ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Moving Meriden: In Connecticut, A Road Map for Union-District Relations
Author: Dubin, Jennifer
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational History,Unions,Labor Relations,Teachers,Academic Achievement,Superintendents,Meetings,Poverty,Faculty Development,Instructional Development,Instructional Improvement,Teacher Effectiveness,Partnerships in Education

The author describes the early relationship between the Meriden Public schools' local teacher union and the Meriden Federation of Teachers (MFT) as &quot;frosty with a lack of trust.&quot; However, in the last five years, she states, the union and the district have built a strong labor-management partnership whose focus on supporting teachers has resulted in a steady increase in student achievement--thanks to the collaborations between Erin Benham, the current president of the Meriden Federation of Teachers (MFT) (2007) and Meriden's education superintendents, Mary Cortright (2003-2010) and Mark Benigni (2010-current). The superintendents and the union president meet weekly, their deputies meet monthly, and members of the union's executive board and the superintendent's cabinet routinely call each other to establish better working relations in support of the teachers. This open line of communication between teachers and administrators has allowed them to devise ways to boost student achievement, especially in the district's high-poverty schools. While Meriden administrators and union officials engage in the usual personnel matters such as hiring and budgeting issues, much of their time is also spent on coming up with joint professional development programs to hone teacher talent. Together, the union and the district have created the &quot;Peer Coaching Program,&quot; where educators partner with each other to improve instruction; the &quot;Leadership Academy,&quot; which allows teachers to learn how to become stronger leaders in their buildings; &quot;Professional Learning Communities,&quot; where the teachers meet to review student achievement data; and the &quot;Meriden Teachers Sharing Success&quot; program, where the district's most effective teachers open up their classrooms to teachers seeking to improve their craft. Because of the city's economic challenges, union and district officials have joined forces to strengthen their schools in the hopes that public education will revitalize both the community and the local economy. Dubin concludes that the overwhelming sense of teamwork has resulted in statewide recognition. Last May (2012), Benham and Benigni both received the President's Award from AFT Connecticut, the union's highest honor.
The Bargaining Table and Beyond: How the AFT Came to Support Labor-Management Collaboration
Author: Kugler, Phil
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Labor Relations,Unions,Collective Bargaining,Educational History,Superintendents,Educational Quality,Teacher Empowerment,Cooperation,School Business Relationship

When he first came to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1973, reports Phil Kugler, there was no such thing as labor-management collaboration. It was a term he had never heard of, and no one used it. Back then, the focus was on supporting local unions in their struggles to win collective bargaining rights. At the time, teachers were fighting to achieve basic rights just to organize, so the priority was on establishing locals and helping them achieve the pay, benefits, and working conditions that teachers demanded and deserved as professionals. Growing up in the labor movement during the 1950s and 1960s, Kugler says &quot;we could not have predicted that a major focus of this great union would eventually be on strengthening labor-management relations.&quot; Kugler provides insight into the &quot;building bridges&quot; period between 1950 through the 1970&apos;s that saw the need to move labor-management collaboration forward, with the union and forward-thinking superintendents, who were then in a minority. Local leaders needed to think about ways in which they can support friendly superintendents who understand the value of collaboration and engagement. Kugler further reports on the forward movement of a successful partnership between AFT and the teachers union, based upon mutual respect, strength, and stability of leadership on both sides. The AFT&apos;s most important concern, he concludes, is ensuring that every child receives a high-quality education. Even in the current climate, which is often hostile to unions and critical of educators, educators must continue to remind the public of the overriding commitment that teachers have to this notion of students being the best they can possibly be. The teacher voice needs to be respected and listened to, for teachers are the education experts.
Letting the Text Take Center Stage: How the Common Core State Standards Will Transform English Language Arts Instruction
Author: Shanahan, Timothy
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: State Standards,Academic Standards,Language Arts,Reading Instruction,Classification,Reading Materials,Teacher Role,Critical Reading,Reading Comprehension,Reading Skills,Reading Strategies,Reader Text Relationship,Elementary School Students,High School Students

With the Common Core State Standards, instruction in English language arts will dramatically change. Unlike prior state standards, these new standards place a greater emphasis on reading challenging texts. To that end, teachers will need to support students in paying closer attention to such texts. Instead of focusing on pre-reading activities that often have little to do with the text and may inadvertently deprive students of the opportunity to enjoy reading, teachers--thanks to these new standards--will be able to move ideas in both fiction and nonfiction texts back where they belong: at the center of the reading curriculum.
Strengthening the Student Toolbox: Study Strategies to Boost Learning
Author: Dunlosky, John
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learning Strategies,Test Preparation,Time Management,Study Skills,Problem Solving,Mnemonics,Imagery,Instructional Effectiveness,Elementary School Students,Secondary School Students,College Students

