This Week's Education Research Report 5-4-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Education Research Report

THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT

Treating preschoolers with ADHD: 90 percent of pediatric specialists not following clinical guidelines

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 48 minutes ago

*Some prescribe medication too soon; others not even as a second-line treatment* A recent study by pediatricians from the Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York examined to what extent pediatric physicians adhere to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clinical guidelines regarding pharmacotherapy in treating young patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The results showed that more than 90 percent of medical specialists who diagnose and manage ADHD in preschoolers do not follow treatment guidelines recently published by the AAP. "It is unclear why so ...more »

Teaching History In Public Schools - An Analysis of State Requirements

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 56 minutes ago

American students continue to demonstrate a pattern of alarmingly poor knowledge of their nation’s history. Whether measured by the U.S. Department of Education or by private organizations, the results vary little and show no improvement over time. While this disturbing trend is indicative of a wide range of factors, it certainly calls into question the extent to which those who teach history are prepared for the task by developing adequate knowledge in the subject themselves. This report examines the requirements across all 50 states for teaching high school at the secondary le... more »

Grantmaking efforts to improve educational outcomes for ELLs: more needed

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 21 hours ago

The demands of English language learners (ELLs) in communities around the country is increasing rapidly. Given growing numbers of ELL children and expanded interest in supporting these learners, Grantmakers for Education (GFE) recently completed an analysis of grantmaking efforts to improve educational outcomes for ELLs from birth through grade 12. The report, *Educating English Language Learners: Grantmaking Strategies for Closing America’s Other Achievement Gap*, is designed to respond to shifting demographics, the needs of ELL students, and the role grantmakers can play in stren...more »

Pre-Ordering School Lunch Encourages Better Food Choices by Children

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 22 hours ago

This study, accepted for publication at Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, examines whether having students pre-order their entrée (main dish) improves the healthfulness of entrées selected for lunch. When students pre-ordered their entrée, 29.4% selected the healthier entrée compared to 15.3% when pre-ordering was not available. Conversely, the less-healthy entrée was chosen 70.8% of the time by students who pre-ordered, and students who ordered in the lunch line selected the less-healthy entrée 85.7% of the time. When students did not order but instead selected their ... more »

Prevention of Bullying in Schools and Colleges

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) has issued a new report titled *Prevention of* *Bullying in Schools, Colleges, and Universities: Research Report and Recommendations**.* The report results from the work of a blue-ribbon AERA task force mandated to prepare and present practical short-term and long-term recommendations to address bullying of children and youth. The report’s release coincides with the association’s 94th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, where more than 15,000 education researchers are gathered to discuss research findings. The epicenter for bullying... more »

New Report Examines School Improvement and Turnaround Strategies

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

* National School Boards Association's Center for Public Education finds a lot of money, but limited data on school turnaround strategies* As states and the federal government push for more turnaround strategies for low-performing schools—and put billions of dollars into their efforts—a new report by the National School Boards Association's (NSBA) Center for Public Education (CPE) finds that while there have been some successes there's not much evidence yet that many of these strategies will work overall. The report, "Which Way Up? What research says about school turnaround strateg... more »

Children with milk allergy may be 'allergic to school'

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

* Chalk dust can contain milk protein, triggering respiratory symptoms* Many of today's school teachers opt for dustless chalk to keep hands and classrooms clean. But according to a study published in the May issue of *Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology*, the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), this choice in chalk may cause allergy and asthma symptoms in students that have a milk allergy. Casein, a milk protein, is often used in low-powder chalk. When milk allergic children inhale chalk particles containing casein, life-threate...more »

Best science teachers can predict their pupils’ misconceptions, study says

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

If you had to explain what causes the change in seasons, could you? Surprisingly, studies have shown that as many as 95 percent of people — including most college graduates — hold the incorrect belief that the seasons are the result of the Earth moving closer to or further from the sun. The real answer, scientists say, is that as Earth’s axis is tilted with respect to its orbit, when on its journey it is angled inward, the sun rises higher in the sky, and that results in more direct sunlight, longer days, and warmer temperatures. Distance plays no role; we are actually closest to ... more »

