ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Machine Learning Guided Evaluation of a College Program for Under-Prepared Students
Author: Gehring, William J.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: College Readiness,Academic Support Services,Program Effectiveness,Enrollment,College Bound Students,Student Placement,Research Methodology,Artificial Intelligence,Outcomes of Education,College Programs

Under-prepared college students are at risk of dropping out (Bettinger &amp; Long, 2005) and having lower academic achievement to their better-prepared peers. Yet they would likely benefit most from higher education (Jaegar &amp; Page, 1996; Kane &amp; Rouse, 1995), highlighting the need for institutional support. While developmental courses in two-year community colleges are well studied (Martorell &amp; McFarlin, 2011; Scott-Clayton &amp; Rodriguez, 2015), four-year colleges have other tools at their disposal. The authors study one selective four-year state institution's (anonymized as the University) program, anonymized as the No-MisMatch Program (NMP). NMP identifies under-prepared students and requires them to take a variety of summer prep courses before enrollment, gives them extensive tutoring resources throughout the year, offers specialized course sections, and requires multiple advisor meetings each semester. Using machine learning with a regression discontinuity design, the authors estimate the effect of NMP assignment on academic outcomes. The key preliminary finding is that assignment to NMP increases the likelihood students subsequently enroll at the University around 20 percentage points. This paper suggests that NMP can act as a potential enrollment management tool for policy makers. Students' admission letters positively frame being assigned to NMP, offering students resources for success, rather than indicating under-preparation. Reaching out to these under-prepared students importantly promotes the institution's and higher education's mission to close potential achievement gaps. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Teacher Preparation Programs: Research and Promising Practices. Briefing Paper
Author: Meadows, Lou
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teacher Education Programs,Educational Research,Program Effectiveness,Student Teaching,Admission Criteria,College Admission,Graduation Requirements,Alternative Teacher Certification,Educational Innovation,Technology Uses in Education

The literature on teacher preparation programs in the United States is extensive. However, there is limited scientifically based research on what kind of program produces effective teachers; rather, the literature consists mostly of calls for change in teacher preparation programs. Almost all experts agree that major changes are needed in these programs, with the emphasis being to produce teachers who are effective in enhancing student learning. This paper reports evidence-based research and offers suggestions based on studies that include theoretical work, qualitative analysis, statistical analysis, and randomized experience that could provide strong causal evidence of the effects of teacher preparation on student learning. Key points of this briefing paper include the following: (1) Relevant clinical experience is a critical part of a teacher preparation program; (2) Programs must take advantage of existing technology and support its innovative use as a tool for teacher preparation and as a tool for teachers in the classroom; and (3) Multiple sources of data should be collected and analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of preparation programs.
The Influence (or Not) of Educational Effectiveness Research on School-Based Decisions about Policy and Practice
Author: May, Henry
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Effectiveness,Educational Research,Effective Schools Research,Research Utilization,Decision Making,Educational Policy,Educational Practices,Outcomes of Education,Best Practices,Educational Strategies,Evidence Based Practice

Beginning with the &quot;No Child Left Behind Act&quot; of 2001 (NCLB) and reinforced by the &quot;Education Sciences Reform Act&quot; of 2002 (ESRA), the federal government established explicit expectations for the role of research in informing decisions about education programs, policies, and practice, and it also specified new expectations for what constituted research knowledge that was worth using. Unfortunately, it is unknown whether these changes have actually led schools and individual educators to make better and more frequent use of research to inform their decisions. This paper documents early results from a nation-wide study of when and how educators use research in decisions about policy and practice. To motivate new approaches to increasing research use and evidence-based decision-making in schools, the authors are conducting a series of research studies, the first of which involves developing and validating a survey to measure depth of research use by schools and teachers through collection of multilevel data from district staff, school administrators, and classroom teachers. In this paper, the authors present results from the first pilot of this survey with over 500 educators from 32 schools. The results presented in this paper focus on the influence of scientifically-based research and IES-funded supports for research use (e.g., WWC, RELs) on school-wide and classroom-level decisions about practice. This paper serves to highlight the likely scope and severity of the apparent divide between educators' decisions and the effectiveness research intended inform those decisions. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Supporting Student Transition from Middle to High School. Briefing Paper
Author: SEDL, Texas Comprehensive Center
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Transitional Programs,Middle School Students,High School Students,School Counseling,Grade 8,Grade 9,Program Implementation