Before the &quot;big test&quot; did you use the following study strategies: highlighting, rereading, and cramming? As students many of us probably did, yet research shows that while these three strategies are commonly used, they have been ineffective in retaining information. Learning strategies have been discussed in almost every textbook on educational psychology, so many teachers likely have been introduced to at least some of them, but, given the demands of day-to-day teaching, teachers do not always have time to figure out which strategies are best to use. Dunlosky reports that in his years of research he has discovered learning strategies that have proved successful and should be part of the &quot;Student Toolbox&quot; to boost learning. This article presents ten learning strategies for students and then expands on their usage. They are: (1) Practice testing: self-testing or taking practice tests on to-be-learned material; (2) Distributed practice: implementing a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time; (3) Interleaved practice: implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems, or a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session; (4) Elaborative interrogation: generating an explanation for why an explicitly stated fact or concept is true; (5) Self-explanation: explaining how new information is related to known information, or explaining steps taken during problem solving; (6) Rereading: restudying text material again after an initial reading; (7) Highlighting and underlining: marking potentially important portions of to-be-learned materials while reading.; (8) Summarization: writing summaries (of various lengths) of to-be-learned texts; (9) Keyword mnemonic: using keywords and mental imagery to associate verbal materials; and (10) Imagery for text: attempting to form mental images of text materials while reading or listening. Using learning strategies can increase student understanding and achievement, but are only effective if students are motivated to use them correctly. Teaching students how to guide their learning of content using effective strategies will allow them to successfully learn throughout their lifetime.
Teaching the March on Washington
Author: Jones, William P.
Date: 2013-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Unions,Civil Rights,Employment,United States History,Compensation (Remuneration),Group Behavior,Social Change,Racial Segregation,African Americans,Racial Discrimination,Presidents

One of the most historical events in American history, the non-violent protest &quot;March on Washington,&quot; August 28, 1963, is detailed in an article of remembrance by William P. Jones. His article  is crowned by highlights from the &quot;I Have a Dream&quot; speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but also highlights the lessor known role played by the labor movement. Many of the march&apos;s leaders were trade unionists who argued that the struggle for equal rights and decent jobs belonged not only to African Americans but to all workers. Jones reports on the nine other speeches that day, with special focus on the ones from labor leaders: A. Philip Randolph, President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Walter Reuther, President of the United Auto Workers. Charles Euchner presents a profile of &quot;Key Figures behind the March,&quot; highlighting the role of the &quot;March architect,&quot; A. Philip Randolph; the chief organizer, Bayard Rustin; and the ally and supporter, Walter Reuther. Many alive back then still remember this historic event and ask &quot;what effect did the day&apos;s events have on me? &quot;Living History&quot; provides an answer in the article from civil rights activists Norman and Velma Hill. In their interview, they share insights from the march, discuss whether the goals have been achieved, and relate their hope for racial and economic equality for all Americans. Also provided is a list of links to lesson plans developed by the Albert Shanker Institute and posted on the American Federation of Teacher&apos;s &quot;Share My Lesson&quot; website.
More Drama in School Leadership: Developing Creative and Ethical Capacities in the Next Generation of School Leaders
Author: Cranston, Jerome
Date: 2014-01-21
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Educational Administration,Drama,Ethics,Instructional Leadership,Leadership Styles,Risk,Decision Making,Stakeholders,Values,Administrators,Qualitative Research,Theater Arts,Workshops,Administrator Attitudes,Scripts,Program Effectiveness,Foreign Countries

