Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Superintendents Speak Out On Education Reforms, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In an effort to improve educational opportunities for all students, Arkansas has made education reforms in many areas over the past three years. The Office for Education Policy (OEP) recently distributed a confidential survey to superintendents across the state to see what kinds of successes districts are having as a result of these reforms and what challenges they still face. OEP also asked superintendents about teacher quality and supply issues in their districts, particularly in light of No Child Left Behind’s (NCLB) requirement that all schools be staffed with “highly-qualified teachers.”

Rating The Special Masters, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

After the 85th General Assembly adjourned in April 2005, the Rogers School District, along with 48 other districts, filed a motion to the state Supreme Court to reopen the landmark Lake View school funding case, accusing the legislature of failing to increase school funding for the 2005-06 school year (see Policy Brief 17). The Supreme Court agreed and on June 9, 2005, reappointed former Justices Bradley D. Jesson and David Newbern as Special Masters to assess the plaintiffs’ claims. The Masters issued their report on October 3, 2005, concluding that “the state has not lived up to the promise made …

Political Efficacy And Expected Participation Among Lower And Upper Secondary Students. A Comparative Analysis With Data From The Iea Civic Education Study, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

The process of political socialisation of adolescents includes more than the acquisition of knowledge about society, citizenship and the political system. In a democracy, citizens are expected to participate actively in the political process. Active participation, however, requires citizens to believe in their own ability to influence the course of politics, in other words, to feel politically efficacious. Therefore, enhancing control beliefs and the willingness to act politically could be viewed as important areas of civic and citizenship education. This paper examines changes in levels and relationships regarding efficacy and expected participation using data from students at different stages of …

Adequacy-Based Funding For Small, Isolated Schools: An Approach For Maine, Debra M. Allen, James E. Sloan

School Funding - Essential Programs and Services (EPS)

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Library Instruction On Undergraduate Learning Outcomes, Maira Bundza, Barbara J. Cockrell

Assessment Grants

No abstract provided.

Mis Startup For The Sociology Departmental Assessment Plan, Susan L. Caulfield

Assessment Grants

No abstract provided.

Assessment Governance, Richard R. Weiner, Karl P. Benziger

Faculty Publications

There has emerged a web of exogenous forces emanating from national and regional accreditation associations, particularly a satellite professional association involved in teacher preparation called the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). The reality of this web contradicts the implicit idealist sentiment in John Ishiyama’s report on the “Assessment of Student Outcomes’ meetings at the 2004 TLC where he describes “assessment as a voluntarist/bootstrapping “bottom up” effort of individual faculty members. [PS.27: 3, July 2004, 483-85.] Faculty are increasingly bombarded by outside agencies for standards inventory matrices, evaluation rubrics, and course maps.

Women Leading Systems, Margaret Grogan, C. Cryss Brunner

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Amid reports of superintendent shortages and concerns about equal opportunity, what place do women superintendents occupy in today’s school districts? Are they sought after or are they struggling to break into a traditionally male-dominated profession? What qualities, if any, do they bring to the office that may make them more desirable as education leaders? Do women even aspire to the superintendency? To gather the most up-to-date, comprehensive information on women and the superintendency, AASA recently commissioned a nationwide study of women in the superintendency and women in central-office positions. Using the AASA membership database and data from Market Data Retrieval, …

Education Week’S Report On Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

As schools open their doors for the spring 2005 semester, many legislatures around the nation are meeting to discuss accountability standards, equity and adequacy issues, and the link between money and student performance. While the education issues of 2005 are not unique, in that they have been discussed for years, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) deadline for schools to begin performing at higher standards increases the urgency. In addition to the increased standards, state policymakers are facing difficult legal challenges to their school funding systems. In an attempt to gauge the status of the nation and each state, Education …

Alternative Certification, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The term “alternative certification” has been utilized to describe programs ranging from immediate issuance of emergency certification to well-developed, highly professional training programs designed to bring new people into the profession. Because of the mandate to place highly qualified teachers in every classroom, the issue of alternative certification has become even more prominent and there is now more consistency in the academic rigor of alternative certification program across the nation. In this state, TeachArkansas serves as a clearinghouse for the various programs that enable an individual who did not out to be a teacher to become certified (see www.teacharkansas.org).

