Education Commons^™

Changes In Teacher Salaries Under The Arkansas Learns Act, Gema Zamarro, Andrew Camp, Josh Mcgee, Taylor Wilson, Miranda Vernon

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

• The LEARNS Act:
• Increased the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000,
• Guaranteed all teachers a minimum raise of $2,000, and
• Removed the minimum teacher salary schedule and relaxed other salary schedule requirements in state law.
• Before LEARNS, starting teacher salaries in almost all school districts were below the new minimum salary of $50,000.
• The average entry-level teacher salary for those holding a bachelor’s degree was about $38,000, with 39% of districts paying the pre-LEARNS minimum salary of $36,000.
• Starting teacher salaries under LEARNS are now more equally distributed, with minimal variation across districts.
• This school year, 97% of …

University Of Arkansas, Chemistry And Biochemistry Department Graduate Student Publications, 2018- November 2023. 39p., Jeremy Smith, Lutishoor Salisbury

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides a compilation of the research publications by the Chemistry and Biochemistry (CHBC) Graduate students for the period: 2018-November 2023. It includes publications by the CHBC graduates and those where a CHBC faculty was the main advisor. It includes a summary of the research. The listing is organized according to type of publications within specific years.

University Of Arkansas, Chemistry And Biochemistry Department Research Publications, 2014- November 2023. 107p., Jeremy Smith, Lutishoor Salisbury

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report provides a compilation of the research publications by the Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty for the period: 2014 - November 2023. The information was gathered from major databases in science and technology including Web of Science, SciFinder, Reaxys, PubMed, IEEE Explore and Engineering Index. At least one author in each of the publications has the CHBC department as its affiliation. It includes a table summarizing the research. The listing is organized according to type of publications within specific years.

"I'M Really Just Scared Of The White Parents": A Teacher's Perceptions Of Barriers To Discussing Racial Injustice, Shimikqua Elece Ellis, Christian Goering

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose - This study explores the perceived barriers that a Secondary English teacher faced when attempting to discuss racial injustice through young adult literature in Mississippi.

Design/methodology/approach- The authors rely on Critical Whiteness Studies and qualitative methods to explore the following research question: What are the barriers that a White ELA teacher perceives when teaching about racial injustice through The Hate U Give?

Findings- The authors found that there were several perceived barriers to discussing modern racial injustice in the Mississippi ELA classroom. The participating teacher indicated the following barriers: a lack of racial literacy, fears of discomfort, and an …

Freshman Course Credit And Unexcused Absences: An Arkansas Policy Analysis, Sarah R. Morris, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Miranda Vernon

Arkansas Education Reports

This policy analysis examines the implementation of A.C.A. 6-18-222, a statewide policy in Arkansas that addresses unexcused absences and course credit consequences for students. Using anonymized student-level data from the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years (N=65,651), the study explores variations in policy implementation across districts and investigates the relationship between absences and course failures for freshmen. Our results highlight the wide variability in the number of allowed unexcused absences and the language of course credit consequence among districts. Additionally, our multivariate logistic regressions reveal FRL-eligible students more likely to fail a course after reaching their district’s unexcused absence threshold. Lastly, …

Does Reading Historical Drama Increase Historical Knowledge And Empathy? The Case Of Dorothy Sayers’S The Man Born To Be King, Albert Cheng

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Literary theorists have argued that literary reading fosters empathy, a claim that has substantial empirical support. In this study, I consider the more specific case of reading historical drama and its potential to foster historical empathy among secondary school students. Although several educational interventions for fostering historical empathy have been proposed, none have yet considered the potential of reading historical drama. I evaluate an intervention where students engaged with selected plays from Dorothy Sayers’s The Man Born to be King that depict the Nativity and Easter narratives. After the intervention, I find that these students, compared to students who did …

The Art Of Detailing: An Exploration Of Watercolor, Torrey Tracy

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

Department of Interior Architecture and Design, Fay Jones School of Architecture

Special thanks to Cat Wallack, Architectural Records Archivist, Mullins Library and Reagan Walters, Bachelor of Interior Design, 2021

