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Eric.ed.gov – Transfer Incentives for High-Performing Teachers: Final Results from a Multisite Randomized Experiment. Executive Summary. NCEE 2014-4004

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: One way to improve struggling schools’ access to effective teachers is to use selective transfer incentives. Such incentives offer bonuses for the highest-performing teachers to move into schools serving the most disadvantaged students. In this report, we provide evidence from a randomized experiment that tested whether such a policy intervention can improve student test scores and other outcomes in low-achieving schools. The intervention, known to participants as the Talent Transfer Initiative (TTI), was implemented in 10 school districts in seven states. The highest-performing teachers in each district–those who ranked in roughly the top 20 percent within their subject and grade span in terms of raising student achievement year after year (an approach known as value added)–were identified. These teachers were offered $20,000, paid in installments over a… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – ICT, Literacy and Teacher Change: The Effectiveness of ICT Options in Kenya

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: There is a dearth of literature that use research design for causal inference that estimate the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) programs on literacy outcomes in early primary, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are several programs that have used ICT at a large scale, including Los Angeles, Peru, Nicaragua, Rwanda and an ongoing program in Turkey. Seldom have the studies directly estimated the effect of the ICT program on learning, as the measures used have typically been a middle level of the causal chain (Strigel & Pouezevara, 2012). Mobile phones are increasingly available in the market, and several authors argue that mobile learning is an increasingly ideal way to increase outcomes at scale (UNESCO, 2012; GSMA, 2012; McKinsey & Co., 2012; Vosloo, 2012). There are… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Effect of Summer on Value-Added Assessments of Teacher and School Performance

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study examines the effects of including the summer period on value-added assessments (VAA) of teacher and school performance at the early grades. The results indicate that 40-62% of the variance in VAA estimates originates from the summer period, depending on the outcome (i.e., reading or math achievement gains). Furthermore, when summer is omitted from the VAA model, 51-61% of the teachers and 58-61% of the schools change performance quintiles, with many changing 2-3 quintiles. Extensive statistical controls for student background and classroom and school context reduce the summer effect, but 36-47% of the teachers and 42-49% of the schools are still in different quintiles. Furthermore, besides misclassifying teachers and schools, the results show that including summer tends to bias VAA estimates against schools with concentrated poverty.… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Rocketship Education: Pioneering Charter Network Innovates Again, Bringing Tech Closer to Teachers. An Opportunity Culture Case Study

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: When Rocketship Education, a pioneering, rapidly expanding charter school network, looked at its results, it could have rested on its laurels. With seven schools in California together ranking as the top public school system for low-income elementary students, Rocketship had proof that its blended-learning model–combining online learning with face-to-face instruction–works. But next year, Rocketship leaders will fix a disconnect they see between what happens in the online learning lab and the classroom, to give teachers more control over the students’ digital learning and further individualize the teaching. Instead of reporting to a separate computer lab, fourth- and fifth-graders will move within an open, flexible classroom between digital learning and in-person instruction, with those moves based on their individual needs and the roles that specific teachers are best… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Investment Case for Education and Equity

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Education is in crisis worldwide. Millions of children, especially the most marginalized, are excluded from school. Many millions more attend school, but they do not learn basic reading and math skills. In addition, international funding for education is on the decline. “The Investment Case for Education and Equity” explains the global education crisis and outlines solutions. It establishes three essential ingredients to revive progress in increasing the number of children who can go to school and learn: more funding for education, an equitable approach to resource allocation and more efficient spending on quality education. The report is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 examines the wide-reaching impact of education, economically and socially. One key message is that not all education levels are equally important–both from an equity… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Adoption of Open Educational Resources by One Community College Math Department

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The high cost of textbooks is of concern not only to college students but also to society as a whole. Open textbooks promise the same educational benefits as traditional textbooks; however, their efficacy remains largely untested. We report on one community college’s adoption of a collection of open resources across five different mathematics classes. During the 2012 fall semester, 2,043 students in five different courses used these open access resources. We present a comparison between the previous two years in terms of the number of students who withdrew from the courses and the number that completed the courses with a C grade or better. Our analysis suggests that while there was likely no change in these educational outcomes, students who have access to open access materials collectively… Continue Reading