December 2021 Report: Examining the Continued Impact of the Pandemic on Student Achievement in GVSU Charter Schools

In March 2021, Basis Policy Research (Basis) released a report examining the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures on student achievement in Grand Valley State University (GVSU) charter schools. Findings revealed adverse effects from the pandemic were concentrated in math; achievement in fall 2020 was between 2 to 12 percentile points lower than the previous fall, with differences in math achievement greater in grades three through five. Basis researchers also found that students made gains in both math and reading; however, math growth was lower since the onset of the pandemic as compared to a typical year. This report continues the ongoing GVSU research agenda examining the impact of the pandemic on student achievement in GVSU charter schools. Here, Basis researchers examines math and reading one full academic year since the onset of the pandemic. In this report, we analyze trends in math and reading achievement in 2020-21 and examine how achievement amid the pandemic compares to prior years. We also explore how overall achievement differs across student groups (i.e., race/ethnicity, grade-level) where possible. Findings from this report intend to provide GVSU, district, and school leaders with insights to support teaching and learning

January 2022 Report: Examining Teachers’ Perceptions of School Working Conditions: Analysis of Fall 2021 School Operations Survey

In November 2021, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Charter School Office (CSO) partnered with Basis Policy Research (Basis) to administer the annual School Operations Survey. The survey solicits teachers’ perceptions on school culture and climate, school leadership, faculty commitment and responsibility, school resources and time use, and parent/guardian engagement. This research brief examines results from select GVSU schools meeting reporting requirements

March 2021 Report: Examining the Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Student Achievement in GVSU Charter Schools

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged traditional forms of teaching and learning and placed immeasurable stress on the public education system. It is imperative districts and schools understand how the pandemic impacted students’ learning and progress to help inform both policy and practice moving forward. This report provides insights into how the pandemic impacted student achievement and growth in GVSU schools at the onset of the 2020-21 school year

February 2021 Report: Examining Teachers’ Perceptions of School Working Conditions: Analysis of GVSU School Operations Survey

In January 2021, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Charter School Office (CSO) partnered with Basis Policy Research (Basis) to develop and administer a School Operations survey. The survey solicits’ teachers’ perceptions on school culture and climate, school leadership, faculty commitment and responsibility, school resources and time use, and parent/guardian engagement. This research brief examines results from select GVSU schools meeting reporting requirement

Multi-spacecraft observations of the structure of the sheath of an interplanetary coronal mass ejection and related energetic ion enhancement

Context. Sheath regions ahead of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large-scale heliospheric structures that form gradually with CME expansion and propagation from the Sun. Turbulent and compressed sheaths could contribute to the acceleration of charged particles in the corona and in interplanetary space, but the relation of their internal structure to the particle energization process is still a relatively little studied subject. In particular, the role of sheaths in accelerating particles when the shock Mach number is low is a significant open research problem. Aims. This work seeks to provide new insights on the internal structure of CME-driven sheaths with regard to energetic particle enhancements. A good opportunity to achieve this aim was provided by multi-point, in-situ observations of a sheath region made by radially aligned spacecraft at 0.8 and similar to 1 AU (Solar Orbiter, the L1 spacecraft Wind and ACE, and BepiColombo) on April 19-21, 2020. The sheath was preceded by a weak and slowly propagating fast-mode shock. Methods. We apply a range of analysis techniques to in situ magnetic field, plasma and particle observations. The study focuses on smaller scale sheath structures and magnetic field fluctuations that coincide with energetic ion enhancements. Results. Energetic ion enhancements were identified in the sheath, but at different locations within the sheath structure at Solar Orbiter and L1. Magnetic fluctuation amplitudes at inertial-range scales increased in the sheath relative to the solar wind upstream of the shock, as is typically observed. However, when normalised to the local mean field, fluctuation amplitudes did not increase significantly; magnetic compressibility of fluctuation also did not increase within the sheath. Various substructures were found to be embedded within the sheath at the different spacecraft, including multiple heliospheric current sheet (HCS) crossings and a small-scale flux rope. At L1, the ion flux enhancement was associated with the HCS crossings, while at Solar Orbiter, the ion enhancement occurred within a compressed, small-scale flux rope. Conclusions. Several internal smaller-scale substructures and clear difference in their occurrence and properties between the used spacecraft was identified within the analyzed CME-driven sheath. These substructures are favourable locations for the energization of charged particles in interplanetary space. In particular, substructures that are swept from the upstream solar wind and compressed into the sheath can act as effective acceleration sites. A possible acceleration mechanism is betatron acceleration associated with a small-scale flux rope and warped HCS compressed in the sheath, while the contribution of shock acceleration to the latter cannot be excluded.Peer reviewe

