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Articles 1 - 25 of 25
Full-Text Articles in Education
A Glimpse Into Arkansas Teachers’ Grading Practices 2022-23, Sarah Morris, Sarah C. Mckenzie
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 …
Gifted Education In Arkansas: A Longitudinal Study Of Gifted Status And Academic Growth, Bich Tran, Jonathan Wai, Sarah C. Mckenzie
Gifted Education In Arkansas: A Longitudinal Study Of Gifted Status And Academic Growth, Bich Tran, Jonathan Wai, Sarah C. Mckenzie
Arkansas Education Reports
This study assesses the effectiveness of gifted programs in Arkansas by leveraging student-level achievement and demographic data of students who scored at or above the 95th percentile on state assessments in third grade. We follow five independent cohorts of these high-achieving students through eighth grade and examine the difference between the longer-term academic performance of the students that were exposed to gifted and talented services compared to similarly high achieving peers that were not identified as gifted. Using regression analyses controlling for student and district characteristics, we find that students who received gifted services demonstrated statistically significantly greater academic growth …
Computer Science Teacher Survey, Josh B. Mcgee, Sarah C. Mckenzie
Computer Science Teacher Survey, Josh B. Mcgee, Sarah C. Mckenzie
Arkansas Education Reports
In April/May of 2020, the University of Arkansas’ Office for Education Policy (OEP), in partnership with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's Computer Science and Cyber Security Task Force, fielded a survey with the 400+ Arkansas educators who at that time held a computer science endorsement (528), computer science approval code (5016), or computer science technical permit (5014) on their educator’s license. The survey received 153 responses, a nearly 40 percent response rate.
Educational Adequacy In Arkansas: Facilities, Reed Greenwood
Educational Adequacy In Arkansas: Facilities, Reed Greenwood
Arkansas Education Reports
Public school facilities funding was approached somewhat differently from the remainder of the work on public schools resulting from Lake View. A primary concern regarding school facilities was the lack of a comprehensive assessment of some 1200 schools in the state in over 250 independent public school districts. Early in the process, the General Assembly created the Joint Committee on Education Facilities in April 2003. This report covers the work of this Committee from the process of assessment through the reports of the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities & Transportation, a unit of the Arkansas Department of Education, …
Educational Adequacy In Arkansas: Funding, Reed Greenwood
Educational Adequacy In Arkansas: Funding, Reed Greenwood
Arkansas Education Reports
The public education system in Arkansas has undergone a significant transformation during the past ten years. This has come about as a result of several factors including the passage and implementation of federal legislation known as the No Child Left Behind Act, the ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court in the Lake View case, and the legislation and executive decisions resulting from the efforts to create an equitable and adequate system of public education in the state.
What Do Schools Look For In Prospective Teacher? An Analysis Of Teacher Application Data, James V. Shuls, Sarah M. Burks, Gary W. Ritter
What Do Schools Look For In Prospective Teacher? An Analysis Of Teacher Application Data, James V. Shuls, Sarah M. Burks, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Across Arkansas, it is safe to say that districts are interested in hiring the best teachers; but how do district leaders attempt to recruit and hire the most effective teachers? How do district leaders attempt to identify which teacher candidates will be the most effective? Recently, a number of school districts have an even greater reason for their new hires to be excellent teachers, because these districts have schools that have been labeled as focus or priority schools, resulting from poor academic performance.
Analyzing The 2011 Naep Results: Where Does Arkansas Stand Now?, Misty Newcomb, Gary Ritter
Analyzing The 2011 Naep Results: Where Does Arkansas Stand Now?, Misty Newcomb, Gary Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
State education policymakers in Arkansas, and in all states around the country, take great interest in the state assessment scores published each year and are pleased when they are able to present positive results. This has certainly been the case in Arkansas with the annual publication of the results of student performance on the state Benchmark exams. While the state exams provide useful information that allow policymakers to compare schools and districts within Arkansas, they do not allow policymakers to assess the performance of Arkansas students relative to other students in the nation.
Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2011, Alexandra Boyd, Greg Michel, Misty Newcomb, Gary Ritter
Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2011, Alexandra Boyd, Greg Michel, Misty Newcomb, Gary Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight many high performing schools around the state in our now-annual AER entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards.
Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2010, James L. Woodworth, Jeffery R. Dean, James V. Shuls, Caleb P. Rose, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2010, James L. Woodworth, Jeffery R. Dean, James V. Shuls, Caleb P. Rose, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight many high performing schools around the state in our now-annual AER entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards.
Comprehensive Analysis Of Arkansas Teacher Salaries: State, Region, And District, James V. Shuls, Nathan C. Jensen
Comprehensive Analysis Of Arkansas Teacher Salaries: State, Region, And District, James V. Shuls, Nathan C. Jensen
Arkansas Education Reports
School funding has been an area of contention in the courts of nearly every state. Many of these court cases have challenged the constitutionality of state funding formulas, arguing the funding system was inadequate or inequitable because poor urban or rural districts often faced a disadvantage in garnering tax dollars for education. Specific to Arkansas, in the 1983 decision Dupree v. Alma School District, the Arkansas Supreme Court declared the state’s funding system was not meeting its constitutional requirements.
