Publications & ProductsSearch Results: (31-45 of 624 records)
| Pub Number | Title |  Date |
|---|---|---|
| REL 2022119 | What Were the Reach and Impact of the Oregon Promise Financial Aid Program in Its First Two Years?
In 2015 Oregon became the second state in the country to implement a statewide promise program. Its program, Oregon Promise, seeks to promote students' postsecondary attainment by covering nearly all community college tuition. This study used student data from K–12 public schools, Oregon Promise applications, and postsecondary records to examine which public high school seniors the program reached and served and to assess the program's impact on high school graduates' postsecondary outcomes in its first two years. The study found that Oregon Promise applicants generally reflected the demographic composition of all Oregon public high school seniors in 2015/16 and 2016/17, although applicants were more likely to be female and less likely to have received special education services. While applicant characteristics were similar in the first and second years, there were fewer eligible applicants and recipients in the second year, when an expected family contribution limit was added, than in the first year, and they were more likely to be from low-income households and to be students of color. Using grade point average (GPA) data from the Portland metropolitan area, the study also found that lowering the GPA requirement would have increased the overall applicant pool, as well as the number of applicants from low-income households and applicants of color. Just over half of recipients in the first year of the program renewed their award and received it in their second year at a community college. These recipients had better high school attendance and were more likely to have participated in college-level coursework during high school than recipients who received an award only in their first year. Finally, among high school graduates in the Portland metropolitan area with a GPA close to the eligibility cutoff (2.5), the offer of an award had a positive impact on first-year persistence and on persistence or college completion within four years of high school graduation. Findings from the statewide exploratory analysis also found positive program impacts on first-year persistence and persistence or college completion within three or four years of high school graduation for all 2015/16 and 2016/17 seniors in the state. Oregon stakeholders can use the findings to better understand the reach and impact of the Oregon Promise program, implications of program requirements on the number and composition of applicants and recipients, and the high school experiences of recipients who renewed their award. |
11/15/2021 |
| REL 2022130 | Exploring Early Implementation of Pennsylvania's Innovative Teacher and Principal Residency Grants
To improve educator diversity and address educator shortages, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) awards grants to universities in the state to develop and implement teacher and principal residency preparation programs. The programs must offer aspiring teachers and principals a residency of at least a year, consisting of clinical practice in schools with trained mentors, aligned coursework, and financial aid. The programs must focus on improving diversity and must partner with districts with chronic teacher or principal shortages, high proportions of students of color or in poverty, or that have been identified for state support. This study examines eight residency programs that received grants for the 2019/20 school year. The study interviewed program staff, collected program data, and conducted focus groups with residents and mentors. The study sought to provide preliminary information early in the implementation of the programs on how well they were preparing teachers and principals, where the teachers and principals were getting jobs after completing the programs, whether the programs were improving diversity, and how they could be improved. Four key findings emerged from the study. First, recruiting diverse candidates was difficult. Teacher residents were mostly White, although more than a third of participants in one of the programs were people of color. Principal residents were more diverse. Second, for five of the six programs with available employment data, at least half of the residents were hired in high-need districts after completing the programs. Third, residents and mentors felt the residents were prepared for most teaching or school leadership responsibilities, although principal mentors felt some principal residents were not as well prepared. Finally, program staff, residents, and mentors described several lessons learned, including that communication and the balance of the time commitment between the coursework and the residency could be improved. The findings will inform PDE’s plans for future grants and help the funded programs improve. The findings may also be relevant to other states, districts, or preparation programs that are developing residency programs. |
11/8/2021 |
| REL 2022123 | Academic Mindsets and Behaviors, Prior Achievement, and the Transition to Middle School
