Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Assessment Of The Neighborhood, Housing, Family, And Personal Characteristics That Affect Whether Students Drop Out Of High School, Montara Renée November

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This paper seeks to present research that will allow education officials to identify and target individuals who are likely to drop out of high school. By simultaneously using neighborhood, housing, family, and personal factors to identify at-risk students, education officials can link students to the social programs they need to meet their individual needs. Parent’s educational level had statistically significant effect on whether students dropped out of high school. The lower the education level the more likely a student will drop out of school. Parents who are high school dropouts are more likely to earn less and their children are …

Instrumental Music And Act Scores, Jerry Price

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Allocation of dwindling resources force public administrators to make choices and instrumental music program budgets can be cut or even eliminated by state agencies or school districts. Whether or not this is good policy will be examined by the collection and analysis of school level data. Public school instrumental music programs are expensive to operate and maintain, involve specialized, highly-qualified instructors and require an inventory of instruments to ensure that students with low incomes will be able to participate. Families in high income situations may be able to afford private instrumental music lessons for their students and may be indifferent …

Supplemental Educational Services (Ses) Provision Of No Child Left Behind: A Synthesis Of Provider Effects. Research Brief, Shanan Chappell, John Nunnery, Shana Pribesh, Jane Hager

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The 2001 renewal of the United States Title I program instituted the Supplemental Educational Services (SES) program, in which schools in their third year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) are required to offer out-of-school-time tutoring in core subjects to low-income students. This study synthesized provider effects reported in the extant body of SES provider evaluations to generate an estimate of the overall effectiveness of the SES policy in terms of improving student achievement and to identify provider characteristics that are associated with variation in student achievement effects

The Impact Of The Mckinney-Vento Program On The End-Of-Grade Test Scores Of Homeless Grade 6 Students, George Hendricks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Congressional concern about homeless students resulted in the McKinney-Vento Act (MCKV) in 2001, which provides funds to local educational agencies (LEAs). MCKV is almost a decade old, yet no evaluations of its academic effectiveness have been reported. Using a systems theory framework, this study answered research questions (RQs) involving whether normally housed students in Grade 6 scored higher than homeless students in Grade 6 in reading (RQ 1) and math (RQ 2) on end-of-grade (EOG) test scores and whether homeless students in Grade 6 from LEAs that received MCKV funding scored better in reading (RQ 3) and math (RQ 4) …

Making Sense Of Exit Exam Policies: A Phenomenological Study Of English Language Development Teachers, Scott N. Forrest

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a lack of understanding regarding how sensemaking could be incorporated into a professional development program to improve teacher quality and student achievement. The lived experiences of high school English language development teachers as they interpret English language development and one state's high school exit exam instructional policies were explored in this phenomenological study. The conceptual framework that supported this study is based on the theory of sensemaking, the processes by which educators interpret and implement policies. The participants were English language development teachers of English learners who have not yet passed the exit exam. Data were collected through …

Preschool Education In Australia, Andrew Dowling, Kate O’Malley

Policy Briefs

Early childhood education (ECE) in Australia will soon experience a ‘radical makeover.’ In 2008, all Australian governments made a commitment through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that by 2013, all children in the year before formal schooling will have access to high quality early childhood education programs delivered by degreequalified early childhood teachers, for 15 hours per week, 40 weeks of the year, in public, private and community-based preschools and child care. The purpose of this policy brief is to summarise the current structure of preschool in Australia in contemplation of this major policy shift. This paper describes the …

Understanding The Impact Of The Kalamazoo Promise From The Perspectives Of Parents And Community Group Members, Charles Pearson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to uncover the emerging views of parents and community group stakeholders in regards to The Kalamazoo Promise, and what they believed were the important issues that must be understood by implementers of The Promise in order to provide more effective implementation.

The Kalamazoo Promise is a full-tuition scholarship provided to all eligible graduates of the school district. The qualification criteria are simple, and all graduates attending at least the four years of high school are eligible.

A case study was conducted in one representative school in this midsized, urban district. A multiple-phase approach was …

Oep Welcomes New Commissioner: Tom Kimbrell, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Office for Education Policy is excited to welcome the new Arkansas Education Commissioner – Dr. Tom Kimbrell.

Recognizing The Accomplishments Of Ade Commissioner Ken James, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

This summer, Dr. Ken James announced his resignation as Education Commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Dr. James’ last day was June 30, 2009 and Diana Julian stepped in as interim commissioner. Today, Governor Mike Beebe announced Tom Kimbrell as his choice for the next commissioner. As we await the official appointment of the new commissioner, the OEP felt it was appropriate to highlight Dr. James’ contributions to Arkansas education.

