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Eric.ed.gov – Implementation of Title I and Title II-A Program Initiatives: Results from 2013-14. Executive Summary. NCEE 2017-4015

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This report describes the implementation of policies and initiatives supported by Title I and Title II-A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) during the 2013-14 school year. Title I is one of the U.S. Department of Education’s largest programs, accounting for $15 billion in the 2016 federal budget. Historically, Title I has provided financial assistance to schools and districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families to help increase these students’ achievement. Title II-A of ESEA (Improving Teacher Quality State Grants) likewise provides substantial federal resources to support the education of low-income students, focusing specifically on improving educator quality. Title II-A funds may be used for teacher recruitment and retention, professional development, mentoring, induction, or class-size reduction. State grants under Title II-A… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Implementation of Title I and Title II-A Program Initiatives: Results from 2013-14. NCEE 2017-4014

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This report describes the implementation of policies and initiatives supported by Title I and Title II-A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) during the 2013-14 school year. Title I is one of the U.S. Department of Education’s largest programs, accounting for $15 billion in the 2016 federal budget. Historically, Title I has provided financial assistance to schools and districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families to help increase these students’ achievement. Title II-A of ESEA (Improving Teacher Quality State Grants) likewise provides substantial federal resources to support the education of low-income students, focusing specifically on improving educator quality. Title II-A funds may be used for teacher recruitment and retention, professional development, mentoring, induction, or class-size reduction. State grants under Title II-A… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A Teacher Quality Primer. For Michigan School Officials, State Policymakers, Media and Residents

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: While Michigan students learn a variety of skills in their time at school, perhaps the most important charge of public schools, beyond providing a safe and healthy environment, is to ensure that students are learning their three fundamental skills: reading, writing and arithmetic. Unfortunately, the achievement levels of Michigan public school students raise doubts about the quality of public education in the state. This volume has been written to assist policymakers at the state and local levels who want to initiate and support teacher quality reforms to improve K-12 public education in the state. The author describes shortcomings in public education in the state and discusses the research consensus that good teachers matter, investigating whether certification, experience, graduate degrees, academic ability and high licensure exam scores make… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – How Non-Linearity and Grade-Level Differences Complicate the Validation of Observation Protocols

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Teacher evaluation is currently a major policy issue at all levels of the K-12 system driven in large part by current US Department of Education requirements. The main objective of this study is to explore the patterns of relationship between observational scores and value-added measures of teacher performance in math classrooms and the variation in these relationships across grade levels. While the MET analyses used a single composite score consisting of a simple average of the eight component scores of the protocol, in our work we treated each component separately since each measures a separately definable aspect of classroom practice. Specifically, across all the components, the authors pose the following questions: (1) Do the relationships between observation scores of math teachers and their value-added scores tend to… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – State Teacher Policy Yearbook: Progress on Teacher Quality, 2007. National Summary

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Countless reports have analyzed the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 on teacher quality and student achievement. What many of these reports truly leave behind, however, is the reality that state governments–not the federal government–have the strongest impact on the work of America’s 3.1 million teachers. With that in mind, three years ago the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) began the process of analyzing states’ teacher policies. NCTQ analysts sifted through tens of thousands of pages of state codes, regulations and rules, regularly corresponding with state officials who graciously provided their important knowledge and perspectives. The “State Teacher Policy Yearbook” is the first project of its kind to provide a 360-degree detailed analysis of any and every policy that states have that… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Teacher Layoffs: An Empirical Illustration of Seniority vs. Measures of Effectiveness. Brief 12

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This policy brief, a quick look at some aspects of the debate, illustrates the differences in New York City public schools that would result when layoffs are determined by seniority in comparison to a measure of teacher effectiveness. Due to data limitations and an interest in simplicity, this analysis employs the value added of teachers using the 4th and 5th grade math and ELA (English Language Arts) achievement of their students. Unsurprisingly, the authors find that layoffs determined by a measure of teacher effectiveness result in a more effective workforce than would be the case with seniority-based layoffs. However, they were surprised by facets of the empirical results. First, assuming readily available measures of teacher effectiveness actually measure true teacher effectiveness, an assumption to which they return… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Take Your Time: Why States Should Use Education Waivers to Increase Learning Time

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Last week President Barack Obama announced that the administration plans to waive some aspects of the No Child Left Behind law. But states have to develop solid plans to improve instruction to receive a waiver. Specifically, states must adopt college- and career-ready standards for all students, focus interventions on the bottom 15 percent of low-performing schools, and develop teacher evaluation systems using student performance. Commentators are fixated on waiving the high-profile pieces of the law such as the timeline for ensuring all students are proficient in reading and math and seeking flexibility for the highly qualified teacher targets. But a critical waiver option on expanded learning time is being overlooked in all the hoopla. Expanded learning time is a valuable tool for improving student achievement, as demonstrated… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Closing the Math and Science Gap.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: High schools throughout the United States are turning out graduates who are deficient in mathematics and science education. The field of education has come to be staffed by less competent teachers, as more qualified and more able individuals have been lured away to higher paying professions. The result of this has been the impairment of American ability to compete in the world market. Many high schools have deemphasized traditional core courses along with mathematics and the sciences. The National Education Association (NEA) has been a barrier to quality science and mathematics education in the public schools. The NEA has resisted efforts to institute standardized testing for teachers or assessment of teacher competence. The Department of Education has had deleterious effects on education, since it tends to promote… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Assessing the Determinants and Implications of Teacher Layoffs. Working Paper 55

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Over 2000 teachers in the state of Washington received reduction-in-force (RIF) notices in the past two years. The authors link data on these RIF notices to a unique dataset that includes student, teacher, school, and district variables to determine the factors that predict the likelihood of a teacher receiving a RIF notice. They find a teacher’s seniority is the greatest predictor, but (all else equal) teachers with a master’s degree and teachers credentialed in the “high-needs areas” of math, science, and special education were less likely to receive a RIF notice. Value-added measures of teacher effectiveness can be calculated for a subset of the teachers and these show no relationship between effectiveness and the likelihood of receiving a RIF notice. Finally, simulations suggest that a very different… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – An Analysis of the Use and Validity of Test-Based Teacher Evaluations Reported by the “Los Angeles Times”: 2011

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In May of 2011, the “Los Angeles Times” published, for the second time, results of statistical studies examining the variation in teacher and school performance in the Los Angeles Unified School District, based on the California Standards Tests for math and English Language Arts (ELA). The studies use data from the seven academic years ending in 2009-2010. The “Times” published teachers’ names along with their effect estimates. These estimates were then used to classify teachers into five categories: least effective; less effective; average; more effective; and most effective. The “Los Angeles Times” previously published the results of statistical analyses designed to address the same issues in August, 2010, using data from the period 2003-2009. The earlier analyses were reviewed by Briggs and Domingue, who identified several serious… Continue Reading