Middle school is an important crossroad in a student’s academic journey. As students enter middle school, their academic achievement and engagement frequently declines. This is true particularly for Black and Latinx students. Poor middle school grades are often a harbinger of poor performance in high school and beyond. In particular, having a grade point average (GPA) below 2.0 is a strong signal of continuing negative academic outcomes. Previous research has found that academic outcomes around the transition to middle school are related to, and might even be driven by, academic mindsets, including growth mindsets (such as beliefs about the malleability of academic ability and the payoff to effort) and performance avoidance (fears of failure and the desire to avoid academic effort), and resulting academic behaviors (such as completing homework). This study examined the relationship between 2016/17 grade 5 student responses to a Clark County School District (Nevada) survey on levels of academic mindsets and behaviors and the predicted probability of earning a low GPA (below 2.0) at the end of the first semester of grade 6 (the first year of middle school) in 2017/18. Grade 5 students who reported high levels of growth mindset and academic behavior and low levels of performance avoidance had a lower predicted probability of having a GPA below 2.0 in the first semester of grade 6. Once student scores on grade 5 state standardized math and English language arts achievement exams were accounted for, levels of academic mindsets and behaviors among grade 5 students with scores at or above the district median did not predict meaningful differences in the probability of having a GPA below 2.0 in the first semester of grade 6. However, among grade 5 students with prior academic achievement below the district median, students who reported high levels of growth mindset and academic behaviors and low levels of performance avoidance had a lower predicted probability of having a GPA below 2.0 in the first semester of grade 6, even after differences in individual grade 5 prior academic achievement were accounted for. These patterns were essentially the same for all racial/ethnic groups as well as for both English learner students and non–English learner students. |
10/25/2021 |
| REL 2022125 | Schools' Experiences with Georgia's District and School Flexibility Policy
Georgia instituted a flexibility policy in 2007 that provided districts with waivers from state education rules, provisions, and guidelines. In exchange, schools must meet academic performance targets. The performance contracts are meant to encourage schools and districts to implement innovative practices to increase achievement for all students in Georgia. Between 2008/09 and 2016/17, 178 of Georgia’s 180 districts entered into performance contracts with the state. The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) asked Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast to analyze how each school’s achievement changed after the start of their district’s performance contracts and the factors related to those changes. GaDOE also requested information on schools’ implementation of and experiences with the state’s flexibility policy, focusing on how schools have prioritized local innovations in practice. Overall, the study found positive but small changes in achievement for grades 3–8 English language arts and math and found significant variation in changes in achievement across schools within districts, after adjusting for other factors. Changes in achievement after performance contracts were implemented were related to schools’ demographic composition and prior achievement. In response to a survey, school leaders reported prioritizing innovations related to use of data to identify early intervention needs, formative assessments used to guide instruction, supplemental programs for low-performing students, and personalized learning for students. Leaders in schools with larger proportions of students eligible for the national school lunch program, Black students, and English learner students reported prioritizing innovations related to online and/or blended curricula more frequently than schools with smaller proportions of these students. School leaders also reported a great deal of school-level influence over decisions about priority innovations. |
10/18/2021 |
| REL 2022124 | Predicting Early Fall Student Enrollment in the School District of Philadelphia
Predicting incoming enrollment is an ongoing concern for the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and similar districts with school choice systems, substantial student mobility, or both. Inaccurate predictions can disrupt learning as districts adjust to enrollment fluctuations by reshuffling teachers and students well into the fall semester. This study compared the accuracy of four statistical techniques for predicting fall enrollment at the school-by-grade level, using data from prior years, to assess which approach might be the most useful for planning school staffing in SDP. The predictions differ little in accuracy: predicted cohort size differs from actual cohort size by roughly six students across all methods The statistical techniques leave much student mobility unaccounted for. Even under the best prediction approach, students and teachers in 22 percent of incoming grade levels within schools might have to be reassigned because of unexpected student mobility and district rules on maximum class size. Predictive accuracy is not meaningfully different in schools with larger proportions of Black students, economically disadvantaged students, or English learner students. Of the 259 predictors analyzed, 4 stand out as the most important: prior cohort sizes, in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and absences. |
