New Releases by Mark Duffy

Louth Rediscovered is a photography book with the most concise collection of Louth heritage sites. County Louth is known for being the smallest county in Ireland, but did you know that it also has the largest number of heritage sites per capita outside of

Community schools are receiving increased attention in Pennsylvania and across the country as policymakers and practitioners strive to address the effects of poverty on academic performance, and provide more comprehensive supports for traditionally-underserved populations. While many advocates and education leaders tout the promise of community schools, skepticism remains, in part because the model is difficult to implement and sustain, and supporting research is scarce and mainly limited to comprehensive, long-running models. In this brief, Research for Action (RFA) examines existing research on comprehensive community schools. And because there is no, one "model" for community schools, we explore the evidence base on several common elements such as expanded day learning opportunities and health supports. We also examine two promising examples of community schools: the United Way of Greater Lehigh Valley''s Community Schools; and the School District of Cincinnati, an urban district that has garnered national attention for the scale of its community school programming. We conclude by offering lessons learned on the creation, implementation, and sustainability of community schools, and we provide a set of policy considerations for both state and local education leaders.

Initiated for the 2013-14 school year, the Common Assignment Study (CAS) is a three-year effort being led by the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) and The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky (The Fund) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Conceptually, CAS builds on previous efforts to improve instruction through the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC). LDC''s template-task approach to supporting key instructional shifts has demonstrated utility for teachers working to enhance literacy instruction across multiple content areas. With CAS, larger science, social studies and English/language arts (ELA) units have been developed that also focus on building literacy skills, in part, by incorporating LDC modules into the units. This report focuses on: (1) providing formative feedback on unit implementation; (2) teacher collaboration; (3) the status of context and conditions for CAS success, including school and district leadership and CAS alignment with curricula, assessments and teacher effectiveness systems; and (4) prospects for sustaining CAS. RFA is also investigating participant perceptions of enhanced teacher practice and improved student learning. An extensive amount of data for this study was collected through teacher, administrator, and partner interviews, student focus groups, teacher surveys, administrator surveys, observations of teacher collaboration on unit revision and review of student work.

For more than two decades, states have been required to report publicly on the academic performance of schools and districts. These school rating systems have received increased public attention amid growing concerns about the prevalence and cost of standardized testing in schools. According to a recent Gallup Poll, 64 percent of the public overall, and 67 percent of public school parents, said there is too much emphasis on standardized testing in education. These perceptions have been widely acknowledged by policymakers at both the state and federal levels. As deliberations on the future of Pennsylvania''s school rating system, the School Performance Profile, gather steam, Research for Action (RFA) is pleased to provide background on the existing research related to best practices in reporting on school performance. We also offer examples of reporting systems from neighboring and high-performing states.

National initiatives to raise K-12 standards and align them to postsecondary entrance requirements have prompted states and/or state postsecondary systems to enact policies to improve alignment among postsecondary readiness standards, postsecondary placement and diagnostic exams, and developmental education curricula. This report examines how six community colleges--three each in the states of Florida and Virginia--responded to the state-wide reform of college placement and diagnostic testing. It is a companion piece to "From Policy to Practice: Tracing the Development and Implementation of Placement and Diagnostic Assessments across States, Systems and Community Colleges - Analysis of Policy Reform in Five States" (ED553141) that provided an analysis of how five states commissioned vendors to develop new placement tests that include a diagnostic component. Analysis in this report provides a comprehensive picture of state policy reform by tracing implementation through multiple levels--beginning most broadly at the state level and progressing through increasingly granular levels of implementation. Appendix A provides case studies and Appendix B presents "Local and Community College Characteristics."

