From Policy to Practice: Implementation of the Legislative Objectives of Charter Schools

Key legislative objectives of charter schools are to provide more school and classroom options, increase teacher influence over decision making, and increase school autonomy from state and district policy. Using national data from the 2003–4 School and Staffing Survey, we found that charter schools attained these legislative objectives when compared with regular schools, although increases in teacher influence and school autonomy were modest. Although charter schools have been implemented much as intended by legislation, other research has shown that charter schools in general have not improved student achievement—a major objective of charter school legislation. Our results suggest that this cannot be attributed to a failure to implement the charter school concept with respect to the legislative objectives examined

The Classroom Engagement Scale: Validity Evidence and Implications for Use

This research brief describes the validation of the Classroom Engagement Scale for use in kindergarten based on it current full-scale use in the School District of Philadelphia. It provides the foundation for more meaningful use of the scale by parents and teachers as they work to build social-emotional competencies in kindergarten students.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennchild_briefs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Using Integrated Data to Understand Early Childhood Risks and Access to Quality Early Childhood Education

These slides were presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Antonio, Texas. The session was titled Data-Driven Decision Making: Not the Usual Contexts.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennchild_presentations/1000/thumbnail.jp

A Comprehensive Examination of the School District of Philadelphia’s Kindergarten Classroom Engagement Scale (CES): Validation Report

The Penn Child Research Center and School District of Philadelphia (SDP) have partnered to foster the classroom engagement skills of students entering public school kindergarten. To do so, a three-phase, evidence-based, plan was developed. The first phase was to establish the scientific validity and reliability of the District’s measure of classroom engagement currently used at-scale with all kindergarteners–the Classroom Engagement Scale (CES). This measure consists of 14 items and it appears on the kindergarten report card which is sent home quarterly. This report contains the findings from the validation study.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennchild_reports/1000/thumbnail.jp

The Use of Integrated Data to Inform Quality Pre-K Expansion in Philadelphia

This research brief describes how integrated administrative data from the City of Philadelphia\u27s CARES data system were used to inform the expansion of pre-k services in the City of Philadelphia. It provides a model for other states and municipalities seeking to use integrated data to inform policy-making, particularly for young children and their families.https://repository.upenn.edu/pennchild_briefs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Problems in Classroom Engagement: Validation of an Assessment for District-wide use in the Early Primary Grades

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to provide an initial investigation into the psychometric properties of the Problems in Classroom Engagement Scale (PCES). The PCES was designed and tested for district-wide use as part of the report card system for a large urban school district. The PCES was administered to all first, second, and third grade students in the district. Factor analytic examination revealed a bifactor structure as the best fit to the data. The bifactor structure reflected a general factor of Problems in Behavioral Engagement and two key group factors: Problems in Social Engagement and Problems in Academic Engagement. These factors were found to be reliable within and across grades and demonstrated convergent and divergent relations with academic and behavioral outcomes. Practice or Policy: Findings provide initial evidence to support the routine use of PCES in a large, urban setting. As such, use of the PCES can help in fostering district-wide attention to students’ early behavioral, social, and academic engagement difficulties

An Inquiry into Pennsylvania’s Keystone STARS: Research Report

A team from the University of Pennsylvania was funded by the William Penn Foundation to conduct an inquiry of Keystone STARS. The goal of this inquiry was to provide a broad look at Keystone STARS to inform future revisions and evaluation of the system as part of Pennsylvania’s Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant (2013-2018). The inquiry focused on providing an overarching look at Keystone STARS with respect to three major areas and presents a detailed review of the data and findings for each of the three aspects: Child outcomes: examining the relations between Keystone STARS and children’s overall developmental competencies. Quality components: investigating the extent of evidence from theory, empirical research, and practitioner expertise linking each of the Keystone STARS quality components to child outcomes. Systems approach to rating quality and guiding improvements: examining overall features of the system that could be improved to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. The authors conclude with an overview of the lessons learned and point to promising areas of reform for improving Keystone STARS for the children of Pennsylvania

The psychometric quality of the Preschool Child Observation Record: Does it pass the test for use in Head Start?

At school entry, children from economically disadvantaged households significantly lag behind children from families with higher socioeconomic status in various areas of learning and development (Karoly, Kilburn, & Cannon, 2005). Longitudinal studies have found that these disparities in school readiness are not only enduring, but that they may also expand over time (Karoly et al., 2005). The National Head Start program is central to the federal government\u27s response to the impact of poverty on school readiness. Key to the effectiveness of this response is the use of high-quality assessments to guide early childhood education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric quality of the second-most widely-used assessment in Head Start—the Preschool Child Observation Record (COR-2). Despite its widespread use, there are no published studies on the psychometric quality of the COR-2. This research conducted a comprehensive investigation into the validity of the COR-2 using data from all children in an urban Mid-Atlantic school district\u27s Head Start program. Confirmatory factor analysis did not confirm the fit of the developer-defined six categories to the data. Although exploratory analyses revealed a four-factor solution, subsequent analyses did not support its internal structure. The four factors were highly correlated and when transformed to an orthogonalized higher-order model these factors accounted for little variance compared to the second-order factor. In addition, IRT modeling was used to determine whether there was empirical support for the 5-point response scale of each item representing an appropriately sequenced and comparably-spaced set of skill points. Results revealed that nearly half of the COR-2 items had reversed or poorly-spaced thresholds indicating problems with these items\u27 functioning. Validity evidence based on the content and response process derived from printed materials and interviews identified where the COR-2 is in its development and point to opportunities for future research

Problems in Classroom Engagement: Validation of an Assessment for District-wide use in the Early Primary Grades

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to provide an initial investigation into the psychometric properties of the Problems in Classroom Engagement Scale (PCES). The PCES was designed and tested for district-wide use as part of the report card system for a large urban school district. The PCES was administered to all first, second, and third grade students in the district. Factor analytic examination revealed a bifactor structure as the best fit to the data. The bifactor structure reflected a general factor of Problems in Behavioral Engagement and two key group factors: Problems in Social Engagement and Problems in Academic Engagement. These factors were found to be reliable within and across grades and demonstrated convergent and divergent relations with academic and behavioral outcomes. Practice or Policy: Findings provide initial evidence to support the routine use of PCES in a large, urban setting. As such, use of the PCES can help in fostering district-wide attention to students’ early behavioral, social, and academic engagement difficulties