ERIC Number: EJ1217478
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-May
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-189X
EISSN: N/A
Translating Standardized Effects of Education Programs into More Interpretable Metrics
Educational Researcher, v48 n4 p217-228 May 2019
Evaluators report effects of education initiatives as standardized effect sizes, a scale that has merits but obscures interpretation of the effects' practical importance. Consequently, educators and policymakers seek more readily interpretable translations of evaluation results. One popular metric is the number of years of learning necessary to induce the effect. We compare years of learning to three other translation options: benchmarking against other effect sizes, converting to percentile growth, and estimating the probability of scoring above a proficiency threshold. After enumerating the desirable properties of translations, we examine each option's strengths and weaknesses. We conclude that years of learning performs worst, and percentile gains performs best, making it our recommended choice for more interpretable translations of standardized effects.
Descriptors: Outcomes of Education, Program Evaluation, Educational Policy, Evaluators, Data Interpretation, Outcome Measures, Achievement Gap, Benchmarking, Individualized Instruction, Progress Monitoring, Reading Achievement, Mathematics Achievement, Time Factors (Learning), Growth Models, African American Students, White Students, Rural Urban Differences, Low Income, Disadvantaged Environment, Elementary School Students, Secondary School Students, Research Utilization, Achievement Tests
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Measures of Academic Progress
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A