Tag » achievement

• 

  Achievement Gaps Between Female and Male Latino Students

  1/1/08 - Julio Cammarota

  Throughout the 1990’s, I documented the education, work and family experiences of Latino youth in California (see my book, Suenos Americanos). My intention was to understand how young Latinos might achieve some success (i.e. educational achievement or decent employment) in a hostile political and economic environment. The most surprising finding of my research was that Latina females fared much better than Latino males, sometimes within the same family.

• 

  Achievement trap: How America is failing millions of high-achieving students from lower-income families

  1/1/07 - Wyner, J., Bridgeland, J., Diulio, J.

  This report discusses new and original research on this extraordinary population of students. Our findings come from three federal databases that during the past 20 years have tracked students in elementary and high school, college, and graduate school. The following principal findings about high-achieving lower-income students are important for policymakers, educators, business leaders, the media, and civic leaders to understand and explore as schools, communities, states, and the nation...

• Improving Education: The Promise of Inclusive Schooling

  1/1/01 - Dianne L. Ferguson, Audrey Desjarlais, Gwen Meyer, National Institute for Urban School Improvement

  The purpose of education is to ensure that every student gains access to knowledge, skills, and information that will prepare them to contribute to America’s communities and workplaces. This central purpose is made more challenging as schools must accommodate students with ever more diverse backgrounds, abilities, and interests. For students with disabilities, achieving this common purpose means thinking again about the consequences of special and general education as separate systems, and...

• Inclusive Education for Equity

  1/1/09 - Equity Alliance at ASU,, Kathleen King

  Inclusive education, in policy and practice, rejects the exclusion and segregation of students, for ANY reason: gender, language, household income, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, ability, or any dis/ability. Simultaneously, because of an active commitment to equity for all students, inclusive educational systems maximize the participation of all learners, by making learning opportunities relevant and high-quality. This is only achieved through the systemic exploration...

• 

  Ineffective Uses of ESEA Title II Funds: Funding Doesn’t Improve Student Achievement

  1/1/09 - Robin Chait , Raegen Miller

  Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, provides approximately $3 billion to support state and district-level activities that improve teacher and principal quality and thereby improve student achievement. However, there is little proof that the program is achieving this goal. Part of the problem is that Title II funding is not specifically targeted at activities that are likely to yield a significant return on investment. In fact, districts use the bulk of their...

• 

  States’ Participation Guidelines for Alternate Assessments Based on Modified Academic Achievement Standards (AA-MAS) in 2008

  1/1/08 - Sheryl S. Lazarus , Christopher Rogers , Damien Cormier , Martha L. Thurlow

  Federal legislation requires that all students, including students with disabilities, be included in state accountability systems. Many students can take the regular assessment with or without accommodations, but some students with disabilities need alternate ways to access assessments. A few students take alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS). In April 2007, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) regulations on modified academic achievement standards were finalized...

• 

  A guide to analyzing data from the Family Outcomes Survey

  1/1/09 - Melissa Raspa, Kathleen Hebbeler, Don Bailey

  The Family Outcomes Survey (FOS) provides a way for state and local programs serving young children to assess the extent to which families have achieved a variety of outcomes. This document provides suggestions on how to analyze the data from the survey; the analyses can then be used to plan for program improvement. The document is written for state agency staff, but many of the suggested analyses could be carried out at the local level as well.

• 

  A reading-focused early childhood education research and strategy development agenda for African Americans and Hispanics at all social class levels who are English speakers or English language learners

  1/1/08 - L. Scott Miller, Eugene Garcia

  This report addresses the need for a much expanded early childhood education research and strategy development agenda concerned with making substantial, ongoing improvements in the reading readiness and reading achievement of Latinos and African Americans. The focus is on the early childhood years because the achievement patterns of racial/ethnic groups are largely established in the period from birth through the end of the third grade (ages eight or nine for most children). The emphasis is...

• 

  A User's Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Planning

  1/1/09 - Julia Coffman

  A User's Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Planning was developed for advocates, evaluators, and funders who want guidance on how to evaluate advocacy and policy change efforts. This tool takes users through four basic steps that generate the core elements of an advocacy evaluation plan, including what will be measured and how. The tool helps users: Identify how the evaluation will be used and who will use it to ensure the evaluation delivers the right kind of information when it is needed; Map...

• 

  Achievement gap patterns of grade 8 American Indian and Alaska Native students in reading and math

  1/1/09 - Steven Nelson, Richard Greenough, Nicole Sage

  The results indicate that in most states both American Indian and Alaska Native students and all other students experienced achievement gains across the study period. Although achievement gaps were generally found to persist, the American Indian and Alaska Native students were at least keeping pace by increasing in achievement along with all other students. The majority of states with three or four years of continuous data saw an increase in the proficiency rates of American Indian and...

• 

  Achieving Transparency in the Public Reporting of 2006-2007 Assessment Results

  1/1/09 - Debra Albus, Martha Thurlow, Chris Bremer

  The 2006-2007 school year was the eighth annual reporting period since disaggregating the performance of students with disabilities on state and district-wide assessments was required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It is the fifth reporting period since the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and the eleventh in a series of National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) reports documenting state public reporting practices. Historically, the number of...

• 

  Addressing Achievement Gaps-School Finance and the Achievement Gap: Funding Programs That Work

  1/1/08 - ETS Policy Information Center,

  American education reformers have spent decades redesigning schoolfunding formulas, devising programs, and upgrading tests and curricula, all in pursuit of a noble goal: ensuring that all children, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or wealth, get a public education that will help them succeed in school and in life.

• 

  America’s perfect storm: Three forces changing our nation’s future

  1/1/07 - Kirsch, I., Braun, H., Yamamoto, K., Sum, A.

  This report “looks at the convergence of three powerful sociological and economical forces that are changing our nation's future: (a) substantial disparities in skill levels (reading and math); (b) seismic economic changes (widening wage gaps); and (c) sweeping demographic changes (less education, lower skills). (The authors show that) there is little chance that economic opportunities will improve among key segments of our population if we follow our current path. To date, educational...

• 

  Approaches to evaluating teacher effectiveness: A research synthesis

  1/1/08 - Goe, E., Bell, C., Little, O.

  This research synthesis examines how teacher effectiveness is currently measured and provides practical guidance for how best to evaluate teacher effectiveness. It evaluates the research on teacher effectiveness and the different instruments used to measure it. In addition, it defines the components and indicators that characterize effective teachers, extending this definition beyond teachers' contribution to student achievement gains to include how teachers impact classrooms, schools, and...

• 

  Building Collaboration Between Schools and Parents of English Language Learners: Transcending Barriers, Creating Opportunities

  1/1/08 - Robin Waterman, Beth Harry

  Parents of English Language Learners (ELLs) represent a vital source of support for increased student engagement and achievement; they bring skills, values and knowledge that would benefit both students and teachers. Most importantly, they bring profound commitment and motivation: The majority of the parents of ELLs have come to the United States in order that they and their children will have a “better life.” And many of these families quickly come to believe that supporting their...

• 

  Challenging common myths about young English language learners

  1/1/08 - Linda Espinosa

  This review of research from a variety of disciplines about dual language development and the impact of different educational approaches for children ages three to eight runs counter to much conventional thinking.Scientific studies suggest that young ELL children are quite capable of learning subject matter in two languages. In fact, they may benefit cognitively from learning more than one language. Transitioning from their first language to English before they have a firm grasp of their...