ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Why Teach Spelling?
Author: Reed, Deborah K.
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Check Lists,Spelling,State Standards,Reading Ability,Spelling Instruction,Program Evaluation,Curriculum Design,Teaching Methods,Instructional Materials,Morphemes,Phonemes,Language Skills,Educational Strategies,Educational Research,Learning Processes,Word Lists,Sight Vocabulary,Reading Processes,Reading Writing Relationship,Reading Instruction,Writing Instruction,Curriculum Evaluation

This resource is a compilation of three documents that support the teaching of spelling in today's schools: a discussion of &quot;Why Spelling Instruction Matters&quot;, a checklist for evaluating a spelling program, and tables of Common Core State Standards that are linked to spelling instruction. &quot;Why Spelling Instruction Matters&quot; explains the importance of spelling to students' reading abilities, describes models of spelling development, and explains common approaches to spelling instruction. It offers supporting figures and diagrams as well as appendices with additional information and lists of resources helpful to practitioners. Using the information from &quot;Why Spelling Instruction Matters&quot;, the Center on Instruction created two companion documents as tools for administrators and teachers. The items in &quot;A Checklist for Evaluating a Spelling Program&quot; are based on research outlined in the main document and offer a quick reference to the key elements for determining students' spelling abilities and teaching basic and more complex skills. The second companion tool, &quot;Tables of Common Core State Standards Linked to Spelling&quot;, connects the information in Why Spelling Instruction Matters to grade-level expectations. The document also includes guidance about how to read and use the information in the tables. Each document contains figures, footnotes and references.
Useful, Used, and Peer Approved: The Importance of Rigor and Accessibility in Postsecondary Research and Evaluation. WISCAPE Viewpoints
Author: Vaade, Elizabeth
Date: 2012-05-03
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Postsecondary Education,Educational Research,Program Evaluation,Quasiexperimental Design,Statistical Analysis,Readability,Barriers

Traditionally, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners have perceived a tension between rigor and accessibility in quantitative research and evaluation in postsecondary education. However, this study indicates that both producers and consumers of these studies value high-quality work and clear findings that can reach multiple audiences. The authors discuss the perceived importance of rigor and accessibility, barriers to accomplishing both in practice, and suggestions for achieving an appropriate balance between the two. (Contains 8 notes.)
Nature Awareness and Science Achievement in Middle School: A Correlational Study
Author: Freese, Maegan
Date: 2012-05-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses
Subjects: Science Achievement,Standardized Tests,Science Tests,Raw Scores,Middle School Students,Science Instruction,Secondary School Science,Natural Resources,Grade 7,Correlation,Early Adolescents,Biology,Social Development,Student Attitudes,Outdoor Education,Conservation (Environment),Religious Factors,Prior Learning,Educational Environment

The researchers wanted to continue in their university's previous study of nature awareness and science achievement, specifically examining the effects of nature in the achievement of seventh-grade students. This further study offered valuable insight to the inconclusive findings of previous researchers of nature awareness and science achievement. Some studies found a significant correlation, while others found no significant correlation. The researchers tested for correlation between students' level of experience in nature and their science achievement scores on a standardized test. Using research from Kellert (2005), Louv (2006), and Kolb (1984), the researchers believed the level of students' experience and contact with nature significantly correlate to their science test scores. The researchers tested direct, indirect, and vicarious experiences with nature that students might encounter. Using the instrument, with only a few modifications, from Chandler and Swartzentruber (2011), the researchers tested groups of seventh-grade students from two different schools. The survey was given twice, and the researchers determined its significant test-retest reliability.   One of the schools used the TCAP [Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program] exam, and the other school used the SAT to measure students' knowledge in the area of science. In order to compare the scores from two different tests, the researchers standardized the raw scores by calculating z-scores. With the z-scores and the student scores from the Nature Awareness Survey, the researchers performed a Pearson correlation. The data revealed no significant correlation between the students' nature awareness and the standardized science test scores. The researchers retained the null hypothesis. The following are appended: (1) Letter of Approval from Knox County Schools; (2) Letter of Approval from The King's Academy; (3) Parental Permission Form; and (4) Nature Awareness Survey.
Creating Enabling Environment for Inclusion for Students with Developmental Disabilities
Author: Chidindi, Joseph
Date: 2012-05-07
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Developmental Disabilities,Teaching Skills,Inclusion,Mainstreaming,Regular and Special Education Relationship,Educational Environment,Teacher Competencies,Curriculum Development,Communication Skills,Teaching Methods

