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Educational Progress (educational + progress)
Selected AbstractsDiscrepancies Between Score Trends from NAEP and State Tests: A Scale-Invariant PerspectiveEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2007Andrew D. Ho State test score trends are widely interpreted as indicators of educational improvement. To validate these interpretations, state test score trends are often compared to trends on other tests such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). These comparisons raise serious technical and substantive concerns. Technically, the most commonly used trend statistics,for example, the change in the percent of proficient students,are misleading in the context of cross-test comparisons. Substantively, it may not be reasonable to expect that NAEP and state test score trends should be similar. This paper motivates then applies a "scale-invariant" framework for cross-test trend comparisons to compare "high-stakes" state test score trends from 2003 to 2005 to NAEP trends over the same period. Results show that state trends are significantly more positive than NAEP trends. The paper concludes with cautions against the positioning of trend discrepancies in a framework where only one trend is considered "true." [source] An Investigation of Alternative Methods for Item Mapping in the National Assessment of Educational ProgressEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2001Rebecca Zwick What is item mapping and how does it aid test score interpretation? Which item mapping technique produces the most consistent results and most closely matches expert opinion? [source] A Domain-level Approach to Describing Growth in AchievementJOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT, Issue 1 2005E. Matthew Schulz Descriptions of growth in educational achievement often rely on the notion that higher-level students can do whatever lower-level students can do, plus at least one more thing. This article presents a method of supporting such descriptions using the data of a subject-area achievement test. Multiple content domains with an expected order of difficulty were defined within the Grade 8 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics. Teachers were able to reliably classify items into the domains by content. Using expected percentage correct scores on the domains, it was possible to describe each achievement level boundary (Basic, Proficient, and Advanced) on the NAEP scale by patterns of skill that include both mastery and non-mastery, and to show that higher achievement levels are associated with mastery of more skills. We conclude that general achievement tests like NAEP can be used to provide criterion-referenced descriptions of growth in achievement as a sequential mastery of skills. [source] Educational Progress and Parenting Among Mexican Immigrant Mothers of Young ChildrenJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 4 2010Robert Crosnoe This study examined the potential for educational investments in Mexican immigrant mothers to enhance their management of their children's pathways through the educational system in the United States, which often disadvantages them. We tested this hypothesis with data on 816 Mexican immigrant women and their children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). The results suggest that mothers who pursued their own schooling over a 4-year period, regardless of whether they obtained a degree, increased their engagement with their children's schools during that same period. The results appear to be robust to a wide range of factors that select women into continuing education. [source] Using data mining to predict K,12 students' performance on large-scale assessment items related to energyJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 5 2008Xiufeng Liu This article reports a study on using data mining to predict K,12 students' competence levels on test items related to energy. Data sources are the 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1999 TIMSS-Repeat, 2003 Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Student population performances, that is, percentages correct, are the object of prediction. Two data mining algorithms, C4.5 and M5, are used to construct a decision tree and a linear function to predict students' performance levels. A combination of factors related to content, context, and cognitive demand of items and to students' grade levels are found to predict student population performances on test items. Cognitive demands have the most significant contribution to the prediction. The decision tree and linear function agree with each other on predictions. We end the article by discussing implications of findings for future science content standard development and energy concept teaching. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 554,573, 2008 [source] Performance of students in project-based science classrooms on a national measure of science achievementJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 5 2002Rebecca M. Schneider Reform efforts in science education emphasize the importance of supporting students' construction of knowledge through inquiry. Project-based science (PBS) is an ambitious approach to science instruction that addresses concerns of reformers. A sample of 142 10th- and 11th-grade students enrolled in a PBS program completed the 12th-grade 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science test. Compared with subgroups identified by NAEP that most closely matched our student sample, White and middle class, PBS students outscored the national sample on 44% of NAEP test items. This study shows that students participating in a PBS curriculum were prepared for this type of testing. Educators should be encouraged to use inquiry-based approaches such as PBS to implement reform in their schools. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 410,422, 2002 [source] Likelihood inference for a class of latent Markov models under linear hypotheses on the transition probabilitiesJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES B (STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY), Issue 2 2006Francesco Bartolucci Summary., For a class of latent Markov models for discrete variables having a longitudinal structure, we introduce an approach for formulating and testing linear hypotheses on the transition probabilities of the latent process. For the maximum likelihood estimation of a latent Markov model under hypotheses of this type, we outline an EM algorithm that is based on well-known recursions in the hidden Markov literature. We also show that, under certain assumptions, the asymptotic null distribution of the likelihood ratio statistic for testing a linear hypothesis on the transition probabilities of a latent Markov model, against a less stringent linear hypothesis on the transition probabilities of the same model, is of type. As a particular case, we derive the asymptotic distribution of the likelihood ratio statistic between a latent class model and its latent Markov version, which may be used to test the hypothesis of absence of transition between latent states. The approach is illustrated through a series of simulations and two applications, the first of which is based on educational testing data that have been collected within the National Assessment of Educational Progress 1996, and the second on data, concerning the use of marijuana, which have been collected within the National Youth Survey 1976,1980. [source] Bifocals in children with Down syndrome (BiDS) , visual acuity, accommodation and early literacy skillsACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 6 2010Krithika Nandakumar Acta Ophthalmol. 2010: 88: e196,e204 Abstract. Purpose:, Reduced accommodation is seen in children and young adults with Down syndrome (DS), yet providing bifocals has not become a routine clinical management. This study investigates the impact of bifocals on visual function, visual perceptual and early literacy skills in a group of school children with DS. Methods:, In this longitudinal study, each child was followed for 5 months with single-vision (SV) lenses after which bifocals were prescribed if required, based on their accommodative response. Visual acuity (VA), accommodation, perceptual and literacy skills were measured after adaptation to bifocals and 5 months later. Educational progress and compliance with spectacle wear were assessed through school and parental reports. Results:, Fourteen children and young adults with DS participated in the study. Eighty-five percent required bifocals with additions ranging from +1.00 D to +3.50 D. The mean near logMAR VA improved with bifocals (p = 0.007) compared to SV lenses. Repeated measures anova showed that there was more accurate focus (less accommodative lag) through the bifocals (p = 0.002), but no change in the accommodation exerted through the distance portion compared to SV lenses (p = 0.423). There was a main effect of time on sight words (p = 0.013), Word Identification (p = 0.047), Visual Closure (p = 0.006) and Visual Form Constancy (p = 0.001). Conclusion:, Bifocals provide clearer near vision in DS children with reduced accommodation. This is shown by improved VA and decreased lag of accommodation. The results indicate that the improvement in VA results in improved scores in early literacy skills. Better compliance with bifocals over SV lenses was seen. [source] The Impact of Childhood Epilepsy on Neurocognitive and Behavioral Performance: A Prospective Longitudinal StudyEPILEPSIA, Issue 4 2000Laura L. Bailet Summary: Purpose: To assess neurocognitive and behavioral performance in children with idiopathic epilepsy (CWE, n = 74), their siblings without epilepsy (control, n = 23), and children with migraine (CWM, n = 13), and to identify medical factors related to learning or behavioral problems in CWE. Methods: Subjects, ages 8,13 years with IQs of ,80, completed a neurocognitive test battery annually for ,3 years. For CWE, age at seizure onset, most recent EEG results, seizure type, seizure frequency, current antiepileptic drug (AED), and most recent AED serum levels were documented at each visit. Results: CWE and CWM had high rates of grade retention and placement in special education compared with sibling controls. CWE performed worse than controls on numerous neurocognitive variables. These differences persisted over time. CWE with abnormal EEGs scored lower than CWE with normal EEGs on reading and spelling measures, even with comparable IQs. Age at seizure onset, seizure type, and seizure frequency were not related to neurocognitive or behavioral test scores. CWE