ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
The Nation's Report Card: What Every Parent Should Know about NAEP. NCES 2012-469
Author: National Center for Education Statistics (ED)
Date: 2012-06-20
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: National Competency Tests,Academic Achievement,Test Results,Reports,Educational Change

Parents, have you ever wondered how NAEP fits into the big picture and what its results tell us about education? Are you curious about how NAEP sparks change across the country, and what resources are available for you and your child? Find out all of this information and more in a new brochure that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has developed especially for you! &quot;The Nation's Report Card: What Every Parent Should Know about NAEP&quot; is a promotional, plain language brochure that is written to engage all parents. It introduces parents to what NAEP is and why it is valuable. It also offers a glimpse into the types of information that NAEP provides, and the resources parents can use on their own.
Marketing and Promoting Literacy with Webinars
Author: Eaton, Sarah Elaine
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Adult Education,Internet,Marketing,Computer Uses in Education,Check Lists,Guidelines,Program Development,Community Involvement,Outreach Programs,Staff Development,Volunteer Training,Online Courses,Tutoring,Literacy,Computer Mediated Communication,Synchronous Communication,Teleconferencing

This report offers practical suggestions for literacy practitioners and program administrators on how to use webinar and webcasting technologies to promote and market literacy. The report is divided into sections on how to use webinars for learners, for staff and volunteers and to engage the general community. A checklist of tips to use on the day of a webinar is also provided.
Charter Schools: Additional Federal Attention Needed to Help Protect Access for Students with Disabilities. Report to Congressional Requesters. GAO-12-543
Author: Scott, George A.
Date: 2012-06-07
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Charter Schools,Disabilities,School Effectiveness,Enrollment,Public Schools,Comparative Analysis,Educational Research,Outreach Programs,Influences,Access to Education,Special Education,Admission (School),Enrollment Management,School Districts

While the number of charter schools is growing rapidly, questions have been raised about whether charter schools are appropriately serving students with disabilities. GAO was asked: (1) How do enrollment levels of students with disabilities in charter schools and traditional public schools compare, and what is known about the factors that may contribute to any differences? (2) How do charter schools reach out to students with disabilities and what special education services do charter schools provide? (3) What role do Education, state educational agencies, and other entities that oversee charter schools play in ensuring students with disabilities have access to charter schools? GAO analyzed federal data on the number and characteristics of students with disabilities; visited charter schools and school districts in three states selected on the basis of the number of charter schools in the state, among other things; and interviewed representatives of federal, state, and other agencies that oversee charter schools. GAO recommends that the Secretary of Education take measures to help charter schools recognize practices that may affect enrollment of students with disabilities by updating existing guidance and conducting additional fact finding and research to identify factors affecting enrollment levels of these students in charter schools. Education agreed with our recommendations. Appended are: (1) Scope and Methodology; (2) Additional Analysis; (3) Additional Data; (4) Comments from the U.S. Department of Education; and (5) GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments. (Contains 7 figures, 2 tables and 26 footnotes.)
Higher Education: Improved Tax Information Could Help Families Pay for College. Report to the Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate. GAO-12-560
Author: White, James R.
Date: 2012-05-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Higher Education,Federal Government,Student Financial Aid,Paying for College,Eligibility,Tax Credits,Expertise,Expenditures,Helping Relationship,Program Evaluation,Efficiency,Evaluation Research,Information Dissemination,Outreach Programs