Students with developmental disabilities live in the same communities with everyone else. It is not justifiable to then separate them when it turns up to be in educational setting. They have to learn in the same schools and classrooms with everyone else. An enabling environment that is welcoming have to created within the educational settings with teachers who are prepared with the relevant and effective teaching skills of the inclusive classes in which those with developmental disabilities are part, which this paper aims at doing.
Proceedings of the Forum on Leveraging a Legacy of Leadership in Rural Mathematics and Science Education (July 16, 2008)
Author: Harmon, Hobart L.
Date: 2009-02-00
Type: Collected Works - Proceedings
Subjects: Rural Schools,Poverty,Science Education,Mathematics Education,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Educational Change,Instructional Leadership,Elementary Secondary Education,School Districts,Charter Schools,High Schools,American Indian Education,Elementary Schools,Public Agencies,Program Effectiveness,Conferences (Gatherings)

As a follow-up to a 2007 Edvantia, Inc. report entitled &quot;A Legacy of Leadership and Lessons Learned: Results of the Rural Systemic Initiatives for Improving Mathematics and Science Education,&quot; (ED531892) Edvantia, Inc. sought and received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hold a forum in the nation's capital that would profile how practitioners in local school districts leveraged the leadership legacy of the RSIs [Rural Systemic Initiatives] to continue improvements in mathematics and science education. The authors held the forum on July 16, 2008, in the conference room of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Science and Technology in the Rayburn Building, Washington, DC. This proceeding documents highlights of the forum. Six practitioners on the forum panel shared experiences in their respective RSI and described how improvement capacity built by the RSI was being leveraged. These individuals represented hundreds of their peers who staffed or participated in one of the 28 RSIs. The practitioners worked in or served rural schools in Alaska, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Representatives of NSF and three other federal agencies--the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education--described how their agencies support mathematics and science education in K-12 public schools. The agency representatives shared information about programs and opportunities that school districts and states can use in leveraging the RSI legacy. As a final session, the executive director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics reflected on comments of forum presenters and advised participants to take what has been learned in the RSI effort and formulate policy actions that answer questions of education policymakers. Papers include: (1) Setting the Context for Leveraging the Legacy of Leadership in Mathematics and Science Education (Wimberly Royster); (2) Coalfield Rural Systemic Initiative (Jonathan Escue); (3) Sunflower County School District and Delta RSI (Angela Winters); (4) Kodiak Island Borough School District and Alaska RSI (Teresa Schneider); (5) Fort Washakie Charter High School and Wind River RSI (Gene Meier); (6) Resource Collaboratives and the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (Kim Zeidler); and (7) Lyford Consolidated Independent School District and the Texas RSI (Irma Mondragon). (Contains 18 figures and 13 tables.
Evaluation of the Correlated Science and Mathematics Professional Development Model, 2009-2010 Cohort
Author: Morlier, Rebecca
Date: 2012-05-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Masters Theses
Subjects: Faculty Development,Models,Science Teachers,Mathematics Teachers,Principals,Science Instruction,Mathematics Instruction,Program Effectiveness,Mathematics Achievement,Science Achievement,Pretests Posttests,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Teacher Attitudes,Administrator Attitudes

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the 2009-2010 iteration of the Correlated Science and Mathematics (CSM) professional development program which provides teachers and principals experience with integrated and effective science and mathematics teaching strategies and content.  Archival CSM data was analyzed via mixed methods.  Evaluation followed the five-level evaluation model of Guskey (2000) and found that the 2009-2010 CSM program was effective.  Teacher participants enjoyed CSM and gained content knowledge and pedagogical skills; teachers demonstrated increased use of effective teaching practices championed by CSM, and as measured by pretests and posttests, teachers demonstrated significant gains in physics and mathematics content.  Although principals participated, the strong efforts to garner organizational support were only minimally effective.  As measured by pretests and posttests, students of participant teachers demonstrated significantly greater achievement in mathematics than students of control teachers. No significant difference in science achievement as measured by pretests and posttests was found between students of participant teachers and control teachers. The following are appended: (1) Satisfaction with Integrated Science and Math Lessons; (2) Teacher Daily Reflection Form; (3) Observation and Interview Summary Form; (4) Principal Daily Reflection Form; (5) Sample of Teacher Reflections; (6) Sample Completed Teacher Observation Forms; (7) Principal Reflections; and (8) Principal Interviews. (Contains 9 tables and 11 figures.)
A Legacy of Leadership and Lessons Learned: Results from the Rural Systemic Initiatives for Improving Mathematics and Science Education
Author: Harmon, Hobart L.
Date: 2007-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Rural Schools,Poverty,Science Education,Mathematics Education,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Educational Change,Program Effectiveness,Teachers,Faculty Development,Instructional Leadership,Teacher Leadership,Culturally Relevant Education,Leadership Role,Principals,Mathematics Achievement,Science Achievement,Relevance (Education),Intervention,Elementary Secondary Education,American Indian Education

