Neighboring School Districts Research Articles

Are WIDA Test Results Appropriately Reflecting Multilingual Learners’ Language Skills According to ESOL Teachers’ Experiences?

Within the field of multilingual learner (ML) education, ESOL teachers’ voices are often overlooked and underrepresented despite their integral role in developing productive and knowledgeable future citizens. This study sheds light on the experiences of ESOL teachers that administer the federally mandated annual standardized testing created by World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA). It uses focus-group interviews to gather qualitative data from two neighboring school districts in order to gain insight into the WIDA assessments’ reflection of language proficiency. WIDA testing evaluates English language development by measuring academic and social language skills within the four language domains: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. MLs without severe, classified disabilities in grades K-12 participate annually in the Assessing Comprehension and Communication of English State-to-State (ACCESS) assessment by WIDA. Results place students into proficiency categories ranging from entering (a student new to English) to bridging (a near-fluent ML), as defined by the WIDA language proficiency standards. The interviews allowed the ESOL teachers to share their experiences with MLs’ classroom performances in the four testing domains compared to their performances on the online WIDA assessments. The interview data was analyzed and categorized into three main themes based on teacher responses: assessment preparation techniques, common perceptions of the assessment, and proposed changes to improve the assessment. Each of these themes, with their local and national implications, are discussed as they affect the nature of ESOL instruction and assessment.

Impact of an Elementary School-Based Wellness Initiative on Child Obesity Prevalence: LiveWell Kids.

Despite major public health investments over the past several decades, little progress has been made in reducing the prevalence of obesity among school-aged children in the United States. In 2007, the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) and the Beach Cities Health District launched a wellness initiative, LiveWell Kids, that included multi-level interventions to improve nutrition and increase physical activity. The initiative also included annual measurements of height and weight among all kindergartners and first, third, and fifth graders in the eight elementary schools in the RBUSD. To assess trends in obesity prevalence, we analyzed height and weight data collected during the 2008 to 2009 to 2018 to 2019 school years. To more fully assess the impact of the initiative, we conducted a least-squares regression difference-in-differences analysis of data from the California Physical Fitness Testing Program on measured height and weight among fifth graders from the RBUSD, three neighboring school districts, and Los Angeles County overall. Among elementary school students in the RBUSD, obesity prevalence decreased from 13.9% in 2008 to 2009 to 6.4% in 2018 to 2019. Significant declines in prevalence were observed in all eight elementary schools, and across all grade levels and demographic groups. Among fifth graders, a similar decline in obesity prevalence was not observed in the other school districts or the county overall. The findings suggest that interventions that adhere to the socio-ecologic model and engage students, parents, and school personnel at all levels while also addressing school and community environments may reduce obesity prevalence among elementary school-aged children.

Recruiting and retaining school psychologists: The experiences of district level administrative supervisors

AbstractA shortage of school psychologists has been evident since the profession was initially recognized as a distinct field, and there is insufficient research on what current administrative supervisors are doing to address this problem. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of district level administrative supervisors regarding recruitment and retention of school psychologists. Participants reported the following: (a) school psychology graduate programs do not producing enough school psychologists, (b) administrators are challenged to find enough school psychologists to hire, (c) neighboring school districts compete to hire candidates, and (d) administrators recruit and retain in a worker's market that favors the school psychologist. These administrative supervisors also communicated a sense that they had little influence over the shortage. Actions within the administrators' control included developing close relationships with graduate programs for successful recruiting, creating appealing workloads that matched salaries, being responsive to the needs of their current school psychologists, and offering job flexibility.

The Effects of Tulsa's Pre‐K Program on Middle School Student Performance

AbstractAs states have upgraded their commitment to pre‐K education over the past two decades, questions have arisen. Critics argue that program effects are likely to fade out or disappear over time, while supporters contend that program effects are likely to persist under certain conditions. Using data from Tulsa Public Schools, three neighboring school districts, and the state of Oklahoma, and propensity score weighting, we estimate the effects of Tulsa's universal, school‐based pre‐K program on multiple measures of academic progress for middle school students. We find enduring effects on math achievement test scores, enrollment in honors courses, and grade retention for students as a whole, and similar effects for certain subgroups. We conclude that some positive effects of a high‐quality pre‐K program are discernible as late as middle school.

A spatial model of school district open enrollment choice

We provide an analysis of the determinants of adoption of inter-district open enrollment policies by school districts in Ohio. Legislation passed in 1997 allows Ohio's school districts to adopt one of the following open enrollment options: 1) prohibit enrollment of students from any other school district in the state (no open enrollment), 2) permit enrollment of students from adjacent school districts, or 3) permit enrollment of students from any school district in the state. We employ a recently developed spatial autoregressive lag multinomial logit model to examine the determinants of adoption of each open enrollment alternative. Among the most influential factors are school districts' demographic characteristics, financial factors, and competitive environment. More importantly, the results show evidence of strategic interaction, with a positive correlation in policy choice between neighboring school districts of about 0.4.

