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4. Strengthening the E&S Survey Data
Pages 46-59

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From page 46...
... These factors, plus the passage of the No Chil(1 Left Behin(1 Act of 2001, which includes substantial accountability provisions for states and local school (listricts, argue for expanded availability and use of the E&S survey data. The No Child Left Behind Act focuses attention on the outcomes of e(lucational practice by requiring testing in reading, mathematics, and science and related accountability for results anti by requiring that the results be (lisaggregate(1 by several categories, including gender, race, ethnicity, English proficiency, (lisability status, anti economic (lisa(lvantage.
From page 47...
... The committee offers several ways to strengthen the survey in three broad categories: methodology and technical issues, content, and use. METHODOLOGY AND TECHNICAL ISSUES Field Testing and Respondent Validity Studies The E&S survey instruments are somewhat complex and require respondents to collect a substantial amount of detailed information such as on enrollments and dropout rates, children with disabilities, racial and ethnic categories, (lisciplinary events, testing, student assignment, athletics, and teacher certification.
From page 48...
... The committee suggests two courses of action. First, there should be an extensive fieldtesting component as changes are made in the survey, as is done for state and local student testing programs that regularly conduct item tryouts, and field testing of new and revised assessment instruments to be sure that students can understand the test questions and respon(1 appropriately.
From page 49...
... , the survey for 1990 produced a sample that could be projected to the national level but was not valid for state-level projections. STRENGTHENING THE E&S SURVEY DATA OCR should routinely utilize appropriate sampling methodology techniques to ensure that projections to state and national levels can be produced.
From page 50...
... CIassroom leve} data collected for these schools inclu(le the gra(le level, ability grouping, and number of students by race, ethnicity, and English proficiency. The data collection procedure used by OCR eliminates elementary schools that have fewer than 20 percent or more than 80 percent of their students from racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as all middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools.
From page 51...
... collects information on children identified as emotionally disturbed and with specific learning disabilities, by race and ethnicity. Both items also ask for information about the educational placement of these students (i.e., the percentage of time spent outside of a regular cIassroom)
From page 52...
... The importance of improving this question is heightened by the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates increased testing during the elementary and middle grades. Stuclent Assignment As noted in the discussion of protocol, above, Item 13 elicits information on the classroom assignments of students from different racial and ethnic groups and for students with limited English proficiency.
From page 53...
... Placement Classes When students are motivated to learn, the opportunity to engage rigorous curricula often leads to higher achievement (Adelman, 19991. The absence of such learning opportunities restricts what and how much students learn and gives an advantage to those students who do have access to more demanding courses and programs.
From page 54...
... Although many school districts under long-standing school desegregation court orders have been required to demonstrate equitable access to extracurricular activities for black students, data have not been routinely collected to allow comprehensive monitoring. The EMS survey has collected information on student participation in interscholastic athletics since 1994 to monitor Title OX issues, but information on the race and ethnicity of student participants has not been collected for Title V]
From page 55...
... Some actions, however, may not require additional monetary resources but rather would demand more coordi nation and cooperation between offices within the Department of Education. Formaffing the Data to Make It Easier to Use these questions are not particularly helpful in generating actionable data for OCR enforcement, nor do they connect directly to civil rights concerns.
From page 56...
... For research purposes, ENS data should be provided either as net files with detailed codebooks or as welllabeled statistical package files (e.g., SPSS, SAS, or SrATA)
From page 57...
... Department of Education. The E&S survey serves a unique set of purposes, but it also contains questions that other surveys ask in similar, if not identical, ways, particularly for information on special education students because the department's Office of Special Education anti Rehabilitative Services collects extensive data on services.
From page 58...
... PBDMI, when fully operational, may offer a unique opportunity to portray E&S survey (lata in a way that enriches both the OCR data and key educational information collected by the (lepartment. Analysis and Dissemination It would be very useful to those concerned with the provision of e(lucational opportunities to minority students, to students with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency, anti to advocates of gentler equity to have easy access to simple tabulations of the (lata from the E&S survey.
From page 59...
... Also, with the emphasis now being placed on the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, OCR should consi(ler posting on its website a full report of tabulations of the data showing how opportunities to learn are allocated to students of different backgrounds. This would allow analysts to balance the testing outcome data from the act with solid information about access to learning opportunities and resources described by the ENS survey.


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