10/12/2021 |
| REL 2021112 | Program Evaluation Toolkit
Program evaluation is important for assessing the implementation and outcomes of local, state, and federal programs. The Program Evaluation Toolkit provides resources and tools to support users in contributing to evaluations of their own programs. The primary audience for the toolkit includes individuals responsible for evaluating and monitoring local, state, or federal programs. The toolkit comprises a series of eight modules that begin at the planning stages of an evaluation and progress to the presentation of findings. Resources in the toolkit will help users create a logic model, develop evaluation questions, identify data sources, develop data collection instruments, conduct basic analyses, and disseminate findings. By using the toolkit, users should develop an evaluation that provides easy-to-understand findings as well as recommendations or possible actions. |
10/12/2021 |
| REL 2021226 | Identifying Students At Risk Using Prior Performance Versus a Machine Learning Algorithm
This report provides information for administrators in local education agencies who are considering early warning systems to identify at-risk students. Districts use early warning systems to target resources to the most at-risk students and intervene before students drop out. Schools want to ensure the early warning system accurately identifies the students that need support to make the best use of available resources. The report compares the accuracy of using simple flags based on prior academic problems in school (prior performance early warning system) to an algorithm using a range of in- and out-of-school data to estimate the specific risk of each academic problem for each student in each quarter. Schools can use one or more risk-score cutoffs from the algorithm to create low- and high-risk groups. This study compares a prior performance early warning system to two risk-score cutoff options: a cutoff that identifies the same percentage of students as the prior performance early warning system, and a cutoff that identifies the 10 percent of students most at risk. The study finds that the prior performance early warning system and the algorithm using the same-percentage risk score cutoffs are similarly accurate. Both approaches successfully identify most of the students who ultimately are chronically absent, have a low grade point average, or fail a course. In contrast, the algorithm with 10-percent cutoffs is good at targeting the students who are most likely to experience an academic problem; this approach has the advantage in predicting suspensions, which are rarer and harder to predict than the other outcomes. Both the prior performance flags and the algorithm are less accurate when predicting outcomes for students who are Black. The findings suggest clear tradeoffs between the options. The prior performance early warning system is just as accurate as the algorithm for some purposes and is cheaper and easier to set up, but it does not provide fine-grained information that could be used to identify the students who are at greatest risk. The algorithm can distinguish degrees of risk among students, enabling a district to set cutoffs that vary depending on the prevalence of different outcomes, the harms of over-identifying versus under-identifying students at risk, and the resources available to support interventions. |
9/28/2021 |
| REL 2021118 | Variations in District Strategies for Remote Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented and abrupt stoppage of in-person learning in schools across the country. State education agency leaders in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming needed information on proposed strategies in districts’ remote learning plans to ensure continuity and better support remote learning in their states. This study used document analysis to examine proposed strategies related to infrastructure; strategies and supports for instruction; and supports for teachers, students, and parents. Findings are presented separately by district Internet connectivity level, district poverty quartile, and district locale. These findings represent variations in district remote learning plans across the four states included in the study. The study found that proposed remote learning strategies varied considerably and were often related to district characteristics. For instance, a higher percentage of districts with higher Internet connectivity before the pandemic proposed support for home-based Internet; full student access to devices; technology support; and additional supports for teachers, students, and parents. In addition, a higher percentage of nonrural districts and high-poverty districts proposed supports for students and parents, such as one-on-one meetings between students and teachers and resources for parents on remote learning. Although district capacity to implement remote learning has likely improved since the start of the pandemic, state education agency leaders can use the findings in this report to consider providing more support to districts with persistent Internet connectivity challenges. Leaders can also use the report to inform additional data collection to examine how remote learning strategies have evolved and to help determine the implications of the shift on student learning. |
9/27/2021 |
| REL 2021116 | Factors Associated with Grade 3 Reading Outcomes of Students in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System