Explanatory Factors for the Uneven Implementation of Charter School Policy

Charter schools are regarded as the fastest growing and most impressive innovative institution in public education in Colorado. However, a charter school policy has been unevenly implemented across Colorado school districts. This study aims to clarify what conditions lead to this uneven implementation. To examine the efforts of Colorado school districts to innovate within the conventional public school system, it analyzes several hypotheses based on the diffusion model and socioeconomic factors with an ordinary least squares regression model. Statistical analysis demonstrates that three predictor variables-diffusion, educational level, and alternative innovation-positively influence the social phenomenon that each Colorado school district shows different efforts in the implementation of charter school policy. Among them, the number of alternative schools is the strongest regressor, and the existence of neighboring school districts with charter schools is the second strongest regressor that exerts powerful effects to account for the wide variance in the implementation of Colorado school districts` charter school policy.

THE IMPACT OF ETHNIC HETEROGENEITY ON EDUCATION SPENDING: A SPATIAL ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF UNITED STATES SCHOOL DISTRICTS

In the public finance literature it is well understood that a community's spending can be affected by neighboring communities’ spending. It is relatively straightforward to see why these spillovers exist. For example, if a school district increases its spending on public education, this could affect the spending level of neighboring school districts. This paper uses spatial analysis to test the hypothesis that a school district's ethnic heterogeneity affects support for public education. Using a Spatial Lag Model and a national panel of U.S. school districts, I find that spatial dependence does exist in the data and that ethnic heterogeneity is negatively related to school district spending.

A Comparison of Spatial Statistical Methods in a School Finance Policy Context

A shortcoming of the conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) approaches for estimating median voter models of education demand is the inability to more fully explain the spatial relationships between neighboring school districts. Consequently, two school districts that appear to be descriptively similar in terms of conventional measures of taste, tax price, and income—but which are located in different geographical contexts—actually may spend at very different levels. In this article, the issue is addressed by employing a relatively recent spatial analytical method called Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), and a more common spatial modeling approach, spatial autoregression (SAR). This study uses 2000 and 2004 data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) along with the United States Census 2000 School District Special Tabulation, and analyzes each school district's educational spending and underlying wealth, income, and demographic data. Evidence from this study suggests that both GWR and SAR provide useful and different insights. Virtually all of the error related to spatial autocorrelation is eliminated in both SAR and GWR approaches. Further, key parameter estimates vary between the OLS and SAR specifications, and vary regionally in the GWR specification. The article concludes that there may be a place for the use of spatial statistics in education finance policy research.

Crossing the Barriers Between Preservice and Inservice Mathematics Teacher Education: An Evaluation of the Grant School Professional Development Program

A 2‐year school‐based mathematics professional development program is described and evaluated after its first year of implementation. Included in this program as its first course was a unique methods course in elementary education involving both preservice students and inservice teachers who cooperatively studied and applied reform pedagogy. The program resulted from the collaborative efforts of two institutions of higher education, a neighboring school district, the principal and teachers of one school within that district, and the state office of education. Evaluation of the first year of the program consisted of assessing the beliefs and perceptions of both preservice students and inservice teachers, along with an assessment of the mathematical achievement of the children within the classes of those teachers. Pre‐ and post‐assessments of the preservice students and inservice teachers' beliefs regarding reform pedagogy were administered using the IMAP [Integrating Mathematics and Pedagogy] Web‐Based Beliefs Survey (2006). Likert scale surveys were used to assess perceptions regarding course climate and participant relationships from both teacher groups. The mathematical achievement of children was assessed in three ways: The Wide Range Achievement Test‐3 (Stone, Jastak, & Wilkinson, 1995), the Utah state criterion‐referenced assessment, and performance assessments developed specifically for use at the school. Data obtained from all sources indicated positive effects upon teachers and children, thus providing substantial evidence in support of both the value of the methods course itself and the overall professional development program. An additional evaluation will be conducted following the second year of the program.

A River Town Goes Global

AS THE designated photographer for this special moment, I felt a lump rising in my throat as I watched the group of three arrange themselves on the bench in our high school courtyard. The trio included two tall, handsome, Chinese teenage boys and the president of our board of education, who appeared very tiny situated between them with their long arms across the back of the bench behind her. The boys had requested one final picture before they boarded the waiting bus after a two-week stay in Croton-on-Hudson, our small town on the banks of the Hudson River. As I adjusted the camera so the image was clear, I could see tears about to brim over in the board president's eyes as well. Once the picture was taken, she turned to the young men and said, Now, boys, don't forget to call me from Los Angeles so I know you're okay. Since that day, I have reflected a great deal on the past year and our district's experiences as a learning community. In the fall of the 2006-07 school year, an unexpected opportunity came our way when the Westchester County government asked if we wanted to send a delegation of professional staff to China to build relationships with educators there. This opportunity has had a major impact on our district and community, broadening our views, expanding our minds, and opening our hearts to new colleagues, students, and families. Over the next two years, Croton-Harmon School District sent separate delegations of staff and students to visit China and hosted similar visits by Chinese teachers and students. Through the forward thinking of Andy Spano, the county executive, and Daisy Yau, the director of Asian-American affairs and business development for the county, Westchester County had begun to forge business relationships with China. County leaders wanted to expand these initiatives to include education. Although the invitation to visit China came long after our budget process ended, the board of education recognized the potential of such a trip, and district staff and the district's educational foundation cooperated to cover transportation costs of flying four teachers, the high school principal, and me, the superintendent, to China. We also welcomed to our group a teacher of English as a second language who taught in a neighboring school district. The Chinese schools that we visited would be our hosts and cover the costs of our lodging, meals, and travel to cultural and educational points of interest. And so began an adventure that would impact our school community profoundly. Identifying teachers who would make the trip was the first challenge. High school staff learned about the invitation at their opening day meeting. Interested teachers were invited to apply with a written explanation of their interest and how the trip would impact their teaching. Brett Bowden, a social studies teacher contemplating such an experience, wrote: I suppose, I would fully realize what it's like to be a stranger in the Middle Kingdom ... and see firsthand the China we studied in textbooks. History, geography, culture, the changing free-market economy ... what an experience. I'd be able to describe the Great Wall from touch--and compare it to our Croton Dam. I'd walk the streets of Tiananmen Square and secretly wonder how the American Revolution might have been quashed had King George III put down the rebellion before the Sons of Liberty picked up momentum. I might enter a Wal-Mart store in China and see if Tom Friedman is right about globalization 3.0 and whether the world really is flat. And from art teacher Jennifer Moore, we received this: From the beginnings of paper making to the traditions of Chinese Shadow Theater, I try to give my students an idea of the diverse cultures we share around the globe. Exploring the landscapes so often seen in Chinese paintings, viewing the jade and ivory carvings in their traditional settings, and touring the architecture of temples and palaces will educate me on how to directly incorporate East Asian influence into my curriculum. …

From One Student to an Entire District

From One Student to an Entire District

Making Truth Less Subjective

SOMETIMES on days when I feel as though I've taken 20 difficult phone calls, I look back at my documentation and find it was really only five. Sometimes when teachers feel that the majority of their students have moved and been replaced by others, they later look at the numbers and find the turnover was only 15%. Sometimes principals feel as though they've spent many hours in classrooms, but when they begin documenting their observations, they've spent less than 5% of their time there. As Mark Twain said, man's private thought can never be a lie; what he thinks, is to him the truth, always.1 That's why having data available is so important. It can improve upon our personal perceptions. Admittedly, statistics can sometimes be skewed to tell whatever story their handlers want them to tell, but by and large, high-quality data allow us to step back from personal perceptions and embark on an analysis with an eye toward identifying the root cause of a problem, the worthlessness of one current solution, or the value of another. Take the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) in North Carolina, for example. Quality Matters 2004: A Wake Community Review of the Public's Schools is the latest edition of an annual review of WCPSS that seeks to inform the community by providing an independent analysis of the finances and operations of the system. (This publication is a separate entity from the mandated card produced by the district.) Business, civic, and community leaders have joined together as the School Finance Committee to evaluate the school system, its stewardship of taxpayer money, and the return on citizen investment it provides. Impact of Performance The committee spent more than nine months analyzing the spending and performance of the school system. Members were interested in economic impact, noting that a community's economic growth can be measured by identifying lost opportunities and recognizing positive achievement. So they looked at the impact of high school dropouts on Wake County's economy. Referencing the estimate that over a lifetime a high school graduate will earn $280,000 more than a high school dropout,2 they determined that the economic cost of dropouts in Wake County is staggering, and it repeats itself every year. By this measure, claims the report, the 791 ninth- through 12th-grade students in Wake County who dropped out of high school in 2002-03 surrendered approximately $221.5 million in lifetime earning potential. Advanced Placement Data Quality Matters 2004 recognizes that Wake County continues to surpass neighboring school districts in the percentage of students scoring 3 or higher, on a scale of 1 to 5, on Advanced Placement (AP) exams and that the number of AP exams taken has continued to climb, too. However, the committee claims, the analysis cannot stop here. As discussed in previous editions of Quality Matters, racial disparities in AP classrooms remain a problem. Whites and Asians are still overrepresented in AP classes in relation to their share of all 11th- and 12th-grade students, while blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented. In addition, the report claims that overall AP course participation in Wake County is rather low: less than 32% of Wake's juniors and seniors took AP classes in 2001-02, and only 19.7% took one or more AP exams. Though the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) may have a lower percentage of students scoring a 3 or higher on the exams, that district's participation is more than twice that of Wake County, with over 40% of CMS juniors and seniors taking one or more AP exams. The committee stresses that WCPSS must continue to investigate the reasons for these disparities (e.g., lack of sufficient guidance, cost of AP exams) and provide mechanisms for more high school students to enroll in AP courses. WCPSS' longstanding commitment to academic excellence, they say, requires nothing less. The committee also looked at how many and which teachers leave the district, finding it especially alarming that many teachers who leave are tenured (i. …

