166 results
Search Results
2. Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S. Born Students. Working Paper No. 250-0321
- Author
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Figlio, David, Giuliano, Paola, Marchingiglio, Riccardo, Özek, Umut, and Sapienza, Paola
- Abstract
We study the effect of exposure to immigrants on the educational outcomes of US-born students, using a unique dataset combining population-level birth and school records from Florida. This research question is complicated by substantial school selection of US-born students, especially among White and comparatively affluent students, in response to the presence of immigrant students in the school. We propose a new identification strategy to partial out the unobserved non-random selection into schools, and find that the presence of immigrant students has a positive effect on the academic achievement of US-born students, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Moreover, the presence of immigrants does not affect negatively the performance of affluent US-born students, who typically show a higher academic achievement compared to immigrant students. We provide suggestive evidence on potential channels.
- Published
- 2021
3. Examining the Educational Spillover Effects of Severe Natural Disasters: The Case of Hurricane Maria. Working Paper No. 233-0320
- Author
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research and Özek, Umut
- Abstract
This study examines the effects of internal migration driven by severe natural disasters on host communities, and the mechanisms behind these effects, using the large influx of migrant students into Florida public schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. I find significant adverse effects of the influx in the first year on existing student test scores, disciplinary problems, and student mobility that vanish entirely in the second year. I also find evidence that compensatory resource allocation within schools is an important factor driving the adverse effects of large, unexpected migrant flows on some incumbent students in the short-run.
- Published
- 2020
4. Does Regulation Reduce Specialization? Examining the Impact of Regulations on Private Schools of Choice in Five Locations. Working Paper 2019-1
- Author
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EdChoice, DeAngelis, Corey A., and Burke, Lindsey M.
- Abstract
Private school choice options are being proposed and adopted in numerous states across the country. As of the spring of 2019, 62 private school choice programs were in operation in 29 states and the District of Columbia, serving more than 400,000 children. Although growth in private school choice programs and enrollment has been considerable over the past decade, the percentage of private schools participating in school choice options varies considerably by program. Understanding how program design impacts the supply of private schools participating in these programs will be critical for policymakers as they work to create and expand education choice options for families. This report considers whether certain regulations governing school choice programs reduce specialization and diversity in the supply of private schools that participate. Expanding on the prior analysis of the impact of regulations in three locations, the authors chart how schools self-identify prior to and after switching into private school choice program environments in each of the five locations. The authors found that private school leaders in all five locations are more likely to classify their schools as less specialized than they were prior to entering the programs. The authors also found evidence to suggest that more homogenization occurred in more highly regulated voucher programs. These findings suggest a potential homogenizing effect of regulations on school supply, limiting the diversity of the private school market. These findings also suggest policymakers should carefully weigh the costs of regulating private school choice programs, as overregulation could reduce specialization and diversity of school supply in a given school choice program, limiting the options that are available to families.
- Published
- 2019
5. Teacher Value-Added in Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools. Working Paper 183
- Author
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Ozek, Umut, Carruthers, Celeste, and Holden, Kristian
- Abstract
In this study, we compare the teacher quality distributions in charter schools and traditional public schools, and examine mechanisms that might explain cross-sector differences in teacher effectiveness as measured by teacher value-added scores using school and teacher level data from Florida. We have three main findings. First, we find that teachers working in above-average poverty charter schools have significantly higher value-added scores compared to traditional public school teachers working in similar settings, which is mainly driven by the right tail of the value-added score distribution, yet we find no such differences in below-average poverty settings. Second, we find that cross-sector differences in observed teacher characteristics such as experience and educational attainment fail to explain any of the observed gaps in teacher effectiveness in higher-poverty settings. Instead, we find that differences in returns to experience on teacher productivity, which is significantly higher in the charter sector, explains most of the observed cross-sector effectiveness gaps. Third, we find considerable differences in teacher support and teacher influence on instructional policies and practices between charter schools and traditional public schools, which might help explain the higher returns to experience on teacher effectiveness as well as the observed effectiveness gaps between charter schools and traditional public schools serving disadvantaged students.
- Published
- 2018
6. Inspiring Teacher Leadership through Intentional Communication. Conference Paper
- Author
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National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools (NCSU) and Fatout, Brad
- Abstract
During the 2013-14 school year, I became involved in the National Center for Scaling Up Effective Schools (NCSU) project, a partnership of the Broward County Public School District with Vanderbilt University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida State University, and Education Development Center. The purpose of NCSU is to help schools and districts develop homegrown innovations and to scale these innovations within the district. In Broward County, the innovation we were working to develop and scale was Personalization of Academic and Social Emotional Learning (PASL). Our district has been involved in a number of initiatives but PASL was close to my heart because I believe in what PASL advances: "Learning happens best when we have positive relationships among students and adults." The NCSU project provided me with a road map to build teacher leadership through intentional communication. Our selection of PASL as an innovation demonstrated the power of looking within rather than reaching for a canned program. Teachers learned that they were the architects of innovation, not a program. The Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) process provided a manageable and timely way for teachers to study the impact of their practice and to take ownership of the solutions that they developed. I was able to leverage structures such as School and District Innovation Design Team meetings, PASL PLCs, and PASL Pals to help deepen the implementation of PASL and PDSA. I accomplished this through constant communication with my teachers using e-mails, quarterly student data, and in-person meetings. [This paper was developed with assistance from Education Development Center, Inc.]
- Published
- 2015
7. Building Teacher Teams: Evidence of Positive Spillovers from More Effective Colleagues. CEPA Working Paper No. 15-20
- Author
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Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA), Sun, Min, Loeb, Susanna, and Grissom, Jason
- Abstract
Student peer effects are well documented. We know far less, however, about peer effects among teachers. We hypothesize that a relatively effective teacher may positively affect the performance of their peers, while a relatively ineffective teacher may negatively impact the performance of other teachers with whom they work closely. Utilizing a decade of data on teacher transfers between schools that result in changes of peers when transfer teachers enter grade-level team in the new school, we find evidence of strong positive spillover effects associated with the introduction of peers who are more effective than the incumbent teacher himself or herself. Interestingly, the incumbent teacher's students are not meaningfully disadvantaged by the entry of relatively ineffective peers. This finding implies that mixing teachers with diverse performance levels can be a strategy for increasing student achievement in the aggregate. These results are robust to several student sorting and teacher selection issues.
- Published
- 2015
8. Strategic Staffing? How Performance Pressures Affect the Distribution of Teachers within Schools and Resulting Student Achievement. CEPA Working Paper No. 15-15
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Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA), Grissom, Jason, Kalogrides, Demetra, and Loeb, Susanna
- Abstract
School performance pressures apply disproportionately to tested grades and subjects. Using longitudinal administrative data and teacher survey data from a large urban school district, we examine schools' responses to those pressures in assigning teachers to high-stakes and low-stakes classrooms. We find that teachers who produce greater student achievement gains in math and reading are more likely to be placed in a tested grade-subject combination in the following year and that the relationship between prior performance and assignment is stronger in schools where principals have more influence over assignments. This strategic response has the consequence of disadvantaging achievement in early grades, however, concentrating less effective teachers in K-2 classrooms, which in turn produces lower achievement for those students, as measured by low-stakes assessments, that may persist into tested grades as well.
- Published
- 2015
9. Leadership and Student Learning: Examining the Effect of Privilege- and Learning-Centric Assignment Practices. WCER Working Paper No. 2015-7
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Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Goff, Peter T., and Baxley, Gwendolyn S.
