ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Distance Education in Higher Education in Latvia
Author: Vasilevska, Daina
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Distance Education,Higher Education,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Educational Quality,Access to Education

For a modern society it is common to have a new point of view about education, which changes functional role of system of education and makes it an integrative social institution. The process of globalization in all spheres of public life makes implementation of the task of continuing education of the population a necessity. The Education Development Program for 2007-2013 period provides for &quot;the introduction of new educational technologies and principles of the educational process to ensure effective implementation of new educational models, lifelong education, including the use of modern information and communication technologies&quot;. Innovative educational technologies include distance learning. Modern distance education technologies offer real prospects for improving the quality of knowledge and efficiency of the educational process, to address various social issues related to the functioning of the education system. Development of distance education requires a special scientific investigation in two keys, interrelated problems of higher education--&quot;social accessibility&quot; and &quot;quality.&quot; [For complete volume, see ED567040.]
A Brief Overview of the History of Education in Poland
Author: Charzynska, Katarzyna
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational History,Politics of Education,Social Change,Mental Health,European History,Church Role,War,Allied Health Occupations Education

Poland's complex history strongly influenced the development of educational system. Together with the Catholic church, formal and informal education helped to preserve national identity and prepare society for future independence during the partition period. In the communist era, education was the chief mode of restructuring the society and improving the social mobility of the hitherto unprivileged workers. The postcommunist era brought an extensive debate over the goals of restructuring the socio-political system. The goal of this paper is to share with the readers some ideas about the past and the present of the Polish educational system in order to point out that the reform of it is still a continuous process aiming to find out the optimal way for individuals' holistic development. The authors, who are mental health care providers, put also to the spotlight some examples of mental health education in Poland. [For complete volume, see ED567040.]
Leadership in Educational Institutions
Author: Sunko, Esmeralda
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Educational Administration,Leadership Effectiveness,Elementary School Teachers,Teaching Experience,Teacher Attitudes,Age Differences,Statistical Significance,Trust (Psychology),Communication Skills,Leadership Role,Teacher Qualifications,Likert Scales,Foreign Countries

Many questions concerning quality of functioning and effectiveness are connected with the management of education as a professional field in educational organizations. The role of educational leadership in an educational organization raises many questions related to legislative regulations of activities, issues of institutional placement, educational partnerships, and learning processes. Tests presented in the paper deal with the processes within two action groups separately, which may be associated with better communication and social outcomes. Quantitatively, the study included 108 participants, taking into account the subjects in the school staff who had previously conducted action research. Examining relationships between the phenomena have attributed characteristics to them. A Hi-quadrate test examined the frequency of the perceived discrepancies: the school researched and the staff chronological age, their qualifications, their area of activity (class, subject teaching, or high school), work experience, and communication training based on NLP techniques. Respondents were an important factor in explaining trust in leaders (director), but not in the expected problems, expertise, and competencies of the organization's employees and their work. In other words, the less confidence in the leader of the school means less confidence in the entire school system and its operation. [For complete volume, see ED567040.]
Searching for the Dividends of Religious Liberty: Who Benefits and Who Pays?
Author: Holsinger, Donald B.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Correlation,Religious Factors,Religion,Freedom,Churches,International Cooperation,Foreign Countries,Databases,Statistical Analysis,Economic Development,Group Membership,Christianity

Although recent research has established that there are positive correlations among indicators of religious freedom and social capital and economic development, the question addressed in this paper has to do with the evangelistic success of three outreach-oriented churches with worldwide membership bases. This preliminary investigation uses only the Average Quinquennial Growth Rate (AQGR) as the dependent variable of interest. Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons (or, interchangeably, LDS) and Seventh-day Adventists all share a great deal in common. They are strict in the sense of requiring adherence to behavior peculiar to their religious tradition and uncommon to the cultures in which they are embedded. They also rely heavily on worldwide evangelism to spread their message and acquire new adherents. All three religions have approximately fifty-year histories in a wide range of countries, and employ active proselyting methods for spreading their message to attract new adherents. These religions are all active in the promotion of freedom of religion in the legal and social contexts in which they perform their evangelizing activities. The central question addressed in this paper is whether religious liberty has affected membership growth in a sample of 170 countries over a period of the past fifty years. Scholars have hypothesized a negative relationship but this has never been demonstrated empirically to our knowledge. We were unable to find a significant association between a range of religious liberty measures and our indicator of membership growth for any of the three religious groups under consideration. Our large 50-year (1960 to 2010) and 170 country database did show statistical associations between membership growth and human development (strongly negative), and also with economic development (also negative), providing some support for the modernization theory of religious growth. [For complete volume, see ED567040.]
Teacher Education in the Context of International Cooperation: The Case of East Timor
Author: Almeida, Patrícia Albergaria
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Teacher Education,International Cooperation,Educational History,Politics of Education,Role of Education,Portuguese,Teacher Recruitment,Immigrants,Bachelors Degrees,Program Development,Course Content,Teaching Methods

