EPAA: Education Policy Analysis Archives

My new favorite work is snark. So, I begin this entry with the following snarky comment: If you don't have the good fortune to be enrolled in a graduate program, accessing educational research can be a pain. However, there are a vast number of resources available even without a student id. ASCD offers a daily summary of national educational headlines and regularly offers an Educational Research Brief. You probably remember ERIC from your college days – after a brief sabbatical, it’s back with even more full-text articles. (I always felt so research-y when I had to go request microfiche or microfilm while doing an ERIC search as an undergrad. I wonder if they even use those any more.)

Another resource that is actually a braoder electronic journal than its title implies is EPAA. EPAA: Education Policy Analysis Archives offers a comfortable and broad foray into educational research for both the novice and experienced educational researcher. Once you get past the sort of juvenile loading effects, the site is relatively simple and easy to navigate. For those who are bilingual, the Archives offer documents in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, on occasion. The editorial board is large and diverse (editors come from across the country - Harvard to UCLA) and all articles must go through the peer review proess.

The volumes are not thematic but a collection of a variety of articles in the three publication languages. The English articles in the most recent volume include:
Nichols, Glass & Berliner: High-Stakes Testing and Student Achievement: Does Accountability Pressure Increase Student Learning?
Successive Student Cohorts and Longitudinal Growth Models: An Investigation of Elementary School Mathematics Performance
Lustick, D. & Sykes, G.: National Board Certification as Professional Development: What Are Teachers Learning?
Young, I.P. & Miller-Smith, K.: Effects of a State Mandated Policy (Site-Based Councils) and of Potential Role Incumbents on Teacher Screening Decisions in High and Low Performing Schools.
Braun, H. I., Wang, A., Jenkins, F., & Weinbaum, E.: The Black-White achievement gap: Do state policies matter?
Howley, A., & Howley, C. B. (2006). Small schools and the pressure to consolidate.
Chatterji, M., Kwon, Y.A., & Sng, C. (2006). Gathering evidence on an after-school supplemental instruction program: Design challenges and early findings in light of NCLB.
Wright, W. E., & Choi, D. (2006). The impact of language and high-stakes testing policies on elementary school English language learners in Arizona.
Lubienski, S. T. (2006). Examining instruction, achievement, and equity with NAEP mathematics data.
Wenglinsky, H. (2006). On ideology, causal inference and the reification of statistical methods: Reflections on "Examining instruction, achievement and equity with NAEP mathematics data."
Lyons, J. E., & Algozzine, B. (2006). Perceptions of the impact of accountability on the role of principals.
Ragan, A., & Lesaux, N. (2006). Federal, state, and district level English language learner program entry and exit requirements: Effects on the education of language minority learners.

I did a quick search of the site using their search feature using “assessment design” and got several dozens articles – all of which appear to relevant. One, which I’m sure I’ll post in another entry – is titled “What Does the Psychometrician's Classroom Look Like?: Reframing Assessment Concepts in the Context of Learning.” You gotta love it.