Conference Papers & Presentations by Jennifer McMurrer
2021 National Council on Measurement in Education Conference, 2021
We describe the process we used to develop a survey to measure young students' at-home exposure t... more We describe the process we used to develop a survey to measure young students' at-home exposure to and experience with activities that build spatial reasoning skills. Item development, review, and validation are discussed.
Papers by Jennifer McMurrer
Frontiers in Education
Progress monitoring is a process of collecting ongoing samples of student work and tracking perfo... more Progress monitoring is a process of collecting ongoing samples of student work and tracking performance of individual students over time. Progress monitoring involves administering parallel sets of items to the same student on a regular basis (at least monthly) that are sensitive to changes in the student’s understanding based on instruction. The sets of items administered over time should be parallel in difficulty so that differences in performance can be attributed to differences in the student’s understanding as opposed to variability in item difficulty across sets. In this manuscript, we describe an approach to designing items that controls item-level variability by constraining the item features that may elicit different cognitive processing. This approach adapts the principles of Automated Item Generation (AIG) and includes carefully designing test specifications, isolating specific components of the content that will be assessed, creating item models to serve as templates, du...
Arts Education Policy Review, 2008
As part of an ongoing study of the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Center on E... more As part of an ongoing study of the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the Center on Education Policy (CEP) conducted a deeper analysis of 2006-07 survey data first reported in July 2007 on the amount of instructional time devoted to specific subjects. Here is what we learned about the magnitude of changes in instructional time in elementary schools from districts that reported increases or decreases in time for certain subjects since NCLB took effect in 2002: The shifts in instructional time toward English language arts (ELA) and mathematics and away from other subjects were relatively large in a majority of school districts that made these types of increases and decreases. Districts that increased instructional time for ELA and/or math did so by 43%, on average. Districts that also reduced instructional time in other subjects reported total reductions of 32%, on average. Eight out of ten districts that reported increasing time for ELA did so by at least 75 minutes per week, and more than half (54%) did so by 150 minutes or more per week. Among districts that reported adding time for math, 63% added at least 75 minutes per week, and 19% added 150 minutes or more per week. Most districts that increased time for ELA or math also reported substantial cuts in time for other subjects or periods, including social studies, science, art and music, physical education, recess, or lunch. Among the districts that reported both increasing time for ELA or math and reducing time in other subjects, 72% indicated that they reduced time by a total of at least 75 minutes per week for one or more of these other subjects. For example, more than half (53%) of these districts cut instructional time by at least 75 minutes per week in social studies, and the same percentage (53%) cut time by at least 75 minutes per week in science. A report in the series From the Capital to the Classroom: Year of the No Child Left Behind Act Instructional Time in Elementary Schools A Closer Look at Changes for Specific Subjects Center on Education Policy FEBRUARY 2008 CEP's Previous Findings about Instructional Time This publication takes a closer look at the shifts in instructional time for various elementary school subjects first reported by the Center on Education Policy in July 2007 (see Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era, available at www.cep-dc.org). Among other findings, our 2007 report concluded that since school year 2001-02, when NCLB was enacted, 62% of all school districts had increased the amount of time spent in elementary schools on English language arts (ELA) 1 and/or math, while 44% of all districts had increased time for ELA and/or math while also cutting time for elementary school science, social studies, art and music, physical education, lunch, or recess. Among the school districts that reported increases, the average increase amounted to 141 extra minutes per week (or an average of 28 minutes per day) in ELA, and 89 extra minutes per week (or about 18 minutes per day) in math. Table 1, which is a revised version of a table published in the 2007 report, displays these increases and decreases by subject. Instructional Time in Elementary Schools Note: This table includes data that have been revised since CEP's July 2007 report on curriculum and instruction in the NCLB era. * Sample size was too small to allow reporting of data on minutes per week.
CEP’s graduate research assistant. The data collection, research, and writing for the Oregon case... more CEP’s graduate research assistant. The data collection, research, and writing for the Oregon case studies was completed by Caitlin Scott and Nora Ostler, CEP consultants. Nancy Kober, CEP’s editorial consultant, assisted with writing and editing the report. Maria Ferguson, CEP’s executive director, and Diane Stark Rentner, CEP’s deputy director, provided advice and assistance on the study design and the report content. We are tremendously grateful to the state education agency, district, and school leaders in Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, and Virginia who took time from their busy schedules to be interviewed for this study. Thank you for making this sum-mary and the accompanying case study reports possible.
Center on Education Policy, 2012
Gholson Middle School received $831,888 in ARRA SIG funds for 2010-11 and chose to use these fund... more Gholson Middle School received $831,888 in ARRA SIG funds for 2010-11 and chose to use these funds to implement the turnaround model. The school is not designated as a Title I school, yet 68% of its students qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch in 2011. The school is located in a large suburb on the urban fringe of Washington, D.C., and serves 7 th and 8 th grade students. In school year 2010-11, approximately 87% of the school's students were African American, 11% were Latino, and 2% were other ethnicities. In addition, 14% were students with disabilities and fewer than 5% were English language learners.
