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Curriculum
The Prevalence and Policy Implications of Between-School Heterogeneity in Learning Outcomes: Evidence from Six Public Education Systems
Topics: Student LearningWhile learning outcomes in low- and middle-income countries are generally at low levels, the degree to which students and schools more broadly within education systems lag behind grade-level proficiency can vary significantly. A substantial portion of existing literature advocates for aligning… more →
From Retributive to Restorative: An Alternative Approach to Justice in Schools
Topics: Student Well-BeingTags: Absenteeism, Counseling, Culturally responsive schooling, Curriculum, Elementary schools, High schools, Human capital, Juvenile justice, Learning environments, School climate and culture, School districts, School reform, Social and emotional learning, Student discipline, Student well-beingSchool districts historically approached conflict-resolution from the perspective that suspending disruptive students was necessary to protect their classmates, even if this caused harm to perceived offenders. Restorative practices (RP) – focused on reparation, accountability, and shared… more →
Improving elementary school students’ reading comprehension through content-rich literacy curriculum: The effect of structured read-aloud supplements on measures of reading comprehension transfer
Topics: Student LearningThis study contributes to the science of teaching reading by illustrating how a ubiquitous classroom practice – read alouds – can be enhanced by fostering teacher language practices that support students’ ability to read for understanding. This experimental study examines whether and to what… more →
Who Wants To Say “Gay?” Public Opinion About LGBT Issues in the Curriculum
Morgan Polikoff, Michael Fienberg, Daniel Silver, Marshall Garland, Anna R. Saavedra, Amie Rapaport.Topics: Families and CommunitiesTags: LGBTQIA+ students, CurriculumPublic schools are currently a source of major political conflict, specifically with regard to issues related to LGBT representation in the curriculum. We report on a large nationally representative survey of American households focusing on their views on what LGBT topics are and should be… more →
A Kindergarten Lottery Evaluation of Core Knowledge Charter Schools: Should Building General Knowledge Have a Central Role in Educational and Social Science Research and Policy?
David Grissmer, Thomas White, Richard Buddin, Mark Berends, Daniel Willingham, Jamie DeCoster, Chelsea Duran, Chris Hulleman, William Murrah, Tanya Evans.Tags: Charter schools, CurriculumThe Core Knowledge curriculum is a K-8 curriculum focused on building students General Knowledge about the world they live in that is hypothesized to increase reading comprehension and Reading/English-LA achievement. This study utilizes an experimental design to evaluate the long term effects of… more →
They Only Hate the Term: Explaining Opposition to History Curriculum Policy and Critical Race Theory
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceThe George Floyd Protests of the Summer of 2020 initiated public conversations around the need for antiracist teaching. Yet, over time the discussion evolved into policy debates around the use of Critical Race Theory in civics courses. The rapid transition masked the fact that we know little… more →
Evolution vs. Creationism in the Classroom: The Lasting Effects of Science Education
Tags: Science education, CurriculumAnti-scientific attitudes can impose substantial costs on societies. Can schools be an important agent in mitigating the propagation of such attitudes? This paper investigates the effect of the content of science education on anti-scientific attitudes, knowledge, and choices. The analysis… more →
What we teach about race and gender: Representation in images and text of children’s books
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceBooks shape how children learn about society and norms, in part through representation of different characters. We introduce new artificial intelligence methods for systematically converting images into data and apply them, along with text analysis methods, to measure the representation of skin… more →
Teacher Policy and Racial/Ethnic Gaps in Access to Advanced Coursework: Evidence from Across the United States
Advanced course-taking in high school sends an important signal to college admissions officers, helps reduce the cost and time to complete a post-secondary degree, and increases educational attainment and future earnings. However, Black and Hispanic students in the U.S. are underrepresented in… more →
Using Implementation Fidelity to Aid in Interpreting Program Impacts: A Brief Review
Topics: MethodsTags: Assessment, CurriculumPoor program implementation constitutes one explanation for null results in trials of educational interventions. For this reason, researchers often collect data about implementation fidelity when conducting such trials. In this article, we document whether and how researchers report and measure… more →
The effects of English language development curriculum materials on students’ English proficiency
Tags: Multilingual learners, CurriculumCastañeda v. Pickard (1981) mandated that educational programs for emergent bilinguals be tested for program efficacy. Since English language development (ELD) curricular materials are one part of an instructional program, we assess this mandate by examining the effectiveness of ELD materials in… more →
The Formalized Processes Districts Use to Evaluate Mathematics Textbooks
Morgan Polikoff, Shauna E. Campbell, Cory Koedel, Quynh Tien Le, Tenice Hardaway, Hovanes Gasparian.Tags: Curriculum, Mathematics educationTextbooks are a widely used educational intervention that can affect student achievement, and the marginal cost of choosing a more effective textbook is typically small. However, we know little about how textbooks get from the publisher to the classroom. We use a lens of institutional theory and… more →
Strengthening the Research Base that Informs STEM Instructional Improvement Efforts: A Meta-Analysis
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentWe present results from a meta-analysis of 95 experimental and quasi-experimental preK-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional development and curriculum programs, seeking to understand what content, activities and formats relate to stronger student outcomes.… more →