Ending the Blame Game on Educational Inequity: A Study of "High Flying" Schools and NCLB

This study shows that the number of high-poverty schools truly achieving at high levels on standardized tests is much lower than reported in Education Trust and Heritage Foundation studies. Unlike the previous research, this study examines test score gains over time, and only 1.1 percent of high-poverty schools were identified as "high flyers.

Putting a High Quality Teacher in Every Florida Classroom

This brief summarizes evidence about the characteristics of effective teachers, describes the characteristics of teachers and teacher policies in Florida, and recommends policy changes to help the state meet the significant challenges of meeting the demand for quality teachers in the coming decade

Funding Florida's Schools: Adequacy, Costs, and the State Constitution

The purpose of the adequacy movement is to give all students the opportunity to reach their potential. This is no easy task, but the results of a cost study would provide a basis for reasoned discussion and policy reform

Class Size, Pre-Kindergarten, and Educational Adequacy: Costs and Funding Options for Florida

The analysis in this brief suggests that the recurring costs of the class size and pre-K amendments will be $3 billion per year after full implementation, and that full funding would raise Florida's ranking only slightly. Recommendations are provided for the Legislature to aid in estimating costs and providing funding

How Principals Bridge and Buffer the New Demands of Teacher Quality and Accountability: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Teacher Hiring

In this mixed-methods study, we examine the degree to which district-and building-level administrators accommodate teacher-quality and test-based accountability policies in their hiring practices. We find that administrators negotiated local hiring goals with characteristics emphasized by federal and state teacher-quality policies, such as knowledge of the subject and teaching skills. While district administrators and principals largely bridged to external certification requirements, some principals buffered their hiring decisions from the pressures of test-based accountability. Principals who bridged to test-based accountability gave greater weight to subject knowledge and teaching skills. We find that bridging and buffering differs by policy and cannot be easily applied to accountability policies. Specifically, separating the indirect effect of external accountability from other policies influencing principal hiring is difficult. Our analysis also highlights tensions among local, state, and federal policies regarding teacher quality and the potential of accountability to permeate noninstructional school decision making

The Impact of Government Contracting Out on Spending: The Case of Public Education in New Orleans

In this study, we start with developing a theoretical framework incorporating theories from the contracting literature and adapt them to the unusual case of nonprofit charter schools, which yields several seemingly novel theoretical insights. In contrast to earlier studies, we use a quasi-experimental research design, the synthetic control group approach, to test the impact of contracting on spending for public schooling in New Orleans. Using detailed information on spending, our empirical analysis shows that contracting increases total operating spending. The additional funds were used to increase administrative spending, including both the number and salaries of administrators. Fewer resources were devoted to instruction. Although the number of teachers was largely unchanged, per-teacher salaries and benefits dropped. We utilize the results to complement the theory of contracting with regard to outsourcing based on funding formulas and the mix of inputs chosen by contractors

Vertebrate Hosts as Islands: Dynamics of Selection, Immigration, Loss, Persistence, and Potential Function of Bacteria on Salamander Skin.

Skin bacterial communities can protect amphibians from a fungal pathogen; however, little is known about how these communities are maintained. We used a neutral model of community ecology to identify bacteria that are maintained on salamanders by selection or by dispersal from a bacterial reservoir (soil) and ecological drift. We found that 75% (9/12) of bacteria that were consistent with positive selection, <1% of bacteria that were consistent with random dispersal and none of the bacteria that were consistent under negative selection had a 97% or greater match to antifungal isolates. Additionally we performed an experiment where salamanders were either provided or denied a bacterial reservoir and estimated immigration and loss (emigration and local extinction) rates of bacteria on salamanders in both treatments. Loss was strongly related to bacterial richness, suggesting competition is important for structuring the community. Bacteria closely related to antifungal isolates were more likely to persist on salamanders with or without a bacterial reservoir, suggesting they had a competitive advantage. Furthermore, over-represented and under-represented operational taxonomic units (OTUs) had similar persistence on salamanders when a bacterial reservoir was present. However, under-represented OTUs were less likely to persist in the absence of a bacterial reservoir, suggesting that the over-represented and under-represented bacteria were selected against or for on salamanders through time. Our findings from the neutral model, migration and persistence analyses show that bacteria that exhibit a high similarity to antifungal isolates persist on salamanders, which likely protect hosts against pathogens and improve fitness. This research is one of the first to apply ecological theory to investigate assembly of host associated-bacterial communities, which can provide insights for probiotic bioaugmentation as a conservation strategy against disease