Common Core State Standards in Arkansas

In July 2010, the Arkansas Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC Assessment program. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) then created a strategic plan and a timeline for the implementation of the standards. The new standards were implemented in Arkansas K-2 classrooms this past school year, 2011-12. During this current school year, 2012-13, the standards are being implemented in grades 3-8

Arkansas’ ESEA Waiver Approval Update

On June 29th, 2012, the US Department of Education announced that it had approved Arkansas’s ESEA waiver request. On July 4th, the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) announced it had identified 48 Priority and 110 Focus schools. Priority and Focus schools are the new names for the two lowest-rated school performance categories; schools and districts in these categories are subject to ADE intervention. This policy brief explains the major differences between the accountability system under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the new revised system

Common Core State Standards in Arkansas

In July 2010, the Arkansas Board of Education adopted the Common Core State Standards and the PARCC Assessment program. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) then created a strategic plan and a timeline for the implementation of the standards. The new standards were implemented in Arkansas K-2 classrooms this past school year, 2011-12. During this current school year, 2012-13, the standards are being implemented in grades 3-8

The Academic Impacts of Attending a KIPP Charter School in Arkansas

KIPP Delta College Preparatory School (KIPP: DCPS), an open-enrollment charter school, opened in 2002 in Helena, Arkansas. Since its opening, KIPP: DCPS students have consistently outperformed their peers in the Helena/West Helena School district, and moreover, recent test scores suggest that white students and minority students are achieving at the same rate, essentially eliminating the achievement gap that persists between whites and minorities elsewhere in the state. In fact, KIPP\u27s achievement record was so influential that when Arkansas lawmakers instituted a cap on the number of open-enrollment charter schools in the state, they made an exception for KIPP, essentially allowing for an unlimited number of KIPP schools to operate in Arkansas. Yet, despite the national reputation of this charter school network that led lawmakers in Arkansas to exempt KIPP network from the charter school cap in the state, there has been no single evaluation of KIPP performance that compares KIPP students to traditional public school peers on matched observable academic and demographic variables present prior to the KIPP student\u27s eventual enrollment at the charter school. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate KIPP student academic performance to determine whether this policy has been a success. Further, the extent to which students enroll and then remain - or leave - KIPP (attrition) is also examined. In summary, with regard to student attrition and achievement at KIPP: DCPS as compared to their traditional public school (TPS) feeder district peers: * KIPP student attrition rates are statistically significantly higher than the set of academically and demographically matched peers from the TPS feeder districts, with the largest differences observed at the grade 5 to grade 6 transition year. However, when KIPP attrition is compared to the aggregated TPS attrition rates from grades 5 through 8, only the grade 5 to 6 transition year attrition rates are statistically significantly higher at KIPP. * Students who enroll in KIPP during grade 5 and spend at least one year in the charter school from grade 5 through grade 8 outperform their traditional public school peers on the Arkansas Benchmark Exams in math and literacy. * Of first time grade 5 KIPP entrants who are binned together by the number of years they stay in KIPP, only those students who remain enrolled through grade 8 show positive differences in math and literacy achievement as measured by the Arkansas Benchmark Exam when compared to their matched TPS peers. * A subset of first time grade 5 KIPP entrants that remained enrolled in the charter school through grade 8 outperformed their matched TPS peers on the Arkansas Benchmark Exams in math and literacy

Prevalence of a looming maladaptive style as a cognitive vulnerability to anxiety in rural populations

The present study attempted to find a global cognitive style among rural populations suggesting that threatening situations are seen as rapidly rising in risk, progressively worsening, or actively accelerating and speeding up. Participants completed a battery of anonymous questionnaires including a non-identifying demographics questionnaire and commonly used, published psychological assessments which measure anxiety, depression, worry, perception of negative life events, and looming vulnerability to anxiety. It was predicted that demographic variables, such as socioeconomic status, rural/non-rural status, and experience with natural disasters, will predict anxiety, which, in turn, would predict scores on the measures of anxiety, depression, and cognitive style. Exposure to natural disasters was found to vary significantly with scores on the measures of depression, anxiety, and negative life events. The results are generally consistent with previous research indicating a strong relationship between measures of depression, anxiety and worry with the looming maladaptive style

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting Top Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2009

Since our founding in 2003, the mission of the Office for Education Policy has been to look at pressing issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Every once in a while, however, we think it is okay to stray from issue analysis and simply share some good news! So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we merely aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight the top performing schools around the state in an annual AER entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards

Outstanding Educational Performance Awards: Highlighting High Achieving Arkansas Schools, 2010

So, in this Arkansas Education Report (AER) we aim to highlight excellent performance and give our congratulations. To that end, we are happy to highlight many high performing schools around the state in our now-annual AER entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards

Spotlights on Success: Traits and Strategies of Five High-Growth Schools in Arkansas

Successful schools are those which best educate the students, regardless of background. They are not those with students who come in well-educated but show only slight improvement, nor are they schools which use the disadvantage as an excuse for continued low levels of achievement. Instead, successful schools are those which advance the learning of all their children beyond what is expected