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October 18, 2017
The Effect of Career and Technical Education on Human Capital Accumulation: Causal Evidence from Massachusetts
Twenty percent of high school students take four or more courses in career and technical education (CTE). Despite this high rate of participation, little is known about what constitutes high-quality CTE and whether high-quality CTE allows participants to accumulate meaningful knowledge and skills to succeed in a career. This study from the Association for Education Finance and Policy examined the impact of participating in CTE on high school attendance, high school completion, professional certifications, and performance on standardized test scores. The evidence suggests that a high-quality CTE program boosts on-time graduation for higher income students and for lower income .
Citation: Dougherty, S. M. (2016). The effect of career and technical education on human capital accumulation: Causal evidence from Massachusetts. Education Finance and Policy. doi:10.1162/EDFP_a_00224.
Link: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/EDFP_a_00224?journalCode=edfp&
October 4, 2017
The usual approach to determining if an intervention is effective for a student is to review student outcome data; however, this is only part of the task. Student data can only be understood if we know something about how well the intervention was implemented. Student data without treatment integrity data are largely meaningless because without knowing how well an intervention has been implemented, no judgments can be made about the effectiveness of the intervention. Poor outcomes can be a function of an ineffective intervention or poor implementation of the intervention. Without treatment integrity data, the is a risk that an intervention will be judged as ineffective when, in fact, the quality of implementation was so inadequate that it would be unreasonable to expect positive outcomes.
Citation: Detrich, R., States, J. & Keyworth, R. (2017). Treatment Integrity in the Problem Solving Process. Oakland, Ca. The Wing Institute
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/treatment-integrity-problem-solving
October 4, 2017
Student achievement scores in the United States remain stagnant despite constant reform. New initiatives arise promising hope, only to disappoint after being adopted, implemented, and quickly found wanting. The cycle of reform followed by failure has had a demoralizing effect on schools, making new reform efforts more problematic. These efforts frequently fail because implementing new practices is far more challenging than expected and require that greater attention be paid to implementation. A fundamental factor leading to failure is inattention to treatment integrity. When innovations are not implemented as designed, it should not be a surprise that anticipated benefits are not forthcoming. The question is, what strategies can educators employ to increase the likelihood that practices will be implemented as designed?
Strategies designed to increase treatment integrity fall into two categories: antecedent-based strategies and consequence-based strategies. Antecedent-based strategies involve any setting event or environmental factor that happens prior to implementing the new practice and that increases the likelihood of success as well as eliminates setting events or environmental considerations that decrease the likelihood of success. Consequence-based strategies are designed to impact actions that happen after implementation of the new practice and that are likely to increase or decrease treatment integrity.
Citation: Detrich, R., States, J. & Keyworth, R. (2017). Approaches to Increasing Treatment Integrity. Oakland, Ca. The Wing Institute
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/treatment-integrity-strategies
October 4, 2017
Historically, treatment integrity has been defined as implementation of an intervention as planned (Gresham, 1989). More recently, treatment integrity has been reimagined as multidimensional (Dane & Schneider, 1998). In this conceptualization of treatment integrity are four dimensions relevant to practice: (a) exposure (dosage), (b) adherence, (c) quality of delivery, and (d) student responsiveness. It is important to understand that these dimensions do not stand alone but rather interact to impact the ultimate effectiveness of an intervention. It is important for educators to assess all dimensions of treatment integrity to assure that it is being implemented as intended.
Citation: Detrich, R., States, J. & Keyworth, R. (2017). Dimensions of Treatment Integrity Overview. Oakland, Ca. The Wing Institute
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/treatment-integritydimensions
October 4, 2017
For the best chance of a positive impact on educational outcomes, two conditions must be met: (a) Effective interventions must be adopted, and (b) those interventions must be implemented with sufficient quality (treatment integrity) to ensure benefit. To date, emphasis in education has been on identifying effective interventions and less concern with implementing the interventions. The research on the implementation of interventions is not encouraging. Often, treatment integrity scores are very low and, in practice, implementation is rarely assessed. If an intervention with a strong research base is not implemented with a high level of treatment integrity, then the students do not actually experience the intervention and there is no reason to assume they will benefit from it. Under these circumstances, it is not possible to know if poor outcomes are the result of an ineffective intervention or poor implementation of that intervention. Historically, treatment integrity has been defined as implementing an intervention as prescribed. More recently, it has been conceptualized as having multiple dimensions, among them dosage and adherence which must be measured to ensure that it is occurring at adequate levels.