The federal government provides billions of dollars in assistance each year to students and families through federal student aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and through tax expenditures, such as credits and deductions. GAO was asked to (1) describe the size and distribution of Title IV student aid and tax expenditures available to assist students and families with higher education expenses; (2) assess the extent to which tax filers select higher education provisions that maximize their tax benefit; (3) summarize what is known about the effect of student aid and tax expenditures on student outcomes; and (4) describe factors that contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of federal student assistance programs. GAO analyzed data from Education, IRS, and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, and conducted a literature review for original empirical research. GAO also developed a framework for evaluating federal assistance and validated it with recognized experts of higher education finance. GAO recommends (1) that IRS and Education work together to develop a strategy to improve information provided to tax filers who appear eligible to claim a tax provision but do not and (2) that Education sponsor and conduct evaluative research into the effects of Title IV programs and tax expenditures at improving student outcomes. Education and IRS agreed with GAO's recommendations. Education noted that while it does not have access to tax data, it will work with IRS to assist in taxpayer outreach. Appended are: (1) Objectives, Scope, and Methodology; (2) Descriptions of Title IV Programs and Higher Education-Related Tax Expenditures; (3) Text to Accompany Interactive Figures 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8; (4) Comments from the Department of Education; (5) Comments from the Internal Revenue Service; and (6) GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments. A bibliography is included. (Contains 14 tables, 8 figures and 62 footnotes.)
An Analysis of the Use and Validity of Test-Based Teacher Evaluations Reported by the &quot;Los Angeles Times&quot;: 2011
Author: Durso, Catherine S.
Date: 2012-06-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: School Effectiveness,Teacher Effectiveness,Newspapers,News Reporting,Statistical Studies,Classification,Standardized Tests,Mathematics,Language Arts,Academic Achievement,Teacher Influence,Educational Testing,Scores,Achievement Gains,Teacher Evaluation,Elementary Education,Grade 3,Grade 4,Grade 5

In May of 2011, the &quot;Los Angeles Times&quot; published, for the second time, results of statistical studies examining the variation in teacher and school performance in the Los Angeles Unified School District, based on the California Standards Tests for math and English Language Arts (ELA). The studies use data from the seven academic years ending in 2009-2010. The &quot;Times&quot; published teachers' names along with their effect estimates. These estimates were then used to classify teachers into five categories: least effective; less effective; average; more effective; and most effective. The &quot;Los Angeles Times&quot; previously published the results of statistical analyses designed to address the same issues in August, 2010, using data from the period 2003-2009. The earlier analyses were reviewed by Briggs and Domingue, who identified several serious concerns. Yet the more recent analyses differ from the earlier ones in important ways and merit separate review. Accordingly, the focus in this review is on the properties of the teacher effects estimated in the more recent study. Technical Appendix is included. (Contains 9 figures and 39 notes and references.)
The Faculty Inquiry Network: Inquiry-Based Professional Development as a Catalyst for Innovative Teaching, Enhanced Student Performance, and Institutional Reform
Author: Petrides, Lisa
Date: 2011-11-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Educational Change,Faculty Development,Professional Development,College Faculty,Inquiry,Educational Innovation,Organizational Change,Academic Achievement,Student Improvement,Teaching Methods,Mixed Methods Research,Interviews,Observation,Outcomes of Education,Student Surveys,Teacher Surveys,Educational Policy,Community Colleges,Higher Education

This paper reports the findings from a research study conducted by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) in partnership with the Faculty Inquiry Network (FIN), a professional development program designed to engage faculty at 18 colleges across California. Participants were FIN faculty teams involved in iterative data-informed inquiry, with the goal of faculty gaining an improved understanding of pedagogical practices that positively impact student learning. Over the course of two years, the study examined the impact of faculty participation in FIN as a way to examine linkages between inquiry-based faculty professional development, faculty adoption of data-informed pedagogical approaches to basic skills education, and improved student learning. ISKME employed a mixed methodological approach, involving interviews, observations, site visits, artifact analysis, and a survey. The study found faculty adoption of enhanced data use practices, and subsequent implementation of student-centered teaching practices with improved student learning outcomes. In addition, the study found successful faculty advocacy for institutional program and policy reform. This paper also offers recommendations for administering future inquiry-based professional development programs for community college faculty. (Contains 7 tables and 3 footnotes.)
Learning Style Preferences of Student Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Perspective
Author: Sywelem, Mohamed
Date: 2012-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Student Teachers,Cognitive Style,Cross Cultural Studies,Foreign Countries,Educational Research,Cultural Differences,Preferences,Comparative Education,Teacher Education Programs,Psychometrics,Student Surveys,Learning Strategies

All students learn, but not all learn in the same way. Educational researchers postulate that everyone has a learning style. This article examines how cultural variability is reflected in the learning style of students in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United States. In this study, the learning styles of over 300 students in Teacher Education Institutions in Egypt; Saudi Arabia and United States of America were examined with What's My Learning Style? Instrument developed by Steinbach (1993). (Contains 11 tables and 2 figures.)
Meeting the Challenges of Fiscal and Programmatic Sustainability: Lessons from Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees. The Harvesting Project
Author: Schuermann, Patrick
Date: 2011-08-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Teaching (Occupation),Compensation (Remuneration),Incentive Grants,Program Development,Sustainability,Fiscal Capacity,Performance Based Assessment,Educational Finance,Technical Assistance,School Culture,Charter Schools,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation,Program Effectiveness,Economic Impact

