This Week's Education Research Report 11-24-12 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Education Research Report:

THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT

Dance boosts young girls' mental health

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

Young girls can dance their way to better mental health. Symptoms like depression, stress, fatigue, and headaches are alleviated with regular dancing. This is shown in a study run by Anna Duberg, a physical therapist at Örebro University Hospital and a doctoral candidate at Örebro University in Sweden. Regular dance training can thereby be regarded as a strategy for preventing and treating low spirits and depression. Dance also brings enhanced self-esteem and a greater capacity to deal with everyday problems. The dance study included 112 Swedish girls 13 to 19 years of age. On mul... more »

Teens in arts report depressive symptoms

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

Teens who participate in after-school arts activities such as music, drama and painting are more likely to report feeling depressed or sad than students who are not involved in these programs, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association. This is the first study to find that young people's casual involvement in the arts could be linked to depressive symptoms, according to the researchers. The article was published online in APA's journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. "This is not to say that depression is a necessary condition ... more »

School Exclusion Policies Stigmatize Arrested Teens and Contribute to Educational Failure

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

“Zero- tolerance” policies that rely heavily on suspensions and expulsions hinder teens who have been arrested from completing high school or pursuing a college degree, according to a new study from The University of Texas at Austin. In Chicago, 25,000 male adolescents are arrested each year. One quarter of these arrests occurred in school, according to the Chicago Police Department. The stigma of a public arrest can haunt an individual for years — ultimately stunting academic achievement and transition into adulthood, says David Kirk, associate professor in the Department of Socio... more »

Homework doesn’t improve course grades but could boost standardized test scores

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

A study led by an Indiana University School of Education faculty member finds little correlation between time spent on homework and better course grades for math and science students, but a positive relationship between homework time and performance on standardized tests. "When Is Homework Worth the Time?" is a recently published work of Adam Maltese, assistant professor of science education in the IU School of Education, along with co-authors Robert H. Tai, associate professor of science education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, and Xitao Fan, dean ... more »

Promoting Effective Teaching in New Mexico

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

Report to The LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE In 2003, New Mexico introduced the three-tiered system to increase the recruitment and retention of quality teachers to improve student achievement. The system created a three-level career ladder for teachers to ascend based on experience, leadership, and skills. Movement up a level results in pay increases of $10 thousand. Previous evaluations of the three tiered system confirmed the system decreasing widespread teacher shortages, reducing unqualified teachers, and improving teacher pay. Student performance, however, has not improved w...more »

Swimming kids are smarter

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Children who learn how to swim at a young age are reaching many developmental milestones earlier than the norm. Researchers from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research surveyed parents of 7000 under-fives from Australia, New Zealand and the US over three years. A further 180 children aged 3, 4 and 5 years have been involved in intensive testing, making it the world’s most comprehensive study into early-years swimming. Lead researcher Professor Robyn Jorgensen says the study shows young children who participate in early-years swimming achieve a wide range of skills earlie... more »

States Have Not Yet Shifted Their Focus from Building Education Data Systems to Helping People Like Parents and Teachers Use Them

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

The Data Quality Campaign’s (DQC) eighth annual state analysis, *Data for Action 2012*, shows that although states are making progress in supporting effective data use, the hardest work remains. States collect quality data and have enacted policy changes, but they have not yet focused on helping people, especially parents, teachers and students, effectively use data. “States should be commended for their hard work building robust data systems. But it’s time to focus on the people side of the data equation — how this benefits teachers and students,” said Aimee Rogstad Guidera, exe... more »

Developing a comprehensive digital strategy

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

School, district, and state leaders must make critical decisions in the next two years involving digital learning that will shape education for decades, according to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education. The report, The Nation’s Schools Are Stepping Up to Higher Standards, identifies four key challenges that public school district leaders must systemically address in the next two years and outlines the essential elements for developing a comprehensive digital strategy. The report and the webinar accompanying its release are the first steps in a major effort by the... more »

School Programs’ Success Can Hinge on Principals Going “All In”

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

When principals go “all in” in terms of supporting school programs, teachers stand a better chance of successfully implementing change, according to new research published by the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Virginia (UVA). The researchers report in Prevention Science that if school principals lack enthusiasm or show little support, they are actually viewed as a hindrance by teachers, posing “major challenges” to the success of school programs like the Responsive Classroom®, an approach boasting social-emotional learning. Additionally, apprehensive teachers feari... more »

Youth with autism gravitate toward STEM majors in college — if they get there

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

It’s a popularly held belief that individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) gravitate toward STEM majors in college (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). A new study, co-authored by Paul Shattuck, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, confirms that view yet finds that young adults with an ASD also have one of the lowest overall college enrollment rates. The study, “STEM Participation Among College Students with an Autism Spectrum Disorder,” was published online Nov. 1 in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Dis... more »

State Loopholes Stalling Progress of Physical Education Programs

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

The 2012 Shape of the Nation Report: Status of Physical Education in the USA, released today by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Heart Association, finds that while 74.5 percent of states mandate physical education in elementary through high school, most still fail to require a specific amount of instructional time and nearly half allow exemptions, waivers and/or substitutions. These "loopholes" reduce the effectiveness of policy efforts to ensure the quality of physical education currently taught in the nation's schools. "The fa... more »

Principal plays surprising role in why new teachers quit

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Why do so many beginning teachers quit the profession or change schools? Surprising new research finds it’s not a heavy workload or lack of resources that has the most significant effect, but instead the relationship between teachers and their principal. Peter Youngs, associate professor of educational policy at Michigan State University and lead investigator on the study, said the findings reinforce the need for principals to serve as strong, supportive leaders in their schools. “The principal isn’t there just to help the novice teacher handle discipline and classroom management,... more »

The Aftermath of Calculator Use in College Classrooms

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Math instructors promoting calculator usage in college classrooms may want to rethink their teaching strategies, says Samuel King, postdoctoral student in the University of Pittsburgh's Learning Research & Development Center. King has proposed the need for further research regarding calculators' role in the classroom after conducting a limited study with undergraduate engineering students published in the British Journal of Educational Technology. "We really can't assume that calculators are helping students," said King. "The goal is to understand the core concepts during the lectu... more »

Academic and Fiscal Benefits of Universal Preschool

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

This brief is authored by Dr. William Mathis, managing director of the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. There is near-universal agreement among researchers “that high-quality preschool programs more than pay for themselves in economic and social benefits,” Mathis writes. Indeed, high-quality preschool for at least two years has been found to close as much as half the achievement gap. Such preschool participation is also associated with a wide range of more positive adult outcomes, including less drug use, less welf... more »