Citation: Detrich, R., States, J., & Keyworth, R. (2107). Overview of Treatment Integrity. Oakland, Ca. The Wing Institute.
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/evidence-based-decision-making-treatment-integrity
September 26, 2017
Preventing Dropout in Secondary Schools
This What Works Clearinghouse practice guide provides educators and administrators with four evidence-based recommendations for reducing dropout rates in middle and high schools. The guide offers specific, strategies; examples of how to implement the practices; advice on how to overcome obstacles; and a summary of the supporting evidence.
Citation: Rumberger, R. W., et al. (2017). Educator’s Practice Guide: Preventing Dropout in Secondary School. IES National Center for Education and Evaluation and Regional Assistance.
Link: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/PracticeGuide/wwc_dropout_092617.pdf
September 6, 2017
Beall’s List of Predatory Journals and Publishers
This news item offers a list of questionable, scholarly open-access publishers. In an era in which we are bombarded with volumes of research, it becomes ever more challenging to decide which journals and publishers are reputable. This web site reviews, assesses, and provides guidelines on how to decide which are trustworthy, whether you want to submit articles, serve as an editor, or serve on an editorial board. The web site provides a list that mostly consists of open access journals, although, a few non-open access publishers whose practices match those of predatory publishers have been added to the list.
Citation: Beall, J. (2012). Predatory publishers are corrupting open access. Nature, 489(7415), 179.
Web Site: Beall’s List of Predatory Journals and Publishers
August 29, 2017
Restructuring Environmental Contingencies and Enhancing Self-Managed Supervision
The results of the 2016-17 Wing Institute’s research grant are now available on our web site. Laura Kern submitted the selected study that examines the effects of a brief training on active supervision and self-management and the use of a simple strategy of self-management (e.g., checklist and Direct Behavior Rating Scales to change adult behavior).
Three research questions were addressed related to recess supervisor and student behaviors:
- What are the effects of a brief training on self-management on recess supervisors’ active supervision behaviors?
- What are the effects of increasing active supervision on students’ problematic behavior during recess?
- Will any increase in recess supervisor’s use of self-management be maintained with the sole use of direct behavior rating scales as part of a self-management strategy of the adult active supervision
Link: Go to Research section
August 8, 2017
A Meta-Analysis of Class Sizes and Ratios in Early Childhood Education Programs: Are Thresholds of Quality Associated With Greater Impacts on Cognitive, Achievement, and Socioemotional Outcomes?
This meta-analysis of early childhood education programs in the U.S. examines the impact of class size and child to teacher ratios on the cognitive, achievement, and socioemotional outcomes for children. The study found no socially significant relationship with cognitive and achievement effect size for either class size or child to teacher ratios. The only notable improvement in effect size was found when child to teacher ratios were lower than 7.5-1.
Citation: Bowne, J. B., Magnuson, K. A., Schindler, H. S., Duncan, G. J., & Yoshikawa, H. (2017). A Meta-Analysis of Class Sizes and Ratios in Early Childhood Education Programs: Are Thresholds of Quality Associated With Greater Impacts on Cognitive, Achievement, and Socioemotional Outcomes?. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 0162373716689489.
Link: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0162373716689489
August 4, 2017
Find Out If Your Job Will Be Automated
Bloomberg has published an interactive graphic that reveals valuable information on the probability of a particular employment path being impacted by automation. The graphic also provides information on average annual wage, number of people employed in the sector, and academic degree required for the job. This data is especially important as schools consider models for preparing students’ future careers. As schools are increasingly held accountable for career preparation, how can educators use this data to create career pathways that will adequately equip students with the skills and knowledge required for well-paying jobs obtainable when they graduate?
Citation: Whitehouse, M., & Rojanasakul, M. (2017). Find out if your job will be automated. Retrieved from
Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-job-risk/