A total of 33 sites, including states, school districts, charter school coalitions, and other education organizations make up Cohorts 1 and 2 of the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF). These sites received funds beginning in the fall of 2006 and spring of 2007 to redesign compensation programs for teachers and principals. The U.S. Department of Education named a third cohort of TIF grantees on September 23, 2010. TIF grantees have confronted numerous challenges as they have worked to design and implement new performance-based compensation programs. These challenges include effectively engaging and communicating with stakeholders, developing a set of measures to assess teacher and principal effectiveness, and ensuring that data quality procedures are in place for such high-stakes decisions. As Cohort 1 and 2 grantees near the end of their five-year Federal funding period, fiscally and programmatically sustaining TIF programs has become a top priority. This paper describes the ways in which TIF grantees have approached fiscal and programmatic sustainability. The paper draws from multiple sources, including TIF program monitoring reports, Center for Educator Compensation Reform (CECR) technical assistance notes, grantees' internal and external evaluations, and interviews with selected grantees. The authors reviewed and analyzed these data with an eye toward shedding light on the following issues: (1) What fiscal and programmatic sustainability challenges have TIF grantees faced?;   (2) What approaches to fiscal and programmatic sustainability have grantees taken?; and (3) What lessons can grantees learn about sustaining performance-based compensation systems in the current economic climate? This paper uses named grantees in describing examples of sustainability efforts. A few examples also use non-TIF sites that have developed innovative new compensation programs. Wherever the authors use examples, they are illustrative, not exhaustive, as the particular historic, economic, and political context of each district offers nuanced challenges and solutions. One goal of the brief is to share what has worked for some grantees as a means of helping Cohort 1 and 2 grantees sustain performance-based compensation after their grants end. Another aim is to help new TIF grantees develop their programs with an eye toward sustainability. Before beginning to answer the three focus questions that frame this paper, the authors first take up the issue of defining &quot;fiscal&quot; and &quot;programmatic&quot; sustainability. A list of data sources is provided. (Contains 4 tables and 5 footnotes.
Performance-Based Compensation Structures: Considerations for Individual, Group, and Hybrid Programs. Emerging Issues. Report No. 2
Author: Potemski, Amy
Date: 2011-06-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Program Effectiveness,Educational Change,Rewards,Program Evaluation,Teacher Salaries,Compensation (Remuneration),Merit Pay,Stakeholders,Group Behavior,Groups,Teacher Evaluation,Measures (Individuals),Incentives,Teacher Effectiveness,School Districts,Validity,Reliability,Special Education

A significant number of educator compensation reform efforts are under way throughout the country. These school-, district-, and state-level programs come in all shapes and sizes--some are small and focus only on a cohort of teachers or schools, whereas others are large and target entire districts or groups of districts. The structure of these compensation incentives varies substantially across these reform programs, ranging from individual educators who receive awards for their performance to rewards based solely on group performance. This variation in the structure of performance-based compensation programs is one of the most nuanced, least understood, and rarely discussed aspects of compensation reform efforts. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to assist the stakeholders in alternative compensation initiatives to better understand the ways in which they can structure performance incentives in the context of their intended outcomes, local culture, and available options for measuring educator and student performance. With this information, stakeholders can select the reward structure most suitable for the needs of their specific education system. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [For "Alternative Compensation Terminology: Considerations for Education Stakeholders, Policymakers, and the Media. Emerging Issues. Report No. 2," see ED533047. Note: The full text of this report is mislabeled as "Report No. 2."]
Resolving Some Issues in Using Value-Added Measures of Productivity for School and Teacher Incentives: Ideas from Technical Assistance and TIF Grantee Experience. The Harvesting Project
Author: Milanowski, Anthony
Date: 2011-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Teaching (Occupation),Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Effectiveness,Incentives,Measures (Individuals),Productivity,Models,Program Effectiveness,Educational Testing,Achievement Gains,Educational Improvement,Compensation (Remuneration),Educational Change,Technical Assistance,Teacher Student Relationship,Scores,Research Methodology

