Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE)
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Item The Impact of Restorative Practices with Diplomas Now on School Climate and Teachers' Turnover Intentions: Evidence from a Cluster Multi-Site Randomized Control Trial(Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2022-01-26) Grant, Ashley; Mac Iver, Douglas; Mac Iver, MarthaHigh teacher turnover rates and shortages of quality teachers plague many large, urban U.S. school districts disadvantaging their students who often already come from traditionally underserved populations and communities. Restorative Practices is a quickly growing whole school approach to community building and discipline, but little is known about how it impacts teachers and their career decisions. This study specifically investigates whether assignment to Restorative Practices (in combination with Diplomas Now, RP w/DN) improves school climate and increases teachers’ reported intentions to remain at their school? To answer this question, we analyzed data from a multi-site, cluster randomized control trial of in 25 schools from seven large cities across the United States. Our intent-to-treat analyses find that RP w/DN has a significantly positive effect on school climate (ES ¼ .15, .27). Impacts on teachers’ turnover intentions were non-significant, but it significantly reduced perceptions of problematic teacher absenteeism (a related, exploratory outcome). Overall, the findings from this study suggest that Restorative Practices as a policy can improve school climate, but its relationship with teachers’ career decisions is more complicated.Item Demography as Destiny: Explaining the Turnover of Alternatively Certified Mathematics Teachers in Hard-to-Staff Schools(Teachers College Record SAGE Publications, 2022) Grant, Ashley; Brantlinger, AndrewBackground: To stem the tide of teacher turnover and prevent shortages, teacher turnover interventions and policies often focus on new and novice teachers because evidence suggests that teacher turnover is particularly high among these teachers. In addition, researchers continue to investigate the root causes of the high teacher turnover observed in many low-income, high-minority schools and whether this is due more to school demographics or poor working conditions. Purpose: This article examines New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF) teachers’ risk of leaving their first school in their first 9 years. It both describes the patterns in leaving and examines how school demographics and school climate predict these leaving patterns. Participants: The study follows 608 teachers: two cohorts of secondary mathematics NYCTF teachers who entered the classroom in New York City in 2006 or 2007. Research Design: This is a quantitative study of survey and retention data that were collected as part of a longitudinal research project on NYCTF mathematics teachers. Data Analysis: We use an event history analysis (including a life table and hazard function graphs) to describe patterns in teachers’ timing of leaving their first school. We also use a discrete time hazard model to estimate the relative relationships between the predictors of interest (school demographics and school climate) and teacher turnover. Results: The findings from this study provide evidence against the general hypothesis in the field that teachers leave their first schools at the highest rate during their first 1 to 3 years. Second, we also found that the turnover of alternatively certified teachers who began in low-income, high-minority urban schools was driven by both student demographics and school climate conditions, including teacher collegiality and student behavior. Third, we found evidence to support our hypothesis that teachers’ individual perceptions of their school environment are stronger drivers of their turnover compared with the perceptions of their colleagues. Conclusion: The results from this study add to our understanding about the timing of teacher turnover among secondary mathematics NYCTF teachers, illustrating that teacher turnover may remain higher later in beginning teachers’ careers than currently assumed. This suggests that teachers in Years 3 to 5 in their careers may be good targets for supports. Our findings support the theory that improving school climate can help retain teachers but also provide a cautionary tale for a complete focus on school climate; stemming teacher turnover may require addressing larger economic forces (e.g., the global trend toward temporary work) and more insidious social forces, such as structural racism and inequality.Item Evaluation of Dynamic Impact in Worcester County Public Schools Phase I(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2022-09) Morrison, Jennifer; Webb, Jessica; Reilly, Joseph; Laurenzano, Mary; Eisinger, JaneThe purpose of the present study was to evaluate the implementation of Dynamic Impact (DI) in Worcester County Public Schools (WCPS) by Johns Hopkins’s Center for Technology in Education (CTE). As described by CTE, DI builds the capacity of school districts to form and sustain high-performing teams using several protocols to guide their work together as they implement school improvement plans. This descriptive study collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data to document perceptions of DI as implemented in WCPS, including regarding the experience of being on a DI team, fidelity of implementation, and perceived impact. All members of DI teams were asked to complete a survey that included closed- and open-response questions, and a selection of teachers, school administrators, and district personnel participated in focus groups. Data collection took place during the spring semester of 2022. In survey responses and focus groups, participants characterized the experience of being a DI team member as being defined by