- Abstract
Teacher and student sorting within and between schools has historically garnered national attention and controversy. Scholars have recently examined how school leaders make data-driven decisions to create more equitable schools, particularly through teacher and student assignment practices. School leaders use student test scores to strategically sort students into classes to create "balance." Student achievement data is also linked to teacher reassignment, in which ineffective teachers are strategically reassigned to non-tested grades or subjects, while effective teachers may be promoted to leadership positions. Scholars have found that a combination of data-driven strategic staffing, accountability pressures, and micro-politics are prime drivers of assignment strategies within schools. Within the literature on assignment practices, one strand examines the impact of assignment practices on students but does not engage with principals' decision-making strategies despite the central role principals play in school decisions. The second strand of research delves deeply into leadership decision making but seldom provides data on the actual assignment practices. This includes observed data regarding the two types of assignment strategies dominant within the literature: privilege- and learning-centric. A learning-centric assignment is the placement of highly knowledgeable teachers with students who need effective teachers more than do other peers (Donaldson, 2011, In contrast, privilege-centric assignments place experienced teachers in classrooms with higher achieving students. School leaders may also use privilege-centric staffing to appease affluent parents and increase retention of their more experienced teachers. Although privilege-centric assignments may be counterproductive to the student experience, many schools employ this strategy despite principals' reports of using data to increase school equitability. The assignment of teachers to students and classes is presumed to be an entirely local (school-level) decision, with school leaders having substantial authority over this process. The findings of the preceding research underscore the importance of principals in this process, and yet we know little about the ability of leadership to interrupt systems of privilege and institute more equitable staffing arrangements. Because of this potential inconsistency between principals reporting that they make data-driven decisions and their actual assignment practices, we see the need for continued research in this area. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap within the literature by first examining the relationship between principals' reported data-driven decisions and teacher and student assignment strategies within schools, and then looking at the relationship between assignment practices and student learning. This study couples survey data from 213 Florida elementary and middle schools with 8 years of longitudinal, statewide data to address the following questions: (1) To what extent are privilege- and learning-centric assignment practices used within schools? Are these practices changing over time?; (2) How do privilege- and learning-centric assignments impact student-learning gains?; (3) What drives student-assignment practices--is this phenomenon embedded in the culture of a school or do principals dictate assignment practices?; and (4) How are principals' reported uses of data related to observed privilege- and learning-centric sorting?
- Published
- 2015
10. Performance Information and Retrospective Voting: Evidence from a School Accountability Regime. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Paper Series. PEPG 15-03
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance and Barrows, Samuel
- Abstract
Governments are increasingly publishing information about the performance of the services they provide, in part to help citizens hold their elected representatives accountable for government service outcomes. Yet there is little evidence concerning the influence of information about government service performance on voter behavior. This paper examines the degree to which school performance information affects incumbent support in school board elections. A regression discontinuity analysis indicates that voters reward incumbents when local schools achieve the highest available measure of school performance. Voters do not respond to information differentiating between schools in the middle of the performance distribution, however, or to information from a source that lacks credibility. The following are appended: (1) Regression Discontinuity Specification; (2) Cross-Validation Procedure to Select Bandwidths; (3) Tables and Figures. [This research has been supported by a Harvard University grant from the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social Policy.]
- Published
- 2015
11. Is It Worth It? Postsecondary Education and Labor Market Outcomes for the Disadvantaged. CALDER Working Paper No. 117
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National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) at American Institutes for Research, Backes, Benjamin, Holzer, Harry J., and Dunlop Velez, Erin
- Abstract
In this paper we examine a range of postsecondary education and labor market outcomes, with a particular focus on minorities and/or disadvantaged workers. We use administrative data from the state of Florida, where postsecondary student records have been linked to UI earnings data and also to secondary education records. Our main findings can be summarized as follows: 1) Gaps in secondary school achievement can account for a large portion of the variation in postsecondary attainment and labor market outcomes between the disadvantaged and other students, but meaningful gaps also "exist" within achievement groups, and 2) Earnings of the disadvantaged are hurt by low completion rates in postsecondary programs, poor performance during college, and not choosing high-earning fields. In particular, significant labor market premia can be earned in a variety of more technical certificate and Associate (AA) programs, even for those with weak earlier academic performance, but instead many disadvantaged (and other) students choose general humanities programs at the AA (and even the Bachelor's or BA) level with low completion rates and low compensation afterwards. A range of policies and practices might be used to improve student choices as well as their completion rates and earnings.
- Published
- 2014
12. Technical Assistance Paper: Third-Grade Student Progression. DPS: 2013-56
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Florida Department of Education
- Abstract
The purpose of this Technical Assistance Paper (TAP) is to provide school districts with updates and changes relative to third-grade student progression policies, including information on alternative assessments, promotion criteria and resources. This paper provides: (1) General Information; (2) Student Portfolios for Third-Grade Students; (3) Assessment; (4) Students Retained Twice in Third Grade and Intensive Accelerated Classrooms; (5) Summer Reading Camps for Third-Grade Students; (6) Mid-Year Promotion for Third Grade; (7) Exceptional Student Education (ESE); and (8) Options for Parents of Struggling Readers.
- Published
- 2013
13. Representation in the Classroom: The Effect of Own-Race Teacher Assignment on Student Achievement. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 14-07
- Author
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Egalite, Anna J., Kisida, Brian, and Winters, Marcus A.
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Previous research suggests that there are academic benefits when students and teachers share the same race/ethnicity because such teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators. In this paper, we obtain estimates of achievement changes as students are assigned to teachers of different races/ethnicities from grades 3 through 10 utilizing a large administrative dataset provided by the Florida Department of Education that follows the universe of test-taking students in Florida public schools from 2001-02 through 2008-09. We find small but significant positive effects when black and white students are assigned to race-congruent teachers in reading (0.004 to 0.005 standard deviations) and for black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students in math (0.007 to 0.041 standard deviations). We also examine the effects of race matching by students' prior performance level, finding that lower-performing black and white students appear to particularly benefit from being assigned to a race-congruent teacher. An appendix provides a test of the authors' hypothesis and supplemental tables.
- Published
- 2014
14. Will Courts Shape Value-Added Methods for Teacher Evaluation? ACT Working Paper Series. WP-2014-2
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ACT, Inc., Croft, Michelle, and Buddin, Richard
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As more states begin to adopt teacher evaluation systems based on value-added measures, legal challenges have been filed both seeking to limit the use of value-added measures ("Cook v. Stewart") and others seeking to require more robust evaluation systems ("Vergara v. California"). This study reviews existing teacher evaluation systems and examines validity evidence supporting the use of value-added scores as part of the teacher evaluation. We discuss key aspects of ongoing teacher evaluation lawsuits in California and Florida and assess issues for evaluating the legality of teacher evaluation systems.
- Published
- 2014
15. Looking beyond Enrollment: The Causal Effect of Need-Based Grants on College Access, Persistence, and Graduation. An NCPR Working Paper
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Castleman, Benjamin L. and Long, Bridget Terry
- Abstract
Gaps in average college success among students of differing backgrounds have persisted in the United States for decades. One of the primary ways governments have attempted to ameliorate such gaps is by providing need-based grants, but little evidence exists on the impacts of such aid on longer term outcomes such as college persistence and degree completion. We examine the effects of the Florida Student Access Grant (FSAG) using a regression-discontinuity strategy and exploiting the cutoff used to determine eligibility. Grant eligibility had a positive effect on college attendance at public four-year institutions. Eligibility for the FSAG also increased early persistence and the cumulative number of college-level credits students earned in their first four years. Most importantly, FSAG receipt increased the likelihood of bachelor's degree receipt within six years at a public college or university by 4.6 percentage points--a 22 percent increase among students near the eligibility cutoff. The results are robust to sensitivity analyses. An appendix contains 1 figure and 3 tables.
