ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
A Quantitative Assessment of Skills and Competencies in Graduates of At-Risk High Schools
Author: Williams, Charles Jerry, Jr.
Date: 2012-03-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Subjects: High Schools,Disadvantaged Schools,High School Graduates,Skills,Competence,Careers,Readiness,Education Work Relationship,Work Experience,Statistical Analysis,Graduate Surveys

The willingness to work and a high school diploma were once all that was needed to start one's career. The problem is that on the twentieth anniversary of the reports by the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS), high school graduates may still lack what business and education leaders require for success in entry-level employment or post-secondary studies. The research question included understanding how prepared graduates from at-risk high schools are for post-secondary work or study. The study used a Likert-scaled survey to assess participant work readiness in 36 skill or competency areas. The sample consisted of recent graduates from three at-risk high schools in one school district. Graduate responses to the survey indicated that 64% were not work ready. Statistically, results were consistent with the SCANS report that indicated that 51% of all American high school graduates were underprepared. Pearson correlations were detected between the graduates' level of academic study (i.e., special education, tech-prep, college-prep, or honors) and work-readiness, and between pre-graduation work-experience and work-readiness. Implications for positive social change include improved graduate work readiness. The following are appended: (1) Work-Readiness Assessment Instrument; (2) WAI Scoring Guides (Old Version and New Version); (3) Letter of Invitation and Informed Consent; (4) National Institutes of Health (NIH) Certificate; (5) Reminder Postcard; (6) Sample Results from the Online WAI [Work-Readiness Assessment Instrument] Survey; (7) Justification Provided on the WAI; and (8) Wr-scores [work-readiness scores] and b-scores [bias self-evaluation scores]. (Contains 16 tables.)
Characteristics of Single-Case Designs Used to Assess Intervention Effects in 2008
Author: Shadish, William R.
Date: 2011-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Research Design,Intervention,Periodicals,Educational Research,Behavioral Science Research,Psychological Studies,Correlation

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of a representative sample of single-case designs that appear in the published literature. The study located, digitized, and coded all 809 single-case designs appearing in 113 studies in the year 2008 in 21 journals in a variety of fields in psychology and education. Coded variables included the specific kind of design, number of cases per study, number of outcomes, data points and phases per case, and autocorrelations for each case. Results indicate that although studies of the effects of interventions are a minority in these journals, within that category, single-case designs are used more frequently than randomized or nonrandomized experiments. The modal study uses a multiple-baseline design with 20 data points for each of three or four cases, where the aim of the intervention is to increase the frequency of a desired behavior; but these characteristics vary widely over studies. The average autocorrelation is near to but significantly different from zero; but autocorrelations are significantly heterogeneous. Results show that single-case designs are widely used to study the effects of interventions, and suggest that more work needs to be done to find ways to include such studies in reviews of evidence-based practice. (Contains 4 tables, 1 footnote, and 5 figures.)
A Brief Introduction to Foreign Languages Education Policy in China
Author: Zhang, Weiwen
Date: 2012-03-06
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: English Curriculum,Student Attitudes,Textbooks,Foreign Countries,English Teachers,English (Second Language),Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,Language Minorities,Educational Policy,Language Planning

Based on a series of official published documents and relevant research reports, the paper make a brief introduction to foreign languages education policies in China, which included national English teaching guidance, national English language textbooks, national English curriculum standard and the massive English teachers training program, etc. At the same time, the paper also discussed relevant issues relating to minority languages education policy in China.
State Tuition, Fees, and Financial Assistance Policies: For Public Colleges and Universities, 2010-11
Author: Bell, Allison C.
Date: 2011-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Higher Education,Public Colleges,State Agencies,Student Financial Aid,Tuition,Fees,Educational Finance,Access to Education,Costs,Financial Support,Loan Repayment,Merit Scholarships,Enrollment,Educational Philosophy,Public Policy,In State Students,Place of Residence,State Aid,State Legislation,Tax Credits,Two Year Colleges,Local Government,Policy Formation,Grants,Educational Policy,Comparative Analysis,National Surveys,Federal Legislation

