The Educational Development for Planning and Conducting Evaluations (ED PACE) was a three-year research project funded by the U.S. Department of Education to develop, implement and refine a set of research tools and methods that would enable project personnel at the state and local level to compare student outcomes and achievement data using a quasi-experimental design. The focus of this study was the West Virginia Virtual School Spanish 1A and 1B courses at the middle school level. These courses provide rural students an opportunity to study a foreign language at sites that would not otherwise be able to offer foreign language. At the heart of the project were the two program goals: 1) Provide empirical data on student achievement in the program using quasi-experimental design; 2) Develop a framework for scientifically-based research that builds capacity to measure the impact of technology-based programs. For this project, it was necessary to develop and validate a Spanish Proficiency Assessment to use as the outcome measure to compare the Virtual Spanish program with face-to-face Spanish classes.

REPORTS:

Full Report (pdf)

RESOURCES:

Presentation used in reporting the results of the second year of the study to the U.S. Department of Education