Educational Leadership Commons^™

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 …

Reflections From Teaching Through A Pandemic: A Focus On The Silver Lining, Heather Walker

TFSC Publications and Presentations

While the COVID pandemic brought many challenges to teaching, it also drove innovation. In this talk, Heather Walker will reflect on the changes that the pandemic brought to her teaching practices. She’ll discuss which ones she plans to keep and which ones she’ll throw away. The goal will be to consider how teaching through the pandemic benefitted her as a teacher.

September Cordes Chair: Dr. Molly Rapert, Molly Rapert

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Join the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center for an informal conversation about teaching with the September Cordes Chairperson, Dr. Molly Rapert. Molly will discuss strategies she has developed to create rapport with students, such as using in-class exercises, LinkedIn, and social media to establish and solidify connections.

Molly is the director of the Walton Center for Teaching Effectiveness, is a recipient of the Charles and Nadine Baum Excellence in Teaching Award, the Arkansas Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award, and the Marketing Management Association’s National Outstanding Teaching Award. She teaches the capstone course in the Marketing department which prepares students …

Cordes Chair Seminar: Teaching Authentically In An Age Of Reality Superstars, Casandra Cox

TFSC Publications and Presentations

The Teaching and Faculty Support Center is pleased announce that Casandra Cox, instructor in the Department of Agricultural Education, Communications and Technology, will present the November Cordes Chair Seminar from 2 - 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 30, in Home Economics 108. Her presentation is entitled, "Teaching Authentically in an Age of Reality Superstars." Cox has been on the AECT faculty since 2003 and has received numerous teaching awards, including the Bumpers College's John W. White Outstanding Teaching Award and the Jack G. Justus Excellence in Teaching Award. She is also a Fellow of the U of A Teaching Academy.

The Educational Emphases Of Science Teachers In Us Evangelical Protestant High Schools, Albert Chang

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

I examine the educational emphases of science teachers in Evangelical Protestant (EP) schools, including (1) teaching basic content knowledge, (2) improving scientific reasoning skills, and (3) presenting real-world applications of science. Using a nationally representative sample of US ninth-graders, I find differences in these educational emphases between science teachers in EP schools and science teachers in secular private, Catholic, and public schools. I also find suggestive evidence that differences in STEM-related student outcomes across school sectors, which have been demonstrated in prior research, are associated with cross-sector differences in the emphases of science teachers.

What Leads To Successful School Choice Programs? A Review Of The Theories And Evidence, Corey A. Deangelis, Heidi Holmes Erickson

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

There is a large body of thorough research showing many positive benefits of school choice. However, many questions remain on how school choice works. Rigorous school choice experiments can only determine if access to school choice programs alters student outcomes; they cannot confidently identify the specific mechanisms that mediate various outcomes. Two commonly theorized mechanisms in school choice programs that lead to positive outcomes are (1) an increased access to higher-quality schools and (2) an improved match between schools and students. We examine the existing empirical evidence and the theoretical arguments for these two primary mechanisms. While there is evidence …