Education Commons^™

Evaluation Of Australia's Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Summary Of The 2019 Baseline Report, Yung Nietschke, Anna Dabrowski Phd, Aris Huang, Jeaniene Spink

Education Analytics Service

In 2019, the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) introduced a new primary education curriculum to improve teaching quality and student learning outcomes. The Government’s Education and Sports Sector Development Plan 2021- 25 focuses on improving teacher knowledge and skills as a means to improve student learning outcomes. This report summarises baseline findings just prior to these significant curriculum changes. These changes are supported by the Australian Government through its Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos (BEQUAL) program. The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has commissioned a study to investigate how BEQUAL is …

Report Highlights: Evaluation Of Australia's Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Final Report, Debbie Wong, Hilary Hollingsworth, Prue Anderson, Payal Goundar, Agnes Mercer

Education Analytics Service

The Australian Government is supporting the Government of Lao PDR to undertake significant primary education reforms through its flagship Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR program (BEQUAL), including a new primary curriculum. Phase 1 of BEQUAL (2015-22) supported the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) to rollout the new primary curriculum in schools, starting with Grade 1 (G1) in 2019. Specific teaching practices were introduced, including active learning, student-centred learning approaches, formative assessment, and a phonics approach to teaching reading. New practices were complemented by face-to-face orientation training and grants in BEQUAL target districts to strengthen communities of …

Teacher Development Multi-Year Study Series. Evaluation Of Australia’S Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Final Report, Debbie Wong, Hilary Hollingsworth, Prue Anderson, Payal Goundar, Agnes Mercer

Education Analytics Service

The Australian Government is supporting the Government of Lao PDR to undertake significant primary education reforms through its flagship Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR program (BEQUAL). A key focus of these reforms is the rollout of a new national primary curriculum intended to improve teaching quality and learning outcomes for students. As part of a multi-year study series, the Education Analytics Service (EAS) investigated how the BEQUAL program made a difference to improving these teaching and learning outcomes.

Evaluation Of Australia's Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Summary Of The 2019 Baseline Report (Lao Version), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Education Analytics Service

In 2019, the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) introduced a new primary education curriculum to improve teaching quality and student learning outcomes. The Government’s Education and Sports Sector Development Plan 2021- 25 focuses on improving teacher knowledge and skills as a means to improve student learning outcomes. This report summarises baseline findings just prior to these significant curriculum changes. These changes are supported by the Australian Government through its Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos (BEQUAL) program. The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has commissioned a study to investigate how BEQUAL is …

Reading Coaches For A 40 Book Challenge: Creating An Online Reading Community To Support Sixth Graders’ Independent Reading, Amy Carpenter Ford, Kayla Szymanski, Isabel Slate, Rachel Derusha

Michigan Reading Journal

English teacher candidates, or “Reading Coaches,” conducted virtual reading conferences with sixth graders using the digital platforms Zoom and Flip to support students’ independent reading as part of a 40 Book Challenge in an online and blended learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. As evidence of students’ participation and engagement, we present survey results and draw from conference records, observation notes, and a content analysis of video transcripts, triangulating across data sets to illuminate important design features. Connecting research with practice, we offer educators tangible resources of a Conference Guide, Flip design, record-keeping system, and training materials, as well as …

Report Highlights: Evaluation Of Australia's Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Final Report (Lao Version), Debbie Wong, Hilary Hollingsworth, Prue Anderson, Payal Goundar, Agnes Mercer

Education Analytics Service

The Australian Government is supporting the Government of Lao PDR to undertake significant primary education reforms through its flagship Basic Education Quality and Access in Lao PDR program (BEQUAL), including a new primary curriculum. Phase 1 of BEQUAL (2015-22) supported the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) to rollout the new primary curriculum in schools, starting with Grade 1 (G1) in 2019. Specific teaching practices were introduced, including active learning, student-centred learning approaches, formative assessment, and a phonics approach to teaching reading. New practices were complemented by face-to-face orientation training and grants in BEQUAL target districts to strengthen communities of …

The Impact Of A Year-Long Professional Development On Teacher Self-Efficacy In Personal Writing And The Teaching Of Writing, Guang-Lea Lee, Terri Brodeur, Cherng-Jyh Yen, Tian Luo, Pauline Salim Muljana

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Long-term professional development (PD) initiatives are scant in the extant literature. This study examines the impact of a year-long, face-to-face teacher PD provided for teachers from a high-need elementary school to improve their personal writing and writing instruction. A mixed-methods approach was used to collect and analyze data primarily from pre- and post-surveys and interviews. Statistical analyses suggest that teachers’ self-efficacy toward writing instruction was improved, but not self-efficacy toward their personal writing. Various means of how the year-long teacher PD influenced their self-efficacy were demonstrated through qualitative analysis. Implications of conducting teacher PD on writing instruction were discussed.

