RESEARCH OFFICE REPORTS 2010

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21st Century Community Learning Centers: A Descriptive Evaluation for 2009‐2010   download PDF LinkReport
West Virginia Department of Education, November 2010
The West Virginia Department of Education has implemented the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC), to help establish local community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities for children to (a) meet state and local student standards in core academic subjects; (b) offer students a broad array of enrichment activities that can complement their regular academic programs; and (c) offer literacy and other educational services to the families of participating children. This evaluation consists of a descriptive analysis of the teacher and program director surveys, as well as a compilation of the dose strength data for each of the individual programs.

An Introduction to the West Virginia Growth Model   download PDF LinkReport
Nate Hixson, Juan D'Brot, and Damian Betebenner, December 2010
The purpose of this document is to define a method for calculating student growth in West Virginia using an established and statistically defensible technique. Further, the paper describes the potential utility of growth data in several contexts including school improvement, determining educator effectiveness and school accountability. Finally, this document includes a preliminary time line for the completion of key milestones during the West Virginia Growth Model development and implementation process.

Examining the Effectiveness of Closing the Achievement Gap Professional Development Demonstration Schools download PDF LinkResearch Brief download PDF LinkReport
Larry J. White, Nate Hixson, Patricia Cahape Hammer, Diane L. Smith, and Juan D’Brot, December 2010
A demonstration program, the Closing the Achievement Gap Professional Development Demonstration Schools, implemented in 30 struggling schools located in 10 counties across the state from 2004 to 2009 resulted in narrowing the achievement gap between African American students and their White peers in mathematics and reading/language arts. Similar gains occurred for students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students. This report provides information about the program and the study.

HI-Y Youth Programs Evaluation 2010 (Ohio): Model United Nations and Youth in Government (Legislative and Judicial) Programs   download PDF LinkReport
Larry J. White, Nate Hixson, and Juan D'Brot, August 2011
The Commission for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides funding to encourage K-12 public school students to become more involved in civic engagement through Learn and Serve-America. As part of Learn and Serve, the Ohio-West Virginia YMCA administers the HI-Y Model United Nations (Model UN) and Youth in Government (Judicial and Legislative) programs to both Ohio and West Virginia Students. This evaluation study used student surveys, administered in March and April 2010, to measure Ohio student learning as a result of their participation, and their perceptions about the program they attended.

HI-Y Youth Programs Evaluation 2010 (West Virginia): Model United Nations and Youth in Government (Legislative and Judicial) Programs   download PDF LinkReport
Larry J. White, Nate Hixson, and Juan D'Brot, August 2010
The Commission for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides funding to encourage K-12 public school students to become more involved in civic engagement through Learn and Serve-America. As part of Learn and Serve, the Ohio-West Virginia YMCA administers the HI-Y Model United Nations (Model UN) and Youth in Government (Judicial and Legislative) programs to both Ohio and West Virginia Students. This evaluation study, which focused on Objective #2, used student surveys, administered in March and April 2011, to measure West Virginia student learning as a result of their participation, and their perceptions about the program they attended.

Intended and Unintended Uses and Consequences of West Virginia’s Assessment and Accountability System (Part I Report)   download PDF LinkReport
Larry White, Nate Hixson, Juan D’Brot, and Jason Perdue, 2010
In the context of the statewide accountability system, construct validity refers to the extent to which the state’s accountability assessment accurately and consistently measures what it purports to measure. Consequential validity refers to the extent to which the accountability system produces intended and/or unintended outcomes or consequences. Intended as the first in a series of studies, this report focuses on two research questions: (RQ1) What are the Type I and Type II identification error rates for the 2008-2009 school year in West Virginia?; and (RQ2) What do stakeholders believe are the intended and unintended outcomes and consequences of the assessment and accountability system?

