{"title":"Informing School-Choosing Families About Their Options: A Field Experiment From New Orleans","authors":"J. Valant, Lindsay Weixler","doi":"10.3102/01623737221086305","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221086305","url":null,"abstract":"We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of providing information to families as they choose schools. Likely applicants to prekindergarten, kindergarten, and ninth grade were assigned to one of three groups. A “growth” group received lists (via U.S. mail, email, and text message) of the highest performing schools they could request. A “distance” group received lists of schools in their home geographic zone. A “control” group did not see any schools highlighted. The growth treatment led applicants to request more high-growth schools, with the strongest effects for high school choosers and families of students with disabilities. In addition, applicants’ first-choice requests appeared less malleable than their lower ranked requests. The distance treatment had only modest effects.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"608 - 637"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43123374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Spread Too Thin: The Effect of Specialization on Teaching Effectiveness","authors":"NaYoung Hwang, Brian Kisida","doi":"10.3102/01623737221084312","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221084312","url":null,"abstract":"Although the majority of elementary school teachers cover all major subjects in self-contained classrooms, a growing number of teachers specialize in teaching fewer subjects to higher numbers of students. We use administrative data from Indiana to estimate the effect of teacher specialization on teacher and school effectiveness in elementary schools. We find that teacher specialization leads to lower teaching effectiveness in math and reading, and the negative effects are larger when teaching students who are more likely to experience obstacles in school. Moreover, we find no evidence that increasing the proportion of teacher specialists at the school level generates improvements in indicators of school quality. Our findings underscore the importance of fostering opportunities to develop stronger student–teacher relationships.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"593 - 607"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46907086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Big Are Effect Sizes in International Education Studies?","authors":"David K. Evans, Fei Yuan","doi":"10.3102/01623737221079646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221079646","url":null,"abstract":"A growing literature measures the impact of education interventions in low- and middle-income countries on both access and learning outcomes. But how should one contextualize the size of impacts? This article provides the distribution of standardized effect sizes on learning and access from 234 studies in low- and middle-income countries. We identify a median effect size of 0.10 standard deviations on learning and 0.07 standard deviations on access among randomized controlled trials. Effect sizes are similar for quasi-experimental studies. Effects are larger and demonstrate higher variance for small-scale studies than for large-scale studies. The distribution of existing effects can help researchers and policymakers to situate new findings within current knowledge and design new studies with sufficient statistical power to identify effects.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"532 - 540"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42503414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Opportunity Seeking Across Segregated Schools: Unintended Effects of Automatic Admission Policies on High School Segregation","authors":"Jeremy E. Fiel","doi":"10.3102/01623737221078286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221078286","url":null,"abstract":"Automatic admissions policies (AAPs, “percent plans”) redistribute college-going opportunities across segregated high schools to diversify college enrollments, increasing opportunities at predominantly minority high schools. If students “game” AAPs by attending schools with increased opportunities, AAPs could alter racial sorting across high schools. Comparative interrupted time series analyses provide evidence that Texas’s and California’s AAPs reduced Black–White segregation in highly segregated school districts. These effects were concentrated in sparsely populated areas in Texas, and they were modest in California, so it seems unlikely this significantly undermined AAPs’ ability to reduce racial disparities in college-going opportunities. It shows, however, that strategic responses to policies that redistribute opportunities in segregated contexts can create tension between segregation and inequality of opportunity.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"485 - 504"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44983159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Accountability, Alignment, and Coherence: How Educators Made Sense of Complex Policy Environments in the Common Core Era","authors":"Emily M. Hodge, E. Stosich","doi":"10.3102/01623737221079650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221079650","url":null,"abstract":"This study takes advantage of natural variation in alignment and accountability to analyze educator sensemaking of a complex policy environment. It describes how educators in two large, high-accountability districts in New York and Florida made sense of multiple policy changes, including new standards, curriculum, assessments, and teacher evaluation. Drawing on interviews with 68 individuals, observations of instruction and professional development, and policy documents, findings suggest that high policy alignment represents a fundamental yet insufficient condition for educators to perceive policies as coherent and coordinated. Accountability strength and policy sequence were important factors in educators’ perceptions of coherence. In both districts, the pace and complexity of change contributed to policy overwhelm.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"543 - 566"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41507918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zachary Mabel, Michael D. Hurwitz, Jessica S. Howell, G. Perfetto
