Ensuring Fair and Reliable Measures of Effective Teaching: Culminating Findings from the MET Project's Three-Year Study

States and districts have launched unprecedented efforts in recent years to build new feedback and evaluation systems that support teacher growth and development. The goal is to improve practice so that teachers can better help their students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and beyond. These systems depend on trustworthy information about teaching effectiveness -- information that recognizes th complexity of teaching and is trusted by both teachers and administrators. To that end, the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project set out three years ago to investigate how a set of measures could identify effective teaching fairly and reliably. With the help of 3,000 teacher volunteers who opened up their classrooms to us -- along with scores of academic and organizational partners -- we have studied, among other measures:Classroom observation instruments, including both subject-specific and cross-subject tools, that define discrete teaching competencies and describe different levels of performance for each;Student perception surveys that assess key characteristics of the classroom environment, including supportiveness, challenge, and order; andStudent achievement gains on state tests and on more cognitively challenging assessments. We have reported findings as we learned them in order to provide states and districts with evidence-based guidance to inform their ongoing work. In our initial report in 2010 (Learning about Teaching), we found that a well-designed student perception survey can provide reliable feedback on aspects of teaching practice that are predictive of student learning.In 2012 (Gathering Feedback for Teaching), we presented similar results for classroom observations. We also found that an accurate observation rating requires two or more lessons, each scored by a different certified observer. With each analysis we have better understood the particular contribution that each measure makes to a complete picture of effective teaching and how those measures should be implemented to provide teachers with accurate and meaningful feedback.This final brief from the MET project's three-year study highlights new analyses that extend and deepen the insights from our previous work. These studies address three fundamental questions that face practitioners and policymakers engaged in creating teacher support and evaluation systems

Investigating the correlation between the frequency of using metacognitive reading strategies and non-routine problem solving successes in fifth grade students

The aim of this study is to examine the correlation between the frequency of using metacognitive reading strategy use and non-routine problem-solving achievements in fifth grade students. The study was conducted by using the correlational survey model, one of quantitative research methods. The participants of the study consisted of 308 fifth grade students who were studying in public schools in Istanbul and Ankara in 2017-2018 school year and were selected with convenient sampling method. The data of the study were gathered using the form for the frequency of using metacognitive reading strategy by the students and the non-routine problem solving achievement Test. In the study, the form for the frequency of using metacognitive reading strategy was applied in order to determine metacognitive reading strategies of the studies and on the following day, the achievement test including non-routine problems was then applied to the students. Simple Linear Regression Analysis and Pearson Product-Moments Correlation Analysis were used in the analysis of the data obtained in the study. According to the results of the study, there was a positive correlation between the frequency of using metacognitive reading strategy and non-routine problem-solving achievements in fifth grade students and metacognitive reading strategies were a predictor of non-routine problem-solving achievement. © 2018 by authors. All rights reserved

Micro-experimental analysis of the small-group reading lesson : social and cognitive consequences of silent reading

Includes bibliographical references (p. 18-20

A summary of research relating to first grade reading, 1932-1963

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston UniversityProblem: An attempt to compare the rate of learning of colorful and abstract words of children in grade one. Materials: 1. Thirty words were selected to be used in three groups of ten words each. Each list consisted of five colorful and five abstract words. Colorful words are those which have much meaning for children and abstract words are those with little meaning. The words were printed on 3 x 11 inch flash cards in lower case letters. 2. Check sheets were made with spaces for checking the retention of words at three different times and pictures were made to enrich the colorful words. 3. Directions were prepared and given to each teacher who participated in the study. 4. Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence Test: Battery A. 5. Detroit Word Recognition Test: Form A [TRUNCATED

The use of science process skills by Grade 11 physical science learners: a case study of two high schools in Gauteng Province, South Africa

A research project submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Education in the Faculty of Science. The University of the Witwatersrand. February 2016In South Africa, the new Curriculum Statement and Policy Statement (CAPS) Grades 10- 12 for Physical Sciences emphasizes learners’ use of science process skills. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent of the use of science process skills by Grade 11 Physical Science learners. It also sought to explore some of the factors associated with poor utilization of SPS by Grade 11 Physical Science learners. The participants were Grade 11 Physical Science learners (n=50) and teachers (n=4) from two schools in the Johannesburg area of the Gauteng Province, South Africa. Quantitative and qualitative data used to evaluate Grade 11 Physical Science learners’ use of science process skills was obtained through use of: a learner Likert questionnaire; teacher and learners’ interviews; and analysis of classroom lesson observations. Quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed using a combination of content and interpretive analysis. It was found that for both schools basic science process skills were relatively more frequently utilized compared to integrated skills; with the lower fee paying school showing a poorer utilization of both types of skills. The most utilized basic science process skills were found to be communication, observation, identification, classification, comparison, description and calculation. It was found that the following integrated process skills are poorly utilized by the Grade 11 Physical Science leaners- prediction, constructing hypothesis, relationship between variables, constructing diagrams, and experimentation. Some of the factors found to hamper utilization of science process skills were identified as teacher incompetency, lack of learner interest, poor availability of curriculum resources, and poor teaching practices and learning strategies. It was recommended that the South African CAPS curriculum needs to be revised to put greater emphasis on teaching and assessment of science process skill utilization. Furthermore, it was suggested that teachers need to be professional developed to enhance their capabilities of teaching science process skill utilization. Implications for further studies were fleshed out and discussed

A Multi-Gene Genetic Programming Application for Predicting Students Failure at School

Several efforts to predict student failure rate (SFR) at school accurately still remains a core problem area faced by many in the educational sector. The procedure for forecasting SFR are rigid and most often times require data scaling or conversion into binary form such as is the case of the logistic model which may lead to lose of information and effect size attenuation. Also, the high number of factors, incomplete and unbalanced dataset, and black boxing issues as in Artificial Neural Networks and Fuzzy logic systems exposes the need for more efficient tools. Currently the application of Genetic Programming (GP) holds great promises and has produced tremendous positive results in different sectors. In this regard, this study developed GPSFARPS, a software application to provide a robust solution to the prediction of SFR using an evolutionary algorithm known as multi-gene genetic programming. The approach is validated by feeding a testing data set to the evolved GP models. Result obtained from GPSFARPS simulations show its unique ability to evolve a suitable failure rate expression with a fast convergence at 30 generations from a maximum specified generation of 500. The multi-gene system was also able to minimize the evolved model expression and accurately predict student failure rate using a subset of the original expressionComment: 14 pages, 9 figures, Journal paper. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1403.0623 by other author