ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Title I: Time to Get It Right
Author: Roza, Marguerite
Date: 2015-03-13
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Elementary Secondary Education,Poverty,Financial Support,Funding Formulas

Congress enacted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) 50 years ago as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's &quot;War on Poverty.&quot; The most expansive federal education bill ever passed, it was developed as redress, establishing that poor children needed more educational services than wealthier children. Title I of the ESEA provides federal funds to state and local education agencies with the intention of augmenting funding for high-poverty students. Yet even today, after five decades, substantial revisions, and an allocation of over $14 billion, Title I is not living up to its promise. The authors assert that the solution is not simply a matter of fixing one piece or another of a given formula. They propose a return to basics: A poor student deserves what the federal support promised to poor children 50 years ago, regardless of where that student lives and what their school or school district looks like. This paper suggests, and details some clear principles for reforming Title I formulas, and measuring the progress made. They are: (1) Simplicity; (2) Tie the money to qualifying students in schools with concentrated poverty; (3) Consistency; (4) Leveling the playing field; and (5) Flexibility. Title 1 funding formulas have become so complex and murky that few people really understand how they work and even fewer think they are achieving their true purpose. Stakeholder politics will persist, but the authors encourage both sides to come together to evaluate proposals against these fundamental principles, so that Title I can finally start to fulfill its 50-year-old promise to poor students.
Beginners in the Classroom: What the Changing Demographics of Teaching Mean for Schools, Students, and Society
Author: Headden, Susan
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Teaching (Occupation),Public Schools,Academic Achievement,Teaching Experience,Faculty Mobility,Beginning Teacher Induction,Teacher Administrator Relationship,Teacher Salaries,Outcomes of Education,Teacher Attitudes

Public school teaching is a profession in transition. Already the largest occupation in the United States, it is expanding faster than the nation's student population. Teachers of color are entering the profession at twice the rate of white teachers, reversing an exodus after civil rights victories opened many other doors to African Americans. And women are again entering the profession in greater numbers after years of bypassing the field for other opportunities. But what may be most significant--to students, schools, and the nation--is that teachers today are younger and markedly less experienced than a generation ago. Experts consider teachers with five or fewer years of experience to be still learning their craft. Although the recent recession pushed back the tide somewhat, and has likely raised the level of experience, the sheer number of novices in public school teaching has serious financial, structural, and educational consequences for public education--straining budgets, disrupting school cultures and, most significantly, depressing student achievement. Yet there has been scant discussion of the phenomenon by education policymakers. This report explores the causes, conditions, and consequences of what may be a permanent shift towards a less-experienced profession. It examines escalating levels of teacher attrition in public schools, a major source of the beginning teacher challenge. And it points to promising solutions, especially teacher induction strategies that provide the sort of targeted training and intensive support that recognizes the first years of teaching as the make-or-break opportunities they are.
STEM: How a Poorly Defined Acronym Is Shaping Education and Workforce Development Policy in the United States. WCER Working Paper No. 2014-2
Author: Oleson, Amanda K.
Date: 2014-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: STEM Education,Labor Force Development,Definitions,Educational Attainment,Classification,Education Work Relationship,Technical Occupations,Skill Development,Job Skills,Blue Collar Occupations,Employment Projections,Educational Policy,Policy Formation

The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, more ubiquitously known by the acronym &quot;STEM,&quot; have received a substantial amount of attention in recent years. As part of a research study investigating the alignment (or lack thereof) between the goals and priorities of educators and employers, we found it difficult to ascertain precisely what constituted a STEM occupation and to reconcile vastly different job, wage, and educational attainment projections. In this paper we explore the ways in which agencies and labor market researchers define STEM in six widely cited reports, and how these definitions influence the estimated and projected number of STEM jobs, estimates of how much these jobs pay, and what levels of education are necessary to attain these jobs. We find that agencies and researchers use different methods to classify STEM jobs (e.g., work tasks performed, knowledge, skills, education, type of work), which result in STEM job estimates ranging from 5.4 million to 26 million. Wage estimates exhibit a similarly wide range, from $50,000 to $96,000. In addition, jobs that require some STEM knowledge are frequently excluded from labor market analyses of STEM occupations, resulting in the under-counting of STEM-related jobs, the over-estimation of potential wages, and under-valuing of a sub-baccalaureate degree. Finally, we emphasize how groups of occupations (e.g., STEM) and industries (e.g., manufacturing) cannot be conflated with specific occupations. We recommend that researchers and agencies adopt a universal definition of STEM occupations and/or be more precise when speaking about the labor market in STEM related fields.
What Do We Know about the Long-Term Impacts of Teacher Value-Added? What We Know Series: Value-Added Methods and Applications. Knowledge Brief 15
Author: Raudenbush, Stephen W.
Date: 2014-03-00
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Academic Achievement,Teacher Evaluation,Scores,Achievement Gains,Predictive Validity,Outcomes of Education