Few elementary students on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are scoring at grade level or higher on the ACT Aspire reading assessment. To better understand factors associated with the reading proficiency of CNMI grade 3 students, stakeholders there asked the Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific to examine the demographic characteristics and education experiences of students who demonstrated reading proficiency by grade 3. The study focused on grade 3 students who were enrolled in CNMI public schools from 2014/15 to 2018/19. It found that female students, students who did not receive free or reduced-priced lunch, students who were older at the time of kindergarten entry, Filipino students, and students who did not change schools were more likely to demonstrate reading proficiency in grade 3 than other students. There was no difference in grade 3 reading proficiency between students who had enrolled in Head Start and students who had not. |
9/21/2021 |
| REL 2021108 | Supports Associated with Teacher Retention in Michigan
Statewide teacher shortages are hindering Michigan’s efforts to ensure that all students have equitable access to qualified teachers. Implementing teacher supports—which may be policies, practices, or programs—to increase teacher retention offers a way to alleviate shortages. This study identified supports implemented by local education agencies (traditional school districts and charter schools) that are associated with teacher retention. The study examined local teacher retention rates from 2013/14 to 2018/19 and teachers' responses to a survey about teacher supports in their local agencies and their perceptions of those supports. Average annual teacher retention rates among Michigan’s local education agencies ranged from 33 percent to 100 percent in the six-year period. The likelihood that teachers would remain teaching in their local education agency was higher in local education agencies that served lower percentages of students who were economically disadvantaged, higher percentages of students who were White, and higher percentages of students proficient in English language arts. And the likelihood was higher in agencies that had regular supportive communication between new teachers and school leaders, implemented mentoring programs, provided new teachers with an orientation to their school, allowed teachers to set goals in their evaluations, and provided teachers with sufficient instructional resources. The study also found that supports associated with teacher retention varied by the type of local education agency and the percentage of students who were economically disadvantaged. Findings from this study can help education agencies in Michigan prioritize which of 30 teacher supports examined merit more rigorous investigation. |
9/20/2021 |
| REL 2021100 | Variation in Mentoring Practices and Retention across New Teacher Demographic Characteristics under a Large Urban District's New Teacher Mentoring Program
A large urban school district wanted to understand how its first-year teacher mentoring program might better support the district goals of increasing retention and maintaining a diverse workforce. This study investigated new teachers' participation in that program; how participation varied across teacher characteristics, especially how participation varied by the racial/ethnic makeup of new teacher–mentor pairs; and how participation in various aspects of the program was related to new teacher retention after the first year. The study found that over 40 percent of new teachers spent at least 10 hours a month meeting with their mentor but that more than 25 percent spent less than half that much time in mentoring meetings. There were also large differences by race/ethnicity in the proportions of new teachers who reported spending time on specific topics: White new teachers were almost twice as likely as Black new teachers to report spending substantial time on classroom management. New teacher retention was related to the amount of time new teachers spent meeting with their mentor, to whether new teachers reported spending substantial time with their mentor addressing classroom management, and to the racial/ethnic alignment of new teacher–mentor pairs. |
9/16/2021 |
| REL 2021113 | Using Enhanced Coaching of Teachers to Improve Reading Achievement in Grades PreK–2 in Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools is working to improve early literacy outcomes through a multiyear professional development initiative for preK–2 teachers. The P–2 Balanced Literacy Initiative aims to improve literacy instruction by training teachers to implement effective early literacy instruction balancing systematic foundational skills instruction with reading and writing instruction involving rich, complex texts. The initiative began in 2016/17 and served 23 percent of all district elementary schools by 2018/19. The district designated 26 of the 115 elementary schools implementing the initiative in 2018/19 to receive enhanced supports, including intensive, site-based coaching, to support students’ independent reading. This study compared the reading achievement of students who attended schools that received the enhanced supports (priority schools) with the reading achievement of students who attended similar schools that received only the initiative’s standard supports (nonpriority schools). It also examined differences