The Impact Of Frequent Student-Faculty Interaction On Repeater Students, Shanda Hood, Josh Girshner

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

Data show that half of all students who have dropped/failed Survey of Calculus or Finite Mathematics at the University of Arkansas will drop/fail again. These students face a lack of motivation and a fair amount of anxiety toward mathematics. To make connections and create an environment in which they are comfortable discussing any issues with the professor, repeater students were asked to meet with the professor to complete a personalized academic improvement plan. This plan establishes the need for regular contact with the instructor and should increase the …

Using Digitally-Based Recording Techniques To Manage Large Datasets In Real Time, Jessica Kowalski

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

Managing digital data is a critical part of any archeological investigation or research project. Students in the 2023 University of Arkansas Archeological Field School learned how to record digital data in real-time using iPads in conjunction with an inventorying database designed for the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

Fostering Grit In The University Student, Hope Ballentine, Diana Dunbar

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

In the preeminent work on grit, Duckworth et al. (2007) first defined grit as “perseverance and passion for long term-goals.” Evidence is overwhelming that grit is a predictor of success in various arenas of life, often when no other valid predictors can be identified. Grit was the only statistically significant predictor of both academic and clinical success in an Australian study of over 2000 university students (Terry & Peck, 2020). Both job satisfaction and performance are improved with increased grit (Cho & Kim, 2022). Clear evidence that a …

Arcgis Storymaps Facilitates Student Learning, Daniela D'Eugenio, Guillermo Pupo Pernet

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

As a tool that allows for the creation of a geospatial multimedia story, ArcGIS StoryMaps facilitates students’ learning both inside and outside of the classroom. This interactive software offers students the opportunity to express their understanding of an input and elaborate upon it in original and personal ways using various sources. In this presentation, we will illustrate how ArcGIS can be used successfully in an advanced Italian language class to engage students with a fable by Somali-Italian acclaimed writer Igiaba Scego, Prestami le ali. Examples of scaffolded …

Preparing Bsw Social Work Students For Social Justice Advocacy, Christiane Long, Joy Patton, Amy Ward

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

Dr. Long is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Social Work here at the University of Arkansas, while Dr. Patton is at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, TX and Dr. Ward is at East Central University in Ada, OK.

There is no denying that the social work profession has a long history of social justice advocacy. However, advocacy and political action were not necessarily a focus in social work education, leaving social work graduates feeling inadequate to advocate on a broader, macro level (Haynes & …

I Would Have Never Thought Of That On My Own: Using Peer Feedback To Motivate And Shape Pre-Service Teachers’ Critical Thinking, Alexandra Vasile, Alexandra Anton

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

The presentation reports the results of implementing a peer review feedback strategy in an elementary education program. To prepare teacher candidates for field experiences, the program uses coursework such as projects. We examine the awareness and perspectives of preservice teachers (n = 38) to providing and receiving feedback from their peers on their project ideas, and - in particular - their motivation and readiness to assimilate peer feedback. Data includes initial and final project ideas, answers to reflective questions, and the peer feedback each participant received.

The study …

Making Language Learning Meaningful And Fun With Collaborative Projects, A. Louise Cole

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

Collaborative learning requires students to actively engage with others, typically fellow students, to achieve a common goal (Nokes-Malach et al, 2015). The form of this collaboration may vary from prescriptive, teacher-facilitated activities to more open-ended and reflective projects. Within the L2 classroom, students work toward language proficiency. The current World-Readiness Standards for Language Learners evaluate linguistic abilities in speaking, listening, reading, and writing but also require that students develop cultural competencies and understanding. In this vein, Oxford posits that within a collaborative learning framework, the notion of community …

You Can Learn A Lot From Fake Data: Reverse Engineering Data As A Means To Analysis, Action & Learning, Jeff Bean

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas While not a formal discipline, “reverse engineering” can yield opportunities for students to experience a compressed end-to-end (e2e) life cycle of projects that leverage human factors such as perception, cognition, and macro-factors such as organizational culture or situational context to improve operations performance, safety, or other organizational outcomes.

