Education Research Report:
THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT
Can Breakfast Make Kids Smarter?
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago
New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing has found that children who regularly have breakfast on a near-daily basis had significantly higher full scale, verbal, and performance IQ test scores. In one of the first studies to examine IQ and breakfast consumption, researchers examined data from 1,269 children six years old in China, where breakfast is highly valued, and concluded that children who did not eat breakfast regularly had 5.58 points lower verbal, 2.50 points lower performance, and 4.6 points lower total IQ scores than children who often or always... more »
Examining the Relationships Among Classroom Goal Structure, Achievement Goal Orientation, Motivation and Self-regulated Learning for Ethnically Diverse Learners
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago
The purpose of this study was to explore the learning strategies used by ethnically diverse learners and to investigate the relationships among the constructsof classroom goal structure, achievement goal orientation, motivation and self-regulated learning in an ethnically diverse population of fourth and fifth grade learners (n=396). Goal setting, environmental restructuring, and seeking assistance from adults were described most frequently by this sample of African American and Hispanic elementary students. Correlational analyses revealed moderate positive relationships among the ... more »
Does Athletic Success Come at the Expense of Academic Success?
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago
Claims are often made about the impact of high school athletics on academic achievement without reference to empirical research on the issue. This paperexamines empirically the relationship between the extent towhich high schools have winning sports teams, offer a variety of sports options, and facilitate student participation in athletics on schools’ overall student achievement and attainment. The authors find that high school athletics do not appear to detract from academic success. In fact, based on the data they examined from Ohio high schools, an emphasis on athletic success... more »
Flexible Classroom Design Saves Money, Improves Flexibility, Accessibility of Instruction
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a classroom design that gives instructors increased flexibility in how to teach their courses and improves accessibility for students, while slashing administrative costs. Specifically, the new classrooms take advantage of the fact that students are bringing their own technology – such as laptops – to class. The classrooms also include mobile infrastructure, where whiteboards, desks and tables can be reconfigured according to the needs of students and instructors. “These classrooms work really well in terms of engaging ... more »
States are not demanding high-quality and rigorous criteria when approving principal preparation programs
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago
The Principal Policy State Survey is a first-of-its-kind effort to capture the current state of affairs in state principal preparation, licensure policy, principal tenure, and data collection on the output of these policies. The report's conclusion: Principals are a critical force in school improvement in that they are responsible for attracting and retaining teacher talent and driving the improvement of student learning. Despite the fact that states play a key role in cultivating school leaders, in too many cases they are not effectively using their principal preparation and lice... more »
Does Federal Financial Aid Affect College Enrollment? Evidence from Drug Offenders
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago
In 2001, amendments to the Higher Education Act made people convicted of drug offenses ineligible for federal financial aid for up to two years after their conviction. This law change had a large negative impact on the college attendance of students with drug convictions. On average, the temporary ban on federal financial aid increased the amount of time between high school graduation and college enrollment by about two years. Affected students were less likely to ever enroll in college. Students living in urban areas and those whose mothers did not attend college appear to be the mo... more »
Using Social Skills Training for Children with Disabilities
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago
A new report from the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) reviews the research on the effectiveness of social skills training for children with disabilities. Social skills training is a collection of practices that use a behavioral approach for teaching preschool children age-appropriate social skills and competencies, including communication, problem solving, decision making, self-management, and peer relations. After reviewing the research evidence, the WWC found that social skills training has positive effects on social-emotional development and behavior and no discernible effects o... more »
Gender, Debt, and Dropping Out of College
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
For many young Americans, access to credit has become critical to completing a college education and embarking on a successful career path. Young people increasingly face the trade-off of taking on debt to complete college or foregoing college and taking their chances in the labor market without a college degree. These trade-offs are gendered by differences in college preparation and support and by the different labor market opportunities women and men face that affect the value of a college degree and future difficulties they may face in repaying college debt. This study examin... more »
Survey of Secondary Special Educators Regarding Transition From School to Adulthood
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
This study examined critical features of secondary special educator’s experiences with transition professional development to predict variables most likely to influence performance of transition planning and services. Results included the extent to which secondary special educators are prepared to perform transition practices, the relationship between preparation and the frequency of performance, and specific variables predictive of higher levels of implementation. The results confirm that training matters if special educators are to implement transition interventions and service... more »
How to to bring about substantial increases in physical activity in youth, within school settings.
