Current Projects
The Texas Center for Educational Research conducts externally funded research in partnership with state agencies, institutions of higher education, and other research organizations. TCER strives to enhance the quality of public education through independent, nonpartisan research on contemporary educational issues and through the communication of research findings to those who make, influence, or implement educational policy. TCER's current research projects include:
Evaluation of New Texas Charter Schools
In the spring of 2008, TCER began a three year evaluation of new Texas charter schools. The study focuses on the processes that guide the planning and early implementation of effective charter school programs as well as new charter schools’ use of federal Charter School Program (CSP) grant funds. The evaluation incorporates case studies of new charter schools’ planning and implementation years as well as data collected through surveys of new charter school students and their parents, teachers and school leaders, and individuals involved in the founding and planning of new charter schools. Interim evaluation reports will be available in January of 2008 and 2009. The final evaluation report will be complete in the fall of 2010.
College and Workforce Readiness in Texas
In partnership with Texas Association of School Boards, TCER is conducting a study of the practical impediments to preparing Texas students for college and the workforce. In identifying barriers to postsecondary readiness, TCER is conducting interviews with key policy makers, educational practitioners, and community stakeholders across the state. The final report will combine views on the practical challenges to readying Texas students for postsecondary education and employment with research on the legal and policy constraints that may limit the effectiveness of such efforts. This research is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Evaluation of the Texas Technology Immersion Pilot (eTxTIP)
TCER is conducting a longitudinal evaluation of the state's Technology Immersion Pilot. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has directed has directed nearly $25 million in federal Title II, Part D monies toward funding a wireless learning environment for high-need middle schools through a competitive grant process. The TEA in partnership with TCER received a $1.95 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to conduct a multi-year, scientifically based evaluation to test the effectiveness of technology immersion in increasing middle school students' achievement in core academic subjects. Technology immersion encompasses multiple components, including a laptop computer for every middle school student and teacher, wireless access throughout the campus, professional development, and ongoing pedagogical support for curricular integration of technology resources, and technical support to maintain an immersed campus. The study employs a quasi-experimental research design that includes 22 immersed and 22 control sites in order to examine the effect of laptop immersion on student achievement and other student, teacher, and school related outcomes. The study relies on data collected from principal, teacher, and student surveys of immersion effects; state education data sources; and site visits to all 44 campuses. View evaluation reports here.
GEAR UP: Students Training for Academic Readiness Evaluation
In the fall of 2006, TCER began a six-year longitudinal evaluation of the Texas Education Agency's Students Training for Academic Readiness (STAR) a project funded through the federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant program. The STAR project seeks to improve college readiness in six south Texas school districts that serve large proportions of low-income and minority students through the combined efforts of state education agencies, public universities, community and business groups, as well as parents. TCER's evaluation will assess the effectiveness of the processes used to achieve STAR goals as well as the project's effect on student outcomes, including advanced course completion, increased graduation rates, and increased college enrollment. The first year report is available here.
Texas Charter Schools
Since 1996, TCER has been involved in ongoing legislatively mandated evaluations of Texas charter schools. While evaluations through 2006 focused solely on the state's open-enrollment charters, the 2006-07 evaluation includes open-enrollment, campus, home-rule, and university charters. Reports consider the performance of charter schools relative to traditional district schools and include sections addressing student and staff characteristics, school revenues and expenditures, student achievement, parent and student satisfaction, as well as the effect of charter schools on traditional district schools. Previous years' charter school evaluations are available here. The 2006-07 report will be available in the spring of 2008.