Competing In The Federal Race To The Top, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The federal Race to the Top is a national competition between states intended to support education reform and innovation in classrooms. States at the forefront of school reform are eligible to compete for $4.3 billion in Race to the Top grants. Since this is a competitive grant, it is possible that some states will not receive awards, and President Obama assures that “politics won’t come into play.”

What Is Highly Qualified For Arkansas Teachers?, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In response to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, state departments of education, including the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), established rules to define a “highly qualified” teacher (HQT). While the spirit of this provision is clear and reasonable, the devil is, of course, in the details. That is, what exactly does highly qualified mean? Observers had good reason to be suspicious early on when many states claimed to have 95% or more of teachers being highly qualified. (For instance, according to Education Commission of the States, 100% of North Dakota teachers are considered highly qualified and 14 …

Do University Rankings Measure What Counts, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

The article discusses the impact of rankings on higher education.

Introduction: Classroom Life In The Age Of Accountability, Gail M. Boldt, Paula M. Salvio, Peter Taubman

Occasional Paper Series

"For this Occasional Paper, we invited teachers to respond to the ways in which proliferation of standards and testing combined with their own loss of professional control is altering the landscape of American education....Our goal is to raise questions about whether and how educators are balancing the demands of high stakes testing, scripted curricula, and a focus on performance outcomes with the emotional complexity of classroom life."--The editors

Quality Counts 2009, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In an attempt to gauge the educational progress of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 in its annual Quality Counts series. The 13th annual report — Quality Counts 2009 — was released in early 2009. As for the overall score, Arkansas was one of only ten states in the United States that received a B. Arkansas got the highest possible grade (A+) for financial equity among districts, and its grade for “Transitions and Alignment” — or how well a state’s educational system is coordinated from elementary school to college — was a …

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Michelle Mouton, Cate Weeks, Stephanie Strow

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

A Meta-Analysis Of Supplemental Educational Services (Ses) Provider Effects On Student Achievement, Shanan L. Chappell

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The 2001 renewal of the United States' Title I program, which provides federal funds to schools with large populations of low-income students, instituted the Supplemental Educational Services (SES) program in which schools in their third year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) are required to offer after-school tutoring in core subjects to low-income students, provided by public or private tutoring agencies. States are responsible for implementing, overseeing, and evaluating the SES programs; currently, several states and large local school districts have performed evaluations, with many more in the process of publishing results from statewide SES studies. Although state …

An Alternative Calendar In Select Middle Schools In An Urban City School District, Mattie Lee Solomon

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to understand parental perspectives on mandatory academies (intersessions) in three alternative (year-round) calendar middle schools. The alternative calendar was implemented by the study school district to improve student performance and parent attitudes toward the education their children receive. Academics (intersessions) are the source of time added to improve student performance. The three middle schools are located in an urban school district in the Midwestern state of Indiana. The students who attend are from lower socio-economic homes; the majority of the students live in homes where the guardian is a single mother or a member of the …

2008 Report Card On Arkansas Schools, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

Testimony to the House and Senate Education Committee in Little Rock

Assessment Of Kalamazoo County's Education For Employment (Efe) Programs Using 2008 Survey Data, Kevin Hollenbeck, Jason M. Preuss

Reports

No abstract provided.

2008 Report Card On Arkansas Schools, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

As part of our effort to monitor K-12 education in Arkansas and provide useful information to all those across the state interested in our schools, this OEP Report on Arkansas Schools provides information on school and student characteristics, the performance of our students on standardized assessments, the achievement gaps between our advantaged and disadvantaged students, and how our students fare when they leave secondary school. Not surprisingly, there is both good news and bad news to be found in the pages that follow.

A Spatial-Temporal Analysis Of Factors Influencing The Postsecondary Plans Of Indiana Public High School Graduates; 1996-2006, Anna Rosalie Carson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Because a high school graduate's postsecondary expectations influence his or her chances of attaining a Bachelor's degree within eight years, this indicator deserves more consideration than it receives. Using survey results for the postsecondary educational plans of students graduated from Indiana public high schools between 1996 and 2006, this study identifies a typology of four significantly different patterns of postsecondary plans in Indiana school districts. Research literature in geography, political science, and education recognizes educational outcomes, family demographics, and school districts' financial and socioeconomic characteristics as factors that influence college attendance decisions. Many of them differ significantly by the typology …

Comparisons Between High-Performing And Low-Performing Charter Schools, Bonnie J. Stephens

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to explore the common clcmcnls of high performing charter schools that are not present in low performing charlcr schools. Schools ,.vere selected for the study based on a comparison of the performance of their students on stale assessments to the local public school district students. Six charter schools from the Midwest states oflndiana, Illinois and Michigan were studied with a focus on lhc role or the principal, the school mission, teacher development, programming and curriculum and instrnctional philosophies. One major finding was supported: a mission based on high academic achievement for every student that was reflected …

Assessment Of Kalamazoo County's Education For Employment (Efe) Programs Using 2007 Survey Data, Kevin Hollenbeck, Jason M. Preuss

Reports

No abstract provided.