coordinated, purposeful efforts to set goals, identify root causes, analyze germane data, and continually monitor plans and progress, making adjustments to plans as appropriate. Guiding team members in these efforts are clear protocols that structure teams’ work and help ensure that all team members are positioned to contribute to plans and implementation and are accountable for doing so. CTE staff provide materials, training, coaching, and assistance to support teams in their work, and DI team members seem to respect the CTE team’s expertise and value their support. Participants generally reported a smooth experience, despite some frustrations around logistics and workload. While the expectations of DI team members are high, particularly given other demands on educators’ time, team members for the most part reported strong investment in the DI process and high fidelity in implementing its protocols. Participants generally indicated that they believe DI protocols are effective and that DI is strengthening their schools. Benefits identified included effective teaming and collaboration; shared vision and coordinated activity around goals, informed by data and involving well-chosen interventions; and ongoing engagement with the SIP as a living document. The most common area for improvement that participants noted was to increase the engagement and investment of educators at their schools beyond those on the DI teams.Item The Impact of the Frog Street Pre-K Curriculum on 2021-22 Pre-K Gains and Kindergarten Readiness(2023-01-31) Grant, Ashley; Cook, Michael; Ross, StevenThe purpose of the present study was to examine Frog Street Pre-K curriculum efficacy by comparing learning outcomes for pre-K students in schools with access to Frog Street in Texas during the 2021-22 school year to outcomes for pre-K students in Texas schools without Frog Street. This study is designed to replicate and extend those employed by NORC (the National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago in 2018, using data from the same assessment (CIRCLE). The NORC studies yielded mixed results, some favoring the Frog Street Pre-K curriculum (particularly for kindergarten readiness) and some not, but a concern was that classifications of schools as users or non-users of the curriculum were not sufficiently accurate for the 2017-18 school year. This limitation is not expected to occur with the present, 2021-22 classifications.Item An Evaluation of the Literacy-Infused Science Using Technology Innovation Opportunity (LISTO)(2022-12) Wolf, Rebecca; Cook, Michael; Grant, Ashley; Reid, Alan; Neitzel, Amanda; Ross, Steven; Risman, KelseyThe evaluation of LISTO involved a multisite cluster randomized trial (CRT) designed to meet the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 2 standards for “moderate” evidence, as well as the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards "with reservations." The study estimated program impacts on both student and teacher outcomes and documented the fidelity of implementation and educators’ perceptions of program quality. Schools with participating fifth grade science teachers were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control condition. Schools were randomly assigned within district blocks when more than one school in a district chose to participate in the study. Fifth grade science teachers may have participated in the intervention for either one or two years over the 2017–18 and 2018–19 school years, and some teachers were allowed to join the study after the random assignment of schools. Students were exposed to the intervention only in their fifth-grade year, either in the 2017–18 or 2018–19 school year. Again, data for the year 2017–18 reflected a low fidelity of implementation for the entire first semester, due to the reasons previously discussed. The resulting impacts included delaying the beginning of year testing, curriculum implementation, baseline observations, and professional development schedules for the original confirmatory group. Outcomes collected in the 2017–18 school year were considered to be exploratory, given the timing of Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas in August of 2017, as mentioned earlier. Outcomes in the 2018–19 school year served as the confirmatory contrasts. In both school years, students were exposed to the program through their teachers in only their fifth-grade year. One year of exposure for students may have been insufficient to increase student achievement in science or reading, yet some impacts were observed. And, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Year 3, only BISA, ITBS science, and science interest survey scores were collected and only in the fall of the 2019–20 school year. STAAR Science and Reading scores were not collected during Year 3 (2019–20). Thus, the only contrasts we were able to conduct on student achievement were those focusing on Year 4 administrations of STAAR Science and Reading, BISA, ITBS Science, and the science interest survey.Item The Impacts of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on Student Math Achievement in Multiple School Districts(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2022-02) Cook, Michael; Grant, Ashley; Ross, StevenThe purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction on mathematics achievement, as measured by MCAS scores, in multiple school districts in Massachusetts. We compared students who received i-Ready Personalized Instruction with students who only participated in i-Ready Diagnostic testing. We also examined associations between various i-Ready usage metrics and achievement. Key findings revealed that i-Ready Personalized Instruction was associated with mathematics achievement gains; usage metrics were higher in elementary schools; and meeting usage guidance was associated with mathematics gains on the MCAS state assessment in