As Online Elementary and Secondary Schools Expand, Academic Performance Lags

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

A national study, released today by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), offers a comprehensive review of 311 full-time virtual schools operating in the United States and finds serious and systemic problems with them. University of Colorado Boulder Professor Alex Molnar, who edited Virtual Schools in the U.S. 2013: Politics, Performance, Policy, and Research Evidence, summed it up this way: “Even a cursory review of virtual schooling in the U.S. reveals an environment much like the legendary wild west. There are outsized claims, lagging performance, intense conflicts, lots... more »

The Impact of Early Intervention on the School Readiness of Children Born to Teenage Mothers

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

This study examined the effect of participation in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program on the school readiness of children born to teenage mothers versus children born to traditional-age mothers participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program. A 45-item survey was collected from the kindergarten teachers of both the children of teenage mothers in the Texas Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program and a matched control group of children of older mothers. The survey consisted of five subsections: soci... more »

Outdoor recess time can reduce the risk of nearsightedness in children

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

Two new studies add to the growing evidence that spending time outdoors may help prevent or minimize nearsightedness in children. A study conducted in Taiwan, which is the first to use an educational policy as a public vision health intervention, finds that when children are required to spend recess time outdoors, their risk of nearsightedness is reduced. A separate study in Danish children is the first to show a direct correlation between seasonal fluctuations in daylight, eye growth and the rate of nearsightedness progression. The research was published in the May issue of Ophtha... more »

Early Intervention For Autism Spectrum Found Cost Effective Through School Years

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), a comprehensive behavioral early intervention program that is appropriate for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as young as 12 months, has been found to reduce the need for ASD therapies and special education services through the school years following their early intervention. These findings were presented by David S. Mandell, Sc.D., Associate Professor, Director, Center for Mental Health Policy & Services Research, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, today at the Autism Speaks Toddler Treatment Network meeting hel... more »

Adderall abuse as college study aid 'trending' on East Coast

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

A growing number of college students are abusing the ADHD medication Adderall to give them an academic edge, and they’re tweeting about it. Thanks to Twitter, tracking roughly when and where Adderall use happens is now possible. So a group of BYU health science and computer science researchers did just that. Their six-month study, appearing in the current issue of the *Journal of Medical Internet Research*, produced two major revelations about Adderall: 1. It is mentioned most heavily among students in the northeast and south regions of the U.S. 2. Tweets about Adderall pea... more »

Revenues & expenditures: public elementary & secondary school districts: School Year 2009-10

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

This First Look report provides finance data for all local education agencies (LEAs) that provide free public elementary and secondary (PK-12) education in the United States for school year 2009-10. State education agencies in the 50 states and the District of Columbia provide the data to the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education. For regular school districts, the national median current expenditures per pupil was $9,989 in FY 10, an increase of 1.0 percent from FY 09. In FY 10, current expenditure... more »

KIPP Study is Useful, but It Overreaches

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

Do middle schools operated by the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) excel in promoting student achievement? A new review gives a second look at a recent study that answered that question “yes.” In a study released in February, Mathematica Policy Research concluded that, based on achievement test scores, KIPP middle school students had substantially higher test scores than comparison non-KIPP students. A review published today of the Mathematica study finds that while the original evaluation was carefully planned and executed and a positive impact is supported by the evidence, the a... more »

Reading wordless storybooks to toddlers may expose them to richer language

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have found that children hear more complex language from parents when they read a storybook with only pictures compared to a picture-vocabulary book. The findings appear in the latest issue of the journal *First Language*. “Too often, parents dismiss picture storybooks, especially when they are wordless, as not real reading or just for fun,” said the study’s author, Professor Daniela O’Neill. “But these findings show that reading picture storybooks with kids exposes them to the kind of talk that is really important for children to hear, esp... more »

Drastic State Pre-K Funding Cuts Put Nation's Youngest Learners at Risk

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

*Funding Per Child Has Fallen More Than $1,000 Over the Decade; Programs Lose Quality as Financial Support Declines* State funding for pre-K decreased by over half a billion dollars in 2011-2012, the largest one-year drop ever, says a new study from the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) which has tracked state pre-K since 2002. The State of Preschool 2012 yearbook cited two other “firsts”: After a decade of growth, enrollment in state pre-K has stalled. And despite stagnant enrollment, state funding per child fell to $3,841 — well below the $5,020 (inflation-... more »

Shaping Professional Development to Promote the Diffusion of Instructional Expertise Among Teachers