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project consistent with the six NSF drivers for mathematics and science reform, and then implemented the project within the context of local rural schools and communities. The report highlights the results and successes experienced by selected RSIs. Information is drawn from material submitted to the authors by leaders of RSI projects. A common theme among the exemplars highlighted in this report is the need to understand contextual circumstances and implement strategies that are considerate of these realities. Major sections include RSI impact on teachers and teaching, impact on students and learning, example RSI intervention strategies (models of change), 22 lessons learned, and concluding thoughts. The examples illustrate the kind of capacity building that is necessary to implement educational improvements in mathematics and science education in high-poverty areas of rural America. The intention is not to claim that all RSIs may have achieved the same successful results, or that only the RSI effort caused the results. The authors strive to demonstrate the impact that is possible when an investment of human and fiscal resources is intensely focused on improving mathematics and science education in rural areas. The RSIs' legacy of leadership and lessons learned gives reason to believe that rural America, even in places with persistent poverty, has the potential to adapt to the educational and economic challenges ahead--if education reformers build on the experiences and leadership capacity for change illustrated in the report. Otherwise, a one-size-fits-all reform approach--inconsiderate of realities in communities and schools in rural America--is unlikely to inspire the leadership, local ownership, and persistence necessary to change the status quo. Moreover, both children and communities in these impoverished rural areas will be left behind. A bibliography is included. (Contains 11 figures and 15 tables.
ICT as a Tool for Building Social Capital in Higher Education
Author: Aleksic-Maslac, Karmela
Date: 2011-08-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Electronic Learning,Higher Education,Global Education,Distance Education,Foreign Countries,Social Capital,Technology Uses in Education,Influence of Technology,Knowledge Management,Capacity Building,Best Practices,Economics Education,Administrator Education,Management Information Systems,Learning Activities,Statistical Studies,Network Analysis,Social Networks

The critical organizational form in the information age is networking. This new organizational principle is manifested through the processes of internationalization and global academic cooperation which have become inevitable strategies for every higher education institution in order to be competitive in a global education market. The effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) such as synchronous and asynchronous methods of distance learning enables higher education institutions to reach out students, teachers and researchers in foreign countries without physically moving them. Besides improving communication and exchange of information followed by opportunities for cross-cultural learning, effective ICT implementation enables expansion of social and economic networks and strengthens institutional and academic ties by thus building social capital. The following study investigates the role of ICT in building social capital and human capacity in terms of knowledge sharing, targeted training and developing education initiatives in higher education institutions. The focus of this paper is on such positive practices implemented at Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM). Since its foundation in 2002, a systematic use of new technologies in education has been encouraged which in turn provided the basis for major advances in development. Today ZSEM has around 1400 students and about 150 courses with integrated e-learning system while currently 7% of students take part in various types of international exchange. (Contains 10 tables.)
The Nation's Report Card: Science 2011. National Assessment of Educational Progress at Grade 8. NCES 2012-465
Author: National Center for Education Statistics (ED)
Date: 2012-05-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: National Competency Tests,Science Tests,Grade 8,Scores,Test Results,Achievement Gains,Achievement Gap,Science Achievement,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,African American Students,Hispanic American Students,American Indians,Alaska Natives,Asian American Students,Pacific Americans,White Students,Low Income Groups,Public Schools,Private Schools,Hands on Science,Science Projects,Cooperative Learning,Science Activities,Physical Sciences,Biological Sciences,Earth Science,Space Sciences,Science Process Skills