To support the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested in the development and dissemination of two tools aimed at operationalizing classroom instruction based on the standards: (1) the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)''s Framework; and (2) the Math Design Collaborative (MDC)''s Formative Assessment Lessons. These tools stress teachers'' attention to high quality instructional tasks, use of formative assessments embedded in those tasks, and professional learning opportunities that focus on both content knowledge and instruction. Experts from the LDC have developed a Framework that can be customized by English Language Arts (ELA), social studies and science teachers into writing tasks designed to facilitate CCSS-based student literacy and content learning. LDC also developed a module structure that teachers can use to create a plan for teaching students the content and literacy skills necessary to complete the writing task. For example, a social studies teacher might teach a template task that asks students to write an argumentative essay on how the political views of the signers of the Constitution impacted the American political system. The entire process takes approximately two to three weeks of classroom time to complete. Similarly, experts from the Shell Centre have developed a set of Formative Assessment Lessons (Lessons) for secondary mathematics teachers to facilitate CCSS-based student mathematics learning and provide teachers with feedback about student understanding and mastery. Unlike the LDC Framework, the Lessons are not customizable and typically take a few days to complete rather than few weeks. Another key difference between the modules and the Formative Assessment Lessons is that modules can be utilized to teach new content whereas Formative Assessment Lessons are meant for gauging student mastery and/or reinforcing already-taught material. For this reason, Lessons are intended to be taught about three quarters of the way into a unit. Research for Action (RFA) began examining the implementation of this initiative in its pilot year of 2010-2011 (Year One), and has continued this research into the 2011-2012 school year (Year Two), which has seen the expansion of the use of the tools. The results of the authors'' research at the end of the second year of the initiative are presented in four Research Briefs, which are related but are also designed to stand alone. The first of four briefs on the LDC/MDC initiatives, Brief One presents key background information that will be referred to throughout the other three briefs. To describe the implementation and the scale-up of the LDC/MDC initiative, this brief includes: (1) the Theory of Action, which provides a comprehensive organizing framework for the presentation of the research results; (2) a national overview of the initiative, highlighting the extent of training on the LDC and MDC tools across the United States; (3) a detailed look at changes to the number of schools and teachers involved across Research for Action''s four LDC and four MDC study sites; (4) a description of the research methodology; and (5) a short summary of Briefs 2, 3, and 4. (Contains 10 figures and 4 footnotes.).

Math experts developed Formative Assessment Lessons that teachers can incorporate throughout the year''s curriculum. Both tools target the "instructional core." A study by Research for Action (RFA) examining the first year of piloting the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) tools (2010-11) found evidence of initial success in tool use indicated by teachers'' perceptions that the tools positively influenced teacher practice. In the second year of the Initiative (2011-12), tool use grew within and across sites. The focus of the research has expanded accordingly to include an analysis of how the tools are being introduced to additional classrooms, schools and districts, and what strategies are most effective in sustaining and strengthening tool use. This brief focuses on efforts to scale up and sustain broader use of the tools. It begins with an introduction in which "scale-up and sustainability" is defined, providing the framework for this brief. The introduction also provides detail on the extent to which use of the tools has grown within study sites, both in terms of additional teachers/schools/districts/networks, and in terms of the greater integration of the tools into teachers'' practice. In addition, the authors provide a review of the theory of action driving the LDC/MDC Initiative, highlighting the underlying conditions necessary for robust implementation to occur. The second section of the brief presents findings on the extent to which the supporting conditions necessary for robust LDC/MDC tool implementation--alignment, leadership and professional learning opportunities--are in evidence at the various study sites. The final section of the brief offers suggestions for supporting enhanced and expanded LDC/MDC tool implementation. Findings in this brief draw on observations of teachers and professional development providers, interview data from tools developers and professional development providers, and interview and survey data from teachers, school administrators, district/regional and network leadership, and state-level policymakers/partners. (Contains 28 figures and 4 footnotes.).

In 2010-11, the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) framework was piloted in six districts, a teacher network, and a network of schools. In most cases, school districts applied for and received grants to implement LDC; in others, regional intermediaries served as the grantee and as primary organizer of the work; and, in still others, national networks were the grantee and the organizer. In this report, which draws largely on data from the six districts, Research for Action (RFA) identifies the conditions and contexts for successful use of the tools, and examines the actions that district and school-based leaders can take to support teachers'' adoption and effective implementation of the literacy tools. It provides specific recommendations to guide local leaders as they gear up to help year one teachers deepen their use of the LDC tools and assist teachers who are just joining the initiative to efficiently gain the expertise and skills they need to successfully implement the tools. This report addresses the following research questions: (1) What are district and school-based educators doing to support robust implementation of the LDC instructional and assessment tools so that the initiative''s intended early outcomes are achieved?; and (2) What district and school-based conditions and practices hold particular promise for assuring intended outcomes for teachers and students, as well as for sustaining and scaling up the initiative? Appended are: (1) Survey Measures; (2) Methodology for LDC Research; and (3) References. (Contains 6 tables, 9 figures and 2 footnotes.) [For "Establishing a Strong Foundation: District and School-Level Supports for Classroom Implementation of the LDC and MDC Frameworks. Executive Summary," see ED539593.].

This comprehensive and detailed survey of English royal tombs from 1066-1509, including junior royals as well as kings and queens, is combined with accounts of burial practice, tomb design, craftsmen, and construction.

Labour, prosperity and the 90''s.