math.Item Bet on Baltimore Yr 4 Final Report(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2022-01) Laurenzano, Mary; Reilly, Joseph; Ross, StevenBet on Baltimore is an intensive summer youth development program with a focus on creativity, hands-on experience, community impact, and entrepreneurship created by Dent Education in 2017 and designed for Baltimore City public high school students. The goals are to engage high school students in Baltimore in meaningful work, leadership, and personal development activities and, according to the program’s developers, to “catalyze student potential and prepare them to create impact and value in a 21st century economy.” Dent Education’s mission is to “promote equity by empowering under-resourced youth to discover and develop their innate creative potential to shape the world around them.” Through its curriculum, Dent Education seeks to introduce students to the creative problem-solving process of design thinking, maker skills, and the experiences of entrepreneurship and networking. Students identify community issues and business challenges, meet with community and business leaders, learn new skills, and work to create their own social or business enterprise.Item Reading Roots 5th Edition: Reading "Between the Lions": Project Summary and Evaluation(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2021-12-14) Qiyang, Zhang; Amanda, NeitzelItem Evaluation of Istation's Early Reading Assessment and Curriculum in Spartanburg County School District 7 Final Report(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2021-02) Cook, Michael; Ross, StevenThe purpose of this evaluation was to examine the association between ISIP scores and usage and student achievement and growth on ELA standardized test measures, as well as to compare MAP Reading assessment growth of SCSD-7 Istation students in relation to that of otherwise similar students who did not use Istation. This report includes findings from student usage and achievement data on ISIP ER and AR assessments, as well as on the SC READY ELA state assessment and NWEA MAP reading assessment Results showed that Istation students significantly outgained virtual comparison students, with this pattern especially pronounced for the younger cohort of students. SCSD-7 students were matched with virtual comparison students on the basis of prior reading achievement and demographic variables, with a sufficiently large sample size. Thus, this study supports the conclusion that Istation usage is related to larger reading achievement gains, in relation to non-Istation users. Further, the results of this study meet the criteria for meeting WWC Standards with Reservations, as well as those for “Moderate” evidence of the efficacy of Istation in improving student reading performance per the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Student Istation usage remained fairly consistent across each of the four school years analyzed in this report. Students tended to average between 14-17 hours of total usage each year. Usage was reported as two different measures: total usage and curriculum usage. This allowed for analysis of time students spent working on the Istation curriculum, in addition to total Istation time. Curriculum usage was also relatively steady across years, with students averaging about 13-14 hours of curriculum usage each year. Usage statistics declined markedly in the 2019-20 school year; however, this decline is almost certainly attributable to the disruption in the school year caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Item Bet on Baltimore Yr 3 Final Report(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2021-01-31) Laurenzano, Mary; Reilly, Joseph; Ross, StevenBet on Baltimore is a summer youth development program with a focus on creativity, making, and entrepreneurship created by Dent Education in 2017 and designed for Baltimore City public high school students. The goals are to engage high school students in Baltimore in meaningful work, leadership, and personal development activities and, according to the program’s developers, to “catalyze student potential and prepare them to create impact and value in a 21st century economy.” Dent Education’s mission is to “promote equity by empowering under-resourced youth to discover and develop their innate creative potential to shape the world around them.” Through its curriculum, Dent Education seeks to introduce students to the creative problem-solving process of design thinking, maker skills, and the experience of entrepreneurship and networking. Students explore community issues and business challenges, meet with community and business professionals, learn new skills such as 3D printing and music production, and work to create their own social or business enterprise. During the summer of 2020, 10 cohorts of students (n = 138) participated in Bet on Baltimore through a five-week paid summer job opportunity funded by YouthWorks. The cohorts focused in the following areas: Graphic Design, Recording Studio, Social Innovation, Start-up Garage, Web Design, and Made@Dent. The five-week session culminated in a virtual showcase, where students presented their ideas and shared lessons learned for an online audience of more than 300 people. During the summer of 2020, 20 coaches (2 per site) led students through the program with the support of four site supporters and four Fellows.Item Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Tier 3 Evidence for Istation Early Reading(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2020-06) Wolf, BetsyThis quasi-experimental study examined whether students who attended schools that piloted Istation’s Early Reading program during the 2017–18 school year had higher average achievement than students who did not attend pilot schools. Performance in reading and English language arts (ELA) was compared for students attending Istation