- Published
- 2013
16. State Policy Differences Greatly Impact AYP Numbers. A Background Paper from the Center on Education Policy
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Center on Education Policy, Riddle, Wayne, and Kober, Nancy
- Abstract
When Congress reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), much of the debate will undoubtedly focus on the accountability requirements added to Title I by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Title I authorizes federal aid to school districts to educate low-achieving children in low-income areas. Among the most controversial of these NCLB requirements are the provisions for determining whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress (AYP) in raising student achievement in reading and mathematics. This background paper from the Center on Education Policy (CEP) explores some of the factors that have influenced recent trends in the national percentage of public schools that have not made AYP, out of the total number of schools that reported AYP results. This paper is intended to serve as a companion to the report, "Update with 2009-10 Data and Five-Year Trends: How Many Schools Have Not Made Adequate Yearly Progress?" (CEP, 2011). As discussed in more detail in that five-year trend report, the national percentage of public schools failing to make AYP rose from 29% in 2006 to an estimated 38% in 2010 and actually decreased in two of the interim years. Although 38% is a record high percentage of schools not making AYP, it is still lower than what many observers had predicted by this point in NCLB implementation. CEP's analysis focused on 10 large or medium-sized states that had the greatest increases or decreases in the number of schools not making AYP or had other noteworthy AYP trends: California, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington. Its analysis revealed several factors, in addition to changes in student learning, that appear to account for some of the fluctuations in the national percentage of schools not making AYP and may help explain why these percentages have not escalated as quickly as some analysts have predicted. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) National trends in the percentage of schools not making AYP have been affected disproportionately by trends in a limited subset of states; (2) Changes in state testing policies have slowed, or even reversed, increases in the number of schools failing to make AYP in several states; (3) The NCLB "safe harbor" provision has also helped somewhat in keeping down the share of schools failing to make AYP in certain states; (4) The use of growth models appears to have had a limited impact on AYP trends in most of the growth model states analyzed; (5) In most of the states analyzed, the number of schools failing to make AYP increased substantially in the years when the state's achievement targets went up; (6) States that introduced new tests saw substantial short-term increases or decreases in the number of schools failing to make AYP; (7) In some states, changes in the number of schools not making AYP are largely attributable to changes in the cut scores defining "proficient" performance on state tests; (8) North Carolina's experience suggests that counting proficient scores from retests can reduce the number of schools failing to make AYP--especially in the short term; and (9) Even if most or all states adopt common standards and common assessments, variations in state accountability policies could continue to make it impossible to arrive at meaningful comparisons about the performance of different states. (Contains 6 footnotes.) [For the companion report, "Update with 2009-10 Data and Five-Year Trends: How Many Schools Have Not Made Adequate Yearly Progress?," see ED518993.]
- Published
- 2011
17. Portability of Teacher Effectiveness across School Settings. Working Paper 77
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Xu, Zeyu, Ozek, Umut, and Corritore, Matthew
- Abstract
Redistributing highly effective teachers from low- to high-need schools is an education policy tool that is at the center of several major current policy initiatives. The underlying assumption is that teacher productivity is portable across different schools settings. Using elementary and secondary school data from North Carolina and Florida, this paper investigates the validity of this assumption. Among teachers who switched between schools with substantially different poverty levels or academic performance levels, we find no change in those teachers' measured effectiveness before and after a school change. This pattern holds regardless of the direction of the school change. We also find that high-performing teachers' value-added dropped and low-performing teachers' value-added gained in the post-move years, primarily as a result of regression to the within-teacher mean and unrelated to school setting changes. Despite such shrinkages, high-performing teachers in the pre-move years still outperformed low-performing teachers after moving to schools with different settings. (Contains 2 figures, 17 tables, and 11 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2012
18. Principal Time-Use and School Effectiveness. Working Paper No. 34
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Horng, Eileen Lai, Klasik, Daniel, and Loeb, Susanna
- Abstract
School principals have complex jobs. To better understand the work lives of principals, this study uses observational time-use data for all high school principals in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This paper examines the relationship between the time principals spent on different types of activities and school outcomes including student achievement, teacher and parent assessments of the school, and teacher satisfaction. The authors find that time spent on Organization Management activities is associated with positive school outcomes, such as student test score gains and positive teacher and parent assessments of the instructional climate, whereas Day-to-Day Instruction activities are marginally or not at all related to improvements in student performance and often have a negative relationship with teacher and parent assessments. This paper suggests that a single-minded focus on principals as instructional leaders operationalized through direct contact with teachers may be detrimental if it forsakes the important role of principals as organizational leaders. Percent of Principal Time Spent on Individual Tasks is appended. (Contains 6 footnotes, 3 figures and 5 tables.) [This paper was supported by the Stanford University K-12 Initiative.]
- Published
- 2009
19. Leaving No Child Behind: Two Paths to School Accountability. Working Paper
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Urban Institute, Figlio, David N., Rouse, Cecilia E., and Schlosser, Analia
- Abstract
The relatively poor academic achievement of black and Hispanic students has been a national concern since the passage of the "Elementary Secondary and Education Act" in 1963. Frustrated with relatively slow progress in closing these educational gaps, the most recent reauthorization of the ESEA, the "No Children Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB) attempts to employ rigorous accountability standards to speed progress. At about the same time, Florida implemented a change in its A+ Plan for Education that focused on the educational gains of "low-performing" students. These two systems provide incentives for schools to concentrate differently on students even though they both ostensibly focus attention on similar sets of students--those most likely to be marginalized in public education. In this paper the authors study whether either of these accountability systems improved the academic outcomes of black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students in Florida. The authors find evidence that schools that are labeled as failing or near-failing in Florida's system tend to boost performance of students in these subgroups, while schools presented with incentives under NCLB to improve subgroup performance appear to be much less likely to do so. However, Hispanics appear to benefit from the NCLB sub-grouping requirements if they attend schools with low accountability pressure under Florida's grading system. (Contains 8 tables, 3 figures and 25 footnotes.) [This paper was presented at the "NCLB: Emerging Findings Research Conference" at the Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. on August 12, 2009. Funding for this research was provided by the Atlantic Philanthropies.]
- Published
- 2009
20. The Learning Communities Demonstration: Rationale, Sites, and Research Design. An NCPR Working Paper
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Postsecondary Research, Visher, Mary G., Wathington, Heather, Richburg-Hayes, Lashawn, and Schneider, Emily
- Abstract
Learning communities are a popular strategy that community colleges nationwide have embraced in support of developmental students. In a learning community, a cohort of students takes two or more courses linked by integrated themes and assignments that are developed through ongoing faculty collaboration. While the number of learning community programs continues to grow, rigorous studies measuring their effectiveness are limited. To address this need for evidence, the Learning Communities demonstration, launched in 2007, uses random assignment to test models of learning communities at six community colleges: Kingsborough Community College, Queensborough Community College, Hillsborough Community College, Merced College, Houston Community College System, and Community College of Baltimore County. The study is designed to determine: (1) how learning communities can be designed to address the needs of academically underprepared students; (2) the effects of learning communities on student achievement, as measured by test scores, credits earned, and grades; (3) the effects of learning communities on students' persistence in higher education; and (4) what learning communities cost and how these costs compare with the costs of standard college programs for students with low basic skills. Preliminary findings will be available in 2009. This working paper describes the study's design, including a summary of the theoretical and empirical research relevant to learning communities, descriptions of the sites and their learning community models, the random assignment procedures, and plans for data analysis. (Contains 7 tables, 1 figure, and 67 notes.) [This paper was produced by the National Center for Postsecondary Research. It was written with the assistance of Oscar Cerna, Christine Sansone, and Michelle Ware.]
- Published
- 2008
21. What Makes Special Education Teachers Special? Teacher Training and Achievement of Students with Disabilities. Working Paper 49
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Feng, Li, and Sass, Tim R.
