scholarly journals The Effect of the National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitat Program on Fourth Grade Students' Standardized Test Scores

2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.E. Danforth ◽  
T.M. Waliczek ◽  
S.M. Macey ◽  
J.M. Zajicek
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Reading Scores ◽  
Standardized Test Scores ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Traditional Curriculum ◽  
School Students ◽  
Math Scores ◽  
Fourth Grade Students

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in the National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitat Program (SYHP) had an effect on the standardized test scores of fourth grade primary school students in Houston, Texas. To conduct the study, three pairs of Houston elementary schools were matched by student demographics of ethnicity and economics. The treatment group included a total of 306 fourth grade students whose teachers were using the SYHP. The control group consisted of a total of 108 fourth grade students whose teachers used a more traditional curriculum. To measure academic achievement, changes in standardized test scores (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) were compared between students' third grade data and their fourth grade data. Results showed that those students participating in the SYHP had significantly increased math scores when compared with peers in schools that were taught using a more traditional curriculum. However, overall, few differences were found in comparisons of reading scores of those students taught with SYHP and those taught using a more traditional curriculum.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of the National Wildlife Federation’s Schoolyard Habitat Program: Fourth-grade Students’ Standardized Science Test Scores and Science Grades

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. McFarland ◽  
Benjamin J. Glover ◽  
Tina M. Waliczek ◽  
Jayne M. Zajicek
Keyword(s):  
Treatment Group ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Science Curriculum ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Traditional Curriculum ◽  
School Students ◽  
Fourth Grade Students ◽  
Science Test

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in the National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Schoolyard Habitat Program (SYHP) had an effect on the science standardized test scores or science grades of fourth-grade primary school students in Houston, TX. To conduct the study, five pairs of Houston elementary schools were selected as either treatment or control schools. The treatment group included a total of 148 fourth-grade students whose teachers reported using the NWF’s SYHP. The control group consisted of a total of 248 fourth-grade students whose teachers used a traditional science curriculum. To measure academic achievement, scores on a standardized science test and science grades were compared between the treatment and control students. Results from this study indicated Caucasian students scored higher than minority students on the Stanford standardized science exam. Significant differences existed in the Stanford standardized science exam scores between male and female students for the treatment group only. Overall, the results from this study also showed that the SYHP was equally as effective at science instruction as the traditional curriculum within the Houston Independent School District (HISD) after teachers gained familiarity with using the habitat for instruction.

scholarly journals Access to the School Breakfast Program Is Associated with Higher Attendance and Test Scores among Elementary School Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 149 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith S Bartfeld ◽  
Lawrence Berger ◽  
Fei Men ◽  
Yiyu Chen
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
School Engagement ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Reading Scores ◽  
School Students ◽  
School Breakfast Program ◽  
School Breakfast ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe School Breakfast Program (SBP) has grown and evolved substantially since its inception, yet relatively little is known about its impact on school engagement and academic outcomes.ObjectivesThe purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of the SBP on school attendance and standardized test scores, as well as how impacts differ among student subpopulations and between traditional and nontraditional program models.MethodsThe study uses administrative data from ∼1000 Wisconsin elementary schools during 2009–2014, including almost all public elementary schools in the state except those in Milwaukee Public School District. Over the 5-y period, 168 schools in our sample introduced a new SBP and/or changed the location of breakfast (classroom or cafeteria) or the payment structure. The impact of breakfast availability and type was evaluated using multivariable regression models with school fixed effects and extensive demographic controls, leveraging within-school changes in SBP availability and type.ResultsImplementing the SBP was associated with a 3.5-percentage-point reduction in the percentage of students with low attendance and an increase of 0.08 SD in normalized reading scores among likely-participant boys (P = 0.015), with no impact among girls. When breakfast was offered free to all students, the probability of low attendance was 3.5 percentage points lower than with traditional SBP for a broad cross-section of students (P < 0.001), and math and reading scores were 0.07 and 0.04 SD higher among the higher-income sample, respectively (P = 0.001 and P = 0.035, respectively). When breakfast was offered in the classroom, neither attendance nor reading scores differed relative to cafeteria-based SBP, whereas math scores among likely-participant boys were 0.05 SD lower (P = 0.045).ConclusionsOffering breakfast at school can modestly improve educational engagement and performance, but benefits differ across children and by program structure. Universally free breakfast appears particularly beneficial to both attendance and test scores.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Remote Learning in Secondary Education: Evidence from Brazil during the Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Lichand ◽  
Carlos Alberto Dória ◽  
Onício Leal Neto ◽  
João Cossi
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Secondary Education ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Standardized Test Scores ◽  
School Students ◽  
Primary And Secondary Education ◽  
Remote Learning

