A Practical Method of Policy Analysis by Estimating Effect Size

The previous articles on class size and other productivity research paint a complex and confusing picture of the relationship between policy variables and student achievement. Missing is a conceptual scheme capable of combining the seemingly unrelated research and dissimilar estimates of effect size into a unified structure for policy analysis and decision making. This article builds a rationale for a unifying structure and consistent method of estimating effect size

Another Look at the Glass and Smith Study on Class Size

One of the most influential studies affecting educational policy is Glass and Smith’s 1978 study, Meta-Analysis of Research on the Relationship of Class Size and Achievement. Since its publication, educational policymakers have referenced it frequently as the justification for reducing class size

Optimizing Educational Resources: A Paradigm for the Pursuit of Educational Productivity

The advantage and perhaps the major motivation for using “seat-of-the-pants” decision making is that it obscures the assumptions made in arriving at a decision. If no one knows the assumptions upon which you based your decisions, then even though they may be uneasy with the decision they will have a difficult time criticizing your assumptions or decisions

Educational Considerations, vol. 39(1) Full Issue

Educational Considerations, vol. 39(1)-Fall 2011-Full issu

A Theory of School Achievement: A Quantum View

What is reality? In order to make predictions, all concepts in a scientific study and subsequent theory must be accurately represented by mathematical principles, and those concepts and principles must embody reality

Measuring and Reporting School and District Effectiveness

The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the 2001 reauthorization of Title I, requires states to assess students in grades three through eight in reading and mathematics, and students in three grades in science

A Practical Method of Policy Analysis by Simulating Policy Options

This article focuses on a method of policy analysis that has evolved from the previous articles in this issue. The first section, “Toward a Theory of Educational Production,” identifies concepts from science and achievement production to be incorporated into this policy analysis method

Factor Analysis of Explanatory Variables in an Achievement Production Function

Addendum: Combining explanatory variables into factors instead of using individual variables in an achievement production function is advocated in several of the articles in this special issue. The following is a brief overview of factor analysis explaining and illustrating the reasoning for this technique

Table of contents and editorial information for Vol. 39, no. 1, Fall 2011

Table of contents and editorial information for Vol. 39, no. 1, Fall 2011 - Special Issue on Class Size and Student Achievemen

A Journey, Not a Destination

Closing Essay: Much of the motivation and ideas for the articles in this special issue originated with my dear friend, Maris Abolins, Professor Emeritus of Physics at Michigan State University. We started as neighbors and, as our kids grew up together, we socialized frequently. He is responsible for my interest in physics. I would read a physics book, which would become the subject of our next dinner conversation (while our wives talked about other, more social topics). Instead of a compilation of facts, physics became a way of thinking about problem solving. The “unified field” theory was the start of my new thinking