This report, &quot;State Tuition, Fees, and Financial Assistance Policies for Public Colleges and Universities: 2010-11&quot;, examines the philosophies, policies, and procedures that influence decision-making regarding public college and university tuition, student fees, and student financial aid programs. This report also provides information related to general higher education affordability issues. The intent of this report is not to provide actual tuition costs, but to focus on the policies that establish those tuition, fees, and aid amounts. Other sources, including the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board, the College Board, and the National Center for Education Statistics IPEDS data, make tuition rates and revenue publicly available. This report is the seventh in a series of updates by State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) on this topic. The &quot;2010-11 State Tuition, Fees, and Financial Assistance Policies&quot; survey was administered in late summer 2010 by the national association of SHEEO. State fiscal officers from each state were invited to respond to the survey. Forty-six responses from 45 states were received. This report provides a summary of the survey responses. Michigan and New Jersey both responded that they would not be participating in this round of the survey due to ongoing policy conversations in their state. Nevada, Rhode Island, and Washington did not respond. While reviewing the report, it is important to be mindful that there are nuances of the policy process that are impossible to capture in any single survey or report. The survey responses do not fully reflect the development of the policy process over time, the intensive behind the scenes work of institutional, state agency, and legislative staff, or the hours of public discourse that go hand in hand in setting tuition, student fees, and financial assistance levels in each state. The responses broadly highlight state policies (both formal and informal), similarities and differences across the states, and how environmental factors might influence changes in these policies. The survey responses also delineate the entities that have a formal role in tuition, student fees, and financial aid policies. Appended are: (1) List of Data Providers; and (2) State Tuition, Fees, and Financial Assistance Policies 2010-2011 Survey Instrument. (Contains 13 tables and 3 footnotes.)
The School Board Wants to Know: Why Literacy Coaching?
Author: Bean, Rita
Date: 2008-07-26
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Evidence,Boards of Education,Coaching (Performance),Educational Needs,Best Practices,Training Objectives,Outcomes of Education,Literacy,Board Administrator Relationship

School board members, teachers, university faculty, school district administrators, and even literacy coaches themselves often have questions about literacy coaching. These questions generally focus on several major issues: What should literacy coaches do? What qualifications should they possess? Is the cost worth it? A key question often revolves around what evidence there is to support the presence of coaches in schools. The two questions related to cost and cost-benefit are ones that school board members often ask when faced with a proposal to support literacy coaching in schools. When asked for such funding, they often ask, "Why don't teachers have the knowledge they need to teach their students; didn't universities and colleges do their job of preparing teachers?" "Why aren't coaches working with students rather than with teachers?" "Why money for literacy coaching; we need support for the band or athletics, or... ?" "What do I tell my constituents when they ask about the cost?" As a member of the Pittsburgh Public School Board, one of the authors has heard these and other questions. He recognizes the need to inform school boards and the citizenry about what coaching is and how it can serve as a means for improving student achievement. The purpose of this brief is to provide information for school boards and administrators to help them understand literacy coaching. The authors address three major questions: What is literacy coaching? Why is there a need for coaching in the schools? What evidence do individuals have that it works? The authors conclude by discussing three key points that are essential if a coaching plan is to be implemented in a school.
Reading Coaching for Math Word Problems
Author: Edwards, Sharon A.
Date: 2009-06-30
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Numbers,Word Problems (Mathematics),Grade 4,Elementary School Teachers,Tutoring,Coaching (Performance),Change Strategies,Educational Strategies,Problem Sets,Content Area Reading,Instructional Improvement,Performance Factors,Barriers,Elementary School Mathematics,Reading Comprehension,Improvement Programs,Teacher Improvement

&quot;Math is language, too,&quot; Phyllis and David Whitin (2000) remind everyone in their informative book about reading and writing in the mathematics classroom. This means that students in elementary school math classes are learning two distinct, yet related languages--one of numbers, the other of words. These languages of numbers and words are combined in math word problems, a standard feature of the academic curriculum and a key part of high-stakes math achievement tests for all students. Math word problems are intricate language constructions--they contain unfamiliar words, complex combinations of text and numbers, and considerable amounts of information to decode and organize. Young readers who are confused and distracted by everyday language, math words, or combinations of both may know how to do the necessary math operations, yet answer incorrectly because they do not clearly comprehend what the question is asking them to do. Others may be confused about the math operations needed for the problem. Those who struggle with both the reading and the math face the biggest challenges. These youngsters are the least successful with math word problems, performing worse than students with only math difficulties or students experiencing neither reading nor math difficulties (Fuchs &amp; Fuchs, 2002). Literacy coaches charged with helping teachers support students as readers, often focus on literary texts. Less attention is given to helping teachers support students to read math. Drawing on their experiences as elementary school teachers, a college faculty member who coordinates a literacy tutoring program, and a computer scientist who works on the design of intelligent tutoring systems, the authors focus this article on strategies for addressing the reading challenges found in math word problems. Using fourth grade questions from the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test, they identify seven specific word and math language comprehension challenges. For each challenge, they propose strategies that literacy coaches and teachers can use to support students in understanding and solving math word problems. (Contains 1 figure.)
Principal Support for Literacy Coaching
Author: Kral, Cathleen Cronin
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: School Culture,Instructional Leadership,Coaching (Performance),Principals,Administrator Role,Leadership Role,Leadership Effectiveness,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Literacy,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Instructional Improvement

Educators agree that leadership by a principal profoundly affects what is accomplished at a school. This effect of leadership is particularly true when schools and districts are engaged in reform. When the reform effort impinges on school culture, the principal plays the main role in leading and supporting this change.
What Teachers Say They Changed Because of Their Coach and How They Think Their Coach Helped Them
Author: Vanderburg, Michelle
Date: 2009-01-02
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Educational Strategies,Teaching Methods,Teacher Improvement,Teacher Effectiveness,Outcomes of Education,Coaching (Performance),Professional Development,Literacy,Interviews,Participant Satisfaction,Teacher Attitudes,Educational Practices,Best Practices,Beliefs,Educational Benefits,Change Strategies,Educational Change

Many articles and books have been written advocating for the use of literacy coaches in professional development and/or describing what literacy coaches should do. Some research has been conducted on the day-to-day practices of coaches, such as, how many hours they spend doing what (Alverman, Commeyras, Cramer, &amp; Harnish, 2005; Deussen, Coskie, Robinson, &amp; Autio, 2007; Lapp, Fisher, Flood, &amp; Frey, 2003; Poglinco et al., 2003; Rainville &amp; Jones, 2008; Roller, 2006). In this cacophony of pro-coach voices, teachers--the group of people most directly impacted by coaches--have not been heard. In order to find out what teachers thought about coaches, the authors analyzed interviews which had been conducted with 35 teachers who had worked with a coach for three years. They specifically sought to understand (1) the actions coaches carry out that teachers consider helpful and (2) what specific coach-initiated changes teachers make in their beliefs and practices. The 35 teachers the authors studied were all participants in the first iteration of the South Carolina Reading Initiative, known as SCRI K-5 Phase One. All 35 teachers felt that, because of their coach, they took more risks; they tried more things than they would have tried in the past. Thirty-one of the 35 teachers mentioned how they used more authentic assessments. Because teachers knew their students' needs better through authentic assessments, they were able to individualize instruction. Most of the teachers (28 out of 35) talked about how their coaches helped them learn about the research-base behind particular instructional strategies and this led to their desire to consistently use research-based practices. Teachers had a new or renewed sense of themselves as professionals who took risks and who grounded their instructional decisions both in their knowledge of their students and in the knowledge of research and theory. Twenty-five of the 35 teachers talked about how their coach supported them in study groups as well as in their classrooms. The coaches helped teachers understand the research behind the teaching strategies they were learning about and trying in their classrooms.
It Is Not Just about Content: Preparing Content Area Teachers to Be Literacy Leaders
Author: Clary, Deidre
Date: 2008-09-15
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Content Area Reading,Reading Achievement,Secondary School Curriculum,Secondary School Students,Secondary School Teachers,Program Implementation,Improvement Programs,Reading Improvement,Program Effectiveness,Coaching (Performance),Teacher Education Programs,Teacher Effectiveness,Instructional Improvement,Literacy,Formative Evaluation

Project RAISSE, which stands for Reading Assistance Initiative for Secondary School Educators, focuses on site-based content area study groups led by a content area teacher trained as a coach/literacy leader with some roles and responsibilities commensurate with a literacy coach. The goal of Project RAISSE is to enhance students' reading achievement and instruction in high schools, to facilitate teachers' understanding of the reading process as it relates to content area reading, and to help them develop the knowledge base necessary for making informed, effective curricular and instructional decisions about reading in their classrooms. To date, two South Carolina high schools contending with poor student performance have participated in Project RAISSE. Both are located in rural settings with similarly low socio-economic environments. In this paper, the authors describe the lessons they have learned from their implementation of Project RAISSE.
Reach for the Stars: Visions for Literacy Coaching Programs
Author: DeFord, Diane
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Educational Practices,Work Experience Programs,Literacy,Coaching (Performance),Behavioral Objectives,Educational Objectives,Training Objectives,Best Practices,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Special Education,Improvement Programs,Educational Improvement