East Timor has reached independence in 2002, after two periods of colonialism and after severe violence, especially following 1999. As a result, the country was almost destroyed, and lost its qualified workforce in all sectors, including education. To ensure national independence it is necessary to reconstruct and build the basic infrastructures for all sectors, and mainly, prepare a technical and professional elite expected to ensure the autonomy of the society and the sovereignty of the state. In this context, education plays a key role. Thus, the Timorese Government has supported several approaches to empower national education, mainly through teacher education. Due to the lack of qualified teacher trainers, East Timor has resorted to the support of teachers from Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Portugal. In this paper we describe and discuss how a module of a bachelor's course carried out in East Timor was designed and implemented by Portuguese teachers. Furthermore, we reflect upon the singularities of such an experience, highlighting the challenges and the obstacles found by the trainers and the trainees. [For complete volume, see ED567040.]
The Stereotypes in Pupil's Self Esteem
Author: Cankar, Franc
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Self Esteem,Self Concept,Social Influences,Comparative Analysis,Cross Cultural Studies,Elementary School Students,Early Adolescents,Leisure Time,Recreational Activities,Sex Stereotypes,Housework,Study Habits,Individual Characteristics,Behavior,Grade 7,Cultural Differences,Questionnaires,Factor Analysis,Gender Differences

Through the influences of our social environment, both boys and girls learn their sexual norms, specific rules and values from the early childhood. Hence, children grow up in the world of distinct sexual duality. In their efforts to act according to their sexual stereotypes, children adopt these widespread stereotyped conceptions in developing their self-image. This includes behaviour, emotions, and the role that each child connects with his/her own self - all in accordance with the accepted male and female image. In this comparative study, we tried to determine how fourteen-year-old schoolboys and schoolgirls in Slovene, Austrian and Croatian elementary schools evaluated the spheres of free time activities, domestic chores and schoolwork, and personal traits, characteristics and conduct. This study provides relevant information about the image of schoolboys and schoolgirls in the seventh grade, and shows the answers given by the girls are closely related to the sexual tendency of self-image and the image of the opposite sex. [For complete volume, see ED567040.]
Higher Education Quality: Why Documenting Learning Matters. A Policy Statement from the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment
Author: National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment
Date: 2016-05-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Higher Education,Educational Quality,Educational Policy,Position Papers,Documentation,Evidence Based Practice,Academic Achievement,College Students,Student Evaluation,Outcomes of Education,Educational Assessment,Student Educational Objectives,Assignments,School Effectiveness,Institutional Evaluation,Educational Improvement,Compliance (Legal),Expectation,Instructional Design,Teacher Participation,Professional Development,Student Improvement