- Abstract
This paper contributes importantly to the growing literature on the training of special education teachers and how it translates into classroom practice and student achievement. The authors examine the impact of pre-service preparation and in-service formal and informal training on the ability of teachers to promote academic achievement among students with disabilities. Using student-level longitudinal data from Florida over a five-year span the authors estimate "value-added" models of student achievement. There is little support for the efficacy of in-service professional development courses focusing on special education. However, teachers with advanced degrees are more effective in boosting the math achievement of students with disabilities than are those with only a baccalaureate degree. Also pre-service preparation in special education has statistically significant and quantitatively substantial effects on the ability of teachers of special education courses to promote gains in achievement for students with disabilities, especially in reading. Certification in special education, an undergraduate major in special education, and the amount of special education coursework in college are all positively correlated with the performance of teachers in special education reading courses. (Contains 4 tables and 12 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2010
22. The Effects of Early Grade Retention on Student Outcomes over Time: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Florida. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 12-09
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Schwerdt, Guido, and West, Martin R.
- Abstract
A growing number of American states and school districts require students to meet basic performance standards in core academic subjects at key transition points in order to be promoted to the next grade. We exploit a discontinuity in the probability of third grade retention under a Florida test-based promotion policy to study the causal effect of retention on student outcomes over time. Regression discontinuity estimates indicate large short-term gains in achievement among retained students and a sharp reduction in the probability of retention in subsequent years. The achievement gains from retention fade out gradually over time, however, and are statistically insignificant after six years. Despite this fade out, our results suggest that previous evidence that early retention leads to adverse academic outcomes is misleading due to unobserved differences between retained and promoted students. They also imply that the educational and opportunity costs associated with retaining a student in the early grades are substantially less than a full year of per pupil spending and foregone earnings. (Contains 10 figures, 11 tables, and 19 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2012
23. Triangulating Principal Effectiveness: How Perspectives of Parents, Teachers, and Assistant Principals Identify the Central Importance of Managerial Skills. Working Paper 35
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Grissom, Jason A., and Loeb, Susanna
- Abstract
While the importance of effective principals is undisputed, few studies have addressed what specific skills principals need to promote school success. This study draws on unique data combining survey responses from principals, assistant principals, teachers and parents with rich administrative data to identify which principal skills matter most for school outcomes. Factor analysis of a 42-item task inventory distinguishes five skill categories, yet only one of them, the principals' organization management skills, consistently predicts student achievement growth and other success measures. Analysis of evaluations of principals by assistant principals confirms this central result. Our analysis argues for a broad view of instructional leadership that includes general organizational management skills as a key complement to the work of supporting curriculum and instruction. Two appendices are included: (1) Factor Loadings Matrix for Principal Effectiveness Factors; and (2) Factor Loadings Matrix for Assistant Principal Effectiveness Factors. (Contains 3 figures, 5 tables and 6 footnotes.) [This paper was supported by the Stanford University K-12 Initiative.]
- Published
- 2009
24. What Makes for a Good Teacher and Who Can Tell? Working Paper 30
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Harris, Douglas N., and Sass, Tim R.
- Abstract
Mounting pressure in the policy arena to improve teacher productivity either by improving signals that predict teacher performance or through creating incentive contracts based on performance--has spurred two related questions: Are there important determinants of teacher productivity that are not captured by teacher credentials but that can be measured by subjective assessments? And would evaluating teachers based on a combination of subjective assessments and student outcomes more accurately gauge teacher performance than student test scores alone? Using data from a midsize Florida school district, this paper explores both questions by calculating teachers' "value added" and comparing those outcomes with subjective ratings of teachers by school principals. Teacher value-added and principals' subjective ratings are positively correlated and principals' evaluations are better predictors of a teacher's value added than traditional approaches to teacher compensation focused on experience and formal education. In settings where schools are judged on student test scores, teachers' ability to raise those scores is important to principals, as reflected in their subjective teacher ratings. Also, teachers' subject knowledge, teaching skill, and intelligence are most closely associated with both the overall subjective teacher ratings and the teacher value added. Finally, while past teacher value added predicts future teacher value added the principals' subjective ratings can provide additional information and substantially increase predictive power. (Contains 9 tables and 15 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2009
25. The Impact of Alternative Grade Configurations on Student Outcomes through Middle and High School. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 11-02
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Schwerdt, Guido, and West, Martin R.
- Abstract
We use statewide administrative data from Florida to estimate the impact of attending public schools with different grade configurations on student achievement through grade 10. To identify the causal effect of structural school transitions, we use student fixed effects and instrument for middle and high school attendance based on the terminal grade of the school attended in grades 3 and 6, respectively. Consistent with recent evidence from other settings, we find that students moving from elementary to middle school in grade 6 or 7 suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year. We confirm that these achievement drops occur in nonurban areas and persist through grade 10, by which time most students have transitioned into high school. We also find that middle school entry increases student absences and is associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates. Transitions to high school in grade nine cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but do not alter students' performance trajectories. (Contains 13 tables, 6 figures and 13 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2011
26. Stepping Stones: Principal Career Paths and School Outcomes. Working Paper 58
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Beteille, Tara, Kalogrides, Demetra, and Loeb, Susanna
- Abstract
Principals tend to prefer working in schools with higher-achieving students from more advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Principals often use schools with many poor or low-achieving students as stepping stones to what they view as more desirable assignments. District leadership can also exacerbate principal turnover by implementing policies aimed at improving low-performing schools such as rotating school leaders. Using longitudinal data from one large urban school district we find principal turnover is detrimental to school performance. Frequent turnover results in lower teacher retention and lower student achievement gains, which are particularly detrimental to students in high-poverty and failing schools. (Contains 10 tables and 3 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2011
27. Classroom Peer Effects and Student Achievement. Working Paper 08-5
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Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, MA., Burke, Mary A., and Sass, Tim R.
- Abstract
In this paper we analyze the impact of classroom peers on individual student performance with a unique longitudinal data set covering all Florida public school students in grades 3-10 over a five-year period. Unlike many previous data sets used to study peer effects in education, our data set allow us to identify each member of a given student's classroom peer group in elementary, middle, and high school as well as the classroom teacher responsible for instruction. As a result, we can control for individual student fixed effects simultaneously with individual teacher fixed effects, thereby alleviating biases due to endogenous assignment of both peers and teachers, including some dynamic aspects of such assignments. Our estimation strategy, which focuses on the influence of peers' fixed characteristics--both observed and unobserved--on individual test score gains, also alleviates potential biases due to error in measuring peer quality, simultaneity of peer outcomes, and mean reversion. Under linear-in-means specifications, estimated peer effects are small to non-existent, but we find some sizable and significant peer effects within non-linear models. For example, we find that peer effects depend on an individual student's own ability and on the ability level of the peers under consideration, results that suggest Pareto-improving redistributions of students across classrooms and/or schools. Estimated peer effects tend to be smaller when teacher fixed effects are included than when they are omitted, a result that suggests co-movement of peer and teacher quality effects within a student over time. We also find that peer effects tend to be stronger at the classroom level than at the grade level. (Appended to this document is "Comparison of Estimation Methods Using Simulated Data." Contains 28 footnotes and 10 tables.)
- Published
- 2008
28. School Accountability and Teacher Mobility. Working Paper 47
- Author
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Feng, Li, Figlio, David N., and Sass, Tim R.