This paper shares the outcomes derived from research conducted with the participants of an interdisciplinary workshop entitled &quot;The Drama in School Leadership&quot; that employs applied drama processes and analysis in order to understand educational ethics. Participants explore high-stakes scenarios in school leadership by taking on roles in scripted cases with an ensemble. Findings from previous research on a similar workshop had shown that these methods help develop a felt or embodied understanding of ethical decision making. The findings generated from data generated from this second, different group of participants indicated new insights about leadership style and some increased facility with actual application of ethical frameworks to cases as a result of these methods. Participants also acknowledged the parallels between creative risk-taking in applied drama and real school leadership. Finally, participants articulated that while there is indeed ambiguity associated with ethical decision making, this approach allowed them to better understand the complex, even paradoxical dynamics between stakeholders in schools.
Administrators' Views on Teacher Evaluation: Examining Ontario's Teacher Performance Appraisal
Author: Maharaj, Sachin
Date: 2014-02-13
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Administrator Attitudes,Teacher Evaluation,Teacher Education,Observation,Program Effectiveness,Program Improvement,Administrator Role,Teacher Improvement,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Educational History,Standards,Principals,Interviews,Validity,Teacher Competencies,Faculty Development,Predictor Variables,Online Surveys,Administrator Education,Teacher Effectiveness

This study examines the views of administrators (i.e., principals and vice-principals) in Ontario, Canada, with regard to the province's Teacher Performance Appraisal process. A total of 178 responses were collected from a survey that examined five areas: 1) preparation and training; 2) classroom observations; 3) preparing the formal evaluation; 4) the impact on teaching practice; and 5) improving the process. Results indicate that administrators did not receive extensive training and, of the training they did receive, most did not find it very useful. Most administrators did not feel strongly that the classroom observations adequately assessed teacher practice and most did not feel that there had been substantial improvement in teacher practice in their schools as a result of the process. The most common suggestions for improvement were to have more classroom observations, some of which are unannounced; to evaluate teachers more frequently; and to have more than two rating categories.
Métis Student Self-Identification in Ontario's K-12 Schools: Education Policy and Parents, Families, and Communities
Author: Anuik, Jonathan
Date: 2014-03-06
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Canada Natives,Identification (Psychology),Self Concept,Racial Identification,Self Disclosure (Individuals),Online Surveys,Interviews,Principals,Superintendents,Boards of Education,Mixed Methods Research,Educational Policy,Policy Formation

The mandate for school boards to develop self-identification policies for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students is part of the 2007 Ministry of Education's &quot;Ontario First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework.&quot; In this paper, we share findings from a larger study on the Framework that examines Métis student self-identification processes and assesses barriers, challenges, opportunities, and best practices. We draw on themes from a literature review concerning Métis education and we examine data from an online survey and key interviews with school administrators responsible for initiatives to support Métis students' self-identification. The survey and interviews took place in the winter of 2011. We find that, for the self-identification policy to be effective, teachers, administrators, and support staff (clerks, receptionists, secretaries, and teaching/educational assistants) must build a school climate that welcomes Métis learners and parents, families, and communities and affirms their historical and contemporary values in practice. This way, students and their families may feel comfortable to identify as Métis.
Environmental Flux and Locally Focused College Writing
Author: Shepley, Nathan
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Place Based Education,Writing Instruction,Undergraduate Students,Writing Assignments,Teaching Methods,Content Area Writing,Ecology,Social Problems

This article reviews insights from place-based education and ecological models of writing to show how these theories can work together to shape locally focused composition pedagogies. From place-based education, the researcher takes an emphasis on physical specificity, and from ecological models of writing, the researcher takes an emphasis on discursive constructions of places. Both orientations to place are applied to an undergraduate professional writing class in Houston, an environment that illustrates vividly how unique physical changes interact with competing discourses in the present moment. The researcher describes a revision to a major writing assignment and discusses a need for assessment criteria that allow instructors to see the value of place-based and ecological models of writing.
Effective Practices for Evaluating STEM Out-of-School Time Programs
Author: Wilkerson, Stephanie B.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: STEM Education,Best Practices,After School Programs,Program Evaluation,Evaluation Needs,Evaluation Methods,Design Requirements,Educational Objectives

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs in out-of-school time (OST) are designed to supplement school work, ignite student interest, and extend STEM learning. From interactive museum exhibits to summer-long science camps, opportunities for informal student engagement in STEM learning abound. The differences these programs make, and how they can be improved concern educators and funders alike. OST program developers and providers can benefit from understanding why evaluation is critical to the success of STEM OST programs, what data collection methods are appropriate, and how to effectively communicate and report findings. The authors of this article share lessons from their experience in each of these areas and provide examples of how effective practices play out.
Hmong High School Students in Afterschool: Effects on Achievement, Behavior, and Self-Esteem
Author: Boyer, Kimberley A. M.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: High School Students,After School Programs,Asian American Students,Academic Support Services,Culturally Relevant Education,Student Participation,Control Groups,Experimental Groups,Achievement Gains,Behavior Change,Self Esteem,Grade Point Average,Likert Scales,Program Effectiveness,Attendance,Comparative Analysis