Teacher Development Multi-Year Study Series: Evaluation Of Australia’S Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Baseline Report, Debbie Wong, Hilary Hollingsworth, Prue Anderson, Paul R. Weldon, Louise Ockwell, Renee Kwong, Clare Ozolins

Teacher education

This report constitutes the Baseline Report of the multi-year study of the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) investment in teacher development in Lao PDR through the Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos program (BEQUAL). This Lao PDR study is part of a three-country multi-year study series on teacher development, in response to DFAT’s Office of Development Effectiveness’ 2015 Investing in Teachers report. This study is framed within the context of Lao PDR’s staged introduction of a new primary education curriculum, and accompanying in-service teacher professional development support. The overall aim of this study is to …

A Content Analysis Of Scientific Practices In A Fourth-Grade Commercial Literacy Program, Hailey A. Oswald

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing science literacy among all students is a longstanding goal of science education. The most recent national attempt to improve science education, and thereby increase science literacy, came in the form of the Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards, which include 3 dimensions: scientific and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. The purpose of this content analysis was to examine the alignment between 4 of the scientific practices (Asking Questions; Constructing Explanations; Engaging in Argument from Evidence; and Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information) and a widely used commercial literacy program, Reading Wonders, with …

Networking Practitioner Research: Leveraging Digital Tools As Conduits For Collaborative Work, Nicholas E. Husbye, Julie Rust, Christy Wessel Powell, Sarah Vander Zanden, Beth Buchholz

Journal of Practitioner Research

Practitioner research is a powerful stance for understanding one’s own practice and reporting out to other practitioners for adaptations within their own contexts. This article focuses on how engagement in a longitudinal, digitally-mediated community of practice supports essential work in practitioner research in regards to collective work as teacher educators. Drawing upon our own experiences, we explore the affordances of four digitally mediated communication channels (video meetings, shared file systems, text messaging, and collaborative writing) and share a series of recommendations for teacher educators interested in sustaining long-term collaborations across digital spaces. When considering the transformative possibilities of digital networks, …

Developing Evaluative Thinking And Evidence-Based Practice: A Synthetic Case Study, Tim Wyatt

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

The NSW Literacy and Numeracy Action Plan, which operated from 2012 to 2016, provided $261 millon to improve literacy and numeracy learning in 448 the most disadvantaged and lowest performing schools across the three education sectors in NSW. A key objective of the Action Plan was to enhance teacher and school leader capacity, including the ability to apply evidence-based practices and evaluative thinking to planning and programming for teaching and learning at a classroom level, and to planning and decision-making at a whole-school level. The concept and terminology of ‘evidence-based practice’ is in common parlance in Australian schools; however, in …

Teaching Undergraduates How To Analyze, Ryan Andrew Nivens, Rosalind Raymond Gann

Ryan Andrew Nivens

Analysis is typically the first of the higher functions listed in taxonomies of higher order thinking. Academics consider these upper categories extremely worthwhile, but they are hard to teach and we are apt to ignore them. Today higher education is being criticized for “dumbing down” curriculum or lowering standards. To rectify this, many policies at the state or national level are requiring higher education institutions to change. In K‐12 education, Race to the Top and Common Core requirements are placing new demands on K‐12 teacher preparation, which include evaluation of the analysis skills of pre‐service teachers. But professors do not …

What About Writing?: A National Study Of Writing Instruction In Teacher Preparation Programs, Sherry Dismuke, Susan Martin

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explores how writing instruction is taught to pre-service teachers across the US. Despite growing writing demands in K-12 classrooms, our national survey of literacy teacher educators revealed that colleges and universities rarely offer stand-alone writing instruction courses. Instead instructors are responsible for embedding writing instruction into their reading courses. Equally concerning, our data revealed a lack of confidence among many teacher educators regarding teaching writing. This study highlights the need for greater attention to writing in teacher education and adds to the conversation of why these issues continue to plague higher education.

