Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Why Knowing About Disciplinary Differences Can Mean More Effective Teaching, Michele Marinkovich, Jack Prostko

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores some of the latest research on how disciplinary differences affect faculty’s teaching in subtle and often unconscious ways.

Catalogue 2005-2006, Bank Street College Of Education

Graduate School of Education

This course catalog from a past academic year is a resource for referring to previous course offerings, degree requirements, institutional policies, and more.

Serving The Millennial Generation, Todd S. Voss

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

Education Facilities Report, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Arkansas Statewide Education Facilities Assessment is the culmination of 18 months of work commissioned by the Arkansas General Assembly to assess the adequacy and equity of public school buildings across the state. In the ongoing effort to address the mandates of the Lake View III decision, made by the Arkansas Supreme Court in November 2002, the legislature’s Joint Committee on Educational Facilities commissioned a task force to conduct a comprehensive survey of facilities, equipment, and technology. The 60-member task force, including legislators, school officials, and state department officials, together with architects, engineers, business leaders, and interested citizens, contracted with …

Quality Education Act Of 2003, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In 2003, the Arkansas General Assembly enacted a bill intended to implement at the state level the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. This measure updated the Quality Education Act of 1983. Designated as Act 1467 of 2003 and cited in the Arkansas Code as “The Quality Education Act of 2003” (§ 6-15-201-209), the measure often is referred to as “the Omnibus Act.” Addressed primarily to the State Board of Education and the Arkansas Department of Education, it speaks to the following areas: • Development of state accreditation regulations and standards; • Notification of schools failing to …

Charter School Research, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In recent months, several studies on charter schools have been rushed to the press: some claiming their effectiveness at improving student achievement, others declaring the exact opposite. What are we to make out of these conflicting reports?

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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).

Using Online Assessment To Inform Teaching And Learning In Primary And Secondary Classrooms, Jim Tognolini

2005 - Using data to support learning

In the 1980’s there was a conscious effort around Australia and in many other countries around the world to shift the focus in assessment from notions of passing and failing to those of monitoring growth; from comparing students against each other to building up an image of what it is that students know and can do at particular stages in their development; and, from collecting marks to summarise performance to providing students and teachers with information from assessment activities that can be used to help diagnose potential weaknesses and strengths and lead to improved learning. The Australian Council for Educational …

An Evidence-Based Approach To School Improvement: A Case Study Of The Victorian Catholic Education Office, Melbourne, Teresa Angelico

2005 - Using data to support learning

The evidence based approach is integral to efforts by the Victorian Catholic sector to continually improve its effectiveness.There has been a concerted effort in the Victorian Catholic sector to broaden the professional experience and judgement of system personnel, school leaders and teachers by locating it within the available evidence and generating research studies to continually explore and test it. Evidence generation and transfer have been instrumental in shaping the design of literacy and numeracy programs.There is an increasing emphasis on using evidence as a tool for professional learning and to inform decision making related to improving the overall performance of …

Schooling The Yuk/Wow Generation, Erica Mcwilliam

APC Monographs

Working as I do in a university setting, when I talk to school teachers and school leaders I feel like I have come home. Teachers have seen wave after wave of ideas come through. Haven’t we all. We’ve watched them arrive, and we’ve seen the initial excitement that comes with them. We maintain our passion for teaching, even though we have seen the failure of many of these ideas over time. We are sceptical, and we do not indulge in mindless optimism. I like good teachers’ ‘nonstupid optimism’ and I like working in context, where that is possible. Mind you, …

Student Financial Aid 2005-06, Uno Office Of Instituional Effectiveness

IPEDS Financial Aid

IPEDS Student Financial Aid annual report contains the following information:

• Number and percent of undergraduate and of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students receiving student financial aid, by type of aid and average amount of aid received

Common Data Set, 2005-2006, Office Of Institutional Research And Assessment, Bridgewater State College

Common Data Sets

No abstract provided.

