Author Archives for Jack States
July 2, 2018 10:52 am
Published by Jack States
Postsecondary Institutions and Cost of Attendance in 2017-18; Degrees and Other Awards Conferred, 2016-17; and 12-Month Enrollment, 2016-17
News Summary: The purpose of this preliminary report is examine the most recent data on the cost of sending students to college in the Unities States. During the 2017–18 academic year, there were 6,642 Title IV institutions of this total, 2,902 were classified as 4-year institutions, 1,932 were 2-year institutions, and the remaining 1,808 were less-than-2-year institutions. Average tuition and required fees for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates at 4-year institutions increased across all institutional controls except private for-profit institutions from 2015-16 to 2017–18. Public institutions reported a roughly 2 percent increase for in-state students (to approximately $8,300) and for out-of-state students (to approximately $18,700). Private nonprofit institutions reported an increase of approximately 3 percent (to about $28,000). Private for-profit institutions reported average tuition and required fees of approximately $16,200 for 2017–18. This represents a decrease of over 1 percent when compared with the inflation-adjusted figure from 2015–16. Approximately 3.3 million students received degrees or certificates at 4-year degree-granting institutions with more than 58 percent obtained a bachelor’s degree.
Citation:Ginder, S. A., Kelly-Reid, J. E., & Mann, F. B. (2018). Postsecondary Institutions and Cost of Attendance in 2016-17; Degrees and Other Awards Conferred, 2015-16; and 12-Month Enrollment, 2015-16: First Look (Provisional Data). NCES 2017-075rev. National Center for Education Statistics.
Link: https://eric.ed.gov/?q=2018&ff1=dtyIn_2018&pg=6&id=ED583680
July 2, 2018 10:49 am
Published by Jack States
Preparing for Life after High School: The Characteristics and Experiences of Youth in Special Education. Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012. Volume 2: Comparisons across Disability Groups. Full Report
News Summary:The United States has committed to improving the lives of students with disabilities for over 40 years. Since the advent of Federal Law PL 94-142 in 1975 that mandated a free and appropriate education for all students regardless of ability and six reauthorizations of legislation, the federal government has emphasized the need to prepare students with disabilities for post-secondary education, careers, and independent living. The federal investment in funding special education services exceeds $15 Billion annually. It is reasonable to ask, are student with disabilities substantially benefiting from these efforts? The National Longitudinal Transition Study (NLTS) provides the most recent data on youth with disabilities and efforts to address their needs. The study used surveys in 2012 and 2013 on a nationally representative set of nearly 13,000 students. The student included were mostly those with an individualized education program (IEP) and expected to receive special education services. The data reveal participation in key transition activities by youth with an IEP and their parents have declined, although they are just as likely to have gone to an IEP meeting. The findings from this report suggest a closer examination of current practices is warranted with a focus on achieving the stated outcomes the laws were designed to remedy.
Citation: Lipscomb, S., Hamison, J., Liu Albert, Y., Burghardt, J., Johnson, D. R., & Thurlow, M. (2018). Preparing for Life after High School: The Characteristics and Experiences of Youth in Special Education. Findings from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2012. Volume 2: Comparisons across Disability Groups. Full Report. NCEE 2017-4018. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED580934.pdf
June 27, 2018 11:36 am
Published by Jack States
Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework
The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) and the National Center for School Turnaround published the “Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework” as a companion to the Center for School Turnaround’s publication of “The Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: A Systems Framework“. This paper describes “how” to effectively implement lasting school improvement initiatives that maximize leadership, develop talent, amplify instructional transformation, and shift the culture.
Citation:Jackson, K., R., Fixsen, D., and Ward, C. (2018). Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: An Implementation Framework. The Center on School Turnaround.
Link: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED583980.pdf
June 26, 2018 10:41 am
Published by Jack States
The Impact of Reading Recovery at Scale: Results From the 4-Year i3 External Evaluation
A recent large-scale evaluation of Reading Recovery, a supplemental reading program for young struggling readers, supports previous research that found it to be effective. In a 4 year, federally funded project, almost 3,500 students in 685 schools found that generally students benefitted from the intervention. Students receiving Reading Recovery receive supplemental services in a 1:1 instructional setting for 30 minutes 5 days a week from an instructor trained in Reading Recovery. In the study reported here, students who received Reading Recovery had effect sizes of .35-.37 relative to a control group across a number of measures of reading. These represent moderate effect sizes and account for about a 1.5 month increase in skill relative to the control group. Even though the research supports the efficacy of the intervention, it also raises questions about its efficiency. The schools that participated in the study served about 5 students and the estimated cost per student has ranged from $2,000-$5,000. These data raise questions about the wisdom of spending this much money per student for growth of about a month and a half.