Spotlights On Success: Traits And Strategies Of Five High-Growth Schools In Arkansas, Misty Newcomb, James L. Woodworth, Jeffery R. Dean, Caleb P. Rose, Gary W. Ritter
Spotlights On Success: Traits And Strategies Of Five High-Growth Schools In Arkansas, Misty Newcomb, James L. Woodworth, Jeffery R. Dean, Caleb P. Rose, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Successful schools are those which best educate the students, regardless of background. They are not those with students who come in well-educated but show only slight improvement, nor are they schools which use the disadvantage as an excuse for continued low levels of achievement. Instead, successful schools are those which advance the learning of all their children beyond what is expected.
Updated Analysis Of Racial Segregation In Pulaski County Charter And Traditional Public Schools, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Updated Analysis Of Racial Segregation In Pulaski County Charter And Traditional Public Schools, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
In September of 2009, the Office for Education Policy (OEP) released a report titled “An Analysis of Charter Schools on Desegregation Efforts in Little Rock, Arkansas.” In this report, we presented data from the 2005 to 2009 schools years for students who transferred to open-enrollment charter schools in Pulaski County from the Little Rock School District (LRSD). The aim of this report was to show what impacts – if any – these transfers were having on the desegregation efforts of the LRSD. The motivation for this report was an ongoing legal debate about how charter schools impact desegregation, in which …
Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting Top Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2009, Bentley R. Kirkland, James V. Shuls, Caleb P. Rose, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting Top Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2009, Bentley R. Kirkland, James V. Shuls, Caleb P. Rose, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Since our founding in 2003, the mission of the Office for Education Policy has been to look at pressing issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Every once in a while, however, we think it is okay to stray from issue analysis and simply share some good news! So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we merely aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight the top performing schools around the state in an annual AER entitled the Outstanding …
An Analysis Of The Impact Of Charter Schools On Desegregation Efforts In Little Rock, Arkansas, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
An Analysis Of The Impact Of Charter Schools On Desegregation Efforts In Little Rock, Arkansas, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
The aim of this report is to address the challenge by the Little Rock School District (LRSD) that open-enrollment charter schools in Pulaski County (PC) are impeding the efforts of the three PC school districts (Little Rock, North Little Rock (NLRSD), and Pulaski County Special (PCSSD)) to become racially integrated. A key motivation for this analysis is the ongoing debate about how expanded school choice, in this case charter schools, impacts racial segregation. Critics of charter schools argue that these schools lead to greater racial segregation, whereas proponents of charter schools suggest that there is no necessary link between racial …
Putting "Teaching To The Test" To The Test: Is This Really A Problem In Arkansas?, Stuart Buck, Gary W. Ritter
Putting "Teaching To The Test" To The Test: Is This Really A Problem In Arkansas?, Stuart Buck, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Arkansas’s state standardized tests have changed over the past few years. Since the ACTAAP legislation of 1999, Arkansas students have taken criterion-referenced Benchmark Tests based on the state’s curricular standards along with national norm-referenced exams each year. Prior to 2004, students in grades 4, 6, and 8 were administered the Benchmark tests in Mathematics and in English Language Arts. Starting in 2005, the odd-numbered grades were added so that students in grades 3-8 took the week-long Benchmark tests, in accordance with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind act.
Dollars For Sense: Assessing Achievement Gaps In Arkansas In The Context Of Substantial Funding Increases, Joshua H. Barnett, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Dollars For Sense: Assessing Achievement Gaps In Arkansas In The Context Of Substantial Funding Increases, Joshua H. Barnett, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Over the last half century, more than forty states across the nation have experienced school finance lawsuits as a consequence of perceived and real funding gaps between rich and poor districts (Rebell, 2001). Arkansas is one such state, with a long history of school funding battles in the courts. The legal challenges began in 1983, when the Arkansas Supreme Court initially found the state's school funding system unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the state constitution .