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

This study examines how high-quality professional development can promote the diffusion of effective teaching strategies among teachers through collaboration. Drawing on longitudinal and sociometric data from a study of writing professional development in 39 schools, this study shows that teachers’ participation in professional development is associated with providing more help to colleagues on instructional matters. Further, the influence of professional development on participants’ instructional practice diffuses through the network of helping. These findings suggest that in ad... more »

Reasons for Attending College Affect Students’ Academic Success

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Students not performing well academically? Look no further—the answer may be in their motivation for attending college in the first place. Researchers at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester found that student motivation for attending college is related to academic success. And, they uncover unique relationships that exist between the different types of student motivation—as conceptualized by Self-Determination Theory (SDT)—and academic achievement and persistence. Their study tracked the relationship between student motivation for attending college and the... more »

More Days in Classroom ≠ More Learning in Mexico

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

As Mexico and other Latin American countries wrestle with improving the quality of education for primary school students, economists at the University of California, Riverside have found that extending the length of the school year in the region will do little to improve student performance on standardized tests. Such policies also have the unintended result of widening the achievement gap between students in impoverished communities and those who attend more affluent schools, the researchers also found. These findings have significant implications for policymakers in Mexico — and... more »

CA: New High School Graduation Standards May Deny Diplomas To Many

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

As four large California school districts—Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland—implement ambitious new graduation standards designed to increase college readiness, evidence from San Diego suggests that they will need to undertake major interventions to ensure that students succeed. Otherwise the very students these reforms aim to help could be denied high school diplomas, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges. The report looks at t... more »

Student Prosocial Behavior and Racial Composition in Urban Middle Schools

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Encouraging student prosocial behavior (PSB) is a challenge for urban middle schools. The issue of student behavior is a racialized one, as Black students generally evince more negative behavioral outcomes than their White peers. This racial “behavior gap” may be conditional on the school environment. This study examines how one element of the school environment—racial composition—affects PSB, drawing on a sample that includes approximately 2,000 Black students and 1,400 White students in 11 urban middle schools in the Southeastern United States. Results of multilevel regression... more »

Teacher Preparation Programs Face More Scrutiny as Common Core Era Begins

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

*New analysis points to the importance of training and transparent assessments of teacher preparation programs as keys to improving quality* Teacher education has faced increasing criticism in recent years, sparked by uneven student achievement across the U.S. In a new analysis, Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), examines the extent to which teacher education has moved away from the rigors of specific training in favor of ambiguous personal and social goals that leave new teachers unprepared. “21st-Century Teacher Education: Ed schools don’t g... more »

"The Nation's Report Card: Economics 2012"

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Economic literacy is vital for functioning effectively in today’s society. Both knowledge of economic concepts and ideas and the ability to apply basic economic analysis to solve everyday problems are necessary for an individual to function as a productive member of society—as a worker, a saver, an investor, a consumer, or an active citizen. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) monitors students’ attainment of these skills and knowledge with its twelfth-grade economics assessment. First administered in 2006, the NAEP economics assessment measures twelfth-graders’ ...more »

Troubling Patterns of Teacher Assignments Within Schools

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Even within the same school, lower-achieving students often are taught by less-experienced teachers, as well as by teachers who received their degrees from less-competitive colleges, according to a new study by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the World Bank. The study, using data from one of the nation's largest school districts, also shows that student class assignments vary within schools by a teacher's gender and race. In a paper published in the April issue of *Sociology of Education*, the researchers present the results of a comprehensive analysi...more »

Claims on Mayoral Governance Don’t Stand Up to Scrutiny

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

A recent Center for American Progress report purports to find that school districts led by city mayors are raising student achievement while improving the districts’ fiscal health. A new review finds some useful information in the report, but says it is too flawed to rely on for policy guidance. The report, Mayoral Governance and Student Achievement: How Mayor-Led Districts are Improving School and Student Performance, by Kenneth K. Wong and Francis X. Shen, was reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by Katrina E. Bulkley, Professor of Educational Leadership at Mon... more »

Priorities vs. Precedence in School Choice in Boston

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

School choice plans in many cities grant students higher priority for some (but not all) seats at their neighborhood schools. This paper demonstrates how the precedence order, i.e. the order in which different types of seats are filled by applicants, has quantitative effects on distributional objectives comparable to priorities in the deferred acceptance algorithm. While Boston's school choice plan gives priority to neighborhood applicants for half of each school's seats, the intended effect of this policy is lost because of the precedence order. Despite widely held impressions about th... more »