Direct determination of the spin structure of Nd2_2Ir2_2O7_7 by means of neutron diffraction

We report on the spin structure of the pyrochlore iridate Nd$_2$Ir$_2$O$_7$ that could be directly determined by means of powder neutron diffraction. Our magnetic structure refinement unravels a so-called all-in/all-out magnetic structure that appears in both, the Nd and the Ir sublattice. The ordered magnetic moments at 1.8 K amount to 0.34(1) $\mu_\mathrm{B}$/Ir$^{4+}$ and 1.27(1) $\mu_\mathrm{B}$/Nd$^{3+}$. The Nd$^{3+}$ moment size at 1.8 K is smaller than that expected for the Nd$^{3+}$ ground state doublet. On the other hand, the size of the ordered moments of the Ir$^{4+}$ ions at 1.8 K agrees very well with the value expected for a $J_\mathrm{eff}$ = 1/2 state based on the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling in this system. Finally, our measurements reveal a parallel alignment of the Nd$^{3+}$ moments with the net moment of its six nearest neighboring Ir$^{4+}$ ions.Comment: http://journals.aps.org/prb/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.16110

2017 Pulaski County Education Report Card

There are many things that contribute to a ‘good’ school, but we believe student academic growth is perhaps the most meaningful measure of school performance or school effectiveness. Many Pulaski County schools had high growth at one or two school levels, and there is evidence of variation in growth rates between schools within the same districts. We recommend district and school leaders examine where their students are not demonstrating high growth, examine high growth schools to see what those schools are doing differently, and consider how they can further support learning for their students

Presidential Candidates on K-12 Education

Every four years, our presidential candidates work hard to convince us that they have the best plan to keep us safe, prosperous, and well-educated. While economic challenges have recently taken center stage in the presidential election, education is still a critically important issue to OEP and its constituents. Here, we provide a summary of the views of each candidate on key issues and hope that this information is useful to our readers. In this brief, the OEP does not endorse one candidate over the other. Indeed, there is much to like in each candidate’s platform

School Discipline in Arkansas

This brief examines school discipline practices and outcomes in Arkansas. Using data publicly available from the Arkansas Department of Education, we examine state-wide discipline trends, summarize the analysis on school-level data demonstrating disparities in student discipline, and make recommendations for utilizing this information

Updated Analysis of Racial Segregation in Pulaski County Charter and Traditional Public Schools

In September of 2009, the Office for Education Policy (OEP) released a report titled “An Analysis of Charter Schools on Desegregation Efforts in Little Rock, Arkansas.” In this report, we presented data from the 2005 to 2009 schools years for students who transferred to open-enrollment charter schools in Pulaski County from the Little Rock School District (LRSD). The aim of this report was to show what impacts – if any – these transfers were having on the desegregation efforts of the LRSD. The motivation for this report was an ongoing legal debate about how charter schools impact desegregation, in which critics of charter schools argued that these schools lead to greater segregation, whereas charter proponents suggested that there was no necessary link between charters and segregation

The Value of Value-Added Measures

The concept of value-added measures of teacher or school effectiveness is prompting a great deal of discussion in K-12 Education policy circles. This debate reached a boiling point last year when the Los Angeles Times published a database of the value-added scores for all teachers in the nation\u27s second largest school district. Proponents argue value-added measures provide important information on school and teacher effectiveness. Opponents argue value-added measures are imprecise instruments which measure student background instead of teacher or school quality. The purpose of this policy brief is to provide the reader with a general understanding of the concept of a valueadded measure as well as the potential benefits and perils of more widespread use of such value-added measure

Big Changes in How Students are Tested

For the past decade, school accountability has relied on tests for which the essential format has remained unchanged. Educators are familiar with the yearly testing routine: schools are given curriculum frameworks, teachers use the frameworks to guide instruction, students take one big test at year’s end which relies heavily upon multiple-choice bubble items, and then school leaders wait anxiously to find out whether enough of their students scored at or above proficiency to meet state standards. All this will change with the adoption of Common Core standards. Testing and accountability aren’t going away. Instead, they are developing and expanding in ways that aim to address many of the present shortcomings of state testing routines. Most importantly, these new tests will be computer-based. As such, they will potentially shorten testing time, increase tests’ precision, and provide immediate feedback to students and teachers

Education Week’s Report on Arkansas

As schools open their doors for the spring 2005 semester, many legislatures around the nation are meeting to discuss accountability standards, equity and adequacy issues, and the link between money and student performance. While the education issues of 2005 are not unique, in that they have been discussed for years, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) deadline for schools to begin performing at higher standards increases the urgency. In addition to the increased standards, state policymakers are facing difficult legal challenges to their school funding systems. In an attempt to gauge the status of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 with its annual Quality Counts series, one of several national reports issued each year by various education organizations. Education Week’s report cards grade each state on student achievement, standards and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality, school climate, resource equity, and resource adequacy. Throughout the nine year history, each year’s report includes a special focus. For example, in 1998, the focus was on urban schools, and, in 2004, the focus was on Special Education. The latest report was released early January 2005, entitled Quality Counts 2005: No Small Change, Targeting Money Toward Student Performance. This brief summarizes Arkansas’ position on the 2005 report, compares Arkansas to its border states on each measure, and illustrates Arkansas’ changes over time

Integration in the Little Rock Area, Part 3: Where do Students Move?

School integration has been a contentious policy issue in Little Rock since the 1950s. Recent charter expansions have raised questions about the current level of integration in public schools (charter and traditional) in the Little Rock Area. As part of our series on integration in Little Rock, this brief examines the differences in school-level demographics and academics between the schools students leave and the schools these students ente