- Abstract
Struggling schools that come under increased accountability pressure face a number of challenges, changing instructional policies and practices to facilitate student improvement. But what effect does school accountability have on teachers' mobility decisions? This study is the first to exploit policy variation within the same state to examine the effects of school accountability on teacher job changes. Using student-level data from Florida State the authors measure the degree to which schools and teachers were "surprised" by the change in the school grading system that took hold in the summer of 2002--what they refer to as an "accountability shock"--by observing the mobility decisions of teachers in the years before and after the school grading change. Several key findings emerge: (1) over half of all schools in the state experience an accountability "shock" due to this grading change; (2) teachers are more likely to leave schools facing increased accountability pressure--and even more likely to leave schools that face the highest accountability pressure (schools shocked downward to a grade of "F")--and they are less likely to leave schools facing decreased accountability pressure; (3) While the quality differential between stayers and leavers does not change as a result of increased accountability pressure, schools facing increased pressure experience an increase in the quality of teachers who leave or stay and schools with no accountability shock experience no significant change to the quality of teachers that leave or stay. The results suggest if these schools were able to retain more of their high-quality teachers, perhaps through increased incentives to remain in the school, the performance gains associated with school accountability pressure could be greater than those already observed. (Contains 9 tables, 1 figure and 16 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2010
29. Citizen Perceptions of Government Service Quality: Evidence from Public Schools. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 10-16
- Author
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Chingos, Matthew M., Henderson, Michael, and West, Martin R.
- Abstract
Conventional models of democratic accountability hinge on citizens' ability to evaluate government performance accurately, yet there is little evidence on the degree to which citizen perceptions of the quality of government services correspond to actual service quality. Using nationally representative survey data, we find that citizens' perceptions of the quality of specific public schools reflect publicly available information about the level of student achievement in those schools. The relationship between actual and perceived school quality is two to three times stronger for parents of school-age children, who have the most contact with schools and arguably the strongest incentive to be informed. However, this relationship does not differ by homeowner status or by respondents' race, ethnicity, income, or education. A regression discontinuity analysis of an oversample of Florida residents confirms that public accountability systems can have a causal effect on citizen perceptions of service quality. The appendix section includes the following tables: (1) Relationship Between School Characteristics and Respondents' School Ratings, Marginal Effects from Ordered Probit Models; (2) Descriptive Statistics, By Whether Respondent Identified Local Elementary and Middle Schools; and (3) Relationship Between Schools' Demographic Characteristics and Respondents' Ratings, by Respondent Characteristics. (Contains 11 tables, 1 figure, and 17 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2010
30. New Estimates of Design Parameters for Clustered Randomization Studies: Findings from North Carolina and Florida. Working Paper 43
- Author
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Xu, Zeyu, and Nichols, Austin
- Abstract
The gold standard in making causal inference on program effects is a randomized trial. Most randomization designs in education randomize classrooms or schools rather than individual students. Such "clustered randomization" designs have one principal drawback: They tend to have limited statistical power or precision. This study aims to provide empirical information needed to design adequately powered studies that randomize schools using data from Florida and North Carolina. The authors assess how different covariates contribute to improving the statistical power of a randomization design and examine differences between math and reading tests; differences between test types (curriculum-referenced tests versus norm-referenced tests); and differences between elementary school and secondary school, to see if the test subject, test type, or grade level makes a large difference in the crucial design parameters. Finally they assess bias in 2-level models that ignore the clustering of students in classrooms. (Contains 5 figures, 46 tables and 2 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2010
31. Learning about Teaching: Initial Findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project. Research Paper. MET Project
- Author
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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Abstract
In fall 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to test new approaches to measuring effective teaching. The goal of the MET project is to improve the quality of information about teaching effectiveness available to education professionals within states and districts--information that will help them build fair and reliable systems for measuring teacher effectiveness that can be used for a variety of purposes, including feedback, development, and continuous improvement. The project includes nearly 3000 teachers who volunteered to help researchers identify a better approach to teacher development and evaluation, located in six predominantly urban school districts across the country: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Dallas Independent School District, Denver Public Schools, Hillsborough County Public Schools (including Tampa, Florida), Memphis City Schools, and the New York City Department of Education. As part of the project, multiple data sources are being collected and analyzed over two school years, including student achievement gains on state assessments and supplemental assessments designed to assess higher-order conceptual understanding; classroom observations and teacher reflections on their practice; assessments of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge; student perceptions of the classroom instructional environment; and teachers' perceptions of working conditions and instructional support at their schools. The current findings include: (1) In every grade and subject, a teacher's past track record of value-added is among the strongest predictors of their students' achievement gains in other classes and academic years. A teacher's value-added fluctuates from year-to-year and from class-to-class, as succeeding cohorts of students move through their classrooms. However, that volatility is not so large as to undercut the usefulness of value-added as an indicator (imperfect, but still informative) of future performance; (2) Teachers with high value-added on state tests tend to promote deeper conceptual understanding as well; (3) Teachers have larger effects on math achievement than on achievement in reading or English Language Arts, at least as measured on state assessments; and (4) Student perceptions of a given teacher's strengths and weaknesses are consistent across the different groups of students they teach. Moreover, students seem to know effective teaching when they experience it: student perceptions in one class are related to the achievement gains in other classes taught by the same teacher. Most important are students' perception of a teacher's ability to control a classroom and to challenge students with rigorous work. Appended are: (1) Sample 8th Grade BAM Item; and (2) Example from Stanford 9 Open-Ended Reading Assessment. (Contains 1 figure, 11 tables and 14 footnotes.) [For "Learning about Teaching: Initial Findings from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project. Policy Brief. MET Project," see ED528388.]
- Published
- 2010
32. The Impact of a Universal Class-Size Reduction Policy: Evidence from Florida's Statewide Mandate. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 10-03
- Author
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance and Chingos, Matthew M.
- Abstract
Class-size reduction (CSR) mandates presuppose that resources provided to reduce class size will have a larger impact on student outcomes than resources that districts can spend as they see fit. I estimate the impact of Florida's statewide CSR policy by comparing the deviations from prior achievement trends in districts that were required to reduce class size to deviations from prior trends in districts that received equivalent resources but were not required to reduce class size. I use the same comparative interrupted time series design to compare schools that were differentially affected by the policy (in terms of whether they had to reduce class size) but that did not receive equal additional resources. The results from both the district- and school-level analyses indicate that mandated CSR in Florida had little, if any, effect on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. Thirteen tables are appended: (1) Effect of Required CSR at District Level on District Characteristics; (2) Effect of Required CSR at School Level on School Characteristics; (3) District-Level Models with Additional Years of Pre-Treatment Data (Effects in Student-Level Standard Deviations); (4) District-Level Estimates that Condition on Prior-Year Controls (Effects in Student-Level Standard Deviations); (5) District-Level Analysis Robustness Checks (Effects in Student-Level Standard Deviations); (6) Effects of District-Level CSR on FCAT Scores (Student-Level Standard Deviations), Standard Difference-in-Differences Specification; (7) Effects of District-Level CSR on Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) Scores (Student-Level Standard Deviations); (8) Achievement Effects of District-level CSR by Subgroup (Student-Level Standard Deviations); (9) Effects of District-Level CSR on Non-Cognitive Outcomes; (10) School-Level Estimates that Condition on Prior-Year Controls (Effects in Student-Level Standard Deviations); (11) Effects of School-Level CSR on FCAT Scores (Student-Level Standard Deviations), Standard Difference-in-Differences Specification; (12) Achievement Effects of School-Level CSR by Subgroup (Student-Level Standard Deviations); and (13) Effects of School-Level CSR on Non-Cognitive Outcomes. (Contains 3 figures, 21 tables and 32 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2010
33. Feeling the Florida Heat? How Low-Performing Schools Respond to Voucher and Accountability Pressure. Working Paper 13
- Author
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Rouse, Cecilia Elena, Hannaway, Jane, Goldhaber, Dan, and Figlio, David
- Abstract
While numerous recent authors have studied the effects of school accountability systems on student test performance and school "gaming" of accountability incentives, there has been little attention paid to substantive changes in instructional policies and practices resulting from school accountability. The lack of research is primarily due to the unavailability of appropriate data to carry out such an analysis. This paper brings to bear new evidence from a remarkable five-year survey conducted of a census of public schools in Florida, coupled with detailed administrative data on student performance. We show that schools facing accountability pressure changed their instructional practices in meaningful ways. In addition, we present medium-run evidence of the effects of school accountability on student test scores, and find that a significant portion of these test score gains can likely be attributed to the changes in school policies and practices that we uncover in our surveys. (Contains 45 footnotes, 10 tables, and 2 figures.)
