Education Commons^™

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 …

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.

National Assessment Of Educational Progress (Naep) Results 2022, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee

Policy Briefs

The National Center for Education Statistics has released this year’s NAEP results which measure nationwide student performance in 4th and 8th grade reading and math. NAEP is administered nationally to a representative sample of students from all 50 states, so acts as a standard measure of student performance across states and time. In this policy brief will examine Arkansas’ 2022 results and examine score gaps between student groups.

Examination Of School Value-Added Growth By Student Population, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee, Charlene A. Reid

Policy Briefs

In this brief, we assess the relationship between Arkansas’ school-level value-added content growth scores for student racial and programmatic groups. We find that on average, African American students receive lower growth scores than other student groups, and that African American elementary students demonstrated large drops in growth since COVID

Early Access: Elementary School Outcomes For Arkansas Better Chance Pre-Kindergarten Participants, Sarah Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee, Emily Jordan, Charlene A. Reid

Policy Briefs

The Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program has been providing low-income and at-risk Arkansas children with tuition-free pre-K since 1991. Enrollment in the state’s public pre-K programs has increased modestly over the last ten years. This brief reports the results of an analysis of the 3rd and 5th grade outcomes for students who attended ABC pre-K in the academic years of 2011-12 through 2014-15. We find that students who enroll in ABC programs in the year prior to starting Kindergarten outperform similar peers on math and reading state tests in 3rd grade, but these effects largely fadeout by 5th grade.

Investigating Outcomes For English Language Learners In Arkansas Better Chance (Abc) Pre-K, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee, Emily Jordan, Charlene A. Reid

Policy Briefs

Students with limited English proficiency face a number of educational challenges, and there are dramatic achievement gaps between these students and their English proficient peers. This brief describes the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade outcomes of English Language Learner (ELL) students who attend Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) pre-Kindergarten, a state-funded program that is free to income-eligible families. Results indicate that ABC has the potential to improve academic outcomes for ELL students in Arkansas.

K-2 Assessments And Later Student Outcomes, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee

Policy Briefs

In this brief we examine the characteristics of the districts that selected the various assessments and consider student outcomes both before and after the K-2 vendor selection to see what relationship, if any, exists between which assessment vendor was selected and students academic proficiency and growth.

Enrollment Trends In Northwest Arkansas Charter Schools, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee

Policy Briefs

Northwest Arkansas is home to nine public charter schools, with plans to open a new charter school for the 2020-21 school year. These schools, which serve unique missions, are some of the most highly ranked schools in the State of Arkansas. While critics argue that public charter schools segregate based on race or academic ability, national evidence finds that these claims are highly context specific. What conclusions can we draw about northwest Arkansas charter schools based on enrollment trends in recent years?

Long-Term Outcomes Of Low Achieving Third Grade Readers, Sarah Mckenzie, Emily Jordan, Charlene A. Reid

Policy Briefs

This brief examines long-term academic outcomes for students who demonstrate low reading achievement in third grade. Following three cohorts of students from third grade through early high school, we find that students who are behind in third grade are unlikely to ever read proficiently. Economically disadvantaged students, Black students, and male students demonstrate less improvement in reading achievement over time than other types of students.