Citation: Sirinides, P., Gray, A., & May, H. (2018). The Impacts of Reading Recovery at Scale: Results From the 4-Year i3 External Evaluation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 0162373718764828.
Link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0162373718764828
May 11, 2018 10:30 am
Published by Jack States
2017-18 Wing Institute Student Research Grant Results
Title: Evaluating a Multimedia Professional Development Package for Improving Implementation of Evidence-Based Instructional Practices
Author: John Elwood Romig, Ph.D.
Research Proposal: Explicit modeling is an effective instructional strategy in a wide spectrum of academic and behavioral skills (Hughes, Morris, Therrien, & Benson, 2017). Specifically, in the area of writing instruction, modeling is widely regarded as an evidence-based instructional strategy to improve students’ achievement (Troia, 2014). However, teachers rarely use modeling or other high quality instructional practices during writing instruction (Graham, Capizzi, Harris, Hebert, & Morphy, 2014; Gillespie, Graham, Kiuhara, & Hebert, 2014; Grisham & Wolsey, 2011).
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a professional development package designed using cognitive apprenticeship (i.e., Collins, Brown, & Newman, 1989) as a guiding framework. This professional development package, Content Acquisition Podcast – Professional Development (CAP-PD), consisted of modeling videos, performance feedback, and instructional scaffolds in the form of customizable curricular materials. To determine the effectiveness of this package, I conducted a single case multiple baseline across participants experiment. Read more
May 1, 2018 11:28 am
Published by Jack States
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has been assessing what American students know and can do in various subject areas since 1969. Subjects include: mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, U.S. history, and in Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL). NAEP generates the Nation’s Report Card every two years summarizing test scores by subject area, grade levels (4th, 8th, and 12th), student demographics, school characteristics, etc. With very few exceptions, the 2017 national results did not show any gains in test scores from previous years. One of the more critical metrics is the percentage of students who score at or above proficiency. Proficiency is the target academic performance benchmark for students. The 2017 results show that few students are at or above proficiency in all subjects. In reading, only 37% of fourth graders, 36% of eighth graders, and 357% of twelfth grader were at or above proficiency. In math, each subsequent assessed grade showed lower percentages of students at or above proficiency (4thgrade at 40%, 8thgrade at 34%, 12thgrade at 25%). Such scores are disappointing given the efforts made towards school improvement.
Citation: Institute of Education Sciences. (2018). The Nation’s Report Card, 2017. NCES 2006-451. National Center for Education Statistics.
Link: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov
April 23, 2018 11:02 am
Published by Jack States
The Wing Institute is recruiting contract-based content writers in the field of evidence-based education. We are looking for professionals who can: 1) conduct literature reviews; 2) analyze the relevant data, research, and policies; and 3) write succinct overviews for publication on our web site.
- Positions to be filled by November 1, 2018.
- Please send resume to Jack States at the Wing Institute: jstates@winginstitute.org
Research topics will focus on the eight education drivers associated with student achievement and success in school. These drivers encompass essential practices, procedures, resources, and management strategies. Specific topics include but are not limited to: skills for effective teaching, effective teacher training, quality of leadership, and external influences affecting student outcomes.
Those interested must be able to analyze both the quality and quantity of evidence studies to determine if current research meets a threshold of evidence for providing information to support the work of educators.
Criteria for inclusion is based on:
- Quality: A continua of evidence prioritizing well designed randomized trials and single subject designed studies.
- Quantity: A continua of evidence spotlighting meta-analyses and replications of single subject designed studies.
Each Overview consists of a summary of the research, graphics as needed, and citations, and supporting conclusions.
Compensation
- $1,000 for each Overview (1,500 to 2,500 words)
- Author’s name on the publication
- Working with other professional is the field of evidence-based education
Expectations
- Work with internal teams to obtain an in-depth understanding of evidence-based research.