pilot schools and non-pilot schools.Item Linking 2nd Grade Istation ISIP Reading with 3rd Grade ISAT in English Language Arts(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2020-06) Wolf, BetsyThis correlational study analyzed how well second grade students’ performance on the ISIP Early Reading test at each administration (e.g., fall, winter, or spring) predicted their third grade spring performance on the ISAT ELA. The ISIP Early Reading test was administered to a subset of second grade students in Idaho in the 2017–18 school year, and student achievement was tracked longitudinally over time through the end of students’ third grade year.Item An Evaluation of Prodigy: A Case-Study Approach to Implementation and Student Achievement Outcomes(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2020-01) Morrison, Jennifer; Risman, Kelsey; Reilly, Joseph; Eisinger, JaneThe purpose of the present study was to gather data regarding the implementation of Prodigy in elementary schools in a mid-sized school district in the southern United States. Using a case-study approach, we visited two schools and conducted interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations to examine implementation and outcomes. We also examined student achievement and usage data from the 2018-2019 school year.Item 1:1 Classrooms and Teaching with Technology: A Best Practices Review(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2020-05) Reilly, Joseph; Morrison, JenniferIntegrated classrooms and 1:1 initiatives are growing in popularity and maturity. Each year, new school- and district-wide 1:1 initiatives launch. Even if schools are not yet a 1:1 environment, teachers and students likely incorporate and encounter more technology with each passing semester. While new initiatives launch each year, the first wave of initiatives in Maine and Vermont are nearly 20 years old. Not surprisingly, research and philosophy around integrated classrooms and 1:1 initiatives are vast and diverse, with notable increases in production by researchers and industry leaders in the last 10 years. This is good news, as teachers and administrators need varying research-based supports based on initiative goals, tenure, and history/context of the school/district to assist with implementation and development. The purpose of this document is to highlight best practices for teachers in 1:1 classrooms. This means actual teaching practices, with examples, that are actionable and measurable, and supported by recent research on what makes for effective teaching with technology. We have identified and briefly explained 8 best practices, and provided further reading related to each. The document begins with a presentation of two prominent frameworks for effective teaching with technology: The Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) model and the Integrating Technology for Inquiry (NTeQ) model. We then present best practices that supersede these individual models.Item FCPSOn Phase One Evaluation: Year Three(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2019-09) Morrison, Jennifer; Risman, Kelsey; Ross, Steven; Latham, Gavin; Reid, Alan; Cook, MichaelThe purpose of the present study was to gather formative and summative data related to the FCPSOn initiative during its third year of implementation in the 2018-19 school year within Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). The present study documents program implementation in 15 Phase One schools and stakeholder feedback for future FCPSOn schools. Key components of FCPSOn include the distribution of personal laptops to all students in Phase One schools, professional development (PD), and the resulting impact on intermediary outcomes relating to the goals of improving students’ content area knowledge and Portrait of a Graduate skills. The present findings from schools now in their third year (2018-19) of implementing FCPSOn indicate that stakeholders are strongly invested in the initiative’s success and are more comfortable overall with the 1:1 learning environment. Important differences in implementation are observed between the two groups that comprise Phase One that appear to be the result of a more cohesive and intentional approach to implementation in the Chantilly Pyramid than in eLearning Backpack schools. Nonetheless, SBTSs and principals in both types of schools commended their teachers for being more effective users of technology tools and, as a result, more flexible and effective teachers. Findings also suggest that students are more engaged and accountable learners. Students have gained important skills and have embraced an emerging emphasis on self-guided learning. Guaranteed access to a personal computer has succeeded in “leveling the playing field” among students of varying socio-economic backgrounds, learning interests, and needs.Item The Modern Classrooms Project: Survey Results for the 2019-20 School Year(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2020-06) Wolf, Betsy; Eisinger, Jane; Ross, StevenThe Modern Classrooms Project provides professional development and coaching to teachers to help them meet their students’ academic needs by integrating self-paced and mastery-based principles and technology into instruction. This approach works to develop students’ abilities to engage in self-directed learning. In this study, teachers opted to participate in a week-long summer training and ongoing coaching and mentoring by Modern Classrooms staff. The Modern Classrooms Project contracted with the Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE) at Johns Hopkins University to conduct a study of the efficacy of The Modern Classrooms approach on teacher and student outcomes during the 2019–20 school year.Item Evaluation of Students and Teachers Accessing Tomorrow (S.T.A.T.) in Baltimore County Public Schools Yr 5 mid-year Final