Publications & ProductsSearch Results: (1-15 of 1327 records)
| Pub Number | Title |  Date |
|---|---|---|
| REL 2024006 | Strengthening the Pennsylvania School Climate Survey to Inform School Decisionmaking
This study analyzed Pennsylvania School Climate Survey data from students and staff in the 2021/22 school year to assess the validity and reliability of the elementary school student version of the survey; approaches to scoring the survey in individual schools at all grade levels; and perceptions of school climate across student, staff, and school groups. The survey encourages data-informed efforts in participating Pennsylvania schools to foster supportive learning environments that promote social and emotional wellness for students and staff. The study validated the elementary school student survey but found that one domain—safe and respectful school climate—did not meet the reliability threshold and thus suggests that revisions are needed. At all grade levels noninstructional staff had the most positive perceptions of school climate, followed by classroom teachers then students. The study found that different approaches to combining the school climate scores of students, teachers, and noninstructional staff within schools yielded slightly different distributions of school climate summary index scores. It also found that different performance category thresholds resulted in similar distributions of schools across categories. Scores calculated using simple averages were strongly and positively correlated with scores calculated using a more complex approach (Rasch models), suggesting that both approaches deliver similar information. School climate scores varied across student groups (defined by race/ethnicity, gender, and grade level) within schools and across school groups. Larger schools and schools with higher percentages of Black students tended to have lower school climate scores than other schools. The findings can inform the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s decisionmaking on revisions to the elementary school student survey, approaches to scoring and reporting survey results, and efforts to increase participation in future survey administrations. |
8/29/2024 |
| REL 2024005 | Examining Implementation and Outcomes of the Project On‑Track High-Dosage Literacy Tutoring Program
School districts in northeastern Tennessee have had persistently low proficiency rates in grade 3 English language arts, which were exacerbated by disruptions in schooling due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In response, the Niswonger Foundation, a technical assistance provider that supports these districts, developed Project On-Track, a high-dosage, small-group literacy tutoring program for students in grade 1–3. Its online adaptive program, Amplify Reading, groups students by skill level and generates mini-lessons aligned to the science of reading that are delivered by tutors. Although the content of the tutoring sessions is highly structured, Project On-Track offers schools flexibility in how they implement the program, including when they provide tutoring, who provides tutoring, in which grade levels they offer tutoring, and how they identify students within a grade level for tutoring. This flexibility can make it easier for schools to adopt the program, particularly rural schools, which may face greater challenges in hiring tutors or delivering tutoring outside of school hours. However, variation in implementation may also affect program effectiveness. To inform future implementation of the program, this study describes the characteristics of students who participated in a full year of Project On-Track and how schools implemented the program, with a focus on three implementation features: when and how frequently tutoring is offered and who provides it. By reporting on the association between variations in implementation and student literacy scores, the study offers important insights to inform future program implementation. The study found no differences in student literacy scores based on timing or frequency of tutoring. Most schools (66 percent) offered tutoring during school and more than twice a week (64 percent). Rural schools were more likely to offer tutoring during school (92 percent) than were nonrural schools (47 percent). Most tutors were current teachers (55 percent) or retired teachers (12 percent). This study does not provide evidence of differences in student literacy scores based on tutor qualifications. More than half the students who participated in a full year of Project On-Track tutoring started the year with literacy assessment scores identifying them as most at risk for reading difficulties, and 42 percent of them improved to a lower risk category after one year of tutoring. Although this study uses descriptive methods and cannot assess effectiveness, the findings suggest that schools and districts using a highly structured tutoring program like Project On-Track might be able to exercise flexibility in when and how often tutoring is offered and by whom without compromising program quality and benefits to students. |
8/26/2024 |
| NCEE 2024006 | How a Federal Grant Program Is Training and Supporting Educators of English Learners
Across the nation, states and school districts face a persistent shortage of educators with expertise in promoting both the English proficiency and academic achievement of English learner (EL) students. To help improve educators' qualifications and classroom instruction for ELs, the National Professional Development (NPD) program has awarded grants for EL-focused educator professional development projects since 2002. This U.S. Department of Education–funded program allows grantees to serve the varied types of educators who work with ELs, including those preparing to join the educator workforce, and encourages grantees to focus on professional development topics and approaches supported by rigorous research evidence. In addition, the NPD program encourages grantees to engage in evaluation activities, including performance measurement and rigorous evaluations of project effectiveness, that may inform project improvement and contribute to evidence building. This study examines the extent to which NPD grantees implemented their projects in ways aligned with these program objectives, drawing primarily on a 2021 survey of all 2016 and 2017 NPD grantees. |