Abstract Background: The transition to remote learning in the context of Covid-19 could lead to dramatic setbacks for school enrollment and learning outcomes, especially in developing countries – where a multiplicity of challenges, from limited connectivity to little support from parents, are bound to limit its effectiveness. To date, however, no study has rigorously documented the educational impacts of remote learning relative to in-person classes within primary and secondary education. Quantifying the extent of those losses, as well as the extent to which resuming in-person classes in the pandemic could at least partially offset them, is urgent, as governments worldwide struggle evaluating the trade-offs between the health and educational risks of reopening schools, with vaccination rates still dragging.Methods: Taking advantage of the fact that São Paulo featured in-person classes for the lion’s share of the first school quarter of 2020, but not thereafter, we estimate the effects of remote learning on secondary education, using a differences-in-differences strategy that contrasts variation in dropout risk and standardized test scores between the first and the last school quarters in 2020 to that in 2019, when all classes were in-person. We estimate heterogeneous effects by grade, student characteristics and school characteristics. We also estimate intention-to-treat (ITT) effects of reopening schools in the pandemic through a differences-in-differences strategy, contrasting differences between middle- and high-school students within municipalities that authorized in-person classes to partially return for the latter over the last quarter of 2020, to those within municipalities that did not.Findings: Dropout risk increased by 365% under remote learning. While risk increased with local disease activity, most of it can be attributed directly to the absence of in-person classes:we estimate that dropout risk increased by no less than 247% across the State, even at the low end of the distribution of per capita Covid-19 cases. Average standardized test scores decreased by 0.32 standard deviation, as if students had only learned 27.5% of the in-person equivalent under remote learning. Learning losses did not systematically increase with local disease activity, attesting that they are in fact the outcome of remote learning, rather than a consequence of other health or economic impacts of Covid-19. Authorizing schools to partially reopen for in-person classes increased high-school students’ test scores by 20% relative to the control group.Interpretation: Results show that the societal costs of keeping schools closed in the pandemic are very large. While the learning losses that we document are at least as large as those documented in developed countries on the aftermath of the first Covid-19 wave, the dramatic surge in dropout risk is unique to developing countries. Such massive impacts are likely to bring about long-lasting effects on employment, productivity, and poverty levels. Our findings highlight that reopening schools under safe protocols can prevent those costs from growing even larger. They also caution against recent enthusiasm for remote learning in primary and secondary education outside the context of Covid-19.Funding: Research funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) as part of a partnership between IADB and the São Paulo State Education Secretariat.

scholarly journals Impact of Bilateral Coordinated Movement on Manipulative Skill Competency in Elementary School Students

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 517
Author(s):  
Jun Chen ◽  
Xiaozan Wang ◽  
Weiyun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Significant Interaction Effect ◽  
Fourth Grade Students ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Sports Skills

Background: Researchers have found that manipulative skill competency in childhood not only helps to improve physical activity participation but also helps adolescents learn specialized sports skills. This study aimed to examine the effects of an eight-week bilateral coordinated movement (BCM) intervention on manipulative skill competency in school-aged children. Methods: The participants were 314 fourth-grade students from two elementary schools in China. This study used a two-arm quasi-experimental research design. For one elementary school, two fourth-grade classes were assigned to the BCM group and another two fourth-grade classes were assigned to the control group. For the other elementary school, one fourth-grade class was assigned to the BCM group and another fourth-grade class to the control group. The students in the BCM group received an eight-week, two 40 min BCM lessons in soccer, and another eight-week, two 40-min BCM lessons in basketball. The control group received an eight-week two regular 40 min PE lessons in soccer and basketball, respectively. The students’ manipulative skill competency in soccer and basketball skills were pre- and post-tested using the two PE metric assessment rubrics. Data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and ANCOVA and ANOVA repeated measures. Results: The results showed a significant main effect of time (pre-test vs. post-test) in soccer skills (F = 273.095, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.468) and in basketball skills (F = 74.619, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.193). Additionally, the results revealed a significant main effect of the group (BCM group vs. control group) in soccer skills (F = 37.532, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.108) and a marginal significant main effect of the groups in basketball skills (F = 3.619, p = 0.058, η2 = 0.011). Furthermore, there was a significant interaction effect between the time and the group in soccer skills (F = 37.532, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.108) and in basketball skills (F = 18.380, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.056). Conclusions: It was concluded that after participation in the eight-week, 16 40 min lessons of BCM, the fourth-grade students showed greater improvement in soccer and basketball dribbling, passing and receiving skills, compared to the control group.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Remote Learning in Secondary Education: Evidence from Brazil during the Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Lichand ◽  
Carlos Alberto Dória ◽  
Onicio Leal Neto ◽  
João Cossi
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Disease Activity ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Students ◽  
Local Disease ◽  
Remote Learning

The goal of this paper is to document the pedagogic impacts of the remote learning strategy used by an state department of education in Brazil during the pandemic. We found that dropout risk increased by 365% under remote learning. While risk increased with local disease activity, most of it can be attributed directly to the absence of in-person classes: we estimate that dropout risk increased by no less than 247% across the State, even at the low end of the distribution of per capita Covid-19 cases. Average standardized test scores decreased by 0.32 standard deviation, as if students had only learned 27.5% of the in-person equivalent under remote learning. Learning losses did not systematically increase with local disease activity, attesting that they are in fact the outcome of remote learning, rather than a consequence of other health or economic impacts of Covid-19. Authorizing schools to partially reopen for in-person classes increased high-school students test scores by 20% relative to the control group.

scholarly journals Impact of Prematurity on Language Skills at School Age

2014 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 901-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Mahurin Smith ◽  
Laura Segebart DeThorne ◽  
Jessica A. R. Logan ◽  
Ron W. Channell ◽  
Stephen A. Petrill
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Parental Education ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Full Term ◽  
Standardized Test Scores ◽  
Control Group ◽  
School Age ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Standardized Test Results

Purpose The existing literature on language outcomes in children born prematurely focuses almost exclusively on standardized test scores rather than discourse-level abilities. The authors of this study looked longitudinally at school-age language outcomes and potential moderating variables for a group of twins born prematurely versus a control group of twins born at full term, analyzing both standardized test results and language sample data from the population-based Western Reserve Reading Project (WRRP; Petrill, Deater-Deckard, Thompson, DeThorne, & Schatschneider, 2006). Method Fifty-seven children born prematurely, at ≤32 weeks or <1,500 g, were compared with 57 children born at full term and were matched for age, gender, race, and parental education. Data included discourse-level language samples and standardized test results, collected at average ages 7, 8, and 10 years. The language samples were analyzed to yield a number of semantic and syntactic measures that were consolidated via factor analysis. Results Regression models showed significant differences between the 2 groups for standardized test results, although the mean score for both groups fell in the normal range. For the discourse-level language measures, however, differences never reached statistical significance. Parental education was significantly associated with improved standardized test scores. Conclusions These findings suggest that in the absence of frank neurological impairment, sophisticated semantic and syntactic skills may be relatively intact in the discourse-level language of children born prematurely. Implications for assessment, particularly the potential role of attention and executive function in standardized testing tasks, are reviewed.

