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Eric.ed.gov – Strategies for Promoting Gatekeeper Course Success among Students Needing Remediation: Research Report for the Virginia Community College System

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is engaged in a strategic planning process to improve performance beyond the goals in “Dateline 2009,” the system’s current vision and plan. A key objective is to encourage colleges to improve retention and academic success for students, particularly the substantial numbers who arrive unprepared for college-level work. Specifically, the VCCS seeks to improve the rates at which underprepared students complete developmental coursework and advance to take and pass college courses, particularly the initial college-level, or “gatekeeper,” math and English offerings. The VCCS asked the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, to conduct analyses to inform its efforts to improve student outcomes. In response, CCRC designed a study to address the following question: What student characteristics, course-taking patterns,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Earning College Credits in High School: Options, Participation, and Outcomes for Oregon Students. REL 2017-216

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Oregon’s postsecondary attainment goal for 2025, adopted in 2011, calls for 40 percent of Oregon adults to have a bachelor’s degree or higher, 40 percent to have an associate’s degree or postsecondary certificate, and the remaining 20 percent to have a high school diploma or equivalent (S. 253, Or. 2011). As in other states a central strategy for increasing postsecondary attainment in Oregon is to promote accelerated college credit options–such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual credit, and dual enrollment courses–that enable high school students to earn college credit. Oregon has invested heavily in the accelerated college credit strategy, with particular attention to student groups that have historically not had access to these courses. The study focuses on options offered between 2005/06 and 2012/13 through Oregon community… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Constructivists Online: Reimagining Progressive Practice. Occasional Paper Series 34

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In this issue of the Occasional Paper Series, the authors reimagine progressive pedagogy within the framework of digital pedagogy and online practice. The issue begins with “Notes from the Special Issue Editors,” Helen Freidus, Mollie Welsh Kruger & Steven Goss. In the first set of essays, “Inside the Online Classroom,” the authors present the experiences of educators who have entered the square room but have refused to be limited by its constraints. These are teacher educators who have designed their courses for the online venue. Some enthusiastically chose to teach online; others were mandated to do so. Regardless of how their journey began, each author describes the work she or he is doing to bring constructivist practice online. To the surprise of each of these educators, they… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – National CrossTalk. Volume 18, Number 1

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: “National CrossTalk” is a publication of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The National Center promotes public policies that enhance opportunities for quality education and training beyond high school. The primary purpose of “National CrossTalk” is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue of “National CrossTalk” includes the following articles: (1) Ohio’s Brain Drain: Reform of Public Higher Education Is Intended to Change Perceptions and Retain Graduates (Jon Marcus); (2) Redesigning the Basics: Tennessee’s Community Colleges Use Technology to Change Their Approach to Developmental Reading and Math (Kay Mills); (3) Investing the Stimulus: Metropolitan State College of Denver Uses Federal Funding to Reposition Itself for the Future (Kathy Witkowsky); and (4) New Teacher Education: Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Voices from the Field: Collaborative Innovations in Early Childhood Educator Preparation

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: “Voices from the Field: Collaborative Innovations in Early Childhood Educator Preparation” is jointly published by the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) and the Illinois Board of Education (IBHE), and highlights the accomplished work of many of the state’s two- and four-year faculty to redesign early childhood educator preparation programs to meet regional and state workforce needs. This edited book has chapters authored by EC faculty from both the 2-year and 4-year sectors and provides clear, tangible examples of how universities across Illinois worked together, often with regional employers, to design pathways for early childhood educators to earn the state’s industry-recognized Gateways credentials while taking college coursework leading to degrees. Each chapter has a unique focus and together, their “Voices” provide significant insight into the innovative partnerships that… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The State of Basic Math at T-VI: A Report from the Faculty.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: As part of an effort to improve basic math instruction at Vocational-Technical Institute (T-VI) in New Mexico, a survey was conducted asking teachers, tutors, and instructional technicians to assess the importance of and student performance on 35 basic math competencies. Survey responses were then related to two national standards of mathematical literacy: the vocational standards of the Secretary of Labor’s Commission on Achieving the Necessary Skills (SCANS) and the academic standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). Study highlights included the following: (1) several skills seen as important by SCANS and NCTM were viewed as unimportant by teachers of math and math-related subjects, including “working together in groups to solve problems,””using calculators,””ability to estimate,””ability to use measuring tools and systems,” and “ability to use… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Instructional Multimedia in the Math Classroom and Beyond.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper is based on the reflections of a distance education (DE) mathematics instructor at Pellissippi State Technical Community College in Knoxville, Tennesee. In this DE classroom, 30 students were present with the instructor at the main campus, 8 students at a remote campus in Blount County, and 6 students in Knoxville. The link between the classrooms was made by Instructional Television Fixed Service technology, which connected the classrooms via two-way audio, but only one-way video. The typical class period was divided into two parts: a lecture delivered via a multimedia program using Macromedia Director; and discussion of homework problems that were solved in class using an overhead camera. Problems encountered in the classrooms included: (1) the teacher had to attend to the needs of students he… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Evaluating the Impact of Remedial Education in Florida Community Colleges: A Quasi-Experimental Regression Discontinuity Design. NCPR Brief

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The conceptual foundation for remedial education is straightforward: students are tested to determine whether they meet a given level of academic proficiency for college-level classes. For those who do not meet this level, deficiencies in skills are addressed through some form of supplementary instruction, most often remedial courses. The study summarized in this Brief employs a quasi-experimental design to examine remedial enrollment and outcomes of community college students throughout the state of Florida. Results of the study suggest that as a means for addressing the needs of under-prepared students, remediation has both benefits and drawbacks. After controlling for noncompliance and endogenous sorting around the placement test cutoff score, students on the margin of requiring math remediation were slightly more likely to persist to their second year. Similarly,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – American Higher Education: Journalistic and Policy Perspectives from “National CrossTalk”

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In the first decade of the 21st century, the nation, the states, and colleges and universities began to grapple with the challenges of globalization, changing demography, the implications of the digital era, and of a less expansive public sector. Although not a transformative period for higher education, the decade saw significant innovations in teaching and learning, intense policy ferment, and debates over the future of colleges and universities and their roles and responsibilities in American society. Parts one and two of this book describe several of the most interesting and significant developments in higher education, and in public policy, reported by leading journalists in the field of higher education. In part three, observers of American higher education comment on critical issues facing colleges and universities, the states… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Instruction Quality or Working Condition? The Effects of Part-Time Faculty on Student Academic Outcomes in Community College Introductory Courses

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: More than half of community college courses are taught by part-time faculty. Drawing on data from six community colleges, this study estimates the effects of part-time faculty versus full-time faculty on students’ current and subsequent course outcomes in developmental and gateway courses, using course fixed effects and propensity score matching to minimize bias arising from student self-sorting across and within courses. We find that part-time faculty have negative effects on student subsequent enrollments. These negative effects are driven by results in math courses. We also find that course schedules could explain substantial proportions of the estimated negative effects, while faculty individual characteristics could not. Survey results on faculty professional experiences suggest that part-time faculty had less institutional knowledge regarding both academic and nonacademic services. We infer that… Continue Reading