Teacher Quality And Preparation, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act mandates that states require all teachers to earn full certification and demonstrate competency in the subject area in which they teach. But do these requirements really produce effective teachers— teachers who actually improve student learning and achievement? The existing research base is decidedly mixed, highly politicized, and often just plain confusing. Some experts maintain that teachers’ pedagogical knowledge shows even stronger relationships to teaching effectiveness than their subject matter knowledge (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002); others insist that teachers’ expertise in their content area is a far better predictor of student achievement …

The Salary Debate, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In America, teacher compensation has undergone major changes over the last 200 years. Throughout much of the early 19th century, teachers were often paid with room and board within a community and taught all grades. Around 1921, a form of the single salary schedule still in use today was implemented (Protsik, 1995), where teachers’ salaries were linked to their educational background and their years in the field. Like the salaries of most other public officials, however, teachers’ salaries shift with changing social, economic, and political climates. The pay rate for teachers is also influenced by a number of variables (e.g. …

Teacher Shortages In Arkansas, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Over the past decade, we’ve heard time and again the dire warning that a major teacher shortage is imminent in our public schools. But is this really the case? Teacher education programs actually produce enough teachers each year to compensate for those who retire. Rather, some researchers suggest that we have focused too much on teacher shortages (the inability to recruit enough teachers) and not enough on teacher attrition (losing teachers already in the field). According to the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) latest School and Staffing Survey (SASS), about one-third of teachers quit during their first three years, …

The Nclb Debate: Strengths And Weaknesses Of No Child Left Behind, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

NCLB: Education’s Panacea or Disaster? Will NCLB have a revolutionary impact on America’s schools? Is NCLB an unfunded mandate? Will NCLB strengthen teaching or demoralize the teaching profession? Will NCLB finally provide equitable education for minorities and low-income students or worsen disparities in education? Since NCLB passed in 2001, pundits, educators, and elected officials have asked these questions, expressing and sometimes exaggerating some of the real strengths and weaknesses of the legislation. The following section highlights some of the most controversial points in the legislation, mostly taken from an outline articulated by the former Assistant Secretary of Education for President …

2003-04 Education Special Session, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

On December 8, 2003 the Arkansas General Assembly convened in a special session called by the Governor for the purpose of developing a plan to address the court mandate in the Lake View case before the mandated January 1, 2004 deadline. Legislators in both chambers debated a number of plans concerning the relationship between a school’s size and its quality and cost efficiency (e.g. – consolidation of smaller high schools into larger ones) as well as the best means of monitoring student assessment and school accountability. Finally, they turned their attention to funding formulas and potential sources of new revenue …

Birth Parents In Adoption: Research, Practice, And Counseling Psychology, Amanda Baden, Mary O'Leary Wiley

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

This article addresses birth parents in the adoption triad by reviewing and integrating both the clinical and empirical literature from a number of professional disciplines with practice case studies. This review includes literature on the decision to relinquish one’s child for adoption, the early postrelinquishment period, and the effects throughout the lifespan on birth parents. Clinical symptoms for birth parents include unresolved grief, isolation, difficulty with future relationships, and trauma. Some recent research has found that some birth mothers who relinquish tend to fare comparably to those who do not relinquish on external criteria of well-being (e.g., high school graduation …

What Do Freshmen Really Know About Research? Assess Before You Teach, Jean Caspers, Steven Mark Bernhisel

Faculty & Staff Publications

The article describes an effort to assess the information literacy skills of entering first-year college students. An instrument was developed and information was gathered on students' experience and comfort in conducting library research as well as their perceived competence with specific information literacy skills. In addition, students completed a skills test to assess specific knowledge and skills relating to information literacy. Entering first-year students generally self-reported their skills to be less than "excellent." This finding was supported by the results of the skills test. Strengths and weaknesses in information literacy skills are reported, as well as implications for librarians who …

Supervisor Perceptions Of The Quality Of Troops To Teachers Program Completers And Program Completer Perceptions Of Their Preparation To Teach: A National Survey, William A. Owings, Leslie S. Kaplan, John Nunnery, Robert Marzano, Steven Myran, David Blackburn

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

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During winter/spring, 2005, 2,103 Troops to Teachers (T3) program completers and their school administrators from 49 states and the District of Columbia were surveyed to determine whether T3s were more effective in the classroom than traditionally prepared teachers who had comparable years of teaching experience. Respondents also returned information about their schools’ demographics, views about their teacher certification preparation program, and information about themselves, their teaching behaviors, and future plans. Sixty-one percent of the respondents returned completed surveys.

Design-Based Research Strategies For Developing A Scientific Inquiry Curriculum In A Multi-User Virtual Environment, B. Nelson, D. J. Ketelhut, Jody Clarke-Midura, C. Bowman, C. Dede

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This National Science Foundation funded project is studying graphical multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) to investigate whether using this interactive medium in classroom settings can simulate real-world experimentation and can provide students with engaging, meaningful learning experiences that enhance scientific literacy. In the project's River City curriculum, teams of middle school students are asked to collaboratively solve a digital 19th century city's problems with illness, through interaction with digital artifacts, tacit clues, and computer-based 'agents' acting as mentors and colleagues in a virtual community of practice. This article describes the design-based research strategy by which we are currently extending an educational …