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Eric.ed.gov – Homeschool Progress Report 2009: Academic Achievement and Demographics

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In 2007, the Home School Legal Defense Association commissioned Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute to conduct a nationwide study of homeschooling in America. The study’s purpose was to develop a current picture of homeschool students and their families–capturing their demographics and educational background–and analyze the impact of certain variables on homeschoolers’ academic achievement. Dr. Ray collected data for the cross-sectional, descriptive study in spring 2008. The 11,739 participants came from all 50 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. In the study, homeschoolers scored 34-39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests. The homeschool national average ranged from the 84th percentile for Language, Math, and Social Studies to the 89th percentile for Reading. The study also found that whether or… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Getting Ready for Kindergarten: Children’s Progress during Head Start. FACES 2009 Report. OPRE Report 2013-21a

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This brief report focusing on children’ s kindergarten readiness i s the third in a series of reports describing data from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009). Previous FACES 2009 reports described the characteristics of children and their families and programs as they entered Head Start in fall 2009 ( Hulsey et al. 2011) and, in spring 2010, at the end of one year in the program (Moiduddin et al. 2012). This brief report describes the family backgrounds and developmental outcomes of children as they completed the Head Start program and also describes progress in children’s outcomes between Head Start entry and exit. It focuses on the population of children who entered Head Start for the first time in… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Mapping the Road to College: First-Generation Students’ Math Track, Planning Strategies, and Context of Support. Statistical Analysis Report. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This publication compares first-generation students (i.e., those whose parents have no more than a high school education) with their peers whose parent or parents attended college. It focuses on mathematics course taking–the effectiveness of taking algebra in 8th grade and advanced math courses in high school for subsequent college enrollment–and planning strategies students used to prepare for college. The report also examines the involvement of students’ parents, teachers, and other “institutional agents” capable of helping them prepare for college. The results of the study offer both negative and positive findings concerning the experiences of first-generation students. On the negative side, even after controlling for measures of academic achievement, family income, family structure (single versus two parents), and other related characteristics, first-generation students were less likely than their… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Closing the Gap: An Overview of the Literature on College Persistence and Underrepresented Populations

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Access to and persistence through higher education can significantly impact occupational stability and mental wellness in the United States (U.S.), with higher levels of education contributing to increased employability and wellness. Empirical research suggests that college attendance improves verbal communication, moral reasoning, and critical thinking skills (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) and has been linked to lower unemployment rates, greater job satisfaction, lower reliance on public assistance programs, lower rates of obesity, and other health and wellness outcomes (Baum, Ma, & Payea, 2013). Furthermore, attaining a college degree is a key factor in improving one’s earnings and long-term financial stability. For example, recent research found that among full-time employed young adults between the ages of 25 and 34, those with a bachelor’s degree earned more, on average, than… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Findings from the Third-Grade Round of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011): First Look. NCES 2016-094

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), is collecting information about the early educational experiences of a nationally representative sample of children who were in kindergarten or who were of kindergarten age in ungraded classrooms or schools in the 2010-11 school year. The data collection began in the 2010-11 school year, when the children in the sample were in kindergarten, and will continue through the spring of 2016, when most of the children in the sample are expected to be in fifth grade. This brief report provides information from the data collection conducted in the spring of 2014, when the majority of the students were in third grade. The ECLS-K:2011 provides information on students’ status at school entry, on their transition into school, and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Children’s Pre-K Outcomes and Classroom Quality in Georgia’s Pre-K Program: Findings from the 2013-2014 Evaluation Study

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of the 2013-2014 Georgia’s Pre-K Program Evaluation was to examine the learning outcomes for children and the quality of their classrooms during Pre-K, as the baseline year of the Pre-K through third-grade longitudinal study. The primary evaluation questions addressed included: (1) What are the learning outcomes for children attending Georgia’s Pre-K Program?; (2) What factors predict better learning outcomes for children?; and (3) What is the quality of children’s experiences in Georgia’s Pre-K classrooms? To address these questions, the evaluation study included a random sample of 199 Georgia’s Pre-K classrooms and a sample of 1,169 children attending these classrooms. Researchers conducted individual child assessments near the beginning and end of the Pre-K year to examine growth in children’s skills. The assessment measures covered multiple domains… 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 – The Centrality of Positive Emotions in the Field of Mathematics

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Mathematics has been perceived as a discipline centered on intellectuality. However, recent studies have found interaction between a variety of emotions and the quality of learning. This qualitative study focused on the characteristics of those who are willing to cope with mathematical challenges and on the emotions evoked by these challenges, and sought to evaluate the potential role of positive emotions in this context. The research was conducted among participants in the Israel International Math Competition for Girls (IIMCG). The participants were 12 of the top finalist competitors in the previous competitions. Research instruments included an in-depth interview and a Math Emotions Measuring Instrument (MEMI), measuring the emotions expressed while coping with the mathematical challenges. Major results indicated the intensity of positive emotions. The positivity ratio was… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – What Parents Want: Education Preferences and Trade-Offs. A National Survey of K-12 Parents

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This groundbreaking study finds that nearly all parents seek schools with a solid core curriculum in reading and math, an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and the development in students of good study habits, strong critical thinking skills, and excellent verbal and written communication skills. But some parents also prefer specializations and emphases that are only possible in a system of school choice. “Pragmatists” (36 percent of K-12 parents) assign high value to schools that, “offer vocational classes or job-related programs.” Compared to the total parent population, Pragmatists have lower household incomes, are less likely themselves to have graduated from college, and are more likely to be parents of boys. “Jeffersonians” (24 percent) prefer a school that “emphasizes instruction in citizenship, democracy, and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Reaching Math Potential.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This report contains a summary of findings from a study conducted in California and Nevada to investigate attitudes towards mathematics and extent of parental influence on three groups of high school students–high math-achieving males (N=59), high math-achieving feamles (N=44), and high verbal/low math females (N=27). Differences between Asian American students and parents and non-Asian students and parents were also examined. The report includes data on student math/science achievement, math study habits, educational and career plans, perceived aptitudes and abilities, extent and nature of parental influence, math-related attitudes, and demographic data on parents. Conclusions point up the similarities and differences between high-math females and each of the other two student groups. Among the findings were: (1) parents’ efforts can make a substantial difference in encouraging young women in… Continue Reading