Measuring Access to Learning Opportunities (2003) / Chapter Skim
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5. Improving the Survey and Its Use
5. Improving the Survey and Its Use
Pages 60-69
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From page 60... ...
in addressing violations of students' civil rights and combating discrimination continues to be important, and the E&S survey is a useful, albeit un(leruse(l, resource in OCR's efforts to enforce civil rights laws. The information produced by the E&S survey facilitates the identification of disparities in learning opportunities associated with race, ethnicity, language, gentler, anti (1isability status.
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From page 61... ...
Legislation and court rulings addressing the needs of persons who do not speak English or who have disabilities have extended the protection of the law and gone beyond the goal of equality to guarantee the provision of needed services. School finance cases also have sought to broaden the definition of individual rights related to education beyond equality of spen(ling per student to take into account the fact that some students, including but not limited to students who do not speak English and students with disabilities, need more services than others if they are to succeed in school (see Rebell, 20021.
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From page 62... ...
Continuing refinement of the survey and judicious additions to its scope would make it an even more substantial resource for enhancing the education of students who have been the victims of (discrimination or of inadequate access to learning opportunities anti resources. PROMISING NEW USES OF E&S SURVEY DATA Integrating E&S Survey Data with Other Information Resources As discussed in Chapter 4, planning is un(ler way to integrate the E&S survey into a consolidated data system that would coordinate the collection and management of (lata relate(1 to the administration of various programs administered by the U.S.
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From page 63... ...
Whether or not the disparities identified by the E&S survey are caused by violations of students' legal rights, the disparities evidence the failure of schools to provi(le equal access to highquality education for students from all backgrounds. This information is relevant not just to civil rights enforcement, but also to broader based efforts to achieve equity and excellence.
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From page 64... ...
Without such a resource, education policy makers and practitioners may be unable to determine if reforms differently affect educational outcomes for racial and ethnic minority, language minority, or disabled students or even whether outcomes may vary by gender. Until the summer of 2002, OCR had not published or otherwise made available to the public E&S survey data for more than 20 years except by request.
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From page 65... ...
Accountability Another possible new use of EMS survey data is to incorporate it (and other information pertaining to access to learning resources) with the kinds of disaggregated achievement data that must be publicly reported under the No Child Left Behind Act.
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From page 66... ...
Some of the researchers contacted by the committee who were aware of the survey in the past have had difficulty MEASURING ACCESS TO LEARNING OPPORTUNIT gaining access to usable datafiles. One researcher who works for an advocacy organization and who has used E&S survey data for more than 30 years told the committee, 'These data are used to enforce civil rights laws.
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From page 67... ...
The survey, although useful for civil rights enforcement, informing educational policy, and the conduct of research, is greatly underused. · The survey can be made more useful by improvements to the content, the manner in which the survey is administered, and access to the valuable data it provides.
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From page 68... ...
. train staff to make more effective use of the survey data; continue to improve the software provi(le(1 for public access to E&S survey data over the Internet; sponsor or support programs to train advocates, researchers, and educators to use the (lata for various purposes; make well-e(lite(1 (1ata available to researchers anti others in a usable format, anti provi(le a (1ata manual anti technical assistance; consi(ler (leveloping a small grants program to encourage research on the topic of access to learning opportunities using E&S survey (lata; anti archive anti preserve (1ata from all surveys in a common format anti make them accessible to researchers anti other interested parties on (risk or over the Internet, both for historical purposes anti to enable researchers to track longitu(linal trends.
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From page 69... ...
IMPROVING THE SURVEY AND ITS USE Knowledge of how the learning environment, peers, learning resources, teacher preparation, and curriculum affect student learning is constantly evolving, as is knowledge of how to measure variables associated with each of these categories of learning opportunities and resources. To admit that there is still much that is unknown about how to measure learning opportunities and resources should be a spur for more work.
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