- Published
- 2007
34. Information and Exit: Do Accountability Ratings Help Families Choose Schools? Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 09-06
- Author
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Harvard University, Program on Education Policy and Governance and Henderson, Michael
- Abstract
Does public information about school quality lead parents to sort their children out of schools with relatively poor performance? Use of this exit option in response to information about school quality has the potential to indirectly foster school responsiveness to quality concerns. To determine whether this information affects student exit, I use a regression discontinuity design to examine the effect of school grades on exit. Results indicate that parents do not seem to respond to information about school quality generally and, thus, cast doubt on the effectiveness of indirect accountability to promote educational improvement. However, there is limited evidence that particularly poor school performance accompanied by institutional mechanisms for school choice promote student sorting away from low-quality schools. (Contains 11 footnotes, 12 figures, and 9 tables.)
- Published
- 2009
35. The Impact of Postsecondary Remediation Using a Regression Discontinuity Approach: Addressing Endogenous Sorting and Noncompliance. An NCPR Working Paper
- Author
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Calcagno, Juan Carlos and Long, Bridget Terry
- Abstract
Remedial or developmental courses are the most common policy instruments used to assist underprepared postsecondary students who are not ready for college-level coursework. However, despite its important role in higher education and its substantial costs, there is little rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of college remediation on the outcomes of students. This study uses a detailed dataset to identify the causal effect of remediation on the educational outcomes of nearly 100,000 college students in Florida, an important state that reflects broader national trends in remediation policy and student diversity. Moreover, using a Regression Discontinuity design, we discuss concerns about endogenous sorting around the policy cutoff, which poses a threat to the assumptions of the model in multiple research contexts. To address this concern, we implement methods proposed by McCrary (2008) and discuss the strengths of this approach. The results suggest math and reading remedial courses have mixed benefits. Being assigned to remediation appears to increase persistence to the second year and the total number of credits completed for students on the margin of passing out of the requirement, but it does not increase the completion of college-level credits or eventual degree completion. Taken together, the results suggest that remediation might promote early persistence in college, but it does not necessarily help students on the margin of passing the placement cutoff make long-term progress toward earning a degree. (Contains 5 tables and 4 figures.) [This publication was produced by the National Center for Postsecondary Research.]
- Published
- 2008
36. The Effects of NBPTS-Certified Teachers on Student Achievement. Working Paper 4
- Author
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Harris, Douglas N., and Sass, Tim R.
- Abstract
In this study we consider the efficacy of a relatively new and widely accepted certification system for teachers established by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). To address the limitations in past research on the subject, we utilize a unique database covering the universe of teachers and students in Florida for a four-year span to determine the relationship between NBPTS certification and the impact of teachers on student test scores from both low-stakes and high-stakes exams. Contrary to some previous studies, we find evidence that NBPTS certification provides a positive signal of a teacher's contribution to student achievement only in a few isolated cases. Our results do reinforce evidence from previous research that the process of becoming NBPTS certified does not increase teacher productivity. While there is some evidence that NBPTS-certified teachers who are paid to act as mentors enhance the productivity of their colleagues, the effectiveness of non-NBPTS certified teachers does not increase with increases in the total number of NBPTS-certified teachers in the same school. (Contains 22 tables and 30 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2007
37. Teacher Training, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement. Working Paper 3
- Author
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Urban Institute, National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), Harris, Douglas N., and Sass, Tim R.
- Abstract
We study the effects of various types of education and training on the ability of teachers to promote student achievement. Previous studies on the subject have been hampered by inadequate measures of teacher training and difficulties addressing the non-random selection of teachers to students and of teachers to training. We address these issues by estimating models that include detailed measures of pre-service and in-service training, a rich set of time-varying covariates, and student, teacher, and school fixed effects. Our results suggest that only two of the forms of teacher training we study influence productivity. First, content-focused teacher professional development is positively associated with productivity in middle and high school math. Second, more experienced teachers appear more effective in teaching elementary math and reading and middle school math. There is no evidence that either pre-service (undergraduate) training or the scholastic aptitude of teachers influences their ability to increase student achievement. (Contains 19 tables and 23 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2007
38. Exploring Relationships between Student Engagement and Student Outcomes in Community Colleges: Report on Validation Research. Working Paper
- Author
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Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), McClenney, Kay M., and Marti, C. Nathan
- Abstract
In 2004, the Lumina Foundation for Education approved a generous grant to support validation research to explore and document the validity of the Community College Student Report (CCSR), add to the higher education field's understanding of student engagement, and help to identify research or institutional practices that require further attention. The study was conducted in three strands that linked Community College Survey of Student Engagement ("CCSSE") respondents with external data sources: (1) data from the Florida Department of Education; (2) data from the Achieving the Dream project; and (3) student record databases maintained at community colleges that have participated in the "CCSSE" survey and are either Hispanic-Serving Institutions or members of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). All participating students had participated in the 2002, 2003, or 2004 administrations of the Community College Student Report, "CCSSE's" survey instrument. The pattern of results obtained from the Florida study broadly confirms positive relationships between the construct of student engagement as measured by "CCSSE" and community college outcomes. This Achieving the Dream study yielded mixed results. The most promising results were for academic achievement (cumulative GPA) and persistence (credit completion ratios and fall-to-fall retention). Less promising were the results when predicting course completions across developmental math, writing and reading, as well as college-level algebra and English. In the HSS study, the student engagement scales were predictors of both "CCSSE" self-reported outcomes and transcript-derived student outcomes. Overall, two student engagement scales--Academic Challenge and Support for Learners--were the most consistent predictors of student outcomes. Overall, results clearly demonstrate that in assessing the validity of the "CCSSE", the choice of student outcomes variables is very important. The analyses accounted for larger proportions of variance in cumulative GPA, total credit hours completed, and average credit hours than in first to second term persistence, first to third term persistence, and number of terms enrolled. Further, depending on the student outcome of interest, some "CCSSE" self-reported outcomes seemed to be good proxies for transcript-derived outcomes, specifically cumulative GPA and total credit hours earned. Overall, many of the "CCSSE" variables, as well as corresponding derived scales and factors, demonstrated solid relationships with both self-reported and transcript-derived student outcomes. The results of these studies point to the following overall conclusions: (1) There is strong support for the validity of the use of the CCSR as a measure of institutional processes and student behaviors that impact student outcomes; (2) The studies confirm a long tradition of research findings linking engagement to positive academic outcomes; (3) There is strong consistency in the relationship between engagement factors and outcome measures across the three studies; however, some outcomes have stronger relationships to engagement than others; and (4) The Support for Learners benchmark was consistently correlated with measures of persistence. Appended are: (1) Florida Community College System Validation Study Results; (2) Achieving the Dream Validation Study Results; (3) HSS Consortium Institutions Validation Study Results; (4) "CCSSE" Constructs; (5) Study Variables; and (6) Participating Institutions. (Contains 71 tables, 8 figures and 4 footnotes.) [For related report, "Student Engagement and Student Outcomes: Key Findings from "CCSSE" Validation Research," see ED529076.]
