We use non-experimental data from a large panel of schools and districts in Indiana to evaluate the impacts of math curricula on student achievement. Using matching methods, we obtain causal estimates of curriculum effects at just a fraction of what it would cost to produce experimental estimates. Furthermore, external validity concerns that are particularly cogent in experimental curricular evaluations suggest that our non-experimental estimates may be preferred. In the short term, we find large differences in effectiveness across some math curricula. However, as with many other educational inputs, the effects of math curricula do not persist over time. Across curriculum adoption cycles, publishers that produce less effective curricula in one cycle do not lose market share in the next cycle. One explanation for this result is the dearth of information available to administrators about curricular effectiveness.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Midwestern)-Indiana
Children and Youth, Education and Literacy
Recently, testimony from three public hearings in Massachusetts suggested that excessive disciplinary action for non-violent offenses, such as tardiness and truancy, exacerbates the dropout crisis. Testimony indicated that students already behind in school are often forced to miss additional days through suspensions, which leads to a loss of credits and an inability to catch up. Some parents, educators, education stakeholders, and coalitions, including the Massachusetts Graduation and Dropout Prevention and Recovery Commission, have called for a closer look at school discipline policies and practice. Many observers have come to believe that fully understanding the role of discipline is an essential step in tackling the problem of why some Massachusetts students are not staying in school. It is within this context that the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy embarked upon its examination of school discipline in Massachusetts.
Act Out, Get Out? Considering the Impact of School Discipline Practices in Massachusetts reviews why discipline policies are necessary, laws governing these policies, and national research on the effects of disciplinary removal. The brief then describes overall trends in the disciplinary removal (suspensions and expulsions) of Massachusetts public school students over time (school year 2005-2006 through 2008-2009) and findings from a more in-depth analysis of discipline data from the 2007-2008 school year. Key findings from data about the 2007-2008 school year include: 1. For the most serious infractions, those involving illegal substances, violence and criminal activities the most common reason for disciplinary removal is violence; 2. Out-of-school suspension is the most frequently used form of disciplinary removal; 3. The number of disciplinary removals peaks at 9th grade and declines in 10th through 12th grade; 4. Particular segments (low-income, special education, male, black, Hispanic) of the student population are removed at disproportionately high rates.
This policy brief highlights essential questions that need to be answered in order to fully understand how discipline policies are being carried out and to tease out the relationship between disciplinary removal, the achievement gap, and dropping out of public schools in Massachusetts. The final section of the brief puts forth considerations for policymakers and K-12 school and district leaders. The brief suggests there is a need for more detailed and complete record keeping of school discipline data as well as for more schools and districts to implement school-wide preventative approaches and alternative education programs for students who have been removed. The brief also questions the extent to which of out-of-school suspensions are used for non-violent, non-criminal offenses, particularly those for Pre-Kindergarten and Elementary School aged students.
The brief was the subject of discussion at a public event on May 26, 2010.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Northeastern)-Massachusetts
Children and Youth, Education and Literacy
This paper estimates the impact of gifted and talented program participation on academic achievement and peer composition for a sample of 8th grade students. Gifted education provides children that have been identified as having high ability in some intellectual respect with a supplemental curriculum to their traditional school course work. Participation in gifted programs is not random, so OLS estimates are biased by the presence of unobserved heterogeneity which is correlated with participation status as well as outcomes. To obtain causal estimates, I use an instrumental variables approach where the instrument is a self-constructed measure of how well each child fulfills the criteria his/her school uses to admit students into the gifted program, relative to the child's peers. The IV estimates indicate that, in the short run, participation is associated with a significant increase in math standardized test score performance. In the long run, participation is found to increase the probability a child takes Advanced Placement classes. There is no evidence that participation influences the composition of a child's peer group.
August 1970
Geographic Focus:
MacSwan finds that the CEP report has significant weaknesses in its research methods which undermine its findings. Further, he indicates that given the limitations in the data, it is inappropriate to draw conclusions from the data summarized in the report.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States
A survey of Milwaukee Kindergarten teachers finds nearly all (97%) report they can generally tell early in the school year which children attended preschool and which did not. Teachers also feel that those who attended preschool typically perform much better in Kindergarten and at least somewhat better after that. The survey of 77 teachers of five-year-old Kindergarten (K5) in the Milwaukee public school district (MPS) also finds that most teachers (93%) feel children with preschool or four-year-old Kindergarten (K4) backgrounds are somewhat to much better prepared to enter K5 than their peers. In addition, the majority (83%) feel spending time in preschool or K4 is very important prior to entering K5. These findings hold true for teachers in schools with higher-than-average enrollments of low-income children, as well as teachers in schools with fewer low-income children.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Midwestern)-Wisconsin-Milwaukee County-Milwaukee
This report, which is a comprehensive examination of enrollment patterns in charter schools operated by Education Management organizations (EMOs), finds that charter schools run by EMOs are segregated by race, family income, disabilities and English language learner status as compared with their local public schools districts.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States
Arts and Culture, Children and Youth, Education and Literacy
This is the second of three annual performance reports from the Performing Arts Workshop to the U.S. Department of Education about Project ARISE (Arts Residency Interventions in Special Education). The report includes performance measure data for the Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grants program. The ARISE Project offers public schools weekly artist residencies lasting between 25 and 30 weeks in theater arts and creative movement for third to fifth grade students. Classrooms participating in ARISE are identified as Special Day Classes or general education classes with special education inclusion (or mainstreamed) students. The ARISE residencies emphasize critical-thinking while engaging in the creative process. In the 2008-09 school year, the Workshop provided ARISE residencies to 22 classrooms from five schools within the San Francisco Unified School District
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Western)-California-San Francisco County-San Francisco
Children and Youth, Education and Literacy, Employment and Labor
Stakeholders from across the early care and education spectrum joined together to investigate what it will take to achieve a strong professional development system for early learning providers that will result in quality care and long-term outcomes for children. This collaborative process revealed a need for foundational work upon which to base a comprehensive, state-wide system of professional development for Washington's early childhood education workforce.
August 1970
Geographic Focus:
