Progress 01/01/99 to 12/30/04
Outputs
During this final year of Hatch funding for my project, I continued with both the qualitative work with the participating school districts and a second survey of NYS School districts. The work this year targeted the implementation of the Academic Intervention Services (AIS), the state-mandated provision for additional instruction for under-achieving students. The qualitative work provided the basis for the survey development. While we gave a preliminary presentation and provided a draft study at the fall public forum of the Educational Finance Research Consortium, the survey was completed in November. The final draft of the study will be completed in January 2004.
Impacts
The impact of this work is significant on two levels. First, my study of AIS is the most comprehensive analysis and assessment to date. While there are many anecdotal stories available, our work is the only systematic statewide study completed. The initial feedback from state policymakers and local educators is that this work is timely, informative, and contributing to the broader understanding the degree of success and difficulty of the new Regents Learning and Graduation Standards. Second, the ongoing (5 years) and systematic nature of this work has provided a comprehensive and multifaceted analysis of the impact of the significant changes to state education policy.
Publications
- Killeen, K., & Sipple, J. W. 2003. The implementation of academic intervention services in new york state school districts: Implications for school organization and instruction. Albany, NY: New York state Educational Finance Research Consortium (available at http://www.albany.edu/edfin).
- Sipple, J. W., Benjamin, L., & Faessler, L. 2003. Status of NYS rural schools in meeting the NYS regents and the federal NCLB standards. Ithaca, NY: A Study prepared for the Rural Schools Association of New York State.
- Sipple, J. W. 2004. Major issues in American schools. In P. Allen-Meares (Ed.), Social work services in schools (pp. 1-22). Boston: Pearson.
- Sipple, J. W. 2004. Local anchors versus state levers in state-led school reform: Identifying the community around public schools. In W. K. Hoy & C. G. Miskel (Eds.), Educational administration, policy, and reform: Research and measurement (Vol. 3). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
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Progress 01/01/02 to 12/31/02
Outputs
I am beginning the fifth year of this study into how local school districts are responding to changes in state educational policy. I have established and am advancing a sound theoretical basis on which to ground the empirical studies and have continued the data collection another year (with plans for one more year of data collection). While I continue to access the state-collected archival data, I made significant advances in other areas of the data collection. First, we carried out a state-wide (outside of New York City) survey of superintendents, principals, and teachers. This was done with the funding and interest of the state. Second, in December, we began a similar data collection in New York City (to be completed in January, 2003). The Spencer Foundation funded the New York City effort. Finally, we updated four of our six cases with full visits to each of the sites for approximately 90 more interviews. These cases were funded in part by Hatch funds and in part
by the NY State Educational Finance Research consortium (EFRC). Together, the ongoing survey and case data are becoming the most detailed data available on school districts in New York State available anywhere.
Impacts
We have informed various groups across the state (including the State Education Department, the NY State Board of Regents, NY State Rural Schools Program, NY State School Boards Association) as to the effects on school districts of the changes in the state's Learning and Graduation Standards. We have been able to document and describe broad trends in student performance as well as specific strategies (student grouping, teacher professional development, dropout prevention, GED transfers) schools and districts are using to meet the new standards. There is now a more public discussion of GED transfer rates and organizational and programmatic strategies for improving the performance of the poorest performing students and schools. We are leading the way to document and understand the strategies districts are using to assist all students in reaching the new state learning and graduation standards.
Publications
- Sipple, J. W., D. Monk 2002. Adoption and Adaptation: New York State School Districts' Responses to State Imposed High School Graduation Requirements: An Eight Year Retrospective. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New Orleans, LA.
- Killeen, K., & Sipple, J. W. 2002. How have performance standards changed school district practice? Results from a statewide survey of New York State school districts. Albany, NY: Educational Finance Research Consortium. (available at http://www.albany.edu/edfin).
- Sipple, J. W., Killeen, K., & Monk, D. 2002. Adaptation of state-imposed high school graduation requirements: The New York Case. Submitted to Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
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Progress 01/01/01 to 12/31/01
Outputs
I am beginning the fourth year of this study into how local school districts are responding to changes in state educational policy. I have established a sound theoretical basis on which to ground the empirical studies. I use four types of data for this study. First, I have continued to gather publicly available archival data collected by the state from every school building in the state. This data is updated annually. Second, I secured restricted-use data from the state. This is a survey the state began collecting in 1999 and will continue for four years. Third, I put together a team of researchers from Cornell and local school districts to conduct five case studies during the winter and Spring of 2001. These cases were funded in part by Hatch funds and in part by the NY State Educational Finance Research consortium (EFRC). Finally, I have now contracted to have a phone survey of a representative sample of school districts to collect data from teachers, principals,
and superintendents. In the case analyses, we were able to identify a set of explicit strategies and priorities schools and districts are using to respond to the new graduation standards. Interested in our findings, state educational leaders wanted to know how prevalent the strategies are across all school districts. To do this, we needed to scale up our study. We secured a second grant from the EFRC to fund (in addition to Hatch and Cornell University funding) the survey development and collection. This process is underway. By April 2002 we will have enough data to report back to the state and to begin the next round of academic publications.