- Published
- 2006
39. The Effect of Residential School Choice on Public High School Graduation Rates. Education Working Paper No. 9
- Author
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Manhattan Inst., New York, NY. Center for Civic Innovation., Greene, Jay P., and Winters, Marcus A.
- Abstract
This study evaluates the effect that the size of a state's school districts has on public high school graduation rates. The authors calculate the graduation rate over the last decade and examine the relationship between these graduation rates and changes in each state's average school district size. The study finds that decreasing the size of school districts has a substantial and statistically significant positive effect on graduation rates. Conversely, consolidation of school districts into larger units leads to more students dropping out of high school. The results of the analysis indicate that decreasing the average size of a state's school districts by 200 square miles leads to an increase of about 1.7 percentage points in its graduation rate. This finding is particularly important for states with very large school districts. For example, if Florida decreased the size of its school districts to the national median, it would increase its graduation rate from 59% to 64%. Decreasing the size of school districts could improve educational outputs, including graduation rates, because it would increase the choice that parents have in the school system that educates their child. By making it easier to relocate from one school system's jurisdiction to the next, smaller school districts make it possible for a larger number of families to exercise choice among different school districts. The more families are able to move from district to district, the less students can be taken for granted by schools, which, for a variety of reasons, don't want to lose enrollment. This study provides empirical evidence that increasing the choice parents have in their child's school district contributes to higher public high school graduation rates. (Contains 4 tables and 23 endnotes.)
- Published
- 2005
40. Chapter 1 Successful Schools. Technical Papers. 1993-94.
- Author
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Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee.
- Abstract
The Chapter 1 Successful Schools project is the product of collaborative development efforts by the Florida Department of Education, the state's Chapter 1 Evaluation Advisory Panel, and Technical Assistance Centers contracted through the Educational Testing Service. This report covers the initial pilot phase of the Successful Schools project. It is a companion document to the summary report released in October 1994. It contains a number of technical papers on which research summaries, findings, and conclusions were based. It is organized to be generally consistent with the summary report, and contains the following sections: (1) introduction; (2) impact of school poverty on Florida's elementary schools; (3) conditions related to student achievement and learning environment; (4) successful high poverty schools; (5) data base profiles of participating schools; (6) school staff and parent perceptions of effective school components; (7) successful schools staff survey, technical report; (8) what parents did and did not say about pilot project schools; (9) parent survey responses; (10) interview analysis from the successful high poverty schools study; and (11) procedural analysis of on-site visits in the Successful Schools study. Twenty-five tables illustrate the discussions. (Contains 22 references.) (SLD)
- Published
- 1994
41. Evaluation of State University System of Florida's Indicator of Excellence Program. AIR 1987 Annual Forum Paper.
- Author
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Coles, Charlene
- Abstract
Information is provided on the Florida State University System's Indicators of Excellence Program and how it is evaluated. The 21 indicators of quality are used in setting annual goals for quality improvement, in justifying university budget requests, and in evaluating the results of the universities' quality improvement efforts. Some of these indicators are intended to measure the results of the state's efforts to move into the "upper quartile" of state systems. The upper quartile measures are global in nature and emphasize the funding of higher education at the state level. A second kind of indicator, the foundational measures, reflect improvements that cannot be tracked in relationship to national measures and are more directly associated with institutional quality. The indicators include output measures that reveal the status of student learning and input measures that identify the conditions under which the educational system functions. Process measures identify activities the system provides for students. Finally, opinion indicators identify attitudes about Florida's educational systems. Nine specific upper quartile measures and 12 foundational measures are identified and results are reported. 25 references. (SW)
- Published
- 1987
42. Session-Based Course Recommendation Frameworks Using Deep Learning
- Author
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Khan, Md Akib Zab and Polyzou, Agoritsa
- Abstract
Academic advising plays an important role in students' decision-making in higher education. Data-driven methods provide useful recommendations to students to help them with degree completion. Several course recommendation models have been proposed in the literature to recommend courses for the next semester. One aspect of the data that has yet to be explored is the suitability of the recommended courses taken together in a semester. Students may face more difficulty coping with the workload of courses if there is no relationship among courses taken within a semester. To address this problem, we propose to employ session-based approaches to recommend a set of courses for the next semester. In particular, we test two session-based recommendation models, CourseBEACON and CourseDREAM. Our experimental evaluation shows that session-based methods outperform existing popularity-based, sequential, and non-sequential recommendation approaches. Accurate course recommendation can lead to better student advising, which, in turn, can lead to better student performance, lower dropout rates, and better overall student experience and satisfaction. [For the complete proceedings, see ED630829.]
- Published
- 2023
43. Getting Farther Ahead by Staying Behind: A Second-Year Evaluation of Florida's Policy to End Social Promotion
- Author
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University of Arkansas, Education Working Paper Archive, Greene, Jay P., and Winters, Marcus A.
- Abstract
Social promotion has long been the normal practice in American schools. Critics of this practice, whereby students are promoted to the next grade regardless of academic preparation, have suggested that students would benefit academically if they were made to repeat a grade. Supporters of social promotion claim that retaining students (i.e, holding them back) disrupts them socially, producing greater academic harm than promotion would. A number of states and school districts, including Florida, Texas, Chicago, and New York City, have attempted to curtail social promotion, by requiring students to demonstrate academic preparation on a standardized test before they can be promoted to the next grade. This study analyzes the effects of Florida's test-based promotion policy on student achievement two years after initial retention. It builds upon our previous evaluation of the policy in two ways. First, we examine whether the initial benefits of retention observed in the previous study continue, expand, or contract in the second year after students are retained. Second, we determine whether discrepancies between our evaluation and the evaluation of a test-based promotion policy in Chicago are caused by differences in how researchers examined the issue, or by differences in the nature of the programs. Our analysis shows that, after two years of the policy, retained Florida students made significant reading gains relative to the control group of socially promoted students. These academic benefits grew substantially from the first to the second year after retention. That is, students lacking in basic skills who are socially promoted appear to fall further and further behind over time, whereas retained students appear to be able to catch up on the skills they are lacking. Further, we find these positive results in Florida, both when we use the same research design that we used in our previous study, and when we use a design similar to that employed by the evaluation of the program in Chicago. The differences between the Chicago and Florida evaluations appear to be caused by differences in the details of the programs, and not by differences in how the programs were evaluated. (Contains 5 tables and 10 footnotes.)
- Published
- 2006
44. The Impact of Arts Education on Workforce Preparation. Issue Brief.
- Author
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National Governors' Association, Washington, DC. Center for Best Practices. and Psilos, Phil
- Abstract
Research examining the impact of arts education on workforce preparation has confirmed that programs incorporating the arts can be educational, developmentally rich, and cost-effective ways of providing students with the skills needed for productive participation in today's economy. Arts education has been shown to help students develop basic, higher-order thinking, and affective skills needed for workplace success. Studies have shown that young people who study the arts show heightened academic standing, a strong capacity for self-assessment, and a secure sense of their own ability to plan and work for a positive future. Studies of arts-based education programs for general, at-risk, and incarcerated youth populations in 10 states have documented their effectiveness and illustrated how schools can make strategic use of states' cultural resources. Governors seeking to take advantage of the arts as a workforce development strategy can take the following policy actions: (1) include arts education as an element of comprehensive education reform legislation; (2) encourage artists to participate in community development programs; (3) leverage the private sector's willingness to contribute to the arts by providing seed funding and starter grants to innovative arts-based education programs; and (4) facilitate collaboration between arts educators and juvenile detention centers to promote programs for detained youth. (Contains 27 endnotes.) (MN)
- Published
- 2002
45. An Innovative Reform of Secondary Education for Immigrant Students in Southeastern USA
- Author
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Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES), Biraimah, Karen, and Kurtz, Brianna
- Abstract
Migrant and immigrant education are both problematic and impactful in the U.S., which often identifies itself as "a nation of immigrants", though these concepts are currently criticized by a conservative government intent on building walls rather than bridges. Nevertheless, schools throughout the country have demonstrated an ability to provide immigrant students with quality instruction and a supportive environment designed to ensure their contributions to the nation. This paper will review a government-funded secondary magnet school for information technology in Southeastern U.S. that enrolls a significant number of first and secondgeneration voluntary immigrant students. Through an analysis of data obtained from questionnaires and extended focus group discussions, the authors will describe the challenges and achievements of these students, and the role their school's environment played in helping to create both a sense of belonging and opportunities for success.