This report presents results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) U.S. science assessment in 2011. A representative sample of 122,000 eighth-graders participated in the 2011 NAEP science assessment, which is designed to measure students' knowledge and abilities in the areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences. The average eighth-grade science score increased from 150 in 2009 to 152 in 2011. The percentages of students performing at or above the &quot;Basic&quot; and &quot;Proficient&quot; levels were higher in 2011 than in 2009. There was no significant change from 2009 to 2011 in the percentage of students at the &quot;Advanced&quot; level. Score gaps between White and Black students and between White and Hispanic students narrowed from 2009 to 2011. In comparison to 2009, average science scores in 2011 were 1 point higher for White students, 3 points higher for Black students, and 5 points higher for Hispanic students. There were no significant changes from 2009 to 2011 in the scores for Asian/Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska Native students. Average scores for both male and female students were higher in 2011 than in 2009. Male students scored 5 points higher on average than female students in 2011, which was not significantly different from the 4-point gap in 2009. The average science score for public school students was higher in 2011 than in 2009, while there was no significant change in the score for private school students. Private school students scored 12 points higher on average than public school students in 2011, which was not significantly different from the 15-point score gap in 2009. (Contains 12 figures and 2 tables.)
Urban versus Suburban Public Schools: Resolving the Issue of Racial Inequality in Education
Author: Batts, Pamela L.
Date: 2012-05-10
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: African American Students,Urban Schools,Suburban Schools,Public Schools,Racial Bias,Stereotypes,Equal Education,High School Students,Secondary School Teachers,Negative Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Public School Teachers,Teacher Responsibility,Administrator Responsibility,Parent Participation,Educational History,Court Litigation

The purpose of this study is to address a possible solution to the racial inequality in urban versus suburban public schools. It also addresses the stereotyping and racial bias associated with this issue. Students enrolled in the urban school districts are predominantly African American and are found to be at an educational disadvantage compared to the students attending the predominantly White suburban schools. Three suburban high schools were interviewed on their perception of African American students in general. Results showed that the majority of the respondents which include students and teachers, saw African American students in a very negative light. Teachers, school administrators, parents and the community need to take responsibility in ridding the negative stereotyping associated with students of color. The best possible way to provide equal educational opportunities for all students attending public schools is through a unified school system. But in order for a unified school system to be successful teachers, school administrators, parents and the community are going to have to come together in support of equal educational advancement for all students regardless of race, ethnic group or economic status. (Contains 2 tables.)
Using Instrumental Variables Properly to Account for Selection Effects
Author: Porter, Stephen R.
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Statistical Bias,College Students,Educational Research,Statistical Analysis,Causal Models,Correlation,Summer Programs,Transitional Programs,Majors (Students),Intervention,Program Effectiveness

Selection bias is problematic when evaluating the effects of postsecondary interventions  on college students, and can lead to biased estimates of program effects. While instrumental  variables can be used to account for endogeneity due to self-selection, current practice requires that all five assumptions of instrumental variables be met in order to credibly estimate the causal effect of a program. Using the Pike et al. (2011) study of selection bias and learning communities as an example, the paper reviews these assumptions in the postsecondary context, and offers advice to researchers seeking to use instrumental variables for research on college students. (Contains 7 footnotes, 3 figures, and 2 tables.)
Intensive Interventions for Students Struggling in Reading and Mathematics. A Practice Guide
Author: Vaughn, Sharon
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Guides - General
Subjects: Feedback (Response),Learning Problems,Elementary Secondary Education,Cognitive Processes,Reading Instruction,Mathematics Instruction,Teaching Methods,Technical Assistance,Intervention,Educational Improvement,Self Control,Memory,Individualized Instruction,Student Needs,Time Factors (Learning),Small Group Instruction,Guides

This publication provides research-based guidance for intensifying instruction in reading and mathematics for students with significant learning difficulties, including students with disabilities, in kindergarten through grade 12. The guide gives technical assistance providers and states information reflecting "best practices" for implementing intensive interventions to improve education practices for struggling students, including those who receive special education. It can also be used as a resource for instructional specialists and special education teachers who are searching for broad guidelines on the design and delivery of intensive interventions. With those goals in mind, the authors present a brief review of the research on intensifying instruction for struggling students. Specifically, they discuss: (1) integrating strategies that support cognitive processes (e.g., self-regulation and memory) with academic instruction and aligning this instruction with learner needs; (2) differentiating instructional delivery by making it more explicit and systematic and by increasing opportunities for feedback; (3) increasing instructional time; and (4) reducing group size. The guide includes the following resources: (1) practice guidelines (in the form of questions and answers) that can inform the design and delivery of intensive interventions; (2) example lessons (see the Appendix) that illustrate the intensification of key areas of instructional delivery (i.e., making lessons more explicit and systematic and increasing the opportunities for student response and feedback); and (3) a list of resources for further reading and extended learning. Although this guide is not a comprehensive review of the literature, it does offer guidelines for instructional decision-makers on adapting and modifying instructional practices to deliver appropriate, responsive instruction for students with learning difficulties. Example Lessons are appended. (Contains 1 table and 1 footnote.)