Rethinking The Literacy Capabilities Of Pre-Service Primary Teachers In Testing Times, Eileen Honan, Beryl Exley, Lisa Kervin, Alyson Simpson, Muriel Wells

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper demonstrates how teacher accreditation requirements can be responsibly aligned with a scholarly impetus to incorporate digital literacies to prepare pre-service teachers to meet changing educational needs and practices. The assessment initiatives introduced in the newly constructed four year undergraduate Bachelor of Education program at one Australian university are described and analysed in light of the debates surrounding pre-service primary teachers’ literacy capabilities. The findings and subsequent discussion have implications for all literacy teacher educators concerned about the impact of standardised assessment practices on the professional future of teachers.

Teaching Undergraduates How To Analyze, Ryan Andrew Nivens, Rosalind Raymond Gann

ETSU Faculty Works

Analysis is typically the first of the higher functions listed in taxonomies of higher order thinking. Academics consider these upper categories extremely worthwhile, but they are hard to teach and we are apt to ignore them. Today higher education is being criticized for “dumbing down” curriculum or lowering standards. To rectify this, many policies at the state or national level are requiring higher education institutions to change. In K‐12 education, Race to the Top and Common Core requirements are placing new demands on K‐12 teacher preparation, which include evaluation of the analysis skills of pre‐service teachers. But professors do not …

So Tell Me, What's Different But The Skin I'M In? Seven Adolescent Black Girls Making Sense Of Their Experiences In An Online School Book Club Featuring African American Young Adult Literature, Benita Rutonya Dillard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Believing the claim made by Black feminist research and scholarship that Black women writers and Black female social networks were safe spaces for Black females to come to voice, this qualitative multiple case study examined how seven adolescent Black females enrolled in a public virtual charter high school positioned themselves as they responded to contemporary realistic young adult fiction written by African American female authors in an online single-gendered book club. This study captured participants as some interacted in Tuesday's group and the others in the Thursday's group. Interpretivist methods are used to specifically examine the ways in which the …

Professional Development Initiatives That Bridge, Develop And Support Learning Environments For Culturally And Linguistically Diverse School Communities In The Us And Guatemala, Miriam Pepper-Sanello, Adrienne Andi Sosin, Michelle Zucaro, Cynthia Rainbow

NERA Conference Proceedings 2008

This paper describes action research initiated by members of the Alpha Upsilon Alpha Literacy Honor Society of the International Reading Association at Adelphi University. In an ongoing service project sponsored by the Nassau Reading Council (NRC) and sanctioned by the Minister of Education in Guatemala, the participants are teacher educators and teacher-researchers studying their own professional learning as they provide literacy pedagogical techniques for colleagues in the US, as well as observing the effects of the NRC professional development initiative in literacy for Guatemalan teachers. Educational insights will resonate in improved literacy practices in the US and Guatemala.

Audio-Assisted Reading With Digital Audiobooks For Upper Elementary Students With Reading Disabilities, Kelli J. Esteves

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Audio-assisted reading has been used as an effective instructional intervention for students with learning disabilities (Carbo, 1978; Gilbert, Williams, & McLaughlin, 1996) and with struggling readers (Chomsky, 1976; Hollingsworth, 1978; Hoskisson & Krohm, 1974; Koskinen, Blum, Bisson, Phillips, Creamer, & Baker, 2000; Rasinski, 1990). The strategy involves reading along while listening to an audio recording of a fluent model (Evans, 1997).

The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy o f audio-assisted reading with digital audiobooks against the traditional practice of sustained silent reading in terms of reading fluency rates and reading attitude scores with upper elementary students …

The Power Of Visuals: Picture Books As Invitations To Literacy, Mary Jo Skillings

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

When young children are exposed to picture books, they are building important bridges to literacy. Picture books are sometimes defined as a storybook with a dual narrative. That is, the illustrations and text work interdependently, the integration of the visual and the verbal tell the story. The illustrations add a new dimension that extends beyond the words on the page; together, the text and pictures make the story stronger. A well crafted picture book is a feast for the eyes of a young child. The illustrations awaken and develop the child’s visual, mental, and verbal imagination.

Charting A New Course: Professional Development Strategies For Improving Literacy Education Across The Curriculum, Vikki K. Collins, Dawn Upshaw, H. Marguerite Yates

Perspectives In Learning

This paper reviews the effects of a program of professional development for literacy teachers in an urban, southeastern elementary school. During academic year 2002-2003, only 67% of fourth grade students met or exceeded state standards for achievement in reading as measured by the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), and only 77% of fourth grade students met or exceeded state standards for achievement in English/language arts as measured by the CRCT (Georgia Department of Education, 2005).