The transition from eighth grade to high school results in a higher drop-out rate and more grade retentions than any other grade. However, when districts and schools develop and implement a sound transition program, the outcomes for ninth graders are improved. Key points of this briefing paper include the following promising interventions: (1) Organize a transition team; (2) Develop a counseling team; and (3) Create special programs and initiatives to prepare students and their families for the transition to high school. Suggested activities to include in a transition plan are provided in Appendix A. Appendix B provides Resources on Middle to High School Transition.
The Use of Student Perceptual Data as a Measure of Teaching Effectiveness. Briefing Paper
Author: Burniske, Jackie
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance,Student Surveys,Rating Scales,Evaluation Utilization

Multiple ways of assessing teaching effectiveness are being implemented by many states. Student survey instruments can provide valuable insight into the teaching and learning environment of a classroom. Students have the &quot;deepest, broadest, and most veridical perception of their teacher.&quot; Thus, student survey instruments can be a valuable component when designing a 21st century comprehensive teacher evaluation system. Key points of this briefing paper include the following: (1) Student ratings are more highly correlated with student achievement than principal ratings and teacher self-ratings; (2) Students can discriminate between effective and ineffective teaching behaviors; and (3) Construction, content, and administration of student rating instruments are key to reliability and validity. The goal of this briefing paper is to provide decision makers and stakeholders with information on the use of student perception surveys in teacher evaluation systems. State highlights, and additional resources are provided.
Transforming Low-Performing Rural Schools. Briefing Paper
Author: Bell, Stella
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Rural Schools,School Turnaround,Educational Improvement,School Closing,Federal Aid,Federal Legislation,Partnerships in Education,Technology Uses in Education,Poverty,Teacher Recruitment,Teacher Persistence,Educational Finance,Dropouts,School Size,School Community Relationship,Educational Strategies,Agricultural Education,Transportation,Enrollment,Student Diversity,Special Education,School Location,Family School Relationship

Rural educational issues cannot be addressed by a one size-fits-all approach to school improvement, but current research offers some solutions and insights into turning around low-performing rural districts and schools. Of the four possibilities set forth by the U.S. Department of Education, the transformation model holds the most promise for rural schools. Successful transformation is often attributed to thoughtful and flexible school leadership and staff actions that integrate a community's unique qualities into the change process. The following questions guided preparation of this briefing paper: (1) What are the barriers and challenges to transforming low-performing rural schools? (2) What are the unique attributes of rural communities that can be beneficial in transforming low-performing schools? (3) What strategies and actions promote improvement of low-performing schools in rural locations? and (4) What local resources and partnerships can be leveraged to promote transformation of low-performing schools in rural areas? Key points of this briefing paper include the following: (1) There is no proven, universal school improvement approach for improving low-performing schools in rural districts; (2) Transformation in such areas requires innovation that integrates the existing values, norms, and culture found in the context of the community and district organization; and (3) The transformation process should be systemic and incorporate a coherent, collaborative approach that includes stakeholder input in all phases of the change effort.
Evaluation of &quot;Amazonía Lee&quot; Reading Intervention in Peru
Author: Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE)
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Reading Skills,Reading Programs,Community Involvement,Progress Monitoring,Reading Achievement,Program Effectiveness,Early Reading,Teaching Skills,Teacher Competencies,Reading Instruction,Faculty Development,Elementary School Students,Elementary School Teachers,Primary Education

