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Eric.ed.gov – Community and Place in Mathematics Instruction in Selected Rural Schools

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The teaching of mathematics, which arguably is so abstract as to transcend place and community and even culture (according at least to a Platonic view of mathematics), will seem to some observers particularly ill-suited to instruction in place- or community- or culture-based approaches. Nevertheless, current thinking in mathematics education, with its emphasis on the construction of meaning and the application of problem solving to “real-world” situations, might logically be interpreted as supporting these varied approaches to instruction. Because both rural education and math education scholars collaborated in conducting this study, the project did indeed have its eye as much on the “community purposes of mathematics instruction” as on the “mathematical purposes of community engagement”. The related complexities are legion–and, the authors find, them interesting. This report begins… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Locating Differential Effectiveness of a STEM Initiative through Exploration of Moderators

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In randomized control trials, such as the one the authors conducted in Alabama, moderators are potentially an important source of variation in treatment effects. Whether moderators used in the RCT’s analysis are pre-existing characteristics of students, their teachers, or the school or other organizational context, they can point toward differences in the way the program (treatment) is implemented, the way teachers interact with different kinds of students when implementing the program, or how effects are operating at levels in the organization above the level where the differences were measured. The authors appreciate Cronbach’s (1975) metaphor of the “hall of mirrors” to point to the endless possibilities for higher-order interactions complicating the explanation of what was found. But the goal of this paper is to illustrate a disciplined… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Academic Achievement and School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Turning around chronically low-performing schools requires a multifaceted school-wide, systematic effort that includes strong leadership and data-based decision making. School-wide efforts to turn-around low-performing schools should address the academic, social, and behavioral needs of all students. One evidence-based, systematic school-wide approach for addressing social and behavioral concerns in schools and, distally, increasing students’ access to academic instruction, is school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS). SWPBIS is associated with increased positive school climate, increased teacher self-efficacy, decreased problem behaviors for the whole school, and potentially, increased academic achievement. The underlying assumption is that by improving social behavior, schools have more time and ability to deliver effective curriculum and instruction. However, to-date, this assumption has not been fully investigated. The goal of this paper is to explicitly examine… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Unintended Consequences: High Stakes Can Result in Low Standards

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In all the elementary schools in the county, benchmark assessments were given six times a year in math and three times in reading; they were modeled after the questions anticipated on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA). Although results were sent to the school board, there were no cosmic consequences for the hourlong tests; they were supposed to be used by teachers to diagnose problems and adjust instruction. But at Tyler Heights Elementary School, benchmarks were seen as facsimiles of the MSA and treated with commensurate intensity. The first day of school was the last day the third-graders didn’t write a BCR–a “brief constructed response,” a paragraph-sized answer that’s required on the state test. Using Tyler Heights as an example, this article illustrates how standards and students suffer… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Parent Engagement Representatives (PERS), 2015-2016. Research Educational Program Report

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Parent, school, and community engagement is widely established as a collaborative strategy to improve the school experience and educational outcomes for children and youth (Epstein & Sanders, 2006; SEDL, 2013; Weiss, Lopez, & Rosenberg, 2011; Barr & Saltmarsh, 2014). Consistent with this viewpoint, the Houston Independent School District (HISD), through the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Department, initiated the Parent Engagement Representatives (PERs) program. The PERs program is funded by the Title I, Part A Parent Involvement grant. The program was aligned with the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships. This home to school partnership model incorporates activities that are designed to enhance parent/teacher conference participation and parent awareness of district and community programs and resources. PERs partnered with school staff at 20 HISD elementary, middle, and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Enacting Common Core Instruction: How Intermediate Unit 13 Leveraged Its Position as an Educational Service Agency to Implement and Scale the LDC Initiative

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) offer a set of instructional and formative assessment tools in literacy and math, which were developed to help educators better prepare all students to meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and succeed beyond high school. Following three years of extensive data collection in LDC study sites throughout the country, Research for Action (RFA) has produced three case studies to illustrate how the LDC and MDC tools have been adopted in different settings and contexts, and which approaches and supports have contributed to the successful adoption and use of the tools. The case studies provide a set of “road maps” for other sites that will be adopting or scaling… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Perception, Curriculum, and Subject Matter: Reforming Instruction

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this study is to illuminate the reciprocal relation between teacher leaders’ perception and practice to subject matter. The researcher conducted interviews and observations of 30 teachers from 8 urban elementary schools. The data and results evidently identify those teachers’ views of subject matter both shaped and were shaped by their teaching strategies. Teachers’ strategies for improving math instruction focused on external supports such as professional training in mathematics and building skills through sequenced instruction and curriculum. In improving literacy instruction, teachers emphasized the school community as the locus for development of literacy programs and materials that applied to a variety of academic subjects. (Contains 2 tables.) Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Features of Schools in DC. NCEE Evaluation Brief. Third Report in a Series for the Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. NCEE 2016-4007

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The foundation of school choice is offering families a variety of schools and letting them choose one they believe is most suitable for their child. For school choice to matter, schools need to have different features that parents are seeking. The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program was created by Congress to provide tuition vouchers to low-income parents who want their child to attend a private school. This brief provides a snapshot of features of traditional public schools, charter schools, and those private schools that participate in the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), in Washington, DC, in order to describe the landscape facing students and parents who are considering applying to the OSP. It first looks at the number of each type of school and enrollment changes in… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A First Look at the 5Essentials in Illinois Schools. Research Report

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In the first comprehensive analysis of Illinois’ statewide survey of school climate and learning conditions, this report finds systematic differences among schools in the degree to which students and teachers report strength in the five essential supports. Previous University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR) research has linked strength on the five essentials–effective leadership, collaborative teachers, involved families, supportive environments, and ambitious instruction–to engaging instruction and learning and ultimately to improvements in test score gains and attendance trends. This report analyzes data from the 2013 survey administered by the Illinois State Board of Education and the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute to all teachers and students in grades six through 12. The goal of the survey was to help schools across the state… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Relationship of Teacher Quality and Student Achievement in Elementary Schools from the New York City

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The present study sought to examine the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement in public elementary schools in a community district school of the New York City. It has 23 elementary schools, more than 7,600 students and around 350 teachers. For this study, participants consist of a sample of 117 full-time teachers who were working in third, fourth and fifth grade during the 2006-2007 school year. By recognizing the link between quality teaching and student achievement, this study addressed the broad question: “What is the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement?” Methodologically, data collection was based on a standardized questionnaire developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The survey used here was adapted by the researcher to explore three specific teacher quality characteristics:… Continue Reading