- Published
- 2020
46. Application of Hidden Markov Models to Quantify the Impact of Enrollment Patterns on Student Performance
- Author
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Boumi, Shahab and Vela, Adan
- Abstract
Simplified categorizations have often led to college students being labeled as full-time or part-time students. However, at many universities student enrollment patterns can be much more complicated, as it is not uncommon for students to alternate between full-time and part-time enrollment each semester based on finances, scheduling, or family needs. While prior research has established that full-time students maintain better outcomes than their part-time counterparts, little study has examined the impact of mixed enrollment patterns on academic outcomes. In this paper, we apply a Hidden Markov Model to identify students' enrollment strategies according to three different categories: part-time, full-time, and mixed enrollment. According to the enrollment classification we investigate and compare the academic performance outcomes of each group. Analysis of data collected from the University of Central Florida from 2008 to 2017 indicates that mixed enrollment students are closer in performance to full-time students, than part-time students. More importantly, during their part-time semesters, mixed-enrollment students significantly outperform part-time students. Such a finding suggests that increased engagement through the occasional full-time enrollment leads to better overall outcomes. [For the full proceedings, see ED599096.]
- Published
- 2019
47. Undergraduate Research Communities for Transfer Students: A Retention Model Based on Factors That Most Influence Student Success
- Author
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Chamely-Wiik, Donna, Frazier, Evelyn, Meerof, Daniel, Merritt, Jordan, Johnson, Jodiene, Kwochka, William R., Morrison-Shetlar, Alison I., Aldarondo-Jeffries, Michael, and Schneider, Kimberly R.
- Abstract
Transfer students face many challenges integrating into a 4-year college that affect their retention and success, yet very little research has documented how to create wraparound programming to support them. There remains a need to establish retention models that are adaptable and can serve a variety of students and institutions. The Learning Environment and Academic Research Network (LEARN) Consortium, a partnership of Florida Atlantic University, University of Central Florida, and Western Carolina University whose focus is on engagement in undergraduate research, addressed this need by developing and testing T-LEARN, a new model for a sustainable science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) retention program specifically for transfer students who have transitioned to a university setting after receiving their associate's degree at a community college. The new model was developed by adapting a successful retention model for 1st-year students at the University of Central Florida centered around three main pillars: (1) academics/research; (2) mentoring; and (3) community building. In this paper, we describe the development of the T-LEARN model, outline the adaptations made to accommodate the specific needs of transfer students, and present 3 years of implementation data we analyzed to determine what factor(s) most impact transfer student retention and success. Our findings indicate that T-LEARN students' involvement in research during their 1st year was the most significant factor within the T-LEARN program that contributed to their academic success. Additionally, the majority of these students had continued to do research with the same LEARN program faculty mentor 1 year after the program ended.
- Published
- 2021
48. How 'No Child Left Behind' Threatens Florida's Successful Education Reforms. Backgrounder. No. 2226
- Author
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Heritage Foundation, Ladner, Matthew, and Lips, Dan
- Abstract
This paper reviews nationwide education reforms under No Child Left Behind and state reforms in Florida--comparing federal and state results. The paper examines the danger that federal regulations and incentives pose to testing and accountability systems in Florida and every other state. The limits of No Child Left Behind and the promise of Florida's success suggest that federal policies that give states greater authority to direct education reform hold promise for improving education when states and citizens commit to effective reforms. The paper states that as policymakers review No Child Left Behind, Congress and the Obama Administration should recognize three important lessons: (1) No Child Left Behind has failed to deliver meaningful improvement in student learning; (2) Florida's experience demonstrates the opportunity for state-directed education reform; and (3) NCLB's accountability regulations threaten to undermine state accountability reforms. Given these lessons, Members of Congress and state policymakers should re-evaluate federal and state governments' current approach to improving public education. At the federal level, Congress and the incoming Administration should limit federal policymaking authority and transfer greater power back to the state and local levels--and they should end perverse incentives for states to weaken state standards. State policymakers should learn from Florida's success and implement systemic education reform to hold schools and students accountable for results, expand parental choice, and improve school and teacher effectiveness. Appended to this document is: "Safe Harbor Schools in Florida," showing Florida School Districts Making Safe Harbor, by Year, Based Upon Overall Math and Reading Results Alone, 2003-2008. (Contains an executive summary and 27 notes.)
- Published
- 2009
49. Factors Associated with International Graduate Students' Academic Performance: A Comparative Analysis between the First Semester and the Subsequent Semester in the U.S.
- Author
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Cavusoglu, Muhittin, White, Williemae, James, Waynne B., and Cobanoglu, Cihan
- Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify differences that impact international graduate student performance in the first semester compared to the subsequent semesters. This study was a qualitative study focused on the factors associated with international graduate student academic performance between the first semester and their subsequent semesters in the U.S. For the purpose of this study, a 30-minute interview was conducted with international graduate students from the USF [University of South Florida] Tampa and Sarasota campuses. In total, 19 international graduate students were interviewed from a variety of ethnicities and from the College of Education and the College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership. In their first semester, international graduate students were generally motivated to get a degree in the U.S., had passion to study in their academic field in the U.S., had to meet family expectations, and had government scholarship/graduate/teaching assistantship responsibilities. However, they often had problems with language, unfamiliar social environment/culture shock, homesickness, financial problems, and transportation in their first semester. The majority of international graduate students successfully dealt with the main problems (language, culture shock, and transportation); however, homesickness and financial issues were still major concerns for them. More financial support could bring more success to international graduate students. International graduate students who earned under $20,000 reported a negative effect on their overall academic performance due to financial stressors. [For the full proceedings, see ED581791.]
- Published
- 2016
50. Sharing a Model of Accountability: The Tri-County Charter School Partnership Evaluation.
- Author
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Lacey, Candace H., Enger, John M., and Maldonado, Nancy L.
- Abstract
This paper presents the results of the first year evaluation of a 2-year project, "Comprehensive Accountability, Professional Development, and Assessment System for the Tri-County Charter School Partnership." This partnership of five charter schools was working to develop a replicable and comprehensive accountability system for each of the schools. A mixed method research design was developed using parallel or simultaneous methodologies. Quantitative methodology provided the primary data for assessing outcomes related to student achievement, and qualitative methodology provided additional data on outcomes while adding depth and breadth to the evaluation. Surveys completed by 793 students, 335 parents, and 21 teachers were used to obtain information, workshop evaluations gave insight into what participants found useful and effective, and interviews with 5 administrators provided depth and insight into the context in which the program was conducted. Taken together, findings indicate that the partnership was successful in establishing the groundwork for year-two activities. The schools collaborated in providing professional development and aligned their curricula with Florida state standards. No computer-based student progress and standards reporting system had yet been developed, but it was recognized that a student database was essential for tracking student performance on standardized tests and performance assessments. Stakeholder surveys showed very positive attitudes and provided information for the second year of program activities. Although no comprehensive accountability system has yet been developed for the charter school system, the project has provided the framework for the schools to develop such a system. (Contains 17 references.) (SLD)
- Published
- 2002
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