{"title":"Can Standardizing Applicant High School and Neighborhood Information Help to Diversify Selective Colleges?","authors":"Zachary Mabel, Michael D. Hurwitz, Jessica S. Howell, G. Perfetto","doi":"10.3102/01623737221078849","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221078849","url":null,"abstract":"Many selective colleges consider the backgrounds of applicants to improve equity in admissions. However, this information is usually not available for all applicants. We examine whether the chances of admission and enrollment changed after 43 colleges gained access to a new tool that standardizes information on educational disadvantage for all applicants. Applicants from the most challenging school and neighborhood backgrounds experienced a 5-percentage point increase in the probability of admission in the year of adoption relative to similar applicants in the previous year. The tool did not alter the probability of enrollment as a function of applicant challenge level in the full sample, but positive changes are concentrated among applicants to institutions that used the tool to allocate financial aid.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"505 - 531"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49244584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nathan D. Jones, Courtney A. Bell, Mary T. Brownell, Yi Qi, David J. Peyton, Daisy J. Pua, Melissa Fowler, Steven Holtzman
{"title":"Using Classroom Observations in the Evaluation of Special Education Teachers","authors":"Nathan D. Jones, Courtney A. Bell, Mary T. Brownell, Yi Qi, David J. Peyton, Daisy J. Pua, Melissa Fowler, Steven Holtzman","doi":"10.3102/01623737211068523","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737211068523","url":null,"abstract":"We examine whether one of the most popular observation systems in teacher evaluation—the Framework for Teaching (FFT)—captures the range of instructional skills teachers need to be effective. We focus on the case of special educators, who are likely to use instructional approaches that, although supported by research, are de-emphasized in common observation systems. Drawing on 206 lessons from 51 teachers, we compare FFT scores to an observation system from special education. We find that FFT’s psychometric properties are consistent with previous studies, but the system is limited in assessing the quality of instructional practices used in special education. We discuss implications of these findings for two practical uses of observations—supporting teacher development and informing human capital decisions.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"429 - 457"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41671608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kelli A. Bird, Benjamin L. Castleman, B. Fischer, Benjamin T. Skinner
{"title":"Unfinished Business? Academic and Labor Market Profile of Adults With Substantial College Credits But No Degree","authors":"Kelli A. Bird, Benjamin L. Castleman, B. Fischer, Benjamin T. Skinner","doi":"10.3102/01623737211067547","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737211067547","url":null,"abstract":"Recent state policy efforts have focused on increasing attainment among adults with some college but no degree (SCND). Yet little is actually known about the SCND population. Using data from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), we provide the first detailed profile on the academic, employment, and earnings trajectories of the SCND population and how these compare with VCCS graduates. We show that the share of SCND students who are academically ready to re-enroll and would benefit from doing so may be substantially lower than policy makers anticipate. Specifically, we estimate that few SCND students (approximately 3%) could fairly easily re-enroll in fields of study from which they could reasonably expect a sizable earnings premium from completing their degree.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"404 - 428"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43358134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Critical Feedback Characteristics, Teacher Human Capital, and Early-Career Teacher Performance: A Mixed-Methods Analysis","authors":"Seth B. Hunter, Matthew G. Springer","doi":"10.3102/01623737211062913","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737211062913","url":null,"abstract":"Most education agencies have implemented new teacher evaluation systems that promise to improve teacher performance. Post-observation performance feedback is a theoretically important driver of this promise as it should ultimately develop teacher-specific weaknesses. This is the first large-scale study to use the written feedback provided to early-career teachers during formal post-observation conferences and quantitatively link critical feedback characteristics (CFCs) to measures of teacher human capital. We find that most conferences do not include CFCs, that feedback is typically unidimensional, and that less effective early-career teachers receive higher shares of CFCs. However, goal-setting is the only CFC associated with subsequent teacher performance. Beginning and less-educated teachers, for whom goal-setting may clarify performance expectations, drive this relationship.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"380 - 403"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2022-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44309289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christian Fischer, Rachel B. Baker, Qiujie Li, G. Orona, M. Warschauer
{"title":"Increasing Success in Higher Education: The Relationships of Online Course Taking With College Completion and Time-to-Degree","authors":"Christian Fischer, Rachel B. Baker, Qiujie Li, G. Orona, M. Warschauer","doi":"10.3102/01623737211055768","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737211055768","url":null,"abstract":"Online courses provide flexible learning opportunities, but research suggests that students may learn less and persist at lower rates compared to face-to-face settings. However, few studies have investigated more distal effects of online education. In this study, we analyzed 6 years of institutional data for three cohorts of students in 13 large majors (N = 10,572) at a public research university to examine distal effects of online course participation. Using online course offering as an instrumental variable for online course taking, we find that online course taking of major-required courses leads to higher likelihood of successful 4-year graduation and slightly accelerated time-to-degree. These results suggest that offering online courses may help students to more efficiently graduate college.","PeriodicalId":48079,"journal":{"name":"Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis","volume":"44 1","pages":"355 - 379"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2021-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41765321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}