8/20/2024 |
| NCEE 2024005 | Evaluation of Departmentalized Instruction in Elementary Schools: Exploring Implementation Experiences
Assigning upper elementary grade teachers to teach their strongest subjects to multiple classes ("departmentalizing"), rather than teaching all subjects to a single class, ("self-contained instruction") could mean more specialized instructional expertise in the classroom or focus for teacher planning time and professional development. This study examined the experiences of 90 schools that either voluntarily switched to departmentalized instruction for up to two years or continued with self-contained teaching in 4th and 5th grade classes beginning in fall 2019. The findings show that schools that switched were able to implement the key steps needed to departmentalize instruction but struggled with aspects of the approach. Teachers' reported experiences were consistent with some of both the benefits and challenges that prior research had hypothesized. Although the pandemic significantly disrupted instruction and the study activities, school and teacher experiences during this challenging time may inform schools and districts considering adopting departmentalized instruction. |
7/9/2024 |
| NCEE 2024004 | Appropriate Identification of Children with Disabilities for IDEA Services: A Report from Recent National Estimates
Appropriately identifying children with disabilities--in ways that are timely, comprehensive, and accurate--is critical for ensuring that learners receive the supports they need to meet early milestones and succeed in school. In turn, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) charges states and school districts with: (1) finding all children, birth through age 21, suspected of having a disability; (2) evaluating them to determine if they are eligible for IDEA services; and (3) measuring and addressing racial or ethnic disparities in who is identified. Since IDEA's reauthorization in 2004, there is greater access to data and more sophisticated approaches to screen for and detect certain disabilities, an increasingly diverse child population, and new regulations on how to measure disparities in identification. This report examines how state and district practices during the 2019-2020 school year aligned with IDEA’s goals of appropriate identification. |
6/11/2024 |
| NCEE 2024003 | Did the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Grant Program Reach Its Goals? An Implementation Report
Boosting literacy among school-age children remains a national priority. Nearly one third of students in the United States have not developed the foundational reading skills needed to succeed academically, with students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English learners especially at risk. Starting in 2010, Congress invested more than $1 billion for state literacy improvement efforts through the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy (SRCL) program. SRCL was intended to focus funding on disadvantaged schools, encourage schools to use evidence-based practices, and support schools and teachers in providing comprehensive literacy instruction. This report assesses how well SRCL implementation was aligned with these goals, using information collected from states, districts, and schools in all 11 states awarded three-year grants in 2017. |
5/21/2024 |
| REL 2024004 | Assessing the Validity and Reliability of the Pennsylvania School Climate Survey for Elementary School Students
The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE’s) Office for Safe Schools partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to conduct a study analyzing the validity and reliability from PDE’s school climate survey for elementary school students. This survey, which is available on a voluntary basis to any school in the state, provides a way for schools to track their school climate and identify aspects of school climate that need additional support. The analysis examined the three domains of the PDE school climate survey: (1) social-emotional learning, (2) safe and respectful school climate, and (3) student support and academic engagement. The study found that the items in each of the three domains measured the constructs that they intended to measure and that the three domains were distinct from one another. However, one domain—safe and respectful school climate—fell short of the established threshold for reliability based on the correlations among the items within the domain. As a result, the study team recommended revisions to the safe and respectful school climate domain of the elementary school student survey to improve its internal consistency reliability. |
4/15/2024 |
| NCEE 2024002 | Federal Efforts Towards Investing in Innovation through the i3 Fund: A Summary of Grantmaking and Evidence-Building
Finding and expanding the use of innovative educational strategies that work is important to help improve student learning and close equity gaps nationwide. The Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) was a key U.S. Department of Education (Department) program explicitly focused on these goals. Between 2010 and 2016, i3 invested $1.4 billion in 172 five-year grants to universities, school districts, and private non-profit organizations. The i3 Fund intentionally awarded different types of grants to either develop and test new, innovative but as-yet unproven strategies or to learn more about the circumstances under which previously tested strategies are effective. Grantees were required to fund independent evaluations that would meet high standards for quality. The Department reviewed 148 i3 evaluations, completed at or after the conclusion of the grants, to understand the key components of the grantees' educational strategies, assess the quality of the grantees' evaluations, and summarize what the evaluations found. |