Proposals to evaluate teachers based on their &quot;value-added&quot; to student test scores generate intense debate. Underlying the debate are concerns about three factors: &quot;bias,&quot; &quot;precision,&quot; and &quot;relevance.&quot; Previous Carnegie Foundation briefs have detailed the reasons why the first two are significant concerns. But, even if value-added scores were unbiased and reasonably precise, their usefulness for evaluating teaching would still depend on the third factor--their relevance to the aims of schooling. The aim of this brief is to consider a key aspect of the relevance of value-added scores: their &quot;predictive validity&quot;--whether teachers who produce high value-added on achievement tests also engender lasting cognitive and non-cognitive skills that help prepare their students for success in later life. Herein, the author reviews 10 studies of the persistence of value-added scores. In each case, researchers compute value-added scores in an &quot;initial year&quot; and then in subsequent years. All studies show that value-added scores tend to fade out over time. Five years after the initial year, it appears that 75 percent to 100 percent of the initial impact has disappeared. This brief considers: (1) the size of the initial value-added effects; (2) the persistence of initial value-added; (3) reported impacts on adult outcomes; (4) potential explanations for these findings and suggestions for further research; and (5) implications for school practice.
Postsecondary Transition and English Learners with Disabilities: Data from the Second National Longitudinal Transition Study. WCER Working Paper No. 2014-4
Author: Trainor, Audrey A.
Date: 2014-08-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Disabilities,English Language Learners,Transitional Programs,Student Characteristics,Social Influences,Demography,Outcomes of Education,Disproportionate Representation,Employment Potential,Surveys,Graduation Rate

Although English Learners (ELs) constitute one of the fastest growing subpopulations in U.S. schools, little is known about the postschool outcomes of ELs who are also students with disabilities (ELSWD). This descriptive study examines a nationally representative sample of ELSWD through a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS2). Descriptive statistical analyses were used to identify ELSWDs' sociodemographic characteristics, education and transition program characteristics, and postschool outcomes, as compared to their non-EL peers with disabilities included in the NLTS2. Results confirmed disproportionate identification by race/ethnicity for Latinos and European American as ELSWD. Findings also illustrated alignment between transition planning and courses taken, yet postschool employment was significantly lower for ELSWD. Implications for research include the need to develop methods that address ELSWD disproportionality in high school and transition outcome variables unique to this population. Implications for practice include the need to develop teacher preparation programs that apprise secondary special educators of ELSWD characteristics and their transition-related preferences, strengths, and needs.
College Completion: Comparing AP®, Dual-Enrolled, and Nonadvanced Students. Research Report 2014-3
Author: Godfrey, Kelly
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Higher Education,Advanced Placement Programs,Advanced Placement,Dual Enrollment,Outcomes of Education,Grade Point Average,Time to Degree,Correlation,Graduation,College Credits,Comparative Analysis,High School Graduates,College Students,Predictor Variables,Ethnicity,Academic Achievement,English Instruction,Mathematics Instruction,Educational Assessment,Scores,Science Achievement,Science Instruction,History Instruction

The study presented here is an investigation and comparison of the relationships between the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) and dual-enrolled high school courses and college outcomes. Previous research provides evidence that participation in AP, and subsequent success on AP Exams, is positively related to various college outcomes including an increased likelihood of graduating from college and better preparation for the academic rigor of the college classroom. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the value of advanced course work in high school in preparing students for higher education success by investigating the relationships between participation and performance in AP courses and exams, dual enrollment courses, and regular courses and four different college outcomes including first-year subject-specific GPA, final subject-specific GPA, calendar time to bachelor's degree, and credit hours attempted. Results indicated that higher performance on AP Exams was related to higher college performance in the subject area, as well as fewer credit hours taken to bachelor's degree. Most dual enrollment course grades were at a C or higher, and students taking these courses tended to graduate from college in fewer calendar terms than other groups. The following are appended: (1) English Regression Results; (2) Math Regression Results; (3) Science Regression Results; and (4) History Regression Results.
Community College Pathways: A Descriptive Report of Summative Assessments and Student Learning
Author: Strother, Scott
Date: 2014-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Acceleration (Education),Developmental Programs,Remedial Mathematics,College Mathematics,College Credits,Comparative Analysis,Summative Evaluation,Knowledge Level,Program Effectiveness,Grades (Scholastic),Outcomes of Education

