School Shootings and Student Performance

In this paper, we study how high school students reacted to the shocking news of a school shooting. The shooting coincided with national high-school matriculation exams. As there were exams both before and after the shooting, we can use a difference-in-differences analysis to uncover how the school shooting affected the test scores compared to previous years. We find that the average performance of young men declined due to the school shooting, whereas we do not observe a similar pattern for women.school shootings, school performance, shocking news, gender differences, treatment effect models

School Shootings and Student Performance

In this paper, we study how high school students reacted to the shocking news of a school shooting. The shooting coincided with national high-school matriculation exams. As there were exams both before and after the shooting, we can perform a difference-in-differences analysis to uncover how the school shooting affected the test scores compared to previous years. We find that the average score of young men declined due to the school shooting, whereas we do not observe a similar pattern for women.school shootings, school performance, shocking news, gender differences, treatment effect models

High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Problems for the No Child Left Behind Act

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences -- or stakes -- for student performance. The theory of action implied by this accountability program is that the pressure of high-stakes testing will increase student achievement. But this study finds that pressure created by high-stakes testing has had almost no important influence on student academic performance

Designing Dental Student Portfolios to Assess Performance

The purpose of this poster is to share a project developed by Marquette University’s liaisons to the American Dental Education Association’s Commission on Change and Innovation in Dental Education with others interested in learning about the use of portfolios to assess the quality of student performance in dental school. Sample components from the pilot portfolios will be integrated into the poster to provide participants with a view from portfolio design to completion. Portfolios are becoming a more common method of assessing the quality of student performance in health professions education. Portfolios can assist in documenting evidence of specific competencies at the student level and also serve as a longitudinal measure of a student’s development

The Evaluation of Rhode Island Public High School Teachers: The Impact on Students

In 2012, the state of Rhode Island began the full implementation of a high-stakes teacher evaluation system. Its purpose is to increase teacher accountability and to improve student performance. However, a significant amount of literature casts doubt about the effectiveness and validity of teacher evaluation. This paper utilizes statistical methods including regression and decision trees in order to determine whether or not there is a relationship between teacher evaluation in Rhode Island and student performance, using RI Department of Education Data for each school from 2008-2015. Furthermore, this presentation investigates other factors that affect schools, to see if changes in student performance can be explained by factors other than the teacher evaluation system, such as discipline, the student-teacher ratio, and student demographics

Sustaining Educational Reforms in Introductory Physics

While it is well known which curricular practices can improve student performance on measures of conceptual understanding, the sustaining of these practices and the role of faculty members in implementing these practices are less well understood. We present a study of the hand-off of Tutorials in Introductory Physics from initial adopters to other instructors at the University of Colorado, including traditional faculty not involved in physics education research. The study examines the impact of implementation of Tutorials on student conceptual learning across eight first-semester, and seven second-semester courses, for fifteen faculty over twelve semesters, and includes roughly 4000 students. It is possible to demonstrate consistently high, and statistically indistinguishable, student learning gains for different faculty members; however, such results are not the norm, and appear to rely on a variety of factors. Student performance varies by faculty background - faculty involved in, or informed by physics education research, consistently post higher student learning gains than less-informed faculty. Student performance in these courses also varies by curricula used - all semesters in which the research-based Tutorials and Learning Assistants are used have higher student learning gains than those semesters that rely on non-research based materials and do not employ Learning Assistants.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, and other essential inf

Implicit Theories and Self-efficacy in an Introductory Programming Course

Contribution: This study examined student effort and performance in an introductory programming course with respect to student-held implicit theories and self-efficacy. Background: Implicit theories and self-efficacy shed a light into understanding academic success, which must be considered when developing effective learning strategies for programming. Research Questions: Are implicit theories of intelligence and programming, and programming-efficacy related to each other and student success in programming? Is it possible to predict student course performance using a subset of these constructs? Methodology: Two consecutive surveys (N=100 and N=81) were administered to non-CS engineering students in I\c{s}{\i}k University. Findings: Implicit theories and self-beliefs are interrelated and correlated with effort, performance, and previous failures in the course and students explain failure in programming course with "programming-aptitude is fixed" theory, and also that programming is a difficult task for themselves.Comment: Programming Education. 8 page

Selection Criteria for the Honors Program in Azerbaijan

Designing effective selection procedures for honors programs is always a challenging task. In Azerbaijan, selection is based on three main criteria: (i) student performance in the centralized university admission test; (ii) student performance in the first year of studies; and (iii) student performance in the honors program selection test. This research identifies criteria most crucial in predicting student success in honors programs. An analysis was first conducted for all honors students. Results indicate that all three criteria used in the selection process are highly significant predictors of student success in the program. This same analysis was then applied separately for each degree program, demonstrating that not all criteria are significant for some programs. These results suggest that creating differentiated selection procedures for different degree programs might be more efficient

Poverty and Student Performance in Malaysia

The objectives of this study are to identify the costs of schooling borne by parents, to assess the extent to which these costs place a financial burden on poor and rural parents and to examine the impact of parental income on student performance. The study surveyed both the rural and urban children in Malaysian secondary schools. The evidence underscores the importance of schooling expenditure and the distribution of the availability of schooling facilities to all. Providing sufficient financial assistance such as subsidies and scholarships for poor students should continue to be very high on policy agenda.- schooling expenditure, secondary schools, student performance, Malaysia