2/27/2024 |
| WWC 2024001 | Building Blocks Intervention Report
This What Works Clearinghouse intervention report summarizes the evidence on Building Blocks, a mathematics curriculum that seeks to develop preschool children’s knowledge of mathematics using activities that are intentionally sequenced based on the developmental progression of children’s mathematical learning. The research provides moderate evidence that Building Blocks improves mathematics achievement. This assessment is based on three studies that meet WWC standards. |
12/5/2023 |
| NCEE 2024001 | Practical Strategies for Recruiting Districts and Schools for Education Impact Studies
This brief will help researchers newer to school-based impact studies recruit districts and schools that represent the study's population of interest so that the findings are more actionable for educators. Practical strategies are provided on four topics that may play an increasingly important role in a district or school's willingness to participate in a study: attention to urgent priorities and needs, limited staff capacity, commitment to fairness and collaborative practices, and protection of student and staff privacy. |
10/31/2023 |
| WWC 2023009 | Pre-K Mathematics Intervention Report
This What Works Clearinghouse intervention report summarizes the evidence on a supplemental curriculum entitled "Pre-K Mathematics." The supplemental curriculum is designed to develop informal mathematical knowledge and skills in preschool children. Specific mathematical concepts and skills from each unit are taught in the classroom through teacher-guided, small-group activities using concrete manipulatives. The research provides strong evidence that Pre-K Mathematics improves mathematics achievement, although the intervention had uncertain effects on outcomes in the language domain, reading & literacy related domain, social-emotional learning domain, and self-regulation domain. This assessment is based on five studies that meet WWC standards. |
9/19/2023 |
| NCEE 2023006 | Investigating the Scope and Implementation of Return to Title IV Funds
Students who receive federal student loan or grant aid and subsequently withdraw may be subject to a "Return of Title IV Funds" (R2T4) calculation, which can require the student or college to pay back unused aid funds to the government. Despite the potential influence of the policy on students, colleges, and the integrity of federal student aid programs, little is known about the policy's scope. Offices within the Department of Education, including Federal Student Aid and the Institute of Education Sciences, collaborated with the Office of Evaluation Sciences at the U.S. General Services Administration to better understand R2T4. The overarching goal of this evaluation is to build foundational, descriptive evidence that documents the scope of R2T4 in terms of students and colleges affected by the policy as well as associated aid amounts due and returned. |
9/12/2023 |
| WWC 2023008 | Using Bayesian Meta-Analysis to Explore the Components of Early Literacy Interventions
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) released a report that applies two methodological approaches new to the WWC that together aim to improve researchers' understanding of how early literacy interventions may work to improve outcomes for students in grades K-3. First, this report pilots a new taxonomy developed by early literacy experts and intervention developers as part of a larger effort to develop standard nomenclature for the components of literacy interventions. Then, the WWC uses Bayesian meta-analysis—a statistical method to systematically summarize evidence across multiple studies—to estimate the associations between intervention components and intervention impacts. Twenty-nine studies of 25 early literacy interventions that were previously reviewed by the WWC and met the WWC's rigorous research standards were included in the analysis. This method found that the components examined in this synthesis appear to have a limited role in explaining variation in intervention impacts on alphabetics outcomes, including phonics, phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and letter identification. This method also identified positive associations between intervention impacts on alphabetics outcomes and components related to using student assessment data to drive decisions, including about how to group students for instruction, and components related to non-academic student supports, including efforts to teach social-emotional learning strategies and outreach to parents and families. This report is exploratory because this synthesis cannot conclude that specific components caused improved alphabetics outcomes. |
9/12/2023 |
| NCEE 2023007 | IDEA State and Local Implementation Study 2019: Compendium of Survey Results
Federal policy has long played a key role in how the more than seven million children with disabilities are educated, but the context for the policies has been shifting. This compendium describes the methods, response rates, and weights used for surveys of state, district, and school agency personnel about implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in the 2019-2020 school year. It also includes detailed tables, based on the surveys, that provide a national picture of policies and practices, 15 years after the law was last updated and 10 years after a similar study was conducted. |
9/11/2023 |
| WWC 2023007 | World of Words Intervention Report
This What Works Clearinghouse intervention report summarizes the evidence on World of Words. World of Words aims to accelerate the development of preschool children’s vocabulary knowledge, concept knowledge, and content knowledge in science through topic-centered conversations and shared book readings. The research provides strong evidence that World of Words improved student language skills. This assessment is based on four studies that meet WWC standards. |
8/22/2023 |
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