Carnegie's Community College Pathways (CCP) offers two pathways, Statway® and Quantway®, that reduce the amount of time required to complete developmental mathematics and earn college-level mathematics credit. The Pathways aim to improve student success in mathematics while maintaining rigorous content, pedagogy, and learning outcomes. It is essential that the Pathways' success in securing college credit for participants does not come at the expense of the rigor of the curriculum or level of student learning. This report describes the comparative analyses from the Pathways summative assessment system. All items on the summative assessments were rigorously validated by field testing with over 500 members of a comparison sample who had taken a college mathematics or statistics course. Subsequently, all Pathways students took the summative assessments at the end of each term. This report describes analyses that use the development sample for comparison to Pathways students to assess their relative levels of knowledge. This report then describes the relationship between students' summative assessments and their end-of-term grades. This analysis is to provide further evidence that Pathways students are not just receiving high grades and successfully completing the Pathways at a higher rate, but that their grades are reflective of actual learning, as corroborated by the independent measure. Also included in the report are appendices: (1) Sample Summative Assessment Items: Statway; (2) Statway and Quantway Modules; and (3) Tables.
The Effects of Doctoral Teaching Development on Early-Career STEM Scholars' College-Teaching Self-Efficacy. WCER Working Paper No. 2015-1
Author: Connolly, Mark R.
Date: 2015-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Graduate Students,Doctoral Programs,STEM Education,Self Efficacy,College Instruction,Teacher Education Programs,Social Theories,Mixed Methods Research,Longitudinal Studies,Program Effectiveness,Surveys,Questionnaires,Regression (Statistics),Gender Differences

As a result of increased national emphasis on preparing future faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to teach undergraduates, more research universities offer teaching development (TD) programs to doctoral students who aspire to academic careers. Using social cognitive career theory, we examine the effects of these programs on early-career STEM scholars' sense of self-efficacy as postsecondary teachers. In 2011, a survey questionnaire was administered to 2,156 people who in 2009 were doctoral students in STEM departments at three U.S. research universities; 1,445 responded (67%). Regression analysis revealed positive relationships between participation in TD and participants' college teaching self-efficacy, and positive interaction effects for women STEM doctoral students. The paper discusses implications for doctoral students, faculty advisors, and TD programs. The following are appended: (1) Variable Descriptions; and (2) Tables.
Development of a New ReadiStep™ Scale Linked to the PSAT/NMSQT® Scale. Research Report 2013-4
Author: Kim, YoungKoung
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: College Entrance Examinations,Educational Assessment,High School Students,Scores,Academic Standards,Reading Achievement,Mathematics Achievement,Writing Achievement,Grade 8,Data Collection,Reliability,Error of Measurement,Equated Scores

The purpose of this report is to describe the procedure for revising the ReadiStep™ score scale using the field trial data, and to provide technical information about the development of the new ReadiStep scale score. In doing so, this report briefly introduces the three assessments--ReadiStep, PSAT/NMSQT®, and SAT®--in the College Board Pathway system, describes the sample obtained in the field trial, discusses the procedure for linking ReadiStep to PSAT/NMSQT, and presents the results of the new ReadiStep scale score.
Community College Pathways' Program Success: Assessing the First Two Years' Effectiveness of Statway®
Author: Yamada, Hiroyuki
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Community Colleges,Mathematics Instruction,Developmental Studies Programs,Remedial Mathematics,Two Year College Students,Probability,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation

Statway® is one of the Community College Pathways initiatives developed by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to promote students' progress beginning in developmental math to and through college math credit. Early descriptive results suggested that the Statway program has tripled the success rate for students in half the time to achieve college math credit. This study presents a more rigorous causal analysis of hypothesized program effects. We used a multilevel approach with propensity score matching to evaluate the effectiveness of Statway. Propensity score matching results are consistent with earlier descriptive findings. They replicate across two different cohorts and hold up for varying genders, race/ethnicity groups, and math placement levels. Directions for future work are also suggested.
Evaluation of Educators and Educator Preparation Programs: Models and Systems in Theory and Practice. WCER Working Paper No. 2014-6
Author: Meyer, Robert
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Education Programs,Models,Theory Practice Relationship,Correlation,Schools of Education,Teacher Effectiveness,Labor Market,Teacher Placement,Simulation,Demography,Predictor Variables,Evaluation Methods