This National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) policy statement outlines the warrant for multiple, systematic approaches to obtain evidence of authentic student achievement. The importance of assessing student learning in college has yet to capture the attention of policy makers or the public. Indeed, few outside the academy know what the phrase, student learning outcomes assessment, means. And yet the information outcomes assessment produces when done well is foundational to addressing some of the greatest challenges the country currently faces. Documenting learning and using that evidence to improve student and institutional performance is a challenging, complicated process, however, since 2008 NILOA has been tracking what colleges and universities are doing to document and improve student performance and institutional effectiveness. From work in the field, NILOA has distilled five principles that if enacted in mission-relevant ways can spread and accelerate assessment work worthy of the promises colleges and universities make to their students, policy-makers, and the public. The five principals outlined are: (1) Develop specific, actionable learning outcomes statements; (2) Connect learning goals with actual student assignments and work; (3) Collaborate with the relevant stakeholders, beginning with the faculty; (4) Design assessment approaches that generate actionable evidence about student learning that key stakeholders can understand and use to improve student and institutional performance; and (5) Focus on &quot;improvement,&quot; and &quot;compliance&quot; will take care of itself. It is no longer beyond the capacity of a college or university to articulate expectations for learning, to document student progress toward these expectations, and to use the resulting evidence to improve student success. Doing this job and doing it well is within their grasp.
Regular Biology Students Learn Like AP Students with SUN
Author: Batiza, Ann
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Biology,Fuels,Scientific Concepts,Energy,Motion,Randomized Controlled Trials,Science Achievement,Advanced Placement,Instructional Effectiveness,Science Instruction,High School Students,Secondary School Science,Science Curriculum,Pretests Posttests,Statistical Analysis,Student Characteristics,Comparative Analysis,Molecular Structure,Hands on Science

The SUN approach to biological energy transfer education is fundamentally different from past practices that trace chemical and energy inputs and outputs. The SUN approach uses a hydrogen fuel cell to convince learners that electrons can move from one substance to another based on differential attraction. With a hydrogen fuel cell, learners can see a propeller turning when only hydrogen and oxygen gases are present. The movement of electrons from the hydrogen fuel to the oxygen acceptor is supported with an animation of the invisible electron transfer and resultant products made. Living things run on microscopic fuel cells called mitochondria where the electron donor is food and the ultimate acceptor is oxygen. The SUN Project scaffolds understanding of this process with physical and digital manipulatives. Students configure nested trays with movable components so as to enact the salient processes that transfer matter and energy in the mitochondrion. Energy is harvested not in the turning of propellers, but in the eventual rotation of a nanomachine that produces a chemical essential for life called ATP. SUN scaffolds include a mechanically manipulated replica with supporting animations. Food making in chloroplasts depends upon light to initiate electron movement. The materials show that many of the intervening processes mimic those in the mitochondrion. The purpose of this cluster, randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to determine the long-term efficacy of the SUN Project intervention on student understanding regarding why and how CR and PS occur. Students participated in regular biology classes within schools randomly assigned to either the treatment (T) or control (C) condition. At the same time the achievement of a small group of AP biology students who did not use the SUN materials provided another meaningful context for interpreting outcomes. The research questions (RQ) of this project asked during the first year were: (1) Does the SUN Project significantly impact long-term student learning; (2) Does the SUN Project significantly impact student confidence in their understanding; (3) What variables moderate student outcomes; (4) How much do SUN vs. Control students value their instructional materials; and (5) How do the outcomes of treatment students compare to that of a small group of AP biology students who are not using the SUN materials? Tables and figures are appended.
Spanish Instruction in Head Start and Dual Language Learners' Achievement
Author: Miler, Elizabeth B.
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Bilingual Education,Correlation,Spanish Speaking,Bilingualism,English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Preschool Education,Disadvantaged Youth,School Readiness,Spanish,Academic Achievement,Kindergarten,Native Language Instruction,Preschool Teachers,Children,Experience,Early Intervention,Family (Sociological Unit),Surveys

Prior research suggests that Spanish-speaking Dual Language Learners (DLLs)--young children who must master two languages simultaneously, their home language and English (Espinosa, 2013)--differentially benefit from quality Early Childhood Education (ECE), and in particular from Head Start, compared with children of other subgroups and monolingual-English children (Buysse, Peisner-Feinberg, Páez, Hammer, &amp; Knowles, 2014; Gormley, 2008; Loeb, Bridges, Bassok, Fuller, &amp; Rumberger, 2007; U.S. DHHS, 2010a). Despite the positive impacts of ECE for Spanish-speaking DLLs, however, the literature has not sufficiently investigated the mechanisms underlying this finding, or what may account for these differential benefits. The purpose of the current study is to determine whether Spanish language instruction is associated with school readiness skills for Head Start-eligible Spanish-speaking DLL children. It examines the relationship between Spanish instruction used by caregivers in Head Start settings and DLL children's subsequent English language academic achievement, as this may prove essential for their kindergarten readiness. Tables and figures are appended.
What Happens When Schools Become Magnet Schools? A Longitudinal Study of Diversity and Achievement
Author: Kitmitto, Sami
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Magnet Schools,Academic Achievement,Elementary Schools,Educational Change,School Districts,Minority Group Students,Comparative Analysis,Neighborhoods,Student Characteristics,Institutional Characteristics,Traditional Schools,Surveys,Interviews,Principals,Administrator Attitudes,Low Achievement,High Achievement,At Risk Students,Disadvantaged Youth,Curriculum,Student Records,Racial Composition,Correlation,Racial Differences,Economically Disadvantaged,Socioeconomic Status,Statistical Analysis