What Does Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Sarah B. Kent, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
What Does Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Sarah B. Kent, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Recently, policymakers at the Arkansas Department of Education were pleased to release the results of the 2008 Benchmark exams, which indicate more Arkansas students are becoming proficient each year. This is good news for Arkansas, as the Benchmark exam is an Arkansas developed exam used to compare student performance to state standards. Nevertheless, it is also important to take note of how Arkansas students perform compared to students across the nation, which is where the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) plays an important role. The NAEP, also known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” allows student performance to be compared …
The State Of Education In Arkansas 2008: How Much Are Arkansas Schools Spending?, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Brent E. Riffel
The State Of Education In Arkansas 2008: How Much Are Arkansas Schools Spending?, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Brent E. Riffel
Arkansas Education Reports
Over the last half century, more than forty states across the nation have experienced school finance lawsuits as a consequence of funding gaps between rich and poor districts. Arkansas is one such state, with a long history of school funding battles in the courts. The legal challenges began in 1983, when the Arkansas Supreme Court initially found the state's school funding system unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the state constitution1 . The court found “no legitimate state purpose” and “no rational relationship to educational needs” in the state's method of financing public schools. This initial finding set the …
Ayp In Arkansas: Who’S On Track?, Virginia H. Blankenship, Joshua H. Barnett
Ayp In Arkansas: Who’S On Track?, Virginia H. Blankenship, Joshua H. Barnett
Arkansas Education Reports
How “good” are the schools in Arkansas? Under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the current measure of a school’s success in Arkansas and around the country is based on whether its students meet the adequate yearly progress (AYP) benchmark on annual standardized tests. Those schools not making AYP are placed on the list of schools “in need of improvement” and therefore must give expanded educational choice (including school transfers and/or free tutoring) to eligible students. In contrast, schools that do not appear on the list are typically regarded as “successful” schools. This paper provides an …
Superintendents Speak Out: A Survey Of Superintendents’ Opinions Regarding Recent School Reforms In Arkansas, Virginia H. Blankenship, Joshua H. Barnett
Superintendents Speak Out: A Survey Of Superintendents’ Opinions Regarding Recent School Reforms In Arkansas, Virginia H. Blankenship, Joshua H. Barnett
Arkansas Education Reports
In an effort to improve educational opportunities for all students, Arkansas policymakers have made education reforms in many areas since 2003, such as increasing school funding by nearly 30 percent, consolidating both districts with enrollments below 350 students and inefficient schools, and strengthening accountability measures designed to raise academic achievement. However, there is little empirical evidence about how any of these reforms have impacted districts, schools, and students across the state, so policymakers have no way of knowing whether such reforms have the potential to improve student achievement and help close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their more …
Placing Arkansas School Funding Data In The National Context, Joshua H. Barnett
Placing Arkansas School Funding Data In The National Context, Joshua H. Barnett
Arkansas Education Reports
In the Lake View v Huckabee school funding lawsuit, the Arkansas Supreme Court found the state’s school funding system unconstitutional because it did not provide an “adequate and equitable” education to all students. In light of the court’s ruling, this paper addresses the adequacy of the Arkansas system by examining levels of expenditure, teacher salary levels, and school performance. Further, this paper highlights the level of equity within the state of Arkansas as compared to other states in the nation using the Federal Range Ratio, the Coefficient of Variation, and the McLoone Index. Finally, data on the sources of revenue …
What Does The Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter
What Does The Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
This brief discusses the most recent and historical NAEP data in math, science, reading, and writing. Arkansas’ NAEP results are compared to national and border state averages. Based on the most recent NAEP exams, Arkansas is performing slightly below the national average in reading, math, science, and writing. There is also data to support that Arkansas students perform less well in Grade 8 than in Grade 4 when compared to the national and border state averages. Arkansas, however, is among the highest performing states with regard to change over the last decade. Since 1992, Arkansas has gained on the national …
Does Size Matter? School Consolidation Policy Issues In Arkansas, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Christopher J. Lucas
Does Size Matter? School Consolidation Policy Issues In Arkansas, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Christopher J. Lucas
Arkansas Education Reports
Providing a reasonable education for all students in Arkansas is a legal responsibility explicitly mandated by the state’s constitution. Consistent with the long-standing American tradition of “grassroots” control of education, public schools in all states are funded and managed first and foremost at the local level. The federal government can and does enact legislation with which schools must conform. Directly or indirectly, federal mandates provide significant amounts of monies to support particular types of school services and programming. But ultimate responsibility for financing and operating schools devolves on state government. In Arkansas, it has been held, the state must provide …
Alternative Education: A Continued Examination Of How States Are Addressing Alternative Education In Their Schools, Les Carnine, Joshua H. Barnett
Alternative Education: A Continued Examination Of How States Are Addressing Alternative Education In Their Schools, Les Carnine, Joshua H. Barnett
Arkansas Education Reports
In an attempt to understand the current preparation level of Arkansas for the Leave No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002, the current project conducts a preliminary literature and web search to record what other states have done and are doing to prepare for NCLB. A brief synopsis of the history of alternative policies is also included. Results indicate that of the twelve states examined, most states are following a similar pattern with regard to preparing for their “at risk” students and passing similar alternative education policies. Three common characteristics found across the states: defining what alternative education is …
Long-Term Outcomes Of Low-Achieving Third Grade Readers, Emily Jordan, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Long-Term Outcomes Of Low-Achieving Third Grade Readers, Emily Jordan, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter
Arkansas Education Reports
Research shows that students who demonstrate low reading achievement in 3rd grade have trouble catching back up to grade level and being successful in school, compared to their peers who demonstrate early proficiency (Fiester 2010; Hernandez 2011; Juel 1988). This report seeks to investigate what happens to Arkansas public school students who demonstrate low achievement in reading in 3rd grade. Reading scores from three cohorts of students are followed from 3rd grade until high school, beginning with data from the 2008-09 school year and continuing through 2016-17.