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have made progress in increasing primary school enrollment and completion among the very poor. However, challenges in improving reading persist. This study contributes to the evidence base on what works to improve early-grade reading skills by evaluating an early reading program implemented in two departments of the Amazon region of Peru: Ucayali and San Martín. &quot;Amazonía Lee&quot; has four main components. First, the capacity development component aimed to strengthen pedagogical skills and instructional capabilities of teachers, principals, and regional specialists. The following three components were originally envisioned to be implemented at the regional level in both departments. However, during the period of the study they were only implemented in the schools implementing &quot;Amazonía Lee.&quot; First, the community engagement component aimed to promote the active engagement of the educational community in support of student learning. Second, a regional assessment system aimed to monitor student achievement and to develop local capacity related to these assessments. Last, a teacher non-monetary incentive system aimed to motivate teachers to improve student learning. The evaluation addressed the following central question: What was the impact of &quot;Amazonía Lee&quot; programs on early-grade reading and other intermediate outcomes relative to other prevailing practices and programs? When compared to prevailing practice, &quot;Amazonía Lee&quot; achieved substantive effects of magnitudes similar to those found in other rigorous evaluations. However, when compared to a program that provided services similar to those provided by &quot;Amazonía Lee,&quot; students in both groups had similar reading outcomes. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Building Mathematical Identity after School: Year 1 of a Cluster-Randomized Trial
Author: Beesley, Andrea D.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: After School Programs,Mathematics Achievement,Learner Engagement,Identification (Psychology),Disproportionate Representation,Elementary School Students,Program Effectiveness,Student Interests,Randomized Controlled Trials,Mathematics Education

This paper describes a cluster-randomized trial of an after-school program intended to build mathematical identity among students in groups under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Populations under-represented in STEM include women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, and Latino/as (NSF, 2011). U.S. jobs are growing most rapidly in areas that require STEM knowledge (National Academy of Sciences, 2010). However, over half of secondary students do not feel they need math outside of school, and they think that liking math is unpopular (Markow &amp; Moore, 2001). If these students continue along this path, they will not be eligible for at least 75% of the jobs of the future (Fleming, 2012). Elementary-level experiences are thus important in attracting students to STEM. After-school programs may increase students' access to mathematical content and discourse and build identity as knowers/doers of mathematics (Cobb &amp; Gresalfi, 2006). With some exceptions (Berry, 2008; Nasir, 2002), few previous studies examine identity motivation, and fewer yet study out-of-school experiences and identity motivation. The following research questions are addressed in this paper: (1) What is the effect of the after-school program on students' math identity, engagement, interest, and math achievement? (2) What is the relationship between math achievement and math engagement, interest, and identity in the after-school program? and (3) What elements of the program foster students' math identity, and through what mechanisms is this effect achieved? What are the best practices and lessons learned? This paper will present first-year findings from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an afterschool curriculum designed to improve students' math identity. Preliminary analyses indicate no impact on student outcomes and some impact on educator outcomes. Fall 2017 will include adjusted impact estimates and psychometric analyses of the math identity instruments. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
A Multi-State Study Investigating the Generalizability of a Schema-Based Instructional Approach to Proportional Problem Solving
Author: Jitendra, Asha K.
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Problem Solving,Mathematics Instruction,Teaching Methods,Instructional Effectiveness,Grade 7,Teacher Characteristics,Student Characteristics,Teaching Experience,Gender Differences,Special Education,Racial Differences

Ratio and proportional relationships, along with the interrelated topics of fractions, decimals, and percent provide a critical foundation for algebra (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). Solving even simple proportion problems is challenging for many children and adolescents. A small number of studies have examined the efficacy of schema-based instruction (SBI), a multicomponent approach to teaching proportional problem solving. The studies of SBI, with roots in schema theory of cognitive psychology and cognitive models of mathematical problem solving, have provided evidence of its promise in improving student learning. However all of these studies relied on data from the Upper Midwest of the U.S, and what is needed is evidence that the efficacy of SBI generalizes to a range of students and teachers located throughout the country. In this study, the authors pooled data from the three SBI studies by Jitendra et al. (2015, 2017a, 2017b) and asked a single research question: Is SBI effective in improving students' proportional problem solving at posttest and nine to 11 weeks later at delayed posttest (PPS), and in improving general problem solving (GMADE posttest) and, if so, is it equally effective for classroom/teacher and student characteristics such as teacher gender, percentage of students receiving special education services in a classroom, years of teaching experience, and student race and gender across three U.S. states? The pooled data findings clarify that SBI improves students' mathematical problem solving, more so for proximal than distal measures. These findings also show Black and Hispanic students continue to lag behind White students, teachers with more experience tend to be associated with higher performing classrooms, and increasing concentrations of FRL and students receiving special education services are generally associated with weaker performances. These and other findings provide an empirical adjudication of results from individual studies and represent an opportunity to enhance generalizability of the effectiveness of SBI. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Design-Based Estimators for Average Treatment Effects for Multi-Armed RCTs
Author: Schochet, Peter
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Randomized Controlled Trials,Computation,Educational Research,Experimental Groups,Statistical Analysis,Outcome Measures,Program Effectiveness

