0

Eric.ed.gov – Does Evaluation Distort Teacher Effort and Decisions? Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Policy of Retesting Students. CEP Discussion Paper No. 1612

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Performance evaluation may change employee effort and decisions in unintended ways, for example, in multitask jobs where the evaluation measure captures only a subset of (differentially weights) the job tasks. We show evidence of this multitask distortion in schools, with teachers allocating effort across students (tasks). Teachers are evaluated based on student test scores; students who fail the test are retested 2-3 weeks later; and only the higher of the two scores is used in the teachers’ evaluations. This retesting feature creates a sharp difference in the returns to teacher effort directed at failing versus passing students, even though both barely failing and barely passing students have arguably equal educational claim on (returns to) teacher effort. Using RD methods, we show that students who barely fail the… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – The Role of Teacher Quality in Fourth-Grade Mathematics Instruction: Evidence from TIMSS 2015. Policy Brief No. 16

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Does teacher quality differ within and between countries, and how are measures of teacher quality related to instructional alignment and instructional time in mathematics? Fourth-grade classroom data from the IEA’s Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 revealed that although measures of teacher quality were only weakly related to one another, countries with more variation along one dimension (for example, experience) also have high variation along other dimensions (such as education, or readiness to teach math topics). Measures of teacher quality were not strong or consistent predictors of instructional alignment or time, suggesting that primary school teachers’ preparation to teach mathematics may have limited influence on classroom opportunity to learn. Crucially, in many countries, disadvantaged students have (by some measures) higher quality teachers. Teacher collaboration and… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings from First Graders in 39 Schools. NCEE 2009-4052

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this large-scale, national study is to determine whether some early elementary school math curricula are more effective than others at improving student math achievement, thereby providing educators with information that may be useful for making adequate yearly progress (AYP). This report presents results from the first cohort of first grade in 39 schools participating in the evaluation during the 2006-2007 school year, with the goal of determining the relative effects of different early elementary math curricula on student math achievement in disadvantaged schools. The report also examines whether curriculum effects differ for student subgroups in different instructional settings. A competitive process was used to select four curricula Investigations in Number, Data, and Space; Math Expressions; Saxon Math; and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics) that represent… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – Everyday Arts for Special Education Impact Evaluation. District 75, New York City Department of Education

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the Everyday Arts for Special Education (EASE) program on elementary special education students’ academic achievement (reading and math) and social-emotional learning. EASE was a 5-year program providing professional development and instruction in the arts in 10 New York City special education schools. The program served 300 teachers and 5,334 special education students over the 5 years. Through the program, special education teachers learned arts-based strategies to integrate into their instruction. The program included: (1) professional development workshops, (2) collaborative classroom modeling by teaching artists, (3) on-site professional development, (4) classroom instruction by special education teachers and visiting teaching artists. Impact was investigated through a quasi-experimental design, using the New York State Alternative Assessment (NYSAA) and the… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – Math Academy: Dining Out! Explorations in Fractions, Decimals, & Percents. Book 4: Supplemental Math Materials for Grades 3-8

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Created by teachers for teachers, the Math Academy tools and activities included in this booklet were designed to create hands-on activities and a fun learning environment for the teaching of mathematics to the students. This booklet contains the “Math Academy–Dining Out! Explorations in Fractions, Decimals, and Percents,” which teachers can use to enhance their math instruction while staying true to the academic rigor required by the state standards framework. Included in this booklet are activities the author used for the restaurant Math Academy. This Math Academy is designed to help students understand how to use fractions, decimals, and percents in the context of restaurants and money. In this day of credit and gift cards, children do not have as many real-life opportunities to count money and make… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – MOOCs Feasibility Study: Demand among Teachers in Rural Ghana

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a relatively new, low-cost resource that hold potential for improving learning in developing nations where resources are constrained and teacher expertise can be limited. However, little information currently exists about the effectiveness of leveraging MOOCs as a vehicle for teacher training. The aim of this study is to learn more about the awareness, interest and ability to access MOOCs among junior high and high school teachers in rural Ghana. Specifically, the author addresses the following questions: (1) What is the take-up following a light informational intervention nudging math teachers to enroll in a MOOC related to math education?; (2) What is the demand among school leaders, specifically headmasters, for MOOCs as a vehicle for teacher training?; (3) Can headmasters influence the… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – The Alignment of the easyCBM Grades 3-5 Math Measures to the Common Core Standards. Technical Report #1229

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Within a response to intervention system of teaching and learning, important instructional decision-making (e.g., implementation of targeted intervention) is regularly tied to the results of formative assessments administered to students throughout the academic year. The validity of these instructional decisions depends to an extent on the alignment between formative measures and the content standards on which classroom instruction is based. Specifically, formative assessments must be aligned to adopted content standards in order for teachers to make valid instructional decisions around individual student learning needs. In this technical report, we report on the alignment between easyCBM® grades 3-5 seasonal mathematics benchmark items and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Results suggest reasonable alignment to the standards overall, with areas of relatively stronger and weaker alignment across grade level… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – The Alignment of the easyCBM Grades 6-8 Math Measures to the Common Core Standards. Technical Report #1230

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Within a response to intervention system of teaching and learning, important instructional decision-making (e.g., implementation of targeted intervention) is regularly tied to the results of formative assessments administered to students throughout the academic year. The validity of these instructional decisions depends to an extent on the alignment between formative measures and the content standards on which classroom instruction is based. Specifically, formative assessments must be aligned to adopted content standards in order for teachers to make valid instructional decisions around individual student learning needs. In this technical report, we report on the alignment between easyCBM® grades 6-8 seasonal mathematics benchmark items and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Results suggest reasonable alignment to the standards overall, with areas of relatively stronger and weaker alignment across grade level… Continue Reading

0

Eric.ed.gov – Teacher and Teaching Effects on Students’ Attitudes and Behaviors

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Research has focused predominantly on how teachers affect students’ achievement on standardized tests despite evidence that a broad range of attitudes and behaviors are equally important to their long-term success. We find that upper-elementary teachers have large effects on self-reported measures of students’ self-efficacy in math, and happiness and behavior in class. Students’ attitudes and behaviors are predicted by teaching practices most proximal to these measures, including teachers’ emotional support and classroom organization. However, teachers who are effective at improving test scores often are not equally effective at improving students’ attitudes and behaviors. These findings lend empirical evidence to well-established theory on the multidimensional nature of teaching and the need to identify strategies for improving the full range of teachers’ skills. Link til kilde

0

Eric.ed.gov – easyCBM CCSS Math Item Scaling and Test Form Revision (2012-2013): Grades 6-8. Technical Report #1313

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this technical report is to document the piloting and scaling of new easyCBM mathematics test items aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and to describe the process used to revise and supplement the 2012 research version easyCBM CCSS math tests in Grades 6-8. For all operational 2012 research version test forms (10 progress monitoring and 3 benchmark) five items were selected for removal based on statistics indicating less than optimal functioning. Items from the current pilot were used to replace the five selected items. Additionally, five items previously written to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Focal Point Standards, but rated as aligned with the CCSS, were added to each form. Finally, an additional fifteen items were included in benchmark tests… Continue Reading