Report(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2019-04) Morrison, Jennifer; Ross, Steven; Reilly, Joseph; Risman, KelseyThe purpose of the present study is to evaluate the ongoing implementation and outcomes of the Students and Teachers Accessing Tomorrow (S.T.A.T.) initiative in Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) that began in the 2014-15 school year. Key components of S.T.A.T., as reflected in the evaluation model (see Figure 1 presented in the main report), include professional development and the resulting impact on measurable outcomes relating to the goals of improving student achievement and preparing globally competitive students. The mid-year evaluation report focused on teacher survey results, classroom observations, and student focus group findings to examine professional development offered by S.T.A.T. teachers and the impact on measurable outcomes. For this study’s fifth and final year, the participant group was composed exclusively of Lighthouse elementary, Lighthouse middle, and Lighthouse high schools at the request of the district. This sampling approach intended to better investigate the initiatives’ long-range impact on those schools with the most extensive integration of the S.T.A.T. program. At the mid-point of Year 5, the evaluation results continue to suggest that the S.T.A.T. initiative is being implemented effectively across Lighthouse schools and is making valuable progress in helping improve the perceived quality of instruction in the district. Importantly, classroom teachers believe that their S.T.A.T. teachers have played an integral role in helping them move instruction in a more learner-centered direction, and students believe that learning has become both easier and more engaging. Findings from classroom observations this fall, though mostly similar with those from previous time points, demonstrated some modest evidence of instructional changes. Teachers continue to make more extensive use of coaching and facilitating types of instruction than they do of more teacher-centered forms of instruction (i.e., presentations). Furthermore, Cohort 1 and 2 teachers, who make up those most experienced with S.T.A.T., showed visibly more frequent use of collaborative learning activities, higher-level questioning, higher-order instructional feedback, and flexible grouping arrangements, than those from Cohorts 3 and 4. These findings potentially suggest that more widespread implementation of these strategies may occur as teachers gain experience in the initiative.Item Online Teaching for K-12 Schools: What the Research Says(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2020-04-08) Reilly, JosephIn the spring of 2020, schools across America are challenged with a critical issue: How to continue to foster student learning given sudden, and often indefinite school closures. Though digital learning is now used widely across the K-12 landscape, understandably, educators vary considerably in their comfort with shifting rapidly to fully online instruction. Figuring out not only how to continue instruction, but how to continue instruction most effectively, is the key challenge educators everywhere are facing. In this context, experts from the Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University highlight several key guidelines that schools and teachers might consider as they shift to online instruction. Grounded in the latest research on what makes for effective online teaching for K-12 students, this set of best practices can be used to guide educators as they shift to online teaching in the months ahead.Item Efficacy Study of LightSail in Three Public School Districts(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2017-08) Morrison, Jennifer; Ross, Steven; Latham, Gavin; Daniels, Cecilia; Eisinger, Jane; Wilson, CatherineThe present evaluation study sought to determine how LightSail is implemented within schools in three public school districts, Evergreen Public Schools (EPS), Denver Public Schools (DPS), and Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Case studies conducted in a subsample of schools within the three districts included classroom observations, interviews, and focus groups. In addition, a survey was administered to teachers and students in two of the districts and usage data were collected from all three districts. Teachers, principals, coaches, and students found great value in the LightSail experience. Students responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to express themselves through self-selection of texts and the option to read without interruption for a period of time.Item Efficacy Study of Zearn Math in a Large Urban School District(Center for Research and Reform in Education, 2019-04) Morrison, Jennifer; Wolf, Betsy; Ross, Steven; Risman, Kelsey; McLemore, CaitlinThe purpose of the present study was to gather summative and formative data related to the implementation of Zearn Math during the first year of a two-year study. The sample included students in a large urban school district comprised of predominantly African American (58%) and Hispanic (28%) students. Roughly 90% of students are economically disadvantaged. As of the 2016-17 school year, only 8% of the district’s students in Grades 3-8 met mathematics proficiency levels as compared to 40% of all students in the state. The current research was conducted during the district’s second year of implementation of Zearn Math. During the 2016-17 school year, the district piloted the curriculum in two schools and provided some implementation support. The following year, 15 elementary schools began learning with Zearn Math and implementing the rotational classroom model, while the remainder of the elementary schools in the district continued to learn with EngageNY. This study explores the treatment schools’ implementation of Zearn Math and the impacts of the shift during the first year of implementation.