Getting Professional Development Right, Lawrence Ingvarson

Professional learning for teachers and school leaders

This paper examines the Western Australian Getting it Right reform as a strategy for professional learning and compares it with research on the characteristics of effective PD. The Getting it Right Strategy is clearly a comprehensive and well-resourced reform strategy with its main emphasis on building professional capacity among teachers and principals. The data we gathered as part of the evaluation, through school and classroom observations, interviews and surveys, left us in no doubt that the strategy was highly regarded by teachers and principals and was having a significant impact on practice. This paper will focus mainly on GiR work …

The Testing Effect: Using Retrieval Practice In The Classroom, Karen S. Clifton

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Repeated testing was applied in a college classroom setting to determine whether a single intervening test, which allowed for retrieval practice, would improve performance on a final test compared to a single structured rehearsal of the material. Performance was measured using multiple-choice exams and relatedness rating tests. The findings suggest that a test condition which requires retrieval, when compared to a read-only condition, improves performance on a final test of item-specific knowledge but not on a test of relational knowledge of the same material. The difficulty of retrieval was manipulated using hard and easy questions on the intervening test and …

Contemplating The Evolving Role Of The Tutor In Blended Problem Based Learning In Higher Education, Roisin Donnelly

Other resources

A hugely important area in any form of face to face and PBL delivery is the role of the tutor; in an e-learning environment, it is even more crucial. The role of the tutor in blended PBL is both special and crucial for effective learning outcomes and enjoyable learning experiences for students in higher education. As an educational developer and tutor in higher education, whilst working with academic staff, I encounter issues in postgraduate modules that use blended problem-based learning delivery methods. IN this professional context, blended learning refers to a merging of classroom and online activities that must be …

Ua56/1 Fact Book, Wku Institutional Research

WKU Administration Documents

Statistical and demographic profile of WKU.

The Power Of Student Stories: Connections That Enhance Learning, Peter Frederick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Telling and listening to student stories connects our students’ prior experiences and knowledge and their hopes and fears with the core learning goals teachers value and thereby furthers deeper learning.

Powerpoint: What Is The Point, Eugene V. Gallagher, Michael Reder

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay summarizes the literature on PowerPoint as a tool for learning, addresses both its potential problems as well as its possibilities, and offers guidelines on its effective use in teaching.

Transitions: What’S Love Got To Do With It?, Kathleen T. Brinko

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay addresses strategies for managing the transition of new faculty into the academy in order to avoid disenchantment and leaving the academy before tenure.

Teaching For Diversity And Inclusiveness In Science, Technology, Engineering And Math (Stem), Angela Linse, Wayne Jacobson, Lois Reddick

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

This essay explores the challenges STEM faculty face in recognizing, developing and implementing classroom practices that support diverse students.

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 …

The Effects Of School Location On Math And Science Achievement Trends: A Primer On Growth Modeling In Education Policy Research, Edward B. Reeves

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The effect of school location on math and science learning is currently an important policy issue in the United States and in other countries, such as Australia. The present paper uses a 5-year series of math and science achievement data from the state of Kentucky to determine the effects of school location on learning in these subject areas. Adopting an organizational assessment approach, I show how growth models may be used to estimate achievement trends. I also demonstrate methods for discovering two important sources of invalidity in growth models: regression artifacts and spuriousness. Failure to account for these sources of …

Healthcare Utilization, Deprivation, And Heart-Related Disease In Kentucky, Timothy S. Hare, Holly R. Barcus

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

A report submitted by Timothy S. Hare to the Research and Creative Productions Committee in 2005 on the relationship between patterns of healthcare facility utilization for heart-related disease in Kentucky.

The Development Of Intelligent Machining-Error Detector For Machining Sculptured Surfaces Using 3 Or 5 Axes Cnc Milling Machine, Rachmawati Wangsaputra

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

A report submitted by Rachmawati Wangsaputra to the Research and Creative Productions Committee in 2005 on generating tool paths for machining sculptured surfaces.

Service Learning Manual For Coupeville High School, Kenneth J. Stange

Graduate Student Projects

This project examined the need for increased service learning in schools as well as current practices being used by educators who employ service learning as a regular part of curriculum. The review of literature found that service learning, when conducted properly, has shown benefits to students, educators, and communities. In addition, there were five main components of an effective service learning program: preparation, action, reflection, presentation, and recognition. Included is a service learning manual, specifically designed for Coupeville High School, focused on the five pa1is of a service learning program. The overall purpose of the manual was to ensure that …

A Technology Integrated Curriculum For An 8th Grade History/Civics Class, Kathy Colleen Chavez

All Graduate Projects

To ensure educational technology is used effectively, educators must put together a curriculum that will encourage students to ask questions and think about what they need to learn (Schrum, 2003). Educators must value the exploration that technology lends itself to and realize it can be a vital teaching tool. They must seek out professional development in the use of appropriate technology and become models of life-long learning for their students. In using technology within the classroom, educators must become comfmiable with and then develop ways technology can enhance what they teach (Schrum, 2003). This project's goal was to develop a …