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Eric.ed.gov – Strategies for Improving Math and Science Achievement in Rural Appalachia.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper overviews strategies employed by the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) to implement systemic reform in math, science, and technology education in rural Appalachia. ARSI is one of four Rural Systemic Initiative projects funded by the National Science Foundation to target regions characterized by low population density and high levels of poverty. The initiative targeted 66 counties encompassing 89 school districts in Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The ARSI project is based on two fundamental strategies: school and community-based action and technology as a tool for access. Specifically, the initiative involved the creation of six regional resource collaboratives made up of key organizations such as universities and community colleges, business and industry, federal and state agencies, teacher enhancement projects, exemplary schools, and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Puerto Rico School Characteristics and Student Graduation: Implications for Research and Policy. REL 2017-266

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: High school graduation is a critical milestone for students as it has implications for future opportunity and success on both individual and societal levels. In Puerto Rico recent changes in how high school graduation rates are calculated have drawn closer attention to the issue of high school graduation and thus a growing interest in understanding the relationship between Puerto Rico’s high school characteristics and graduation rates. This report presents findings from a correlational study of high school characteristics and high school graduation in Puerto Rico. Using data from the Puerto Rico Department of Education and publicly available data about the cohort of grade 10 students who entered Puerto Rico high schools during the 2010/11 school year, the study analyzed the correlation between graduation rates and two types… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Funding a Better Education: Conclusions from the First Three Years of Student-Based Budgeting in Hartford

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: When the Connecticut State Department of Education published its first district report cards in 2003, it was obvious that the Hartford Public Schools district was struggling. Fewer than half of its students were proficient on the state reading exam. Math performance was better, but 63 percent of 10th-graders and 43 percent of younger students failed to meet proficiency benchmarks. Compared with the state, Hartford looked even worse; its proficiency rates trailed by as many as 39 percentage points. The arrival of Steven Adamowski as district superintendent in 2006 began a new chapter at Hartford Public Schools (HPS). Within months, Adamowski introduced a plan to improve the quality of a Hartford education. The first pillar was school choice, allowing students’ families to choose the schools their children would… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – To Educate All Children (TEACH), 2015-2016. Research Educational Program Report

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: To Educate All Children (TEACH) provides educators with intensive one-on-one training in classroom culture, focusing on de-escalation, conflict resolution, nonverbal communication, and building student’s self confidence. Through intensive educator training, TEACH helps educators create safe, calm learning environments for students (TEACH, n.d.). Trained educators develop skills that support positive classroom management. Consequently, it is expected that schools experience a decrease in student disciplinary referrals, calmer and more productive classrooms, and improvements in student achievement. Research has shown that students’ perceptions of teacher support play a central role in feeling connected to school and to socio-emotional well-being (Stracuzzi and Mills, 2010). Student connectedness also has been found to protect students against risky and problem behaviors in school (Catalano, Haggerty, Oesterle, Fleming, & Hawkins, 2004; CDC, 2009). There is… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Does Teach for America Have Long-Term Impacts?

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Children enter school with vastly different skill levels and formal schooling often magnifies these disparities over time. Widening achievement gaps between high- and low-income children have grown substantially in the last 50 years. Further, the opportunity gap facing most low-income students contributes to a host of academic and social challenges including: lower performance in math and reading, increased truancy and incarceration, less higher-level course taking, and lower graduation and college entrance rates than their higher-income peers, and these disparities are not new. Teach For America (TFA) was founded with the purpose of addressing these educational inequities. Early on in its existence, TFA became focused on “closing the achievement gap” for students in the schools it serves, and put a large stake in promoting, “significant gains,” (defined as… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Recapturing the Lead in Math and Science. Focus 14.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This document examines various topics and issues related to the quality of science and mathematics education in the United States. They include: (1) competition from Japan and the Soviet Union; (2) federal programs and legislation designed to improve the quality of science and mathematics education; (3) scientific literacy; (4) the basics in mathematics education, outlining those recommended in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics report, “An Agenda for Action” and discussing the importance of problem-solving skills and real-world mathematical applications; (5) science and pseudoscience, examining the scientific method and the Creationist threat; (6) National Assessment of Educational Progress science and mathematics achievement data; (7) exemplary mathematics programs and the criteria for excellence in these programs (including the development of thinking skills); (8) exemplary science programs; (9)… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Algebra for All: The Effect of Algebra Coursework and Classroom Peer Academic Composition on Low-Achieving Students

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Algebra is often considered as a gateway for later achievement. A recent report by the Mathematics Advisory Panel (2008) underscores the importance of improving algebra learning in secondary school. Today, a growing number of states and districts require algebra for all students in ninth grade or earlier. Chicago is at the forefront of this movement. Many low-achieving students took remedial math before 1997 and the algebra-for-all policy immersed these students in academic coursework for the first time. Moreover, these low-achieving students experienced a rise in the ability levels of their classroom peers. However, this study suggests that simply requiring algebra is insufficient to improve their outcomes, even though students may benefit from having higher achieving peers in their classrooms. Overall, taking Algebra, instead of remedial math, would… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – How and Why Do Teacher Credentials Matter for Student Achievement? Working Paper 2. Revised

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Education researchers and policymakers agree that teachers differ in terms of quality and that quality matters for student achievement. Despite prodigious amounts of research, however, debate still persists about the causal relationship between specific teacher credentials and student achievement. In this paper, we use a rich administrative data set from North Carolina to explore a range of questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials on the one hand and student achievement on the other. Though the basic questions underlying this research are not new–and, indeed, have been explored in many papers over the years within the rubric of the “education production function”–the availability of data on all teachers and students in North Carolina over a ten-year period allows us to explore them in more… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – One to One Technology and Its Effect on Student Academic Achievement and Motivation

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This research was a quantitative study using 4th grade participants from a Title 1 elementary school in Central Illinois. This study set out to determine whether one to one technology (1:1 will be used hereafter) truly impacts and effects the academic achievement of students. This study’s second goal was to determine whether 1:1 Technology also effects student motivation to learn. Data was gathered from students participating in this study through the Pearson enVision Math series with Topic Tests, Discovery Education Assessment results, and attendance records being used. The results show that 1:1 Technology could be a factor in student academic achievement and motivation to be at school. These findings are important due to the technological shift that schools are currently facing. With more technology exposure for students… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – 2011-12 District Improvement Initiatives Evaluation. Eye on Evaluation. D&A Report No.12.12

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Seven district improvement initiatives were implemented in 2011-12 in the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS). All were well designed and coordinated, with common goal setting processes and use of common monitoring tools. All initiatives either met or partially met 2011-12 goals. Some were more successful in showing student outcomes, with the most positive initiatives being elementary mathematics and adolescent literacy. These results should be used to influence future decisions about continuation or strengthening of these efforts. New components that were well received and implemented by those trained (but which did not have achievement results as yet) should also be considered for future funding. Appended are: (1) SIOP® Training and 6 Tables; (2) LEA AYP Results; (3) Elementary Math Coach Initiative with Results and Elementary Math Outcomes;… Continue Reading