- Work remotely and supply your own equipment (computer)
- Plan, develop, organize, write the above documents.
- Analyze documents to maintain continuity of style of content and consistency with prior Wing Institute documents.
- Recommend updates and revisions derived from updates in research.
Education
- Master’s degree in Education, Behavior Analysis, English, Psychology, Communication, or related degrees, is required.
Skills
Ability to deliver high quality documentation
- Ability to communicate complex or technical information easily
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
- Ability to write from the perspective of education policy makers, school administrators, teachers, and parents
April 23, 2018 10:51 am
Published by Jack States
A Synthesis of Quantitative Research on Reading Programs for Secondary Students
This review of the research on secondary reading programs focuses on 69 studies that used random assignment (n=62) or high-quality quasi-experiments (n=7) to evaluate outcomes of 51 programs on widely accepted measures of reading. Reading performance of students in America’s middle and high schools is one of the most important problems in education. In 2015, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP; NCES, 2016) reported that only 34% of eighth graders scored at or above proficiency. At the twelfth-grade level only 37% of students scored at or above proficiency. Given the importance of mastering reading for success in school it is important that schools adopt programs to help bridge the gap between current performance and expectations.
The study found programs using one-to-one and small-group tutoring (+0.14 to +0.28 effect size), cooperative learning (+0.10 effect size), whole-school approaches including organizational reforms such as teacher teams (+0.06 effect size), and writing-focused approaches (+0.13 effect size) showed positive outcomes. Individual approaches in a few other categories also showed positive impacts. These include programs emphasizing social studies/science, structured strategies, and personalized and group/personalization rotation approaches for struggling readers.
An important finding was programs providing a daily extra period of reading and those utilizing technology were no more effective, on average, than programs that did not provide these resources. This might not be as surprising as it appears on the surface. If students are struggling in reading, just placing them in a setting to read may only produce additional frustration and failure for those currently struggling with reading.
A few commonalities among programs that achieved positive outcomes are worth noting. One of these factors was that programs with positive outcomes tended to emphasize student motivation, student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships, and social-emotional learning. An additional factor found in many of the promising programs is individualizing the intervention.
The findings are important suggesting interventions for secondary readers to improve struggling student’s chances of experiencing greater success in high school and better opportunities after graduation. Although, these effect sizes are small, given the large number of participants, smaller effect sizes would be anticipated and still may be of interest to school administrators.
Citation: Baye, A., Lake, C., Inns, A. & Slavin, R. E. (2018, January). A Synthesis of Quantitative Research on Reading Programs for Secondary Students. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Research and Reform in Education.
Link: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rrq.229
April 10, 2018 12:02 pm
Published by Jack States
Call for Action to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States of America Interdisciplinary Group on Preventing School and Community Violence
In response to the continuing gun violence in American schools, an interdisciplinary group of 19 scholars are proposing an eight-point plan to prevent future tragedies that have become common place in the nation. This one-page position statement proposes a public health approach to protecting children as well as adults from gun violence involves three levels of prevention: (1) universal approaches promoting safety and well-being for everyone; (2) practices for reducing risk and promoting protective factors for persons experiencing difficulties; and (3) interventions for individuals where violence is present or appears imminent.
Citation: Astor, R. et al. (2018). Call for Action to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States of America. University of Virginia.
Link: https://curry.virginia.edu/prevent-gun-violence
April 10, 2018 10:01 am
Published by Jack States
Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities
The US Government Accountability Office has recently released a new report evaluating the disproportionality in discipline in K-12 grades. The racial and gender gap persists in spite of efforts to remediate. African-American youth, boys, and individuals with disabilities are more likely to receive any type of discipline than are individuals in our sub-groups than would be predicted on the basis of their percentage of the population. In this evaluation, the disproportionality existed even though economic level of the student was controlled for. Previously, it had been argued that the disproportionality was a function of poverty rather than race and gender. This study challenges that argument. These data highlight that as a society we still have a great deal of work to do to overcome racial and gender biases in this country.
Citation: United States Governmental Accountability Office (2018). K-12 education: A guide for schools (GAO publication-18-258). Retrieved from https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258
Link: https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258