Education Revolution: Ending Educational Apartheid In Australia, Noel Guerin

Shannon Research Press

The education system in Australia is fundamentally unfair and undemocratic. It fails the fundamental test of giving a fair go to every student, because access to the best education is not equally available to all young Australians. Instead, it depends on parents’ capacity and willingness to pay. Discrimination for the privileged elite is based, not on race, but on financial resources. In the United Kingdom, where a similar situation exists, there has been much public debate about ‘educational apartheid’! There is little reason to believe that the situation in this country is fairer. Government school students are generally perceived to …

Technology-Aided Participative Methods In Environmental Assessment: An International Perspective, Ainhoa Gonzalez, Alan Gilmer, Ronan Foley, John Sweeney, John Fry

Articles

Provisions for citizen involvement in the assessment of potential environmental effects of certain plans, programmes and projects are present in current legislation. An international survey revealed that public participation is common practice in European and some other countries worldwide. However, a number of issues are observed to affect public involvement in EIA/SEA processes and expert opinion differs when evaluating the effectiveness of existing participative methods. Results suggest that technology-aided methods can improve traditional participation processes. In particular, GIS has the potential to increase community knowledge and enhance involvement by communicating information more effectively. Variable accessibility to technology and data quality …

The Alternative? Alternative School Calendars’ Effects On Nonacademic Data In Independent Districts, Nick Grinstead

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study measures the effect of alternative school calendars, otherwise known as year-round calendars, on “nonacademic data”, which includes average daily attendance rates, retention rates (where retention rate is defined as percentage of students held back a grade level), and dropout rates. This measurement will be done on Kentucky’s Independent School districts, which have a unique advantage of never having a problem with overcrowding (which will be explained as an important consideration for measurements of effects of alternative school calendars) and in whose districts the majority of alternative school calendars in Kentucky have been implemented. The study will be performed …

Schoolyard Improvements And Standardized Test Scores: An Ecological Analysis, Russ Lopez, Richard Campbell, James Jennings

Gastón Institute Publications

Boston MA’s schoolyards had seriously deteriorated since the middle of the 20th century resulting in dangerous and unusable outdoor spaces. Beginning in the mid 1990s, a program to renovate these schoolyards has resulted in approximately half of the schools now having outdoor recreational, learning and garden spaces. This study compared the 4th grade test score results in renovated vs. unrenovated schools. Controlling for school demographics, schools that had a renovated schoolyard had more of their students passed the state mandated math test (1.06, 95% confidence interval = .00012, .12). Effects on the state mandated English language arts test were not …

Paths To Quality: A Child Care Quality Rating System For Indiana. What Is It's Scientific Basis?, James Elicker

Center for Families Publications

Paths to QUALITY is Indiana’s new statewide child care quality rating system (QRS), first implemented in 2008. The main components of most state QRS programs are: 1) a set of quality standards that apply to home-based and center-based child care; 2) a process for objectively assessing child care quality and maintaining accountability; 3) a system of training and technical assistance to help child care providers improve quality; 4) incentives to encourage providers to reach higher levels of quality; and 5) public information to inform parents about what the QRS is and how to use it when they make child care …

Dominant Leadership Frames Of Reference For Active Indiana Public School Superintendents, Denis E. Ward

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, the researcher examined the leadership orientation of Indiana public school superintendents, utilizing the Leadership Orientations (Self) survey developed by Bolman and Deal (1997). This study sought to identify if a significant difference existed between a superintendent's choice of a dominant leadership frame of reference, and independent variables: gender, years of experience as a superintendent, school district setting, and initial educational level of training. Surveys were sent to 294 public school superintendents, a total of 162 or 55% of the superintendents participated in this study. This study, conducted in 2006, presented several findings. Over 72% of the superintendent …

Indiana School Districts' Capacity To Use Student-Data Information Systems For Analysis And Decision Making, Rodney A. King

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study investigated if student data is readily accessible and utilized to determine the academic abilities of the student. This study also investigated the current capabilities of the district and school to perform multiple tasks pertinent to data collection, assessment, and to what extent the system could be utilized to predict the principles of instructional change, staff training, communication and feedback. A review of the literature was conducted to design a survey instrument to measure the capacity of school districts student data-information systems. The population of this study consisted of all superintendents, assistant superintendents, business managers, or technology directors in …