Teaching Skills,Knowledge Base for Teaching,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Intervention,Faculty Development,Comparative Analysis,Academic Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Reading Achievement

Professional development--formal in-service training to upgrade the content knowledge and pedagogical skills of teachers--is widely viewed as an important means of improving teaching and learning. While many interventions "include" professional development, professional development was the central intervention of the two recent research and demonstration projects--the Professional Development in Reading Study (the "Reading PD study," for short) and the Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study (the "Math PD study")--whose findings are synthesized in this report. This report reviews the findings of the two studies and reflects on their meaning. It offers an important caution to educators and policymakers: Professional development cannot be counted on to improve outcomes for students. In both the studies examined here, the professional development--which went far beyond the "one-shot" approach that has been widely decried--had only limited effects on teachers' knowledge and instruction and did not have an impact on student test scores. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure and 18 footnotes.)
Unlocking Doors and Expanding Opportunity: Moving Beyond the Limiting Reality of College and Career Readiness in California High Schools. K-12 Policy
Author: Education Trust-West
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: High Schools,Courses,Graduates,Educational Change,College Readiness,College Preparation,Vocational Education,Higher Education,Partnerships in Education,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,Asians,White Students,Academic Achievement,High School Students

This report finds that only five in ten graduates were college-ready in the districts studied and presents data finding that only one in ten graduates were both college and career-ready. Latino, African-American, and low-income students fared far worse than their more advantaged peers. The report calls for a more integrated and equitable approach to college and career preparation so that high schools serve to open doors to both college and career options for all students. The report examines barriers to college and career readiness. It finds that many students are barred from college eligibility because of high school grading practices, poor articulation between the elementary, middle, and high school levels and the persistence of tracking students. The report reveals that many students leave high school without completing career pathways because Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses are insufficiently sequenced to foster real workplace skill development. Further, the report surfaces disturbing equity issues, demonstrating that students of color and low-income students are disproportionately tracked into less-rigorous academic courses and CTE classes, whereas their more affluent peers are more frequently tracked into college preparatory courses. Indeed, the report reveals that the opportunity to take the coursework necessary to apply for college is not offered to all students and is offered at far lower rates to Latino and African-American students. The report highlights the potential and promise of the Linked Learning high school reform approach to address many of these problems. Linked Learning melds college and career readiness through an integrated high school curriculum that prepares students for both college and career options. However, the report highlights a number of important equity issues that must be addressed in order for Linked Learning to fulfill its promise. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures and 12 notes.)
Breaking New Ground: An Impact Study of Career-Focused Learning Communities at Kingsborough Community College
Author: Visher, Mary G.
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Urban Schools,College Curriculum,Academic Achievement,Outcomes of Education,Two Year College Students,Demonstration Programs,Program Effectiveness,Career Education,Interdisciplinary Approach,Integrated Curriculum,Seminars

Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, is a leader in the learning community movement. The college, which has run learning communities for many years and has a long history of implementing innovative programs for its students, is one of six colleges participating in the National Center for Postsecondary Research's Learning Communities Demonstration, in which random assignment evaluations are being used to determine the impacts of learning communities on students' academic achievement. This report presents findings from an evaluation of Kingsborough's unique Career-Focused Learning Communities program, the latest iteration in a series of learning community models designed and implemented by the college. It consisted of two courses required for a specific major and a third course called the &quot;integrative seminar&quot; that was designed to reinforce the learning in the two other courses and to expose students to information about careers in their selected major. The key findings presented in this report are: (1) Kingsborough's learning communities program model was sophisticated and ambitious relative to the typical model in its offer of three rather than two linked courses and its focus on integrated curricula; (2) Start-up problems during implementation kept the program from achieving a &quot;steady state&quot; during the demonstration; (3) For the sample as a whole, the program did not have meaningful impacts on the educational outcomes that were measured during the semesters in which students enrolled in a learning community or on outcomes measured in the following semester; and (4) For students who had recently transferred from another college, the program had a modest but positive impact on credits earned during the semester in which the program ran. Findings from the Learning Communities Demonstration reports that have been released to date generally show that learning community impacts, when they occur, tend to be modest and concentrated in the semester in which the learning communities are run. However, a fuller understanding will be gained as findings are released from the remaining two colleges in the demonstration. In addition, a final report, including further follow-up findings, will be released in 2012. Supplementary Tables are appended. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 14 tables, 1 figure, and 1 box.) [This paper was written with Phoebe Richman. For &quot;Breaking New Ground: An Impact Study of Career-Focused Learning Communities at Kingsborough Community College. Executive Summary,&quot; see ED522634.]
Mapping State Proficiency Standards onto the NAEP Scales: Variation and Change in State Standards for Reading and Mathematics, 2005-2009. NCES 2011-458
Author: National Center for Education Statistics (ED)
Date: 2011-08-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: State Standards,Academic Standards,National Competency Tests,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Grade 4,Grade 8,Change,Comparative Analysis,Scores

