Benjamin Creed

Dyslexic children often fail to correct errors while reading aloud, and dyslexic adolescents and adults exhibit lower amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN)-the neural response to errors-than typical readers during silent reading. Past researchers therefore suggested that dyslexia may arise from a faulty error detection mechanism that interferes with orthographic learning and text comprehension. An alternative possibility is that comprehension difficulty in dyslexics is primarily a downstream effect of low-quality lexical representations-that is, poor word knowledge. On this view, the attenuated ERN in dyslexics is a byproduct, rather than a source, of underdeveloped orthographic knowledge. Because the second view implies a direct association of the error response with comprehension skill in populations of all ability levels, the present study evaluates these alternatives through a reanalysis of behavioral and neural data from 31 typical adult readers. If it is true that faulty error processing can manifest as dyslexia, a model in which error monitoring contributes directly to comprehension should outperform a model in which it does not. ERNs recorded during spelling judgments were used as a measure of error detection aptitude in path analyses of reading comprehension. The data were better fit by a model in which error detection aptitude was a consequence of word knowledge than a model in which it contributed directly to comprehension. The findings challenge the notion that comprehension difficulty in dyslexics is attributable to error processing deficits and are consistent with the hypothesis that comprehension difficulty in dyslexics is partially attributable to low-quality word knowledge.

This paper considers the determinants of student participation in Michigan’s large inter-district open enrollment system, known as Schools of Choice. Employing a rich dataset from the Michigan Department of Education, we examine the population of public school students in resident and non-resident school districts between the 2005-06 and 2012-13 academic years. We find substantial evidence that historically disadvantaged students are those most likely to participate in Schools of Choice: African American students and low-income students are more likely than their peers in their resident districts to make an inter-district transfer; they are, however, also the most likely among other Schools of Choice participants to exit the program. In addition, students who are relatively low performing on the state’s standardized exam—especially in mathematics—are most likely to both participate in Schools of Choice and, among participants, the most likely to exit. We conclude by noting that thes...

The work of school principals is complex; however, little research has examined how they navigate this complexity outside of traditional settings and times. This specific line of inquiry is important, because principals’ time allocation is related to various desirable student outcomes, and how many hours principals work (and when) is associated with job satisfaction. To address this gap in the literature, we asked (a) How much time do principals spend on work-related activities outside of traditional school hours and how is that time used? and (b) In what ways do nontraditional work-hour activities influence principals’ job satisfaction? An analysis of our interview data revealed (a) principals spend a significant amount of time outside of traditional school hours completing school-related administrative work, being visible at school and community events, and being virtually visible via email and various social media platforms; and (b) time spent during nontraditional work hours inf...

The literature argues that families who exercise their ability to choose private schools tend to be better off, more educated, and more informed. There is also some evidence that private schooling may be demanded disproportionately for male children in the Indian context. As more private schools become available across India, will these differences in family attributes and child demographics of those who do and those who do not access private school diminish? Using a nationally representative dataset from rural India, we find that these gaps in private school access, especially at the lower-primary level, may persist or in some cases even widen. 1 Associate Professor, Educational Administration, College of Education, 620 Farm Lane, 408, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. amitac@msu.edu 2 Doctoral candidate in Education Policy and IES Economics of Education doctoral fellow, Creed’s work on the paper was supported by a Pre-Doctoral Training Grant from the Institut...

Purpose: School choice policies are expected to generate competition leading to improvement in school practices. However, little is known about how competition operates in public education—particularly in charter schools. This paper examines charter-school leaders’ competitive perception formation and the actions taken in response to competition. Research Methods: Using Arizona charter-school leaders’ responses to an original survey, Arizona Department of Education data, and the Common Core of Data, we examined the factors predicting the labeling of a school as a competitor. We estimated fixed effects logistic regression models which examine factors predicting the labeling of competitor schools and of top competitors. We used logistic regression models to understand charter-school leaders’ responses to competition. Findings: We find charter-school leaders in Arizona perceived at least some competition with other schools, and their perceptions vary by urbanicity. While distance betwe...

In this article, we focus on a statewide system of interdistrict open enrollment in Michigan, known as Schools of Choice. Our previous work indicated that students who take advantage of this program are disproportionately lower performing on state exams, come from lower-income families, and are more likely to be minority students. We estimated conditional bounds on these factors, as well as within-student variation in test scores, for the effect of participation in Schools of Choice, and find little evidence that student achievement is affected overall. We find little consistent evidence that subgroups of students based on race, gender or income benefit or lose disproportionately from the program, nor do students whose resident districts vary on key demographic or achievement characteristics.