Fat-sugar see-saw in school lunches: impact of a low fat intervention

Purpose To determine the long-term effects of a low fat intervention on sugar content in school lunches Methods We calculated contributions of total sugars, 6 specific sugars, and selected nutrients in National School Lunch Program meals served in 56 former intervention, 20 randomly selected control schools that had participated 3 years before in a low fat intervention, and 12 additional schools from neighboring school districts that had never been exposed to the intervention, whose goal was the lowering of total fat to under 30% of calories and saturated fat to under 10% calories. Analysis of variance adjusted for region was used to compare treatment groups. Pearson partial correlations controlling for the effects of region and treatment group were used to assess the strength of sugar and fat relationships. Results Three years after the low fat intervention, former intervention, control and unexposed schools lunches were similar in mean total sugars (25% of calories), and “added” sugars (e.g. sucrose, glucose, galatose, and maltose) at 15% of calories; and differed only in their lactose content. As percent of calories from fat or saturated fat in lunches decreased, that from sugars increased. Lunches that met reduced saturated fat goals were significantly higher than those not meeting goals in percent of calories from sugars both in meals as offered (27.6 ± 0.3% vs. 26.2 ± 0.3 SE p = .004) and as served (26.5 ± 0.4 vs. 23.9 ± 0.4 p = .009). Lunches meeting reduced total fat goals were significantly higher only in percent of calories from sugars as served. Seventy-five percent of total sugar in lunches offered was from chocolate milk, fruit/fruit juices, and white milk. More “added” sugar came from high micronutrient foods, such as fruit, fruit juices, and chocolate milk than from desserts and entrees. Conclusion The existence of a fat-sugar “see-saw” makes it important to emphasize substitutions of fat and saturated fat with starches and fiber in school lunches.

Behavioral Manifestations of Adolescent School Relocation and Trauma

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine how students aged 12 to 18 reacted to joining with a neighboring school district after their high school was destroyed by a tornado. Relocated students were compared to a control group of students randomly selected from the school district they were joining. Seven measures were used to determine levels of adjustment. Results indicate that relocated students had significantly lower grades and that their parents identified them as having various behavior difficulties as the results of relocation.

Institutions, quality competition and public service provision: The case of public education

This paper contributes to the literature on integovernmental competition in two ways. First, the institutional setting within which public services are delivered is analyzed with respect to the impact on the quality of services provided. Previous studies have measured competition only in terms of governmental structure, ignoring the issue of service quality and the potential for differentiating local governmental jurisdictions along quality dimensions. Second, the outcome of competition is defined in terms of service quality. Previous studies generally have measured the outcome of competition by examining the fiscal effects of fragmentation and accountability through service costs or tax revenue impacts. School districts were used to empirically test quality competition. Student academic performance was modeled as a function of control variables and the degree of competition from neighboring school districts. Academic performance in public schools was positively associated with the performance of neighboring districts, although the effect was small. These findings, however, suggest that strategies to strengthen interjurisdictional competition may be useful in enhancing public service quality.

Quality competition and public schools: Further evidence

This paper contributes to the literature on competition in public schools. Borland and Howsen (1992) showed that the “market structure” of public schools affected academic performance. In this note, we consider the possibility that the performance of neighboring school districts could influence performance. Student academic performance was modeled as a function of control variables and competition from neighboring school districts. Academic performance of subject school districts was shown to be positively associated with the performance of neighboring districts but the effect was small. The findings confirm the Borland and Howsen implication that additional efforts to strengthen interjurisdictional competition may be useful.

Tips for Implementing a Student Assistance Program

Here's how two neighboring school districts combined resources to develop a program for at-risk students. The program proved successful and now operates countywide.

Two followup studies of former educable mentally retarded students from the Kansas Work-Study Project.

Two followup studies were conducted to investigate the postschool adjustment of educable mentally retarded subjects from the Kansas Work-Study Program and a comparison sample from neighboring school districts. The results indicated that most of these educable mentally retarded students would be employed in the competitive labor market without the benefits of a work study program. Students who had participated in the work study program, however, were graduated more often, held their jobs longer, and earned more money than did the students from the comparison group.