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
*Background * Despite overwhelming evidence of the health benefits of physical activity, most American youth are not meeting the 60 minutes per day recommendation for moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA). Policy changes have the potential to bring about substantial increases in physical activity in youth, within school and community settings. Purpose The purpose of this study was to quantify the increase in energy expenditure for school-based policies and built environment changes. *Methods* Scientific literature reviews were consulted, and more than 300 publish... more »
Race to the Top Progress Reports
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
Today the U.S. Department of Education released state-specific reports for 12 Race to the Top grantees, detailing their progress on transforming education at the local level. The reports highlight the second-year work and accomplishments of states awarded funding through the first two phases of Race to the Top: Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Tennessee. The 12 reports provide detailed, transparent summaries of each state’s accomplishments and challenges in year two, which covere... more »
School Turnaround Fever
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
This very interesting exploratory study examines and critiques the current fever for school turnarounds and considers implications of this trending reform approach for urban educators. The authors focus on the following questions: 1. In what ways does turnaround schooling constitute (and not constitute) innovative practice? 2. How successful has turnaround schooling been to-date in accomplishing the outcomes held for it by its advocates and implementers? 3. What is the degree of congruence between turnaround practices and democratic schooling? They present their findings in the form... more »
Students who work together and interact online are more likely to be successful
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
Students who work together and interact online are more likely to be successful in their college classes, according to a study published Jan. 30 in the journal Nature Scientific Reports and co-authored by Manuel Cebrian, a computer scientist at the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California San Diego. Cebrian and colleagues analyzed 80,000 interactions between 290 students in a collaborative learning environment for college courses. The major finding was that a higher number of online interactions was usually an indicator of a higher score in the class. High achie... more »
High Risk Kids in Head Start: Academic Gains, Improved Relationships
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
A new study by Oregon State University researchers finds that Head Start can make a positive impact in the lives of some of its highest risk children, both academically and behaviorally. Published in the current issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, the study sheds light on how Head Start has helped children living in non-parental care, or living with someone who is not a parent or step-parent by biology or adoption. "These children tend to have unstable home lives, sometimes transitioning between different relatives, living with their grandma one month, and la... more »
STEM interest has been continually rising in high-school students since 2004
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
STEMconnector® and My College Options® have released a national report linking student interest in STEM education with STEM job opportunities. The new report — *Where are the STEM Students? What are their Career Interests? Where are the STEM Jobs?* — identifies the STEM interests of more than one million U.S. high school students interested in pursuing STEM careers, and links them to increasing demand for over 16 million STEM jobs by 2018. It also provides in-depth profiles of more than one million students interested in STEM majors and careers with breakouts for all 50 states and ... more »
Charter Schools: Early Decisions In School Development Are Critical
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
A new report, Charter School Growth and Replication released today by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) found that charter schools, as they age or replicate into networks, are very likely to continue the patterns and performance set by their early years of operation, and that for most charter schools their ultimate success or failure can be predicted by year three of a school’s life. “This report’s findings challenge the conventional wisdom that a young underperforming school will improve if given time. Our research shows that if you start wob... more »
Gates Foundation’s MET Study Challenged
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
A review by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) of a newly released and long-awaited study on teacher evaluation strongly questions the spin that has been put on the findings. The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, released its final set of reports this month. Those reports are supposed to advise schools and districts about how to design teacher evaluations. The MET study compared three types of teacher performance measures: Student test scores, classroom observations, and student surveys. The project concluded ... more »
Reducing arrests in schools without compromising safety
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
Several Connecticut towns are dramatically reducing arrests in their schools without compromising safety, a report by the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance finds. The report, Adult Decisions: Connecticut Rethinks Student Arrests, looks at the national problem of students being arrested for minor misbehavior and profiles three Connecticut towns working to end the overuse of arrest in their schools. Manchester, Windham and Stamford all worked with the Alliance to increase order in their schools while decreasing the number of students arrested. Results were striking. For example,... more »
Ranking State Charter School Laws
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) has released its annual rankings of state charter school laws across the country, which found that many states took significant steps to strengthen their state laws. The report, and the NAPCS model charter school law it is based upon, is designed to support the creation of high-quality public charter schools, particularly for those students most in need of better public school options. The rankings now include 43 states and the District of Columbia, due to Washington state voters for the first time ever approving a statewide... more »
Science program: "potentially negative effects on general science achievement for middle school students"
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago
*GEMS® The Real Reasons for Seasons* is a curriculum unit for grades 6–8 that focuses on the connections between the Sun and the Earth to teach students the scientific concepts behind the seasons. The WWC identified one study that examined the effects of *GEMS® The Real Reasons for Seasons* on the science achievement of middle school students. The study is a randomized controlled trial that meets WWC evidence standards without reservations and included 4,777 seventh-grade students in 10 middle schools in Maryland. Based on the evidence presented in the study, the WWC found that *... more »