This brief by the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse is about reaching for the stars--stories of vision and commitment from educators in small and large schools. Everyone knows of people who are held up as "visionaries" throughout history: Leonardo Da Vinci, Mahatma Gandhi, Jules Verne, Thomas Edison, Susan Anthony, or John Dewey, to name a few. The authors hope the stories told here are just as useful to readers as the accounts of any of these world-renowned visionaries. (Contains 1 figure.) [This paper was written with Debra Green, Paula Miller, Ricky Millwood, and Diane Stephens.]
PLCs Meet PCs: Technology-Supported Literacy Coaching within and between Disciplines
Author: Brettschneider, Allison
Date: 2009-04-20
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Change,Secondary School Teachers,Literacy,Reading Skills,Leadership Responsibility,Coaching (Performance),Technology Uses in Education,Communities of Practice,Change Strategies,Educational Strategies,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Instructional Improvement,Teacher Collaboration,Formative Evaluation,Interdisciplinary Approach

The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory is one model for sharing literacy leadership responsibility at the secondary school level. With the help of computer technology (PCs), it brings teachers and literacy leaders from multiple departments and multiple schools together to learn from and with one another in overlapping professional learning communities (PLCs). The Collaboratory was developed in 2003 at The Education Alliance at Brown University to help middle and high school teachers of math, science, social studies, and English language arts improve their students' learning through the use of research-based literacy instruction strategies. Since it was piloted in 2003-2004, the Collaboratory model has been refined each year based on participant feedback and evaluation results. Several findings from these sources--including preliminary findings from a study of the program's impact on student reading skills--have more general implications for the structure and process of literacy coaching at the secondary school level. These are shared in this paper. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)
Professional Development Settings: More than Time, Place, Activity
Author: Rosemary, Catherine A.
Date: 2009-01-02
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,Lifelong Learning,Faculty Development,Professional Development,Teacher Educators,Teaching Methods,Literacy,Educational Environment,Concept Formation,Coaching (Performance),Change Strategies,Educational Change,Program Descriptions,Design Preferences,Instructional Design,Learning Activities,Time Perspective

Like authors who create settings as integral components of engaging narratives, thoughtful literacy coaches and other educators who plan and implement professional development consider elements of settings to engage teachers in continuous learning. Many teacher educators, researchers, administrators, literacy coaches, and K-12 teachers understand that a great deal of continuous professional learning is required to teach effectively. Well-designed professional development settings are essential to promote and support teachers' development of new content knowledge and effective instructional practice. In these types of settings, teachers engage in intellectually deep conversations and close inspections of curriculum, teaching, and student learning issues. Such settings are integral to the everyday life of successful schools. This brief places "setting" under a lens and considers the different facets of this concept. It also offers a perspective on how literacy coaches, teachers, administrators and professional development providers can think about the design features of professional development settings that center on teacher and student learning. Although the examination of setting may apply to professional development in any discipline, this brief addresses this concept in relation to professional development in literacy education. Literacy coaches face the challenge of constructing professional development that engages teachers in meaningful and continuous learning activity throughout a school year. This brief describes some ways that literacy coaches can construct settings to support and sustain professional development that make a positive difference in teacher practice and student learning.
Facilitating Teacher Study Groups
Author: Walpole, Sharon
Date: 2008-06-02
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Adult Learning,Faculty Development,Teacher Improvement,Literacy,Coaching (Performance),Communities of Practice,Study Skills,Performance Factors,Group Dynamics,Collegiality

Although literacy coaching means many different things, all coaching initiatives have one common commitment: the goal of building teacher expertise. In the authors' work as coaches and with coaches, they have relied on teacher study groups as a main strategy for accomplishing this task. Their understanding of the potential for study groups has expanded over time; their current vision combines ideas from real-world book clubs with ideas from the adult learning and professional development literature, and then adds a dash of compassion for the complex and difficult world of everyday teaching. This recipe yields a flexible set of recommendations that can help coaches launch or refresh teacher study groups.