scholarly journals Participation in Georgia’s Pre-K as a Predictor of Third-Grade Standardized Test Scores

AERA Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 233285841984868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane M. Early ◽  
Weilin Li ◽  
Kelly L. Maxwell ◽  
Bentley D. Ponder
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
English Language ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Third Grade ◽  
Standardized Test Scores ◽  
Math Scores ◽  
Subject Areas

Propensity score matching was used to compare third-grade test scores in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies for children who had and had not participated in Georgia’s Pre-K 4 years earlier. After matching, each group included 46,262 children (mean age 8.36 years in third grade). In all subject areas, children who had participated in Georgia’s Pre-K scored significantly higher (Cohen’s D = .06 to .09), and pre-K participation was associated with an 11% to 17% increase in the odds of scoring proficient or above. Among children enrolled in free or reduced-price lunch, participation in Georgia’s Pre-K was associated with higher test scores and greater likelihood of scoring proficient or above; however, the opposite was true for children not enrolled in free or reduced-price lunch. Associations between pre-K participation and math scores were stronger for children whose home language was not English as compared to those whose home language was English.

The Effect of Language Games with Audio Visual Aids on Students’ Speaking Competence at Fourth Graders of Tunas Daud Elementary School

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Susnawati. K ◽  
Marhaeni A.A.I.N ◽  
Ramendra D.P
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Fourth Graders ◽  
Fourth Grade ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Language Games ◽  
Visual Aids ◽  
Fourth Grade Students ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Competence Test ◽  
Better Than

Study aimed to determine the effect of language games with audio visual aids on students' speaking competence at fourth grade students of Tunas Daud elementary school and to describe the implementation of language games with audio visual aids on students’ speaking competence. The design used in this research was a mixed method design. It was explanatory design since this research was started with quantitative design (experimental design with post test only control design) followed by qualitative design. The samples were 62 students; 31 students of the experimental group and 31 students of the control group of fourth grade Tunas Daud elementary students. The data were collected by using speaking competence test and analyzed by IBM SPSS 22 with independent t-test. The data were also collected through an observation sheet for observing the implementation of the language games with audio visual aids. The results showed there was a significant effect of the language games with audio visual aids on students' speaking competence in which the mean score of the students who were taught by using language games with audio visual aids is better than the students who were taught without language games with audio visual aids. For the implementation of the language games with audio visual aids, it can be seen that the implementation of the language games with audio visual aids were done in a very good way. The games was suitable for the students since it could give good impacts for the students. The students are active and confident to speak.

scholarly journals Combining Outcome-Based and Preference-Based Matching: A Constrained Priority Mechanism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Avidit Acharya ◽  
Kirk Bansak ◽  
Jens Hainmueller
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Real World ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Market Design ◽  
Standardized Test Scores ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Strategy Proof

Abstract We introduce a constrained priority mechanism that combines outcome-based matching from machine learning with preference-based allocation schemes common in market design. Using real-world data, we illustrate how our mechanism could be applied to the assignment of refugee families to host country locations, and kindergarteners to schools. Our mechanism allows a planner to first specify a threshold $\bar g$ for the minimum acceptable average outcome score that should be achieved by the assignment. In the refugee matching context, this score corresponds to the probability of employment, whereas in the student assignment context, it corresponds to standardized test scores. The mechanism is a priority mechanism that considers both outcomes and preferences by assigning agents (refugee families and students) based on their preferences, but subject to meeting the planner’s specified threshold. The mechanism is both strategy-proof and constrained efficient in that it always generates a matching that is not Pareto dominated by any other matching that respects the planner’s threshold.

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