Design-based methods have recently been developed as a way to analyze data from impact evaluations of interventions, programs, and policies (Freedman, 2008; Lin, 2013; Imbens and Rubin, 2015; Schochet, 2013, 2016; Yang and Tsiatis, 2001). The non-parametric estimators are derived using the building blocks of experimental designs with minimal assumptions, and are unbiased and normally distributed in large samples with simple variance estimators. The methods apply to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental designs (QEDs) with comparison groups for a wide range of designs used in social policy research. The methods have important advantages over traditional model-based impact estimation methods, such as hierarchical linear model (HLM) and robust cluster standard error (RCSE) methods, and perform well in simulations (Schochet, 2016; Kautz et al., 2017). The literature on design-based methods has focused on RCTs with a single treatment and a single control group. This theory, however, has not been formally extended to designs with multiple research groups. This is an important gap in the literature because multi-armed RCTs can simultaneously examine the effects of multiple interventions in a single study, thereby increasing the amount that researchers and policymakers can learn from impact evaluations. This paper provides new results on the estimation of average treatment effects (ATEs) for multi-armed designs, building on the design-based literature for the two-group design. The approach is based on the Neyman-Rubin-Holland potential outcomes framework that underlies experiments (Holland, 1986; Neyman, 1923, Rubin, 1974, 1977). The paper considers both non-clustered and clustered designs as well as designs with blocking and baseline covariates. The paper also discusses how design-based ATE estimators for the two-group design need to be modified for the multi-armed design when comparing pairs of research groups to each other. This paper presents an empirical example using data from a multi-armed RCT testing the effects of various supplemental reading interventions. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]
Does Readiness for Eighth-Grade Algebra Matter?: A Quasi-Experimental, Multi-Site Analysis of Short- and Longer-Term Outcomes
Author: Sorensen, Nicholas
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: School Readiness,Grade 8,Algebra,Mathematics Instruction,Outcomes of Education,Instructional Effectiveness,Student Placement,Public Schools,Middle School Students,Scores

Enrollment in eighth-grade algebra doubled from the 1990s to 2012 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013) as research demonstrated that Algebra I operates as a &quot;gateway&quot; to advanced mathematics courses in high school (Adelman, 2006), and that students who succeed in Algebra I in middle school have more success in mathematics throughout high school. However, prior work was heavily prone to selection bias, focusing on high-performing students. Other work examines outcomes of taking eighth-grade algebra for students with different levels of readiness and highlights negative effects for average or lower performing students (e.g., reduced test scores [Loveless, 2008], decreased likelihood of passing geometry by Grade 11 and Algebra II by Grade 12 [Clotfelter, Ladd, &amp; Vigdor, 2013]). However, these studies have important limitations; they focus on district(s) within one state and/or only examine short-term outcomes,and no study examines graduation outcomes among average and lower-performing students. Given rapid expansion of access to eighth-grade algebra, the need to examine short- and longer-term outcomes for &quot;all&quot; students is urgent. To address this gap, the authors conducted an exploration study to examine the following research questions in two distinct districts: (1) What is the &quot;impact&quot; of placement into eighth-grade algebra on short-term outcomes (attendance, math course performance) across the transition to high school, and on longer-term high school milestones (completing math course requirements, graduation)?; and (2) To what extent do &quot;impacts&quot; of placement into eighth-grade algebra vary for students with different levels of prior readiness? Although placement in eighth-grade algebra may initially result in lower math course performance in eighth-grade, the authors observed consistently positive, and no negative impacts for students in high school. Positive impacts on course performance and graduation were sometimes larger for students who did not attain the highest prior math course grades or test scores, and positive impacts on completion of math course requirements before eleventh grade were larger for higher performing students. Relatively few students with the lowest math course grades or test scores in seventh grade took algebra in eighth grade, limiting generalizability for these students. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]