Center on Education Policy, 2012
Participants for this study were selected using a number of purposeful sampling strategies. Throu... more Participants for this study were selected using a number of purposeful sampling strategies. Through purposeful sampling, we hoped to make the best use of our resources by selecting “information-rich cases... from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the inquiry” (Patton, 2002, p. 230). Though a small sample size prevented us from making empirical generalizations (which, as noted, is not the purpose of our study), purposeful sampling did, as Patton explains, “yield insights and in-depth understandings” about the ARRA SIG program within each case (p. 230).
Center on Education Policy, 2008
is a national independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. Th... more is a national independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center works to help Americans better understand the role of public education in a democracy and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools. We do not represent any special interests. Instead, we help citizens make sense of the conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education and create conditions that will lead to better public schools.
Center on Education Policy, 2012
Research has long suggested that significantly increasing quality time in school for teaching and... more Research has long suggested that significantly increasing quality time in school for teaching and learning can have a positive impact on student achievement. Recognizing this connection, federal guidance requires low-performing schools to increase student learning time if they are implementing two popular reform models using school improvement grant (SIG) funds appropriated by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).
Center on Education Policy, 2012
Several hundred of the nation’s lowest-performing schools have recently undergone major changes i... more Several hundred of the nation’s lowest-performing schools have recently undergone major changes in leadership and teaching staff to comply with federal requirements for using school improvement grants (SIGs) financed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). In particular, schools that receive stimulus-funded SIG awards must choose one of four improvement models aimed at turning around or closing chronically low-achieving schools. The two most popular models—“transformation” and “turnaround”—require schools to replace their principal, among other specific reforms. The turnaround model also requires schools to replace half or more of their teaching staff.
Center on Education Policy, 2013
Alexandra Usher, a former CEP research assistant, provided extensive assistance with the developm... more Alexandra Usher, a former CEP research assistant, provided extensive assistance with the development of the state survey instrument. Nancy Kober, a CEP consultant, assisted with writing and editing the report. Maria Ferguson, CEP's executive director; Diane Stark Rentner, CEP's deputy director; and Shelby McIntosh, CEP's research associate, provided advice and assistance on the survey instrument and the report content. We would like to thank Kirsten Taylor from the Council of Chief State School Officers and Jessica Cardichon from the Alliance for Excellent Education for their extensive and helpful feedback on the survey instrument. CEP also greatly appreciates the review of and feedback on the content of this report from Jack Jennings and Wayne Riddle. Finally, we are grateful to the state education agency staff, especially our pilot state, for taking time to thoughtfully respond to our survey. Development and founded in January 1995 by Jack Jennings, the Center on Educa...
Center on Education Policy, 2011
Table reads: In 2007, the mean scale score on the state 4 grade reading test was 455 for non-Titl... more Table reads: In 2007, the mean scale score on the state 4 grade reading test was 455 for non-Title I students and 451 for Title I students. In 2009, the mean scale score in 4 grade reading was 455 for non-Title I students and 451 for Title I students. Between 2007 and 2009, the mean scale score did not change for neither non-Title I nor Title-I students, indicating no change in the achievement gap for Title I students at grade 4.
Center on Education Policy, 2011
Our study confirms that there is reason for concern about the achievement of high school students... more Our study confirms that there is reason for concern about the achievement of high school students. In this era of NCLB and demands for greater test-based accountability, state test scores have increased in high schools, just as they have done in elementary and middle schools. But high school students show markedly less progress than students at the other two levels. Moreover, gaps between various groups of high school students have widened at the advanced achievement level in many states. Key findings from this study include the following: Although high school students made gains in average test scores and proficiency in most of the states analyzed, fewer states showed gains at high school than at grades 4 and 8. More than three-fourths of these states (from 76% to 84%) made gains at the high school level in mean scores and percentages of students scoring proficient. This pattern was evident in both English language arts and math. But compared with grades 4 and 8, a smaller proportion of states had gains at high school and a larger proportion had declines. Many states show a troubling lack of progress among high school students at the advanced achievement level. A majority of the states with sufficient data-57% in English language arts and 63% in math-made gains in the percentage of high school students reaching the advanced level. Still, about one-third or more of the states analyzed showed declines in the percentages scoring advanced at high school. Declines in advanced achievement were more prevalent at high school than at grades 4 and 8. Achievement gains were smaller, on average, for high school students than for 4 th and 8 th graders. In math, for example, just 25% of the states analyzed made average annual gains of 2 percentage points or more in the percentage of high school students scoring