As the process of project proposal, approval, and execution can often take months (or longer!), we simply do not have the time or resources to conduct “real” experiments. To give the benefit of e2e projects, students are asked to create …

English Language Learners And Their Postsecondary Education Outcomes: Evidence From Arkansas, Rian Djita, Kate Barnes, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Nearly 10% of students enrolled in public schools in the U.S. are identified as English Language Learners (ELLs). The population of ELL students is expected to continue to rise, therefore research about ELLs is both timely and essential. An increasing body of literature addresses the experience and outcomes of ELLs in the context of both K-12 and postsecondary education. Most studies, however, focus on California, Texas, Florida, and New York (Aguilar, 2010; Callahan et al., 2023; Flores, Batalova & Fix, 2012) presenting a need for more research to make state-by-state comparisons especially from rural states that have become new destinations …

Arkansas Teachers' Grading Practices And Implications, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee

Policy Briefs

In this brief, we assess current grading practices in Arkansas. We find teachers’ grading practices are inconsistent across the state. We suggest districts assess their grading practices and provide ongoing professional development opportunities for teachers to reflect on their grading practices.

A Glimpse Into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices 2022-23, Sarah Morris, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes …

Arkansas Parent Pre-Kindergarten Survey 2023, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

The Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas administered a survey to Arkansas parents about their perceptions of their students’ PreKindergarten experiences. The survey, administered in March of 2023, was sent to parents of Kindergarten students currently attending an Arkansas public school, as well as parents of students currently enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten programs housed in Arkansas public schools or enrolled in a Head Start program. A total of 772 parents responded to the survey

Teacher Turnover During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Teachers' levels of stress and burnout have been high throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns about a potential increase in teacher turnover and future teacher shortages. We examine how the COVID-19 pandemic affected teacher turnover in Arkansas from 2018-19 to 2022-23 using administrative data. We find no major changes in turnover entering the first two pandemic years, but a large increase of 5.3 percentage points (26%) entering the third year, with variation by teacher and student characteristics. We also find that increases in teacher turnover are related to instructional mode and that this turnover may partially be explained by the …

A Glimpse Into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices, Sarah Morris, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This case study assesses the current, self-reported grading practices among Arkansas teachers. We distributed a Teachers’ Grading Perceptions survey in November, 2022, and we conducted semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals in January-February, 2023. We gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from the teacher survey, and we used interviews to collect themes for current grading practices in Arkansas’s schools. We generated a grading equity scale from the survey questions, verified by a reliable alpha coefficient = 0.83, and we use this in a multivariate regression to explore teacher characteristics and their likelihood of favoring grading equity practices. We collected themes …

The Usage And Impact Of Act 1240 Teacher Licensure Waivers In Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Policy Briefs

Act 1240 of 2015 allows Arkansas school districts to petition for waivers allowing for the employment of teachers who are not licensed under the standard procedures of the state. Since the program’s inception in the 2016-17 school year, the number of teachers employed under Act 1240 waivers has increased, with the Arkansas Department of Education reporting 836 teachers hired using Act 1240 waivers in 69 districts during the 2021-22 school year. This represents approximately one quarter of the districts within the state, but only approximately 2 percent of the nearly 40,000 teachers employed last year.

Using publicly available data from …

Movers, Switchers, And Exiters: Teacher Turnover During Covid-19, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

In this brief, we examine teacher turnover in the state of Arkansas both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with available reports from Washington State, North Carolina, and South Carolina, we find evidence of increased teacher turnover in Arkansas entering the current school year. However, a large proportion of this turnover can be explained not by teachers leaving the education sector but switching to non-instructional roles such as principals or instructional coaches. The use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds may be driving these transitions. A survey of schools conducted by the National Center for …

Exploration Of Motivations For Adopting A Four-Day School Week Or Year Round Calendars: Evidence From Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee, Kate Barnes

Policy Briefs

This brief provides an overview of the motivations for Arkansas school districts adopting a four-day school week or year-round calendar. In addition to examining these motivations, this brief provides an overview of the districts adopting non-traditional calendars and policy recommendations for districts and communities considering changing calendars.