Learn and Serve Project Objective #1: 2010 Evaluation Report   download PDF LinkReport
Larry J. White and Nate Hixson, October 2010
The Commission for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides funding to encourage K-12 public school students to become more involved in civic engagement through Learn and Serve-America. As part of Learn and Serve, the Ohio-West Virginia YMCA administers the HI-Y Model United Nations (Model UN) and Youth in Government (Judicial and Legislative) programs to both Ohio and West Virginia Students. This report presents the findings from the 2010 evaluation of Learn and Serve Project Objective #1 in WV, which states that 20 teachers trained as Service-Learning teachers were expected to show at least 80% mastery of service‐learning techniques and values, as measured by a survey instrument.

Learn and Serve Program Evaluation Year 2010: Project Objective 3   download PDF LinkReport
Larry J. White and Nate Hixson, October 2010
The Commission for National and Community Service (CNCS) provides funding to encourage K-12 public school students to become more involved in civic engagement through Learn and Serve-America. As part of Learn and Serve, the Ohio-West Virginia YMCA administers the HI-Y Model United Nations (Model UN) and Youth in Government (Judicial and Legislative) programs to both Ohio and West Virginia Students. This report presents the findings from the 2010 evaluation of Learn and Serve Project Objective #3 in WV, which states, "at least 10 local sub-grantees will design and implement their own unique service learning projects based on student research of their community needs. These projects will address neighborhood improvement and show collaboration with faith-based and/or community-based organizations." Evaluation of this work consisted of written reports describing research data, planning techniques, objectives, implementation process, results, and reflection.

Project-Based Learning (PBL) in West Virginia: Efficacy of Professional Development Delivery Mode   download PDF LinkReport
Larry White and Diana L. Smith, February 2010
The purpose of this project-based learning study was to examine the impact and effectiveness of three professional development course delivery systems (media) used by the WVDE to train West Virginia teachers. These three systems included (1) classroom-based instruction, which typically involves 0–5% of course content presented in any online format or mode; (2) hybrid instruction, which typically involves 30%–79% of course content delivered online; and (3) Web-based instruction which usually involves over 80% of course content delivered online. This study utilized case study research methods.

Research Brief: Impact of Writing Roadmap 2.0 on WESTEST 2 Online Writing Assessment Scores download PDF LinkResearch Brief  
Larry White, Nate Hixson, Juan D’Brot, Jason Perdue, Sandra Foster, and Vaughn Rhudy, 2010
In November 2009, the West Virginia Department of Education Office of Assessment, Accountability, and Research conducted an internal research study to determine the impact of Writing Roadmap 2.0 on West Virginia students’ 2009 WESTEST 2 Online Writing assessment scores. This research study utilized extant data to address a single research question: Is there a statistically significant difference between the 2009 WESTEST 2 Online Writing Assessment scores of West Virginia students who used Writing Roadmap 2.0 during the 2008-2009 school year and those who did not?

Research Brief: WESTEST 2 Online Writing Scoring Comparability Study download PDF LinkResearch Brief  
Larry White, Nate Hixson, and Vaughn Rhudy, 2010
To provide an opportunity for teachers to better understand the automated scoring process used by the state of West Virginia on our annual WESTEST 2 Online Writing Assessment, the WVDE Office of Assessment and Accountability and the Office of Research conduct an annual comparability study. Each year educators from throughout West Virginia receive training from the Office of Assessment and Accountability and then hand score randomly selected student compositions. The educators’ hand scores are then compared to the operational computer (engine) scores, and the comparability of the two scoring methods is examined.

Supplemental Educational Services in the State of West Virginia: Evaluation Report for 2009–2010   download PDF LinkReport
Andy Whisman, Juan D’Brot, Nate Hixson, and Larry J. White, December 2010
Presented in this report are findings of an evaluation of the 2009-2010 supplemental educational services (SES) program in West Virginia, conducted by the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE), Office of Research. The primary purpose of the evaluation was to examine SES provider effectiveness by analyzing (a) achievement outcomes of students who received SES and (b) the perceptions of key stakeholders in participating school districts in West Virginia. A secondary goal of this evaluation was to create a systematic process to assist the WVDE in meeting federal evaluation and monitoring requirements.