Student growth measures are increasingly common in K-12 school and teacher accountability policy in the United States. At this time, it is still rare for educator preparation programs (EPPs) to be evaluated by similar measures for either low stakes program improvement or higher stakes accreditation processes. Growth in student achievement reflects the contributions of multiple people and multiple entities, including EPPs, via their roles in selecting educators into the profession and providing candidates with education and training. This paper presents a partial list of technical considerations that researchers, policy makers, and, ultimately, EPPs must address when trying to measure or manage performance. We identify two categories of considerations: those that affect the calculation of teacher value added, and those that affect the aggregation of teacher estimates to the EPP level. Consistent with the current literature, we distinguish the effects of preparation programs on teacher performance from the effects of selection into programs and into districts/schools. One of the most perplexing conclusions of several recent papers is the lack of correlation between teachers' training institution and on-the-job performance. We demonstrate how this result can be generated through a teacher-school matching process under certain labor market conditions. Support for this research was provided by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation.
Should We Still Be Talking about Leaving? A Comparative Examination of Social Inequality in Undergraduate Patterns of Switching Majors. WCER Working Paper No. 2014-5
Author: Ferrare, Joseph J.
Date: 2014-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Majors (Students),STEM Education,Undergraduate Students,Comparative Analysis,Enrollment Trends,Social Differences,Racial Differences,Gender Differences,Regression (Statistics),Models,Measures (Individuals),Predictor Variables

Despite extensive efforts to increase the number of undergraduates majoring and persisting in science, math, engineering, and technology (STEM) fields, there is surprisingly little understanding of recent patterns of switching from these majors to those in other fields of study. In addition, little is known about whether the racial, class, and gender dimensions to these patterns are unique to STEM fields or part of a process that affects majors in other fields across the higher education system. This working paper uses theoretically driven logistic regression models to examine these questions using the 2004/2009 cohort of undergraduate students from the Beginning Postsecondary Student Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09). Results point to gender, race, and class-based disparities in patterns of switching majors that are unique to STEM fields, indicating that these disciplines are sites of ongoing struggles for proponents of equity in higher education and workforce development. The following are appended: (1) Appendix Table 1--Descriptive Statistics for Beginning Postsecondary Students who Began their Postsecondary Education in a Bachelor's Program (N = 5,200); and (2) Appendix Table 2--Variable Descriptions.
Navigating the Problem Space of Academia: Exploring Processes of Course Design and Classroom Teaching in Postsecondary Settings. WCER Working Paper No. 2014-1
Author: Hora, Matthew T.
Date: 2014-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Postsecondary Education,Instructional Design,College Instruction,Curriculum Design,Cognitive Science,Interviews,STEM Education,College Faculty,Physics,Course Content,Class Size,Lecture Method,Visual Aids,Computer Software,Teaching Methods,Elementary Secondary Education,Problem Solving,Colleges,Semi Structured Interviews,Decision Making,Case Studies,Time Management,School Policy

Policymakers and educators alike increasing focus on faculty adoption of interactive teaching techniques as a way to improve undergraduate education. Yet, little empirical research exists that examines the processes whereby faculty make decisions about curriculum design and classroom teaching in real-world situations. In this study, I use the idea of the &quot;problem space&quot; from cognitive science to foreground the importance of actor-situation dynamics in shaping instructional decision making. Using data from a freelisting exercise and retrospective recall interviews, I describe the perceived affordances, planning strategies, and both the planned and enacted curricular artifacts for a group of 58 STEM faculty. Then, to examine these processes as they unfold in practice, I examine the cases of two physics instructors as they planned and taught specific classes. Results indicate the primacy of fixed affordances such as time, course content, and class size, and the influence of time constraints that lead to the dominant planning strategy of recycling and fine-tuning old lecture notes and PowerPoint slides. The paper also delves into the importance of these artifacts as cultural tools that mediate practice. The paper contributes a new approach to the study of instructional decision making while also providing actionable insights to improve practice. In particular, I recommend instituting departmental policies that require faculty to engage in brief, post-class and post-course reflection that results in minor updates to their curricular artifacts and will not require a significant time commitment.