Although many researchers and policy analysts (e.g., Harris, Glazerman et al., 2011; 2010) consider value-added to be the state of the art in school and teacher productivity measurement, only a minority of Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Round 1 and 2 grantees used value-added as a measure of school or teacher performance. Fourteen of the 34 grantees proposed to use school-level value-added and were using this for the 2009-10 school year. Thirteen proposed to use classroom value-added, but in the 2009-10 school year, only 10 did so. Why did more grantees not use value added? The author and his colleagues found in their initial harvesting work that one of the main reasons for this was lack of appropriate administrative databases with links between teachers and students (Milanowski, Witham, Schuermann, Kimball, &amp; Pietryka, 2010). Watson, Witham, and St. Louis (2010) discuss this issue in the companion Harvesting Project paper (2010). But there were other difficulties as well, including limited grantee capacity to develop and run complex value-added models, low buy-in from some stakeholders, schools or districts too small to develop meaningful value-added estimates, perceived lack of compatibility with state Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) models or accountability systems, and simply a lack of comfort with the complexity of the technology needed to operate a performance-based compensation system (PBCS). In order to assist those who might be thinking about using value-added productivity measures as part of a PBCS, this harvesting paper discusses four barriers TIF 1 and 2 grantees have encountered and how they were addressed: (1) Concerns about the &quot;right&quot; value-added model; (2) Uncertainty of value-added estimates for smaller schools and classrooms; (3) Applying value-added when there are very few schools or classrooms to compare; and (4) Setting appropriate cutoffs for bonus payments. (Contains 2 tables and 13 footnotes.)
Observations of Teachers' Classroom Performance
Author: Milanowski, Anthony T.
Date: 2007-00-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Feedback (Response),Employees,Observation,Academic Achievement,Teaching (Occupation),Teacher Competencies,Teaching Skills,Job Performance,Teacher Behavior,Teacher Effectiveness,Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Salaries,Merit Pay,Program Design,Rating Scales,Scoring Rubrics,Performance Based Assessment,Principals,Evaluators,Research Skills,Accountability

Advantages of using classroom observation as another measure of teacher performance include: (1) It is applicable to jobs where performance measures based on outcomes are hard to develop or where outcomes cannot be assigned to an individual person; (2) It ensures that important aspects of performance that go beyond measured outcomes, such as how the outcomes are achieved, are taken into account; (3) It focuses on aspects of performance most likely to be in employees' control--their own behavior--which helps teachers understand the connection between their performance and their pay; (4) It gives employees credit for their efforts when circumstances outside their control prevent achieving success, as defined by student test scores or other outcome measures; and (5) It can provide formative feedback to employees on what they can do to achieve important outcomes (e.g., behaviors, task strategies). Because of these strengths, most organizations, including educational organizations, will want to use both outcome-based performance measures and classroom observations in their efforts to improve educator performance and hold educators accountable. Most organizations already have a formal performance evaluation system, and therefore this module does not cover the basics of setting up these systems--books by Danielson and McGreal and by Stronge and Tucker provide basic information on system design. Rather, this article is a guide for using observations of educator performance as a basis for educator compensation. (Contains 1 footnote, 3 exhibits and 17 endnotes.)
Evaluating Student-Teacher Linkage Data in Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Sites: Acquisition, Verification, and System Development. The Harvesting Project
Author: Watson, Jeffery
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Teaching (Occupation),Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Effectiveness,Incentive Grants,Measures (Individuals),Productivity,Correlation,Compensation (Remuneration),Educational Change,Teacher Student Relationship,Research Methodology,Data,Validity

The U.S. Department of Education Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) seeks to transform education compensation systems so that principal and teacher performance (measured through classroom productivity measures) connects to compensation. Classroom-level productivity measures require robust student-teacher linkage data. Organizations such as the Value-Added Research Center, the Data Quality Campaign, and Battelle for Kids have recently been paying a great deal of attention to data quality. This paper presents findings from an exploratory study of eight TIF grantees and discusses how they acquired, verified, and managed their student-teacher linkage data through system development. Findings suggest that (a) grantees have multiple avenues for linkage data acquisition, and (b) all TIF grantees must devote considerable effort to verifying the validity of student-teacher linkage data. Furthermore, most of the TIF grantees included in this study are making progress in system development. This paper summarizes findings as a series of six lessons learned that may inform future and on-going compensation reform projects. A bibliography is included. (Contains 2 tables and 2 footnotes.)