Categories for Effective Instruction
November 15, 2017
Does the Match Matter? Exploring Whether Student Teaching Experiences Affect Teacher Effectiveness
This descriptive study examines the relationship between student teaching experiences and a teacher’s future effectiveness on the job. The primary finding is that teachers are more effective when the student demographics of their current schools are similar to the student demographics of the schools in which they did their student teaching. This study suggests that further experimental research be conducted to determine if the data hold up. If they do, the implication is that, in recruiting new teachers, school principals would be well served by choosing candidates whose student teaching experiences were in schools whose demographics match those of their own schools. Teacher preparation programs can also assist by assessing candidates’ preferences for where they plan on working and match student teaching placements to schools with similar demographics where new teachers are likely to be employed.
Citation: Goldhaber, D., Krieg, J. M., & Theobald, R. (2017). Does the match matter? Exploring whether student teaching experiences affect teacher effectiveness. American Educational Research Journal, 54(2), 325–359.
Link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.3102/0002831217690516
November 15, 2017
Reading Comprehension Tests Don’t Test Reading
In this video from Cool Reading Facts, Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, discusses significant factors key to success in reading comprehension. His analysis suggests that educators frequently miss the critical role that basic knowledge plays in successfully interpreting and understanding passages in reading texts and that reading comprehension tests are actually knowledge tests in disguise. He makes three important points: (1) Students must have the basic decoding skills to translate print into meaningful information, (2) having a basic familiarity with the subject matter is of prime importance in comprehending what the writer is trying to communicate, and (3) providing students with an enriched knowledge base through the school’s curriculum is especially important for students from disadvantaged circumstances, whose only source of essential background information often is school. In contrast, children from privileged circumstances may be introduced to essential background information away from school.
Citation: Willingham, D. (2017). Cool Reading Facts 5: Reading comprehension tests don’t test reading [Video file]. National Public Radio, Science Friday Educator Collaborative.
Link: https://vimeo.com/237925993
http://www.danielwillingham.com/
November 15, 2017
Two Models of Learning and Achievement: An Explanation for the Achievement Gap?
A 2015 paper by Stuart Yeh offers evidence on how to improve the performance of all students and close the achievement gap between students of different socioeconomic statuses and races. A persistent gap in student achievement between disadvantaged minority students and their middle-class peers has existed in the United States for over 50 years. This gap continues despite decades of education reform. Yeh hypothesizes that the conventional school system is structured in a way that reduces student motivation to succeed. Students become disengaged after experiencing repeated failure, resulting in depressed achievement and grades. This cycle continues to feed on itself as low achievement and poor grades further decrease motivation, engagement, and achievement. Yeh’s research suggests that two critical factors may account for the phenomenon of substandard student achievement: lack of a system for individualizing task difficulty and insufficient rapid performance feedback. These factors appear to be significantly more powerful than sociocultural circumstances (socioeconomic status or race), lack of accountability, lack of choice and competition, and low teacher quality. The implication is that letter grades are not merely an indicator of performance but potentially a causal factor in perpetuating the achievement gap.
Citation: Yeh, S. S. (2015). Two models of learning and achievement: An explanation for the achievement gap? Teachers College Record, 117(12), 1–48.
Link: http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=18156
October 18, 2017
The Effect of Career and Technical Education on Human Capital Accumulation: Causal Evidence from Massachusetts
Twenty percent of high school students take four or more courses in career and technical education (CTE). Despite this high rate of participation, little is known about what constitutes high-quality CTE and whether high-quality CTE allows participants to accumulate meaningful knowledge and skills to succeed in a career. This study from the Association for Education Finance and Policy examined the impact of participating in CTE on high school attendance, high school completion, professional certifications, and performance on standardized test scores. The evidence suggests that a high-quality CTE program boosts on-time graduation for higher income students and for lower income .
Citation: Dougherty, S. M. (2016). The effect of career and technical education on human capital accumulation: Causal evidence from Massachusetts. Education Finance and Policy. doi:10.1162/EDFP_a_00224.
Link: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/EDFP_a_00224?journalCode=edfp&
August 29, 2017
Restructuring Environmental Contingencies and Enhancing Self-Managed Supervision
The results of the 2016-17 Wing Institute’s research grant are now available on our web site. Laura Kern submitted the selected study that examines the effects of a brief training on active supervision and self-management and the use of a simple strategy of self-management (e.g., checklist and Direct Behavior Rating Scales to change adult behavior).
Three research questions were addressed related to recess supervisor and student behaviors:
- What are the effects of a brief training on self-management on recess supervisors’ active supervision behaviors?
- What are the effects of increasing active supervision on students’ problematic behavior during recess?
- Will any increase in recess supervisor’s use of self-management be maintained with the sole use of direct behavior rating scales as part of a self-management strategy of the adult active supervision
Link: Go to Research section
August 8, 2017
A Meta-Analysis of Class Sizes and Ratios in Early Childhood Education Programs: Are Thresholds of Quality Associated With Greater Impacts on Cognitive, Achievement, and Socioemotional Outcomes?
This meta-analysis of early childhood education programs in the U.S. examines the impact of class size and child to teacher ratios on the cognitive, achievement, and socioemotional outcomes for children. The study found no socially significant relationship with cognitive and achievement effect size for either class size or child to teacher ratios. The only notable improvement in effect size was found when child to teacher ratios were lower than 7.5-1.
