THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT
High School Students Who Experience “Job-Shadow” Opportunities in STEM Environments, More Likely to Consider a STEM Career Path
Students exposed directly to work environments in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields are more likely to decide to follow paths that will lead to such careers, according to the findings of “Vocational Anticipatory Socialization of Adolescents: Messages, Sources, and Frameworks that Influence Interest in STEM Careers,” published online in the National Communication Association's
Action video games help people with dyslexia learn to read
In addition to their trouble with reading, people with dyslexia also have greater difficulty than typical readers do when it comes to managing competing sensory cues, according to a study reported February 13 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The findings suggest that action video games might improve literacy skills in those with dyslexia, which represent five to ten percent of the pop
Talking to infants really matters
Fifty years of research has revealed the sad truth that the children of lower-income, less-educated parents typically enter school with poorer language skills than their more privileged counterparts. By some measures, 5-year-old children of lower socioeconomic status (SES) score two years behind on standardized language development tests by the time they enter school.In recent years, Anne Fernald,
A strategy that narrows academic achievement gap by 63 percent
Research finds discussion of social class improves grades of first-generation studentsAmericans don't like to talk about social class. But new research from Northwestern and Stanford universities suggests that, at least in college and university settings, they should do just that.An upcoming article in "Psychological Science" describes a novel one-hour intervention that closed by 63 perc
YESTERDAY
Kindergartners benefit from exposure to advanced content in reading and mathematics
Little research has examined the relationship between academic content coverage in kindergarten and student achievement. Using nationally representative data, this study examines the association between reading and mathematics content coverage in kindergarten and student learning, both overall and for students who attended preschool, Head Start, or participated in other child care prior to kinderg
FEB 12
The College Board's 10th Annual AP Report to the Nation: Significant Progress
The College Board's 10th Annual AP Report to the Nation shows that state leaders and educators are making significant progress in expanding both access to and success in AP. Over the past decade, the number of students who graduate from high school having taken rigorous AP courses has nearly doubled, and the number of low-income students taking AP has more than quadrupled. Impressively, educators'
FEB 08
Testing the effectiveness of individualized college student coaching
College graduation rates often lag behind college attendance rates. One theory as to why students do not complete college is that they lack key information about how to be successful or fail to act on the information that they have. This study presents evidence from a randomized experiment which tests the effectiveness of individualized student coaching. Over the course of two separate school year
FEB 07
Does physical education predict academic achievement, self-concept, social skills, food consumption, and body mass index?
Prior research on the efficacy of physical education has been conducted in a piecemeal fashion. More specifically, studies typically test a single benefit hypothesized to be associated with physical education (e.g. body mass index [BMI]) while excluding others (e.g. social skills) and not controlling for important confounds (e.g. diet). Such research designs have precluded a comprehensive evaluati
FEB 06
The Effects of Adolescent Health-Related Behavior on Academic Performance
Schools are increasingly involved in efforts to promote health and healthy behavior among their adolescent students, but are healthier students better learners? This synthesis of the empirical, longitudinal literature investigated the effects of the most predominant health-related behaviors—namely, alcohol and marijuana use, smoking, nutrition, physical activity, sexual intercourse, bullying, and
students in “high-test” districts spend up to 5x as much time on test taking as students in “low-test” districts
A newly released study from Teach Plus demonstrates that urban students spend an average of only 1.7 percent of the school year taking state and district-required tests. The report, “The Student and the Stopwatch: How Much Time is Spent on Testing in American Schools,” also finds that students in “high-test” districts spend up to 5x as much time on test taking as students in “low-test” districts.
Classroom Learning Environment and Middle School Reading
The lack of achievement of students from high-risk and high-poverty environments necessitates changes in today’s middle school environments to create a caring, supportive environment where all middle school students can succeed. This study investigated the classroom learning environments of resilient, average, and nonresilient minority students in middle school reading classrooms. A total of 1,295
FEB 04
Alternative Science course increases undergraduate retention
An alternative approach to the traditional introductory laboratory course at the undergraduate level significantly increases student retention rates, according to research published in mBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.In 2012, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology reported that there is a need for an additional one million scienc
Educational Attainment in the United States: 2013
This report, based on the Current Population Survey, provides a portrait of academic achievement by demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, average earnings, and Hispanic origin. The number of adults who have completed some graduate school, increased 24 percent from 2008 to 2013, from 29 million to 36 million, according to the Educational Attainment in the United Sates 2012 data release. Th
Choosing the Right Growth Measure
State education agencies and school districts are increasingly using measures based on student test-score growth in their systems for evaluating school and teacher performance. In many cases, these systems inform high-stakes decisions such as which schools to close and which teachers to retain. Performance metrics tied directly to student test-score growth are appealing because although schools an
Transcendental Meditation reduces teacher stress and burnout, new research claims
A new study published in The Permanente Journal (Vol. 18, No.1) on health showed the introduction of the Transcendental Meditation® technique substantially decreased teacher stress and burnout.Research indicates that stress and burnout are pervasive problems among employees, with teachers being especially vulnerable to feeling frequent stress from their jobs. Burnout, a syndrome of emotional exhau
FEB 03
Shy toddlers understand more than their speaking ability indicates
Scientists have known that shy toddlers