We Wanted To Do Something Innovative: Exploring Motivations Of Arkansas Districts Adopting Four-Day School Weeks Or Year-Round Calendars, Kate Barnes, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

Recent legislation has allowed Arkansas school districts increased flexibility to adopt a non-traditional calendar. Act 688 introduced four calendar options for districts: a traditional calendar, a four day calendar, a year-round calendar, and an alternate calendar based on the number of instructional hours.

During the 2022-23 school year, 33 school districts throughout the state adopted new calendars. The motivations behind why districts adopted new calendars were unclear. This report aims to identify the rationale behind why these districts moved away from the traditional calendar.

This report uses data gathered from interviews with twenty-three superintendents in districts that selected non-traditional calendars …

Technology And Care To Promote Students' Success, Adnan Alrubaye

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Join the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center for an informal conversation about teaching with the February Cordes Chairperson, Dr. Adnan Alrubaye. Alrubaye teaches courses in both the poultry science and biological sciences departments, and he serves as the associate director for the cell and molecular biology graduate program. He teaches multiple sections of the General Microbiology course, with courses sizes ranging between 30 and 400 students. Alrubaye’s topic will be about tools he uses to provide the best learning experiences for students to help them achieve their learning goals. His philosophy when it comes to working with students …

Course Re-Design: What’S New On Campus, Jim Gigantino, David Jensen, Kathryn Zawisza

TFSC Publications and Presentations

In a session designed to impact how you think about designing your classes, Dr. Jim Gigantino, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, will lead a discussion of the new modes of delivery that will be available on campus and some information about the mixed mode pilot that will be undertaken in the fall of 2023.

Dr. David Jensen, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, will discuss a course he designed to be taught in a mixed mode form and share how he has been using the materials the last couple of semesters. He will provide examples from his class along with …

Showcasing Your Teaching For Promotion And/Or Tenure, Richard Cassady, Samantha Robinson, Jackie Wiersma-Mosley, Christopher Shields

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Have you heard stories about the stress of trying to apply for promotion and/or tenure? Do you know that faculty are required to show the quality of their teaching? This first of its kind session is appropriate for tenure track faculty and teaching faculty in the professorial ranks. It is designed for faculty considering promotion and/or tenure in the coming years. Attendees will see the guidelines with various items and examples provided on how to effectively showcase teaching. Faculty will also receive tips that can be started now to plan for preparation of the packets either for the current year …

Revisiting Ethnic Differences In In-Person Learning During 2021-2022, Andrew Camp, Alison H. Johnson, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

During the 2020-21 school year, Black and Hispanic students were less likely to attend school in-person than white students. Prior research indicated multiple factors helped explain this gap. In this study, we revise these observed racial gaps in in-person learning to examine whether the relationship between these gaps and explanatory factors observed earlier in the pandemic changed during the 2021-2022 school year. We find that, while in-person gaps decreased, Black respondents continued to be less likely to report in-person learning than white respondents. Political leanings and COVID-19 health risks, which helped explain observed gaps in 2020-2021, lose explanatory power. But …

Arkansas’S 9th Grade Course Failures And Building Configurations, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee, Sarah R. Morris

Policy Briefs

In this brief, we examine the relationship between course failures among Arkansas’s 9th grade students and the grade levels served in their school. We find that in schools that terminate at 9th grade, 9th graders are less likely to fail one or more course during the year compared to failure rates in schools that terminate at 12th grade. We suggest an increase in awareness and examination of how we assess 9th graders in Arkansas.