More than half of parents have not heard much about Common Core State Standards
Standardized tests have support among parents, who view them as a useful way to measure both students' and schools' performances, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.Key findings:• Sixty-one percent of parents think their children take an appropriate number of standardized tests and 26 percent think their children take too many tests.• Less than half of pa
What Americans are thinking about Common Core and other education policies
Although opposition to Common Core education standards is growing, an overwhelming majority of Americans remain supportive of these standards. A majority also back government funding of preschool education for disadvantaged children. At the same time, Americans are becoming increasingly resistant to demands for greater education spending and higher teacher pay. They give a higher evaluation to pri
Exemplary Science Standards: How Does Your State Compare?
With states weighing whether to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new analysis from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute compares the existing science standards of thirty-eight states with the NGSS and with exemplary standards from three other states. (The thirty-eight are those states with standards that are either “clearly inferior” to the NGSS or “too close to call,” based on its
YESTERDAY
ELL learners: The early development of two languages is best approach
The Foundation for Child Development has issued a new report: PreK-3rd: Challenging Common Myths About Dual Language Learners:The most current scientific research suggests that the development of twolanguages from a child’s earliest years has specific impacts on a variety ofcognitive functions discernable as early as seven months of age that are persistentthroughout childhood and may even offer so
71% of undergraduate students received some type of financial aid
This report presents findings from the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, a nationally representative study of undergraduate and graduate students attending postsecondary institutions in the United States. NPSAS provides the most-up-to-date and comprehensive look at postsecondary student characteristics and student financial aid for the 2011-12 academic year.The survey includes abou
AUG 19
Students exercise artistic passions outside of traditional programs, fueled by new technologies
Even though schools are cutting back on arts education, young people are following their artistic passions outside of traditional programs, fueled by new technologies that enable them to create and share art, according to a new report commissioned by The Wallace Foundation. The report, New Opportunities for Interest-Driven Arts Learning in a Digital Age, delves into "interest-driven arts learning
Early Planning Is One of Several Steps Crucial to Successful Summer Learning Programs
The most important steps school districts can take to implement an effective summer learning program are to begin planning at least six months in advance and to include both district and summer site leaders in the process, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today.RAND researchers examined six school districts in the study -- Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Duval County (Florida), Pittsburgh
The effects of bullying last long into adulthood
A new study shows that serious illness, struggling to hold down a regular job, and poor social relationships are just some of the adverse outcomes in adulthood faced by those exposed to bullying in childhood.It has long been acknowledged that bullying at a young age presents a problem for schools, parents and public policy makers alike. Although children spend more time with their peers than their
Giving preschoolers choice increases sharing behavior
Getting kids to share their toys is a never-ending battle, and compelling them to do so never seems to help. New research suggests that allowing children to make a choice to sacrifice their own toys in order to share with someone else makes them share more in the future. The new findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.These experiment
Improving Post-High School Outcomes for Transition-Age Students with Disabilities
A new report reviews the research literature on strategies designed to help students with disabilities transition from high school to employment, postsecondary education and training, or independent living. The review deviates from previous evidence reviews on this topic by using the What Works Clearinghouse (WWW) systematic review procedures, focusing on direct measures of students' post-high sch
AP students at many schools struggle
Complete article...A Baltimore Sun analysis of test scores showed a troubling discrepancy between grades for AP course work and scores on the exams. In at least 19 high schools throughout the Baltimore region, more than half of the students who earned an A or B in an AP class failed the exam.Failure rates of 75 percent on the exam were common at Woodlawn and other Maryland schools with large numbe
Survey: Parents’ Attitudes on the Quality of Education in the United States
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted a national survey of 1,025 parents or guardians of children who completed a grade between kindergarten and 12th grade during the 2012 - 2013 school year. Key findings of the survey include: • Parents believe that people—teachers and parents—play a bigger part in school quality than the amount of money spent for education. Two-t
State Assessments at an Urban High School: Using Extrinsic Motivation
The purpose of this qualitative research study was to discover the influence of a student achievement program implemented at one large urban high school that employed extrinsic motivation to promote student achievement on state assessments. Using organismic integration theory as the theoretical framework, 19 randomly selected students participated in structured interviews with their responses anal
Leaving Boys Behind: Gender Disparities in High Academic Achievement
Using three decades of data from the "Monitoring the Future"cross-sectional surveys, this paper shows that, from the 1980s to the2000s, the mode of girls' high school GPA distribution has shiftedfrom "B" to "A", essentially "leaving boys behind" as the mode ofboys' GPA distribution stayed at "B". The authors' analysis reveals that genderdifferences in post-secondary expectations, controlling for s