Since 2003, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has compared each state's standard for proficient performance in reading and mathematics by mapping each state's standard onto the appropriate National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scale. The results of those comparisons have been provided in three earlier reports, using state data for reading and mathematics at grades 4 and 8 from 2003, 2005, and 2007. This report provides highlights of applying the methodology for mapping state proficiency standards onto the NAEP scales using state data from the 2008-09 academic year and the 2009 NAEP grade 4 and 8 reading and mathematics assessments. The analyses summarized in this report address the following questions: (1) How do states' 2009 standards for proficient performance compare with one another when mapped onto the NAEP scale?; (2) How do the 2009 NAEP scale equivalents of state proficiency standards compare with those estimated for 2007 and 2005?; and (3) Does NAEP corroborate a state's changes in the proportion of the students meeting the state's standard for proficiency from 2007 to 2009? From 2005 to 2009? Limitations in the 2003 state assessment data (e.g., many states did not test grades 4 and 8 as NAEP) precluded a 2003 to 2009 comparison analysis. Appended are: (1) NAEP scale equivalent scores for state reading proficiency standards at grades 4 and 8 in 2009, and their differences from the 2005 and 2007 estimates of the same standards, by state; (2) NAEP scale equivalent scores for state mathematics proficiency standards at grades 4 and 8 in 2009, and their differences from the 2005 and 2007 estimates of the same standards, by state; (3) Direction of change in the estimated NAEP scale equivalent scores of state reading proficiency standards for the states that did not make significant changes in their assessments, by grade and comparison result: 2007 to 2009; and (4) Direction of change in the estimated NAEP scale equivalent scores of state mathematics proficiency standards for the states that did not make significant changes in their assessments, by grade and comparison result: 2007 to 2009. (Contains 20 figures and 7 tables.)
Breaking New Ground: An Impact Study of Career-Focused Learning Communities at Kingsborough Community College. Executive Summary
Author: Visher, Mary G.
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Urban Schools,College Curriculum,Academic Achievement,Outcomes of Education,Two Year College Students,Demonstration Programs,Program Effectiveness,Career Education,Interdisciplinary Approach,Integrated Curriculum,Seminars

Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York, is a leader in the learning community movement. The college, which has run learning communities for many years and has a long history of implementing innovative programs for its students, is one of six colleges participating in the National Center for Postsecondary Research's Learning Communities Demonstration, in which random assignment evaluations are being used to determine the impacts of learning communities on students' academic achievement. This report presents findings from an evaluation of Kingsborough's unique Career-Focused Learning Communities program, the latest iteration in a series of learning community models designed and implemented by the college. It consisted of two courses required for a specific major and a third course called the &quot;integrative seminar&quot; that was designed to reinforce the learning in the two other courses and to expose students to information about careers in their selected major. The key findings presented in this report are: (1) Kingsborough's learning communities program model was sophisticated and ambitious relative to the typical model in its offer of three rather than two linked courses and its focus on integrated curricula; (2) Start-up problems during implementation kept the program from achieving a &quot;steady state&quot; during the demonstration; (3) For the sample as a whole, the program did not have meaningful impacts on the educational outcomes that were measured during the semesters in which students enrolled in a learning community or on outcomes measured in the following semester; and (4) For students who had recently transferred from another college, the program had a modest but positive impact on credits earned during the semester in which the program ran. Findings from the Learning Communities Demonstration reports that have been released to date generally show that learning community impacts, when they occur, tend to be modest and concentrated in the semester in which the learning communities are run. However, a fuller understanding will be gained as findings are released from the remaining two colleges in the demonstration. In addition, a final report, including further follow-up findings, will be released in 2012. (Contains 4 footnotes.) [This paper was written with Phoebe Richman. For the full report, &quot;Breaking New Ground: An Impact Study of Career-Focused Learning Communities at Kingsborough Community College,&quot; see ED522631.]
Female Students in High School Physics: Results from the 2008-09 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Teachers. Focus On
Author: White, Susan
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Physics,Secondary School Science,High School Students,Females,Advanced Courses,Disproportionate Representation,Advanced Placement Programs,National Surveys,Teacher Surveys

In the fall of 2008, the authors contacted a representative sample of over 3,600 high schools in the U.S., both public and private, to determine whether or not physics was taught there. The authors received responses from over 99% of the schools. For the schools which indicated they were offering physics, they obtained contact information for the teachers. In the spring of 2009, they contacted each of the teachers who were thought to be teaching physics. They received responses from over 2,500 teachers (a 62% response rate). This report describes their findings. (Contains 6 figures and 2 footnotes.)
The Common Core State Standards: Implications for Higher Education in the West. Policy Insights
Author: Krueger, Carl
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Higher Education,Elementary Secondary Education,State Standards,Academic Standards,Thinking Skills,Language Arts,English Instruction,Expectation,Goal Orientation,Educational Objectives,Educational Change,Educational Policy,College Preparation,Careers,Career Education,Mathematics Achievement,Mathematics Education,Alignment (Education),Student Evaluation,Teacher Education,Academic Achievement

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts and mathematics seek to better prepare students across the nation for college and careers, raising both expectations and achievement in every state that chooses to adopt them. Created through an initiative led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers--with input from researchers, policymakers, teachers, and the general public--the CCSS align college and work expectations through rigorous content and the application of knowledge via the demonstration of higher order skills. To date, all but eight states have formally adopted the CCSS; the only Western states that have not are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota and Washington (which has provisionally adopted them). This unprecedented movement toward common academic standards in K-12 creates important challenges and implications for higher education. As the CCSS are implemented in states, higher education leaders need to be engaged in the discussions and policy changes that will result. (Contains 2 figures and 23 endnotes.)