between priority and nonpriority schools in teachers’ and administrators’ participation in professional development sessions and looked at the successes and challenges of implementation. The study found that one year after implementation of the initiative, attending a priority school did not lead to higher end-of-year reading achievement than attending a nonpriority school after other factors were adjusted for. Teachers and administrators in priority schools were more likely than those in nonpriority schools to participate in the initiative’s core professional development sessions. Interviews with select district, network, and school leaders; instructional support coaches; and teachers suggest that several aspects of the initiative’s professional development were valuable, most notably the opportunities for teachers to deepen their understanding of the initiative’s professional development, receive feedback through observation and school-based coaching, and learn from one another. But instructional support coaches’ limited capacity, due to competing responsibilities, was a challenge. District leaders might consider increasing the number of coaches available and limiting their competing priorities so they can focus on the initiative. |
9/15/2021 |
| REL 2021099 | Exploring Implementation of Attendance Supports to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in the Providence Public School District
In recent years Rhode Island’s Providence Public School District (PPSD) has put initiatives in place to reduce high chronic absenteeism. This study explored attendance supports aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism that PPSD schools implemented in the 2018/19 school year. Although some schools had attendance supports in place before 2018/19, in 2018 the district added new requirements for schools to address chronic absenteeism. The study investigated what attendance supports were most commonly implemented with fidelity in 2018/19 by schools in which chronic absenteeism decreased between 2017/18 and 2018/19. Schools in which chronic absenteeism decreased implemented text messaging, phone calls, and mentorship programs with fidelity more frequently than schools in which chronic absenteeism increased. The study also looked more closely at one support in particular—text messaging to parents and guardians of students—to examine how implementation varied across schools. Some schools used a targeted approach for contacting parents and guardians of students who might be at risk for chronic absenteeism, translating content to reach parents and guardians in their preferred language; this could create opportunities to reach parents and guardians in ways that other attendance supports do not. Descriptive analyses showed that during the 2018/19 school year the use of attendance-related text messaging increased more quickly in schools in which chronic absenteeism decreased between 2017/18 and 2018/19 than in schools in which chronic absenteeism increased, where the use of attendance-related text messaging remained flat. |
9/14/2021 |
| REL 2021115 | The Effect of Discipline Reform Plans on Exclusionary Discipline Outcomes in Minnesota
In 2017 the Minnesota Department of Human Rights identified 43 local education agencies in the state as being in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act for their use of exclusionary discipline practices (suspensions, exclusions, and expulsions) at higher rates for American Indian students, Black students, and students in special education, as well as for their overall use of discipline practices. The department agreed not to pursue legal action against any identified local education agency that created and implemented a plan to reform its discipline practices. This study examined the use of exclusionary discipline practices by Minnesota local education agencies from 2014/15 through 2018/19 and the extent to which the creation of discipline reform plans by identified local education agencies was associated with changes in discipline outcomes. The study found that creating a discipline reform plan was not associated with a statistically significant change in exclusionary discipline actions experienced by students. |
9/13/2021 |
| REL 2021098 | Using Promotion Power to Identify the Effectiveness of Public High Schools in the District of Columbia
This study estimated the promotion power of public high schools in the District of Columbia. Promotion power is a measure of school effectiveness that distinguishes a school/s contributions to student outcomes from the contributions of the background characteristics of the students it serves. Promotion power scores are distinct from status measures such as graduation rate and college enrollment rate because they account for prior student achievement and other student background characteristics in measuring schools’ contributions. They complement value-added measures by using similar methods to examine additional, longer-term outcomes. The study found wide variation in high schools’ promotion power for college-ready SAT scores, high school graduation, and college enrollment. Schools with high promotion power for high school graduation were also more likely to have high promotion power for college enrollment. Student background characteristics were less strongly related to promotion power scores than to status measures, suggesting that high schools serving differing student populations can show strong promotion power. |
9/1/2021 |