Citation: Bowne, J. B., Magnuson, K. A., Schindler, H. S., Duncan, G. J., & Yoshikawa, H. (2017). A Meta-Analysis of Class Sizes and Ratios in Early Childhood Education Programs: Are Thresholds of Quality Associated With Greater Impacts on Cognitive, Achievement, and Socioemotional Outcomes?. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 0162373716689489.
Link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0162373716689489
August 3, 2017
The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL)
C-SAIL was established in July 2015 as a resource on the implementation and effects of college and career readiness standards. The Center is funded through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.
The goals of C-SAIL are:
- Compare and contrast college and career readiness standards implementation in English language arts (ELA) and math across different states.
- Capture the differences in approaches to implementation between states, districts, schools, and classrooms, and between students within a classroom, and determine their effects.
- Measure college and career readiness standards’ impact on student achievement, through NAEP scores, high school graduation rates, and college enrollment and employment rates.
- Create and make available new tools for teachers to monitor in real-time how well-aligned the content of their enacted curriculum is to their states’ college and career readiness standards in ELA and math.
- Test the Feedback on Alignment and Support for Teachers (FAST) Program to support teachers through feedback and coaching.
- Engage policymakers, education practitioners, and researchers in national discussions of the Center’s work and its findings.
Eight reports have been published in 2017.
- How is policy affecting classroom instruction?
- Standards Implementation in Kentucky: Local Perspective on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction
- Standards Implementation in Texas: Local Perspective on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction
- Standards Implementation In Ohio: Local Perspectives on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction
- Year 1 State Report: Texas
- Year 1 State Report: Ohio
- Year 1 State Report: Massachusetts
- Year 1 State Report: Kentucky
Citation:
- Edgerton, A. Polikoff, M., Desimone, L. (2017). How is policy affecting classroom instruction?. Evidence Speaks Reports. Volume 2, #14. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Edgerton, A. Polikoff, M., Desimone, L. (2017). Standards Implementation in Kentucky: Local Perspective on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Edgerton, A. Polikoff, M., Yang, R. (2017). Standards Implementation in Texas: Local Perspective on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Edgerton, A. Polikoff, M., Yang, R. (2017). Standards Implementation in Ohio: Local Perspective on Policy, Challenges, Resources, and Instruction. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Flores, N., Nichols, T. P., Pak, K., Plummer, E., Stornaiuolo, A., and Desimone L. (2017). Year 1 State Report: Texas. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Stornaiuolo, A., Flores, N., Nichols, T. P., Pak, K., Plummer, E., and Desimone L. (2017). Year 1 State Report: Ohio. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Nichols, T. P., Plummer, E., Flores, N., Pak, K., Stornaiuolo, A., and Desimone L. (2017). Year 1 State Report: Massachusetts. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
- Pak, K., Flores, N., Nichols, T. P., Plummer, E., Stornaiuolo, A., and Desimone L. (2017). Year 1 State Report: Massachusetts. The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL).
Link: http://www.c-sail.org/publications
July 13, 2017
Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects
This meta-analysis of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions examined the impact of SEL on key outcomes: social-emotional skills, positive attitudes, positive social behavior, academic performance, conduct problems, emotional distress, and drug use. A total of 82 studies met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. To be included, studies needed to examine school-based social and emotional learning interventions that were universal, or administered to all students, instead of focusing on students with specific social or behavioral problems. A majority of the studies used randomized designs, monitored implementation, and employed reliable and valid outcome measures. Researchers found that students in school-based SEL interventions demonstrated positive benefits in seven outcomes for 56 weeks to 195 weeks (3.75 years) following program participation. An effect size of 0.33 was found for academic performance (based on grades and test scores drawn from school records).
Citation: Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting positive youth development through school-based social and emotional learning interventions: A meta-analysis of follow-up effects. Child Development, 88(4), 1156–1171.
Link: https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sspw/pdf/Taylor_et_al_-_FINAL_document_6_17_2017_2.pdf
July 10, 2017
Research recognizes the power of assessment to amplify learning and skill acquisition. Assessing students is a fundamental ingredient of effective teaching. It is the tool that enables teachers to measure the extent to which a student or group of students have mastered the material taught in a lesson or a class or during the school year, and it gives instructors the necessary information to modify instruction when progress falters. Assessment affects decisions about grades, placement, advancement, instructional strategies, curriculum, special education placement, and funding. It works to improve instruction in the following ways: (1) as a diagnostic tool, (2) by providing feedback on progress measured against benchmarks, (3) as a motivating factor, and (4) as an accountability instrument for improving systems.
Citation: States, J., Detrich, R. & Keyworth, R. (2017). Overview of Education Assessment. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. http://www.winginstitute.org/student-formative-assessment.
Link: http://www.winginstitute.org/effective-instruction-assessment
June 13, 2017
Effective ongoing assessment, referred to in the education literature as formative assessment or progress monitoring, is indispensable in promoting teacher and student success. Feedback through formative assessment is ranked at or near the top of practices known to significantly raise student achievement. For decades, formative assessment has been found to be effective in clinical settings and, more important, in typical classroom settings. Formative assessment produces substantial results at a cost significantly below that of other popular school reform initiatives such as smaller class size, charter schools, accountability, and school vouchers. It also serves as a practical diagnostic tool available to all teachers. A core component of formal and informal assessment procedures, formative assessment allows teachers to quickly determine if individual students are progressing at acceptable rates and provides insight into where and how to modify and adapt lessons, with the goal of making sure that students do not fall behind.
Citation: States, J., Detrich, R. & Keyworth, R. (2017). Overview of Formative Assessment. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. http://www.winginstitute.org/student-formative-assessment.
Link: http://www.winginstitute.org/student-formative-assessment
