ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Forum on Implementing Accessibility Frameworks for ALL Students
Author: Warren, S.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Accessibility (for Disabled),Access to Education,English Language Learners,Student Needs,Special Education,General Education,Conferences (Gatherings),Academic Accommodations (Disabilities),Barriers,Problem Solving,Academic Support Services,Professional Development,Program Implementation

Sixty individuals representing staff from state departments of education, school districts, other countries, testing and testing-related companies, and other educational organizations participated in a forum on June 22, 2015 in San Diego, California, to discuss implementing accessibility frameworks for all students, including students in general education, students who are English language learners (ELLs), and students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans. The forum was a pre-session to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) National Conference on Student Assessment (NCSA), and was a collaboration of the Assessing Special Education Students (ASES) State Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) and the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). This report summarizes the introductory information provided to forum participants, its main purpose is to describe the panel presentations and the facilitated forum discussions. Summaries of the panel presentations were developed from notes taken during the presentations, and from the presenters' slides. Summaries of the facilitated discussions were developed from notes taken by notetakers. Participants were encouraged to comment and discuss freely, with assurances that no individual's name, nor any state, company, or organization would be attached to comments that were made.
The Early Childhood Educator Preparation Innovation Grant: Lessons from Initial Implementation. Policy Research: IERC 2015-2
Author: Lichtenberger, Eric J.
Date: 2015-05-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Early Childhood Education,Teacher Education Programs,Grants,Innovation,Program Implementation,Partnerships in Education,Performance Factors,Sustainability,Educational Practices,Educational Change,Telephone Surveys,Interviews,Change Strategies,Articulation (Education),Intercollegiate Cooperation,Institutional Characteristics,Guidance Programs,Student Characteristics,Technology Uses in Education,Enrollment,Systems Development,Transitional Programs,Advanced Placement Programs,Cultural Relevance,Program Proposals,College Programs,Qualitative Research,Federal Legislation,Federal Aid,Federal Programs,Educational Legislation

The main goals of this implementation study were to: (1) examine how the grant recipients were implementing the changes set forth in their grant proposals; (2) identify initial barriers to implementation of grant activities; (3) identify catalysts that aided in goal attainment and/or partnership development; and (4) consider the sustainability of the impact of the grant-related activities. Through structured telephone interviews, a brief description of major activities associated with the grant; catalysts and/or levers enhancing grant activities; barriers inhibiting implementation of grant activities; and successful strategies utilized to overcome barriers were solicited. There was also a specific emphasis on articulation activities within the partnerships, as articulation was considered a foundational component of the Educator Preparation Program Innovation (EPPI) grants. This implementation study reveals the barriers to project-specific goal attainment and the catalysts that allowed the partnerships to meet their objectives. This research is informative for policy development specific to articulation agreements, current and future early childhood innovation grantees, as well as others attempting to build stronger and more authentic partnerships between community colleges and four-year institutions. Appended are: (1) Basic Interview Protocol; (2) Table B1: Representative Summaries or Quotes within the Institutional Barriers Theme; (3) Table B2: Representative Summaries or Quotes within the Systemic Barriers Theme; (4) Table B3: Representative Summaries or Quotes within the Catalysts Theme; (5) Table B4: Representative Summaries or Quotes within the Potential Long-Term Impacts Theme; (6) Table B5: Representative Summaries or Quotes within the Mediating Impacts Theme; and (7) Table B6: Representative Summaries or Quotes within the Frameworks Theme.
Restructuring Principal Preparation in Illinois: Perspectives on Implementation Successes, Challenges, and Future Outlook. Policy Research: IERC 2015-3
Author: Klostermann, Brenda K.
Date: 2015-09-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Principals,Administrator Education,Educational Change,Educational Practices,Success,Program Implementation,Barriers,Program Evaluation,Interviews,Educational Policy,Strategic Planning,Partnerships in Education,Academic Standards,Enrollment,Educational Resources,Leadership Training,Sustainability,Program Attitudes,Mixed Methods Research,Educational Legislation