Driver Behavior in Traffic

DTFH61-09-H-00007Existing traffic analysis and management tools do not model the ability of drivers to recognize their environment and respond to it with behaviors that vary according to the encountered driving situation. The small body of literature on characterizing drivers behavior is typically limited to specific locations (i.e., by collecting data on specific intersections or freeway sections) and is very narrow in scope. This report documented the research performed to model driver behavior in traffic under naturalistic driving data. The research resulted in the development of hybrid car-following model. In addition, a neuro-fuzzy reinforcement learning, an agent-based artificial intelligence machine-learning technique, was used to model driving behavior. The naturalistic driving database was used to train and validate driver agents. The proposed methodology simulated events from different drivers and proved behavior heterogeneities. Robust agent activation techniques were also developed using discriminant analysis. The developed agents were implemented in VISSIM simulation platform and were evaluated by comparing the behavior of vehicles with and without agent activation. The results showed very close resemblance of the behavior of agents and driver data. Prototype agents prototype (spreadsheets and codes) were developed. Future research recommendations include training agents using more data to cover a wider region in the Wiedemann regime space, and sensitivity analysis of agent training parameters

A 1995 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) For Zambia

This paper documents the construction of the 1995 Social Accounting Matrix for Zambia (ZAMSAM). The SAM incorporates economy-wide data in a consistent framework and provides the benchmark data for the analysis under the MERRISA project. Data sources include national accounts data, government budgets, balance of payments statistics, trade data, household surveys, and farm budgets. The SAM construction can be divided into three steps: First, a highly aggregated SAM (macro SAM) is constructed. It represents the macroeconomic framework of the Zambian economy. Second, the macro SAM is disaggregated into a micro SAM with the macro SAM entries serving as control totals for various sub-matrices of the micro SAM. Due to data insufficiencies, the first micro SAM obtained from raw data is highly unbalanced. Thus, in a third step and after some prior adjustments, a cross-entropy approach is applied to balance the first micro SAM and generate the final estimated SAM. The result is a consistent and balanced SAM for Zambia in 1995 that comprises 28 activities, 27 commodities, 6 factors of production (4 labor categories, 1 capital, and 1 land account), 4 household types, and one account each for enterprises, government, rest-of-the-world, and investment/savings. Special features of the Zambian micro SAM include its focus on agriculture (13 agricultural commodities), the consideration of non-monetary, own household consumption, and the separation of marketing margins on domestic products, exports, and imports

Examining How Early Career Teachers’ Experiences in GVSU Schools Inform Future Plans

Studies have suggested that between 20 to 40 percent of teachers leave the profession in their first five years (Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 2003; Gray & Taie, 2015; Ingersoll 2003). Turnover tends to be higher in urban districts and schools serving students from historically marginalized communities. Increased teacher turnover is particularly problematic given the growing evidence that attrition harms schools, teachers, and students (Boyd, Lankford, Loeb, & Wyckoff, 2005; Ronfeldt, Loeb, and Wyckoff, 2013). The pandemic could intensify this problem given that the number of teachers reporting frequent job-related stress, symptoms of depression, and interest in careers outside of education have increased in recent years (Steiner and Woo, 2021). Given the (a) high rates of early career teacher turnover, (b) increased likelihood of attrition amid the pandemic, and (c) harmful effect of turnover on student achievement, it is important to gauge early career teachers’ future career plans and consider how professional supports offered in the first five years might influence these teachers to remain in the classroom. The Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Charter School Office (CSO) has partnered with Basis Policy Research to survey early career teachers working across 76 authorized schools to better understand their professional experiences and how these inform career decisions. Insights from this report will help the CSO provide tailored support to schools that better meet the needs of teachers most likely to leave profession