When the COVID-19 pandemic drove schools online in March 2020, state education leaders were left without access to data needed to understand how best to support students. The pandemic revealed the strengths and limitations of state education data systems while inspiring new strategies for collecting, reporting and using data. In 2021, DataSmith…

Our project is motivated by the early dropout and low completion rate problem in MOOCs. We have extended traditional features for MOOC analysis with richer and higher granularity information to make more accurate predictions of dropout and performance. The results show that finer-grained temporal information increases the predictive power in the…

State longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) have created more opportunities than ever before for rigorous research to influence education policy decisions. As state practitioners who play central roles in building and using our states' longitudinal data systems, we are excited about their promise for supporting policymaking and research. Yet, we also…

Districts across the country are facing severe shortages of teachers--especially in certain subjects (math, science, special education, career and technical education, and bilingual education) and in specific schools (urban, rural, high-poverty, high-minority, and low-achieving). The severity of the teacher shortage problem varies significantly by…

In this paper, the authors explore the use of learning analytics as a method for easing the cognitive demands on teachers implementing the HALF instructional model. Learning analytics has been defined as "the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts for the purposes of understanding and…

As a research and technical assistance organization, CNA Education would be the last to deny the importance of good data and the first to applaud efforts to improve the quality and scope of the data available. Solid data are critical to CNA's mission to further general understanding of the efficacy of specific education reform initiatives and to…

The focus on the achievement gap and growing debate about No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization have sparked increased recognition that schools alone cannot meet the learning needs of American children. There is growing interest at all levels in identifying non-school supports and opportunities that both complement learning in schools and…

The purpose of the final project report is to communicate the results of research. This document serves as a guide to the preparation of final reports on research in vocational-technical education. Close cooperation between the principal investigator and Research Coordinating Unit (RCU) staff assigned to the project can resolve many report writing…

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes toward collective bargaining of teachers, principals, central office staff, and superintendents employed by Tennessee's public school systems. A 10-item opinionnaire was completed by personnel in 160 Tennessee schools. The results of this attitude questionnaire indicated that, as a whole,…

This report of an exploratory study of Adult Basic Education (ABE) gives a brief summary of background and methodology and represents findings about students and teachers in Shelby County, Tennessee. For the students 41 findings are reported relating to age, sex, race, marital status, years of schooling completed, employment, income, life style,…

Article reanalyzes and expands upon data from Tennessee's Project STAR which examined the effects of class size reduction on student achievement in the primary grades. It describes six competing theories of class size impact on achievement and test performance, settling on the student group/modeling interpretation of study data. (SM)

The objectives of the study were: to survey the 1970 through 1973 graduates of the Springfield High School Vocational Office Education program to determine the specific tasks they performed on their jobs, the skills and knowledges required, and the education and training needed; to survey employers of these graduates for the purpose of identifying…

The study measured the value orientations of school administrators, secondary teachers, teachers in traditional elementary schools, and teachers in innovative elementary schools in Southern Appalachia, along a continuum from Traditional to Emergent, using Differential Values Inventory (DVI) as the source of differentiation. The total…

Three teams of teachers and administrators from three adult basic education programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia participated in a 2-year action research project that focused on developing approaches that local programs can use to document the outcomes of student participation in adult education programs. Facilitators helped the teams…

This issue of "EFF Voice" focuses on current research and development efforts to create an assessment framework for the Equipped for the Future (EFF) Content Standards. As in all earlier phases of EFF R&D, this work engages practitioners in the field, as well as researchers and other technical advisors, as partners in the development…