DERDC Evaluations and Policy Studies
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- ItemPositive Behavior Support in Delaware schools: Developing perspectives on implementation and outcomes(Delaware Education Research & Development Center, 2010-07) Ackerman, Cheryl; Cooksy, Leslie; Murphy, Aideen; Rubright, Jonathan; Bear, George; Fifield, SteveIn Spring 2010, the Delaware Education Research and Development Center conducted an evaluation of Delaware’s PBS project, an initiative focused on developing a school-wide system of strategies to reduce behavior problems and foster a positive school climate. The study focused on facilitators and barriers to PBS implementation, and also included analyses to examine the relationship between PBS and school suspensions. This report first provides background on the principles of the original Positive Behavior Support program and the history of its implementation in Delaware, and then presents the evaluation questions, briefly outlines the methods used, and describes the results. The report closes with a postscript reflection on the findings from a PBS expert and member of the DE-PBS leadership team.
- ItemDelaware Middle Schools Beating the Odds(Delaware Education Research & Development Center, 2010-07) Grusenmeyer, Linda; Fifield, Steve; Murphy, Aideen; Nian, Qinghua; Qian, XiaoyuThe investigation identified Delaware public and charter middle schools across the state which outperformed other Delaware middle schools with similar student demographic profiles. Teachers and administrators at six of these "Beating the Odds" schools and at six comparison middle schools were surveyed regarding their schools characteristics and practices. In a second phase of the study, principals, teachers and students from the six "Beating the Odds" schools were interviewed to determine what they believe accounts for their school’s success. The study found that significantly more educators from “Beating the Odds” schools agreed that 18 specific practices and beliefs were typical of their schools when compared to educators from comparison schools. Fourteen of these related to three domains: high expectations, data use, and collaboration. Also, the two samples of schools differed in the intensity of their responses. That is, “Beating the Odds” school respondents “strongly agreed” significantly more often than comparison school respondents to over 80% of the survey items. Twenty-six of these items fell under the domains of teacher role, leadership, district influence, and instructional support. Finally, while participants in on-site interviews described essential local differences, most of the middle schools that are "Beating the Odds" shared an organizational climate shaped by leadership that identified compelling educational approaches and brought educators, students and parents together around those approaches.
- ItemEvaluation Results of the Delaware State Improvement Grant Year 4: Analysis of 2006 Assessment Results(Delaware Education Research & Development Center, 2006-10-13T18:43:52Z) Sherretz, Kelly; Shepperson, Barbara A.; Qian, XiaoyuIn 2002, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a five-year State Improvement Grant (SIG)to the Delaware Department of Education. This report details the reading assessment results from the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) for the 2006 spring administration and when appropriate, compares the performance of students from the spring 2003, 2004, and 2005 administrations. Through this initiative, students with disabilities will receive instruction aimed to improve literacy and reading skills in an inclusive educational environment through the use of trained teachers and the implementation of scientifically-based research regarding the teaching of early literacy and reading skills.
- ItemAN ANALYSIS OF STUDENT READING AS MEASURED ON THE DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT OF READING (DAR)(Delaware Education Research & Development Center, 2006-06-13T18:37:12Z) Baca, Jo-Ann M.; Shepperson, Barbara A.As part of the reporting of Delaware’s State Improvement Grant (DelaSIG), the Delaware Education Research and Development Center (R & D Center) completed a study on the Diagnostic Assessment of Reading (DAR) scores of students whose teachers attended a professional development program designed to help focus teacher instruction of struggling readers in Grades 4 through 12. IMPACT, the acronym for Implementing Multiple Practices for Activating Comprehension in Teaching, is a 30 hour training component of the professional development program provided by the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE).This paper reports the findings of the fall and spring assessments of the DAR and discusses their results and implications. Program developers may find the perceptions of the IMPACT survey respondents informative; their perceptions regarding the influence of the IMPACT training on their classroom instruction and on their students’ reading provide insight into the context of the findings
- ItemDistributed Leadership in Delaware(Delaware Education Research & Development Center, 2009-08-13T14:30:19Z) Buttram, Joan; PizziniThe Delaware Education Research and Development Center (DERDC) conducted a two-part study to determine the impacts of this program on participating schools in the state. In the first part, DERDC interviewed a sample of administrators and teachers from 6 of the 15 participating schools. Their responses helped design a survey that was administered in the second part of the study administered to 13 of the 15 schools involved in the DL effort and 3 comparison schools not involved in the effort. The work undertaken by DL teams, and other members of the schools, more often involved collaboration between teachers and, sometimes, between teachers and administrators. Interview responses suggested that teachers and principals were generally positive about the initiative, feeling that DL provided an opportunity to “open up so many doors,” reduce “the isolation” that many felt, and “let…everyone have a voice in the school.”