This study examines the preliminary impacts of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program... more This study examines the preliminary impacts of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program, as measured by the state assessments, in the 23 rural-recipient schools across the state of Virginia as well as the program implementation efforts in one purposefully selected rural-recipient school. The study uses a mixed method research design. The purpose of the study is to learn more about the implementation of the federal SIG program in rural contexts as well as school and district officials' perceptions of the federal requirements under the program. Study findings show overall mean gains in test scores in reading and mathematics over a four to five-year period using scores that preceded receipt of the grant but also show some declines since the first year of SIG implementation. Findings from an in-depth case study of one select rural-recipient school offer illustrative detail about SIG program implementation, including more detail about school test scores; the importance of local context, opportunity, flexibility, and x adaptation for school improvement; positive and challenging elements of the program; and goals for continued growth and sustainability in a rural setting. 1 CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND FOR THE STUDY The School Improvement Grant (SIG) program is a federal program intended to spur dramatic reform and improvement in the nation's lowest achieving schools. On March 19, 2012, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan reported the following about the program's purpose and preliminary impact on student academic achievement: Early in his administration, President Obama said that America could no longer maintain this status quo in chronically low-performing schools. We could not continue to tinker. He believes, and I believe, that dramatic change is desperately needed in low-performing schools. …. So, in 2009, the Administration, with support from Congress, created a new and much more ambitious program for turning around low-performing schools. It gives states and districts four options for dramatically improving schools. But all four options require schools to institute far-reaching changes to improve student learning….our preliminary data show that after just one year, that commitment to change is producing dramatic gains in learning in a significant number of schools. None of these schools are where they need to be, or will be, yet. But the progress and sense of momentum are real. (Duncan, 2012, para 13) Several components of this federal program, as well as a brief history of its development are outlined in this introductory chapter. Additionally, an overview of the characteristics
Center on Education Policy, 2010
Many of the tables, figures, and footnotes in the report provide information about whether the di... more Many of the tables, figures, and footnotes in the report provide information about whether the difference between estimated percentages is statistically significant. Statistical significance signals whether this difference is likely to be due to chance. If it appears that the difference in estimated percentages is due to chance (i.e., the difference is not statistically significant), then we cannot say that districts are more likely to do one thing than another. For example, 39% of districts would welcome the common core standards as a guiding framework, while 35% of districts felt it was too soon to tell how the common core standards would benefit them. The difference between 39% and 35% is not statistically significant, so we cannot say that a higher percentage of districts would welcome the standards than felt it was too soon to tell.
Center on Education Policy, 2009
Center on Education Policy, 2013
Center on Education Policy, 2015
We are tremendously grateful to the state education agency, district, and school leaders in Color... more We are tremendously grateful to the state education agency, district, and school leaders in Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, and Virginia who took time from their busy schedules to be interviewed for this study. Thank you for making this summary and the accompanying case study reports possible. Based in Washington, D.C. at the George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development and founded in January 1995 by Jack Jennings, the Center on Education Policy is a national independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center works to help Americans better understand the role of public education in a democracy and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools. We do not represent any special interests. Instead, we help citizens make sense of the conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education and create the conditions that will lead to better public schools.
and Diane Stark Rentner, CEP's director of national programs. Nancy Kober, a CEP consultant ,... more and Diane Stark Rentner, CEP's director of national programs. Nancy Kober, a CEP consultant , edited the report. Jack Jennings, CEP's president and CEO, provided advice on the report. Bruce Haslam of Policy Studies Associates led a team of PSA staff that worked with CEP to develop and administer the survey of state deputy superintendents of education and analyze the resulting data. The survey of state title I directors was developed and administered by CEP with assistance and advice from Richard Long of the National Title I Association; Caitlin Scott, a CEP consultant; and Gary Galluzzo of George Mason University, along with GMU students in a graduate-level course in survey research methods. We would like to thank Wayne Riddle, Richard Long, and Caitlin Scott, who reviewed a draft of this report and provided insightful comments and suggestions about its content. Additionally, we are grateful to the state education agency staff who took time from their busy schedules to compl...
Stark Rentner, CEP's deputy director, provided advice on the report. The survey was developed... more Stark Rentner, CEP's deputy director, provided advice on the report. The survey was developed and administered by CEP with assistance and advice from Richard Long of the National Title I Association. We would like to thank the state education agency staff who took time from their busy schedules to complete this survey. Education Policy is a national independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center works to help Americans better understand the role of public education in a democracy and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools. We do not represent any special interests. Instead, we help citizens make sense of the conflicting opinions and perceptions about public education and create the conditions that will lead to better public schools. The Center on Education Policy receives nearly all of its funding from charitable foundations. We are grateful to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for their support of this stud...
a CEP consultant, edited the report and assisted with writing. Nanami Yoshioka, CEP graduate rese... more a CEP consultant, edited the report and assisted with writing. Nanami Yoshioka, CEP graduate research assistant, helped to input and tabulate the survey data. Diane Stark Rentner, CEP's deputy director, and Maria Ferguson, CEP's executive director, provided advice and assistance on the survey instrument and the report content. We are tremendously grateful to the state education agency staff who took time to respond to our survey amid their many critical responsibilities. Thank you for making this series of reports possible! We also thank Callie Riley from Achieve and Jane West from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for their review and helpful feedback on this report. Education and Human Development and founded in January 1995 by Jack Jennings, the Center on Education Policy is a national independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center works to help Americans better understand the role of public education i...
Uploads
Conference Papers & Presentations by Jennifer McMurrer
Papers by Jennifer McMurrer