taking carbamazepine (CBZ) performed better than CWE taking valproate (VPA) on academic achievement measures, although the study lacked controls necessary to assess this finding thoroughly. CWM did not differ from CWE or controls in cognitive or academic achievement skills. Conclusions: Long-term risk of learning problems exists among CWE as compared with controls, even with normal IQs and well-controlled seizures. Predicting learning problems in CWE based on medical factors remains elusive. Monitoring of educational progress and neurocognitive screening may be most effective in assessing academic risk for CWE. [source] The Postsecondary Educational Progress of Youth From Immigrant FamiliesJOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 2 2004Andrew J. Fuligni Approximately 650 youth from a variety of ethnic and generational backgrounds participated in a longitudinal study of the postsecondary educational experiences of youth from immigrant families. Youth completed questionnaires and provided official school records in the 12th grade and participated in a phone interview 3 years later. Youth from immigrant families demonstrated the same level of postsecondary educational progress as their peers from American-born families across a broad array of indicators. In addition, youth from immigrant families were more likely to support their families financially, and some were more likely to live with their parents as compared with those from American-born families. Variability among those from immigrant families suggested that youth from families with higher incomes, higher levels of parental education, and East Asian backgrounds were more likely to enroll and persist in postsecondary schooling as compared with their peers. [source] Summer learning and its implications: Insights from the Beginning School StudyNEW DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, Issue 114 2007Karl L. Alexander There is perhaps no more pressing issue in school policy today than the achievement gap across social lines. Achievement differences between well-to-do children and poor children and between disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities and majority whites are large when children first begin school, and they increase over time. Despite years of study and an abundance of good intentions, these patterned achievement differences persist, but who is responsible, and how are schools implicated? The increasing gap seems to suggest that schools are unable to equalize educational opportunity or, worse still, that they actively handicap disadvantaged children. But a seasonal perspective on learning yields a rather different impression. Comparing achievement gains separately over the school year and the summer months reveals that much of the achievement gap originates over the summer period, when children are not in school. The authors review Beginning School Study research on differential summer learning across social lines (that is, by family socioeconomic level) and its implications for later schooling outcomes, including high school curriculum placements, high school dropout, and college attendance. These studies document the extent to which these large summer learning differences impede the later educational progress of children of low socioeconomic status. Practical implications are discussed, including the need for early and sustained interventions to prevent the achievement gap from opening wide in the first place and for high-quality summer programming focused on preventing differential summer learning loss. [source] Progress and challenge in Nurture Groups: evidence from three case studiesBRITISH JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION, Issue 4 2005Paul Cooper Nurture Groups have come to play a key role in the mainstream education of young children experiencing social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. In this article, Paul Cooper, Professor of Education, and Yonca Tiknaz, EdD Research Associate, both of the School of Education at the University of Leicester, explore the perceptions of mainstream and Nurture Group staff about the nature, purposes and impact of Nurture Group practice. Their analysis is based on data from three case studies, carried out in 2003, of Nurture Groups for pupils in Years 1 and 2 of their primary education. A key feature of this article is its focus on some of the challenges faced by apparently successful Nurture Groups in achieving a coherent and sustained form of intervention in the context of a whole-school approach. The authors show that mainstream and Nurture Group staff value Nurture Groups and see them as making a significant contribution to the progress of pupils, particularly in the areas of social and emotional development and behaviour. These findings are consistent with earlier studies. However, the lack of effective communication between Nurture Group staff and mainstream staff and difficulties over balance in Nurture Groups are highlighted as important factors that may, in some circumstances, inhibit educational progress. This paper helps to extend our understanding of some of the ,opportunity costs' and ,opportunity gains' that might be associated with the Nurture Group approach because of the temporary separation of children in Nurture Groups from mainstream schooling. [source] | ||||||||||||||||