Afterschool programs can support Asian-American young people by providing academic support and culturally specific programming designed to help them bridge their native and adopted cultures. However, little is known about the effect of afterschool participation on academic and social outcomes for Asian-American students. This causal-comparative study helps to fill this gap by studying the differences in achievement, behavior, and self-esteem between Hmong students who did and did not participate in afterschool programs in two high schools in the Central Valley of California. The focus on a specific ethnic group is a reminder that Asian Americans are not a single entity but a diverse set of groups. This study helps to fill another gap in the literature by focusing on the high school level, where the  effects of afterschool programming are much less well documented than at the elementary and middle school levels. Among the findings were that study participants had a lower than average GPA compared to nonparticipants, had significantly better average attendance rates, and findings for self-esteem were mixed. Generally, The afterschool program produced positive outcomes for the Hmong high school students in the authors' sample. Implications for policy and practice are presented.
Affective Priming in a Lexical Decision Task: Is There an Effect of Words' Concreteness?
Author: Ferré, Pilar
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Priming,Language Processing,Semantics,Congruence (Psychology),Undergraduate Students,Reaction Time,Statistical Analysis

Affective priming occurs when responses to a target are facilitated when it is preceded by a prime congruent in valence. We conducted two experiments in order to test whether this is a genuine emotional effect or rather it can be accounted for by semantic relatedness between primes and targets. With this aim, semantic relatedness and emotional congruence between primes and targets were orthogonally manipulated. Participants performed a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1 we tested concrete words and in Experiment 2 we tested abstract words. We obtained both an affective priming effect and a semantic priming effect that were not modulated by words' concreteness. Furthermore, there was affective priming regardless of whether primes and targets were semantically related or unrelated. These results suggest that affective priming is a genuine emotional effect.
Discourse Comprehension and Simulation of Positive Emotions
Author: Horchak, Oleksandr V.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Simulation,Emotional Response,Sentences,Nonverbal Communication,Oral Reading,Comprehension,Foreign Countries,Adults,Questionnaires,College Students,Time,Comparative Analysis,Hypothesis Testing,Experimental Psychology

Recent research has suggested that emotional sentences are understood by constructing an emotion simulation of the events being described. The present study aims to investigate whether emotion simulation is also involved in online and offline comprehension of larger language segments such as discourse. Participants read a target text describing positive events while their facial postures were manipulated to be either congruent (matching condition) or incongruent (mismatching condition) with emotional valence of the text. In addition, a control condition was included in which participants read the text naturally (without a manipulation of facial posture). The influence of emotion simulation on discourse understanding was assessed by online (self-paced reading times) and offline (verbatim and inference questions) measures of comprehension. The major result was that participants read faster the target text describing positive emotional events while their bodily systems were prepared for processing of positive emotions (matching condition) rather than unprepared (control condition) or prevented from positive emotional processing (mismatching condition). Simulation of positive emotions did not have a significant impact on offline explicit and implicit discourse comprehension. This pattern of results suggests that emotion simulation has an impact on online comprehension, but may not have any effect on offline discourse processing.
Landmark vs. Geometry Learning: Explaining Female Rats&apos; Selective Preference for a Landmark
Author: Torres, Marta N.
Date: 2014-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Animals,Animal Behavior,Experimental Psychology,Experiments,Cues,Visual Stimuli,Geometric Concepts,Gender Differences,Spatial Ability

Rats were trained in a triangular-shaped pool to find a hidden platform, whose location was defined in terms of two sources of information, a landmark outside the pool and a particular corner of the pool. Subsequent test trials without the platform pitted these two sources of information against one another. In Experiment 1 this test revealed a clear, although selective, sex difference. As in previous experiments, females spent more time in an area of the pool that corresponded to the landmark, but here only when it was a cone but not when it was a pyramid. Males, on the other hand, always spent more time in the distinctive corner of the pool. Experiments 2 and 3 were only with female rats. In Experiment 2 two identical shaped cylinders were used as landmark cues (one plain white and the other vertically patterned with four different patterns). The results of the preference test revealed that only the females trained and tested with the plain cylinder spent more time in the area of the pool that corresponded to the landmark than in the distinctive corner of the pool. Finally, Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 2 while eliminating an alternative explanation in terms of differential contrast between the two cylinders and the black curtain.