Impacts
We have informed various groups across the state (including the State Education Department, the NY State Board of Regents, NY State Rural Schools Program, NY State School Boards Association, the Office of H. Carl McCall, the Office of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver) as to the early effects on school districts of the changes in the state's Learning and Graduation Standards. We have been able to document and describe broad trends in student performance as well as specific strategies (student grouping, teacher professional development, dropout prevention, GED transfers) schools and districts are using to meet the new standards. There is now a more public discussion of GED transfer rates and organizational and programmatic strategies for improving the performance of the poorest performing students and schools. I have received a second year of funding from the Consortium to further this research by documenting the prevalence of programmatic strategies and organizational
forms as all school districts attempt to ensure that all their students earn a high school diploma.
Publications
- Monk, D., Sipple, J. W., & Killeen, K. (2001). Adoption and Adaptation: New York State School Districts' Responses to State-Imposed High School Graduation Requirements: An Eight-Year Retrospective. Albany, NY: New York State Educational Finance Research Consortium. http://www.albany.edu/edfin
- Sipple, J. W. (2001, April). Professional Development as a Response to High Stakes Reform in New York State. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, Cincinnati, OH.
- Sipple, J. W., L. Avery, et al. (2001, April). Facing the Pressures of New Academic Standards: An Analysis of Rural and Metropolitan Districts in New York State. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA.
- Sipple, J. W., H. Beasely, et al. (2001, April). Professional Development as a Response to High Stakes Reform in New York State. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA.
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Progress 01/01/00 to 12/31/00
Outputs
I am in a third year of a 5-year study into how local school districts are responding to changes in state educational policy. I have established a sound theoretical basis on which to ground the empirical studies. I secured restricted-use data from the state of New York and the Federal Government and have 4 papers under development. This data was the centerpiece of a paper presented at a conference last fall (2000) and is the focus of two papers in preparation for presentation at a national conferrence this April. I have also begun the qualitative component and have established relationships with six participating public school districts. I have put together a team of 8 graduate students and local educators to conduct the case studies. The data from these case studies will be presented at two national and two state-wide conferences this spring and summer. Funding ($12,000) to supplement the Hatch dollars to conduct this study has been secured from the NYS Educational
Finance Research Consortium.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- Sipple, J.W. 2000. A study analyzing the relationships among school district staffing of teachers, district wealth, and higher learning standards in New York State. Unpublished manuscript, Cornell University.
- Killeen, K. and Sipple, J.W. 2000. A (re)analyses of rural school transportation costs and its institutional causes. Unpublished report, Cornell University.
- Sipple, J.W. and Avery, L. 2000. School district responses to new curriculum and assessment standards in New York State. Unpublished manuscript, Cornell University.
- Killeen, K. and Sipple, J.W. 2000. The fiscal and institutional impacts of transportation costs on educational programs in rural schools. Unpublished manuscript, Cornell University.
- Killeen, K. and Sipple, J.W. 2000. Fiscal impacts of transportation costs on rural schools: An empirical and conceptual analysis. Unpublished manuscript, Cornell University.
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Progress 01/01/99 to 12/31/99
Outputs
This is the close of the first year of a five-year investigation into how local school districts are responding to a significant change in state educational policy. In this year, I along with several graduate students have collected a significant database of both theoretical and policy-related literature. In reviewing this literature we are establishing the groundwork with which to move the long-range study forward. I have also secured restricted-use data from the state of New York and the Federal government. This data, not publicly available, will be the centerpiece of the study. The New York data is just the first wave of a multi-year data collection effort. I am conducting preliminary analyses of the first wave of data and working to link the new data to other state and federal data. The merging of this data into a new data set will create a unique and yet unanalyzed data set which is well suited to analyze my research questions. We also attempted to gain access to
one specific school district to conduct a more detailed case study. We were denied access to the district on the grounds that the staff was too busy. Three unique analyses are currently underway. I anticipate at least three publications to come out of the work.
Impacts
(N/A)
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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