Category: Working Papers

Authors: Bill Clune, Jared Knowles July 2016, 15 pp. Abstract: Since 2012, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has maintained a statewide predictive analytics system providing schools with an early warning in middle grades of students at risk for not completing high school. This paper identifies national models of predictive analytics systems in education, …

Authors: Ross J. Benbow, Erika Vivyan April 2016, 40 pp. Abstract: Building on findings showing that undergraduate computer science continues to have the highest attrition rates proportionally for women within postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines — a phenomenon that defies basic social equity goals in a high-status field — this paper seeks to …

Authors: Ahyoung Alicia Kim, Akira Kondo, Mariana Castro March 2016, 22 pp. Abstract: Due to the increase in the number of preschool-aged dual language learners (DLLs), there is a need to understand their language development and how to better support them. Although DLLs’ language development has traditionally been studied from a structuralist perspective, few have …

Author: Aydin Bal December 2015, 35 pp. Abstract: This paper presents a framework for culturally responsive positive behavioral interventions and supports (CRPBIS). The CRPBIS framework aims to facilitate positive, supportive, inclusive and democratic school cultures through ecologically valid and sustainable systemic transformations led and owned by local stakeholders. This is the first framework that operationalizes …

Authors: Rich Halverson, Al Barnicle, Sarah Hackett, Tanushree Rawat, Julia Rutledge, Julie Kallio, Curt Mould, Janice Mertes December 2015, 30 pp. Abstract: Personalized learning places the interests and abilities of learners at the center of their education experience. Educators develop environments in which students and teachers build plans together to help learners achieve both interest-based …

Authors: Peter T. Goff, Gwendolyn S. Baxley October 2015, 30 pp. Abstract: The strategies and norms used to assign students to teachers have garnered national attention, as these assignment practices can exacerbate inequality. School leaders have substantial authority and influence over this assignment process, yet our knowledge of their role is limited. This paper examines …

Authors: Elizabeth L. Pier, Joshua Raclaw, Mitchell J. Nathan, Anna Kaatz, Molly Carnes, Cecilia E. Ford October 2015, 24 pp. Abstract: Grant peer review is a foundational component of scientific research. In the context of grant review meetings, the review process is a collaborative, socially mediated, locally constructed decision-making task. The current study examines how …

Authors: Peter Goff, Jason Salisbury, Mark Blitz October 2015, 30 pp. Abstract: Initiatives to increase leadership accountability coupled with efforts to promote data-driven leadership have led to widespread adoption of instruments to assess school leaders. In this paper, we present a decision matrix that practitioners and researchers can use to facilitate instrument selection. Our decision …

Authors: Peter T. Goff, Jihye Kam, Jacek Kraszewski August 2015, 40 pp. Abstract: Survey tools are used in education to direct policy, drive leadership decisions, and inform research. Increasingly, survey measures of school climate and perspectives of leadership are incorporated into measures of school and principal quality. This study examines the role of temporal variations …

Authors: Matthew T. Hora, Amanda K. Oleson July 2015, 21 pp. Abstract: Research suggests which study strategies are effective, but little descriptive research focuses on how undergraduate students study in real-world settings. Thus, the mechanisms of students’ actual learning remain a black box in higher education, with far more attention paid to the inputs and …