In recent decades, magnet schools have become a way for districts to provide school choice. Magnet schools are one of the many options provided to parents so that they can select a school to meet their children's educational needs and interests. After a short gap in federal grants for magnet school implementation, Congress established the current Magnet School Assistance Program (MSAP) in 1984. This study examined 21 MSAP-supported elementary schools from around the nation to see how their student body composition and academic achievement changed over time. The group of schools contained 17 that converted to become what might be called &quot;traditional&quot; magnet schools and another 4 that converted to become &quot;destination&quot; magnet schools. This study relied on administrative data collected directly from the districts. This study found that schools were more diverse after conversion but the evidence that this was related to conversion was limited (only significant for the concentration of minority students in traditional magnet schools). Achievement was higher after conversion in traditional magnet schools. The comparative interrupted times series (CITS) analysis suggests that this rise in achievement may have been due to other factors such as the changing student population rather than the magnet program or new peers as this analysis did not find evidence that magnet conversion itself was associated with a change in neighborhood student achievement gains. However, there was a significant amount of variation across individual district results which suggests that converting magnet schools or their contexts may be so different that an average look across them (even separately by traditional versus destination) may be less meaningful, or at least that it would be important to study a larger number of these schools in the future. Tables and figures are appended. [For the full study, &quot;What Happens When Schools Become Magnet Schools? A Longitudinal Study of Diversity and Achievement,&quot; see ED556800.]
Teacher Performance Pay Signals and Student Achievement: Are Signals Accurate, and How well Do They Work?
Author: Manzeske, David
Date: 2016-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Merit Pay,Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Accuracy,Teaching Experience,Incentives,Equal Education,Grants,Federal Aid,Compensation (Remuneration),Program Implementation,Teacher Evaluation,Performance Based Assessment,Teacher Persistence,Value Added Models,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Practices,Scores,Teacher Salaries,Statistical Inference,Probability,Regression (Statistics)

High-performing teachers tend to seek out positions at more affluent or academically challenging schools, which tend to hire more experienced, effective educators. Consequently, low-income and minority students are more likely to attend schools with less experienced and less effective educators (see, for example, DeMonte &amp; Hanna, 2014; Office for Civil Rights, 2014). This trend is problematic as a result of the established link between educator quality and student achievement. In 2006, Congress established the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) to authorize ED to issue competitive grants to school districts and other education agencies. Goals of the TIF program include implementing performance-based compensation systems in high-need schools, increasing the number of effective teachers who are teaching disadvantaged students, and improving student achievement. In partnership with a TIF grantee and 12 school districts, the purpose of this multiyear study is to examine local grant implementation and to investigate summative questions such as the following: (1) What percentage of teachers receives performance-based bonuses based on observations of classroom practice and value-added measures of student growth; (2) How do bonuses differ according to the performance levels of each performance measure (i.e., classroom practice, value-added score); (3) How equitably are bonuses distributed to teachers within each performance measure, as well as between the two performance measures (i.e., classroom practice, value-added score); (4) How do teacher retention rates differ according to the performance levels of each performance measure (i.e., classroom practice, value-added score); and (5) What is the impact of TIF program initiatives on student achievement? The study takes place in schools serving students in Grades K-12 within a southern state. The schools had among the highest levels of student poverty and the lowest levels of student performance in their respective school districts. Tables and figures are appended.