In June 2010, the Illinois General Assembly passed Public Act 96-0903, a sweeping restructuring of the preparation of school principals and assistant principals that represented 10 years of effort from a broad coalition of stakeholders. The restructuring in Illinois was part of a movement nationwide to provide stronger training for principals in order to better equip them to direct instructional change and lead schools that produce high levels of student achievement. This study, examining the initial implementation of the new policy lays the groundwork for the subsequent evaluation studies which will examine the impact of the new policy. Results of phase one of a implementation review study of Illinois' new policy for principal preparation indicate that a majority of those interviewed support the policy goals and have a positive outlook on its future impact. Concerns about a constricted pipeline and strained resources were also expressed. Future policy implications are suggested. Appended are: (1) I-PREP Advisory Board; (2) Study Methodology; and (3) Statewide Scan Interview Protocol.
The Impact of Faculty Development on Teacher Self-Efficacy, Skills and Perspectives. Policy Research: IERC FFR 2015-1
Author: Rowbotham, Melodie A.
Date: 2015-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Faculty Development,Teacher Effectiveness,Self Efficacy,Teaching Skills,Satisfaction,Teacher Attitudes,Statistical Significance,Teacher Competencies,Likert Scales,Statistical Analysis,Quasiexperimental Design

Continued employment and advancement for faculty members depends upon growth in teaching practices; thus, there is a need for faculty across all disciplines to understand best instructional practices and the strategies that develop effective teaching behaviors and skills. While faculty members at the university level are considered experts in their field of study, many may not have been trained in practices of effective teaching, how to share their expertise, or how to improve their teaching. The induction and mentoring of faculty members is often overlooked in higher education, but many faculty members report they struggle with the teaching aspects of their responsibilities (Sorcinelli, 2000). Creation and evaluation of a faculty development program can aid in the formation of best instructional practices and increase the competency of faculty in meeting the challenges of educating students. The changing demands on faculty members, under-developed teaching skills, increased attention to student learning and teaching, and decreased satisfaction with teaching spurred the development of the current project. This study examined the relationship of faculty development on teaching to faculty self-assessment of teaching skills and their teacher self-efficacy. Appended are: (1) Summer Immersion Schedule; and (2) Welcome &amp; Overview of Faculty Development.
Opt-Outs: What Is Lost When Students Do Not Test. Issue Brief
Author: Croft, Michelle
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Achievement Tests,Educational Assessment,Student Participation,Incidence,Accuracy,Data Collection,Educational Improvement,Educational Quality,Program Evaluation,Testing,Parent Participation,Educational Policy,Accountability

Scores on annual statewide achievement tests can provide parents, students, educators, and policymakers with valuable information--but only if students participate. This issue brief provides the background about recent increases in (and efforts to expand) the number of students opting out of statewide assessments, describes the information and data quality lost when students do not participate in statewide annual testing, and offers recommendations for reducing opt-outs and their negative effects.
The Condition of STEM 2015. National
Author: ACT, Inc.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: STEM Education,College Entrance Examinations,Science Interests,Student Interests,Majors (Students),Science Achievement,Occupational Aspiration,Academic Aspiration,Mathematics Achievement,College Readiness,Gender Differences,Teaching (Occupation),High School Graduates,Reading Achievement,Language Arts,English,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,African American Students,Asian American Students,American Indian Students,Pacific Islanders,Hispanic American Students,White Students,Multiracial Persons,Parent Background,Computer Science,Medicine,Allied Health Occupations,Engineering,Information Technology,Geographic Location

ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends since 1959. Each August, ACT releases The Condition of College &amp; Career Readiness (www.act.org/newsroom/data/2015), an annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, a record 59% of the 2015 graduating class took the ACT® test. The continued increase in the number of ACT test takers enhances the breadth and depth of their data pool, providing a comprehensive picture of the current college readiness levels of the graduating class as well as offering a glimpse of the emerging general and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education pipeline in the United States. It also allows ACT to review various aspects of the ACT-tested 2015 graduating class. This report reviews the graduating class in the context of STEM-related fields. ACT is uniquely positioned to deliver this report for two key reasons. First is their commitment to science through the inclusion of science tests in our assessments. ACT leadership is unmatched in providing a definitive assessment in the science area. Second is the research-based ACT Interest Inventory, which is delivered with the ACT and measures students' interest in a wide range of educational and occupational fields. This report shows that, over the past several years, about half of US high school graduates have expressed interest in STEM majors and careers. Meanwhile, college readiness levels in math and science are higher for STEM-interested students than for ACT-tested students overall. [For &quot;The Condition of STEM 2014. National,&quot; see ED555600.]
Differential Grading: Meta-Analyses of STEM and Non-STEM Fields, Gender, and Institutional Admission Selectivity. ACT Research Report Series 2015 (7)
Author: Westrick, Paul A.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Grading,Student Evaluation,STEM Education,Meta Analysis,Gender Differences,Selective Admission,Undergraduate Students,Postsecondary Education,Majors (Students),Grade Point Average,Comparative Analysis,Academic Ability,Hypothesis Testing,Effect Size,Scores,Credibility,Intervals,Academic Achievement,Validity,Hierarchical Linear Modeling,Student Participation,Biological Sciences,College Entrance Examinations

This study examined the effects of differential grading in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and non-STEM fields over eight consecutive semesters. Using data from 62,122 students at 26 four-year postsecondary institutions, students were subdivided by institutional admission selectivity levels, gender, and student major categories (SMC): STEM-Quantitative, STEM-Biological, and non-STEM. Estimated mean differences (d) in semester grade point averages (GPAs) between groups were calculated over eight semesters using meta-analytic techniques. Within the same gender and institutional admission selectivity level, the average GPA of STEM majors was higher than that of their non-STEM counterparts in the first semester, but average GPA gaps generally decreased over the following semesters. Practically significant differences extended beyond the first year for most of the STEM-Biological versus non-STEM comparisons, however. Institutional admission selectivity and gender moderated the results for the STEM-Quantitative versus non-STEM comparisons and the STEM-Biological versus non-STEM comparisons. Given the differences in male and female participation rates within the STEM fields, gender comparisons were also conducted. The average GPA of female students was higher than the average GPA of male students, but SMC and admission selectivity moderated the results. The STEM-Biological semester GPA comparisons generally indicated no practically significant differences between male and female students' average GPAs. Supplemental tables are appended.
Statistical Properties of School Value-Added Scores Based on Assessments of College Readiness. ACT Research Report Series. 2015 (5)
Author: Bassiri, Dina
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Value Added Models,College Readiness,Statistics,Grade 8,Grade 9,Grade 10,Grade 11,Grade 12,School Effectiveness,High Schools,Academic Achievement,Institutional Characteristics,Correlation,Reliability,Scores,Minority Group Students,Poverty,Career Readiness,High School Students

The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) known as No Child Left Behind and more recent federal initiatives such as Race to the Top and the ESEA flexibility waiver have brought student growth to the forefront of education reform for assessing school and teacher effectiveness. This study examined growth projections and school value-added scores that are based on the ACT college and career readiness system for different growth periods (grades 8-10, 9-10, 10-11, 10-12, and 8-12). For this report, I investigated methodological questions related to value-added modeling. The analyses are based on large samples of students who took two or more of the tests in the ACT college and career readiness system in grades 8, 9, 10, and 11/12, respectively. For each growth period, I examined high schools' effects on student achievement in English, mathematics, reading, and science by controlling for prior test scores and varying time between tests. Across the various growth periods, I found differences in the variance of school effects (value-added scores), as well as differences among types of schools in the proportion of their students classified as significantly above or below average. Most school effects were not significantly different from the average school effect and could not usually be distinguished from average with confidence. This was more often the case for small schools than for large schools. I found evidence of consistency in value-added scores by examining same-year and same-cohort correlations for different growth periods and by examining correlations of value-added scores for adjacent cohorts (one, two, and three years apart) at the same schools. Value-added scores based on grades 8-12 data show greater reliability over time. The grades 8-12 data also generated value-added scores that perform better than scores based on shorter growth periods in terms of differentiating schools and achieving statistical significance with smaller sample size. I also found positive associations between value-added scores and mean prior academic achievement and an inverse relationship with school poverty level and the proportion of racial/ethnic minority students. Generally, compared to other school characteristics, grade level enrollment and the proportion of students tested had weaker associations with value-added measures. Overall, the relationships of school characteristics and value-added scores suggest that different types of schools would be expected to have different mean value-added scores. The following are appended: (1) Tables and figures; and (2) A description of the statistical procedure used.
Career Readiness in the United States 2015. ACT Insights in Education and Work
Author: LeFebvre, Mary
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Career Readiness,Benchmarking,Occupations,Career Education,Job Skills,Critical Thinking,Problem Solving,Trend Analysis,Occupational Clusters,Agricultural Occupations,Architecture,Construction Industry,Fine Arts,Business Administration Education,Teaching (Occupation),Government Employees,Occupational Information,Public Administration Education,Health Occupations,Hospitality Occupations,Tourism,Marketing,Sales Occupations,Manufacturing Industry,STEM Education,Science Careers,Academic Standards

ACT has conducted over 20,000 job analyses for occupations across a diverse array of industries and occupations since 1993. This report highlights the levels of career readiness for various subgroups of ACT Work Keys® examinees in the United States and provides career readiness benchmarks for selected ACT WorkKeys cognitive skills by career cluster. Career readiness is defined as the academic skills and performance level of those skills required for readiness in jobs within a particular career cluster. Career clusters are groupings of occupations that are used by education/training providers to develop coursework, programs of study and career navigation tools for students in both secondary and postsecondary education settings. ACT WorkKeys cognitive assessments measure the workplace skills critical to job success as well as the reasoning, critical thinking, and problem-solving techniques to solve work-related problems. The data represent ACT WorkKeys examinees in the United States from 2010-2014. Most examinee data are presented in aggregate form over the 2010-2014 time period. The purpose of aggregated data is to encourage focus on trends, not year-to-year changes, which can represent normal-even expected-fluctuations in data. Studying trend lines-rather than data from a single year offers more insight into what is happening in a region, state, or the nation.
Using Dual Enrollment to Improve the Educational Outcomes of High School Students. Policy Brief
Author: ACT, Inc.
Date: 2015-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Dual Enrollment,High School Students,Outcomes of Education,College Credits,College Readiness,Program Effectiveness,Educational Finance,Equal Education,Incentives,Secondary School Teachers,Access to Education

This report describes ACT's multiyear commitment to increasing the number of eligible high school students enrolled in dual enrollment programs across the nation. The report also offers four policy recommendations to expand dual enrollment programs, as well as examples of each from selected states. [The following organizations collaborated with ACT, Inc. on the development of this paper: American Association of Community Colleges, Council of Chief State School Officers, Education Commission of the States, National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, and National Governors Association.]
The Condition of College &amp; Career Readiness 2015: National
Author: ACT, Inc.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: College Readiness,Career Readiness,Core Curriculum,College Preparation,Majors (Students),Academic Achievement,Occupational Aspiration,Academic Aspiration,Educational Attainment,Academic Standards,African American Students,Alignment (Education),American Indian Students,Asian American Students,Benchmarking,College Bound Students,College Entrance Examinations,Comparative Analysis,Economic Development,Educational Assessment,Educational Improvement,Educational Needs,Educational Practices,Educational Policy,English Instruction,Ethnicity,High School Graduates,Higher Education,Hispanic American Students,Mathematics Instruction,Pacific Islanders,Postsecondary Education,Race,Reading Instruction,Science Instruction,Scores,Secondary Education,State Standards,Student Behavior,White Students,Difficulty Level,Tables (Data),Predictor Variables,Outcomes of Education

This report is the ACT annual report on the progress of U.S. high school graduates relative to college readiness. This year's report shows that 59% of students in the 2015 U.S. graduating class took the ACT® test, up from 57% last year and 49% in 2011. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth of the data pool, providing a comprehensive picture of the current graduating class in the context of college readiness as well as offering a glimpse at the emerging educational pipeline. This report is designed to help educators understand and answer the following questions: (1) Are your students graduating from high school prepared for college and career?; (2) Are enough of your students taking core courses necessary to be prepared for success, and are those courses rigorous enough?; (3) What are the most popular majors/occupations, and what does the pipeline for each look like?; and (4) What other dimensions of college and career readiness, outside of academic readiness, should educators measure and track? The following key findings are discussed: (1) graduating class representation; (2) academic achievement; (3) opportunity for growth; (4) student aspirations; and (5) next steps for improving college and career readiness of students. [For the 2014 report, see ED558038.]
Students' Career Interests and Understanding about Occupations: A Study Using Whyville Players' Behavioral Data. Issue Brief
Author: Li, Yaoran
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Student Interests,Vocational Interests,Occupational Aspiration,Student Behavior,Work Attitudes,Adolescent Attitudes,Cluster Grouping,Gender Differences,Preferences,Attitude Measures

This Issue Brief summarizes data collected from the ACT Career Club in Whyville, a leading educational virtual world for children ages 8-15, with an emphasis on student behavior within the CareerQuest room. We try to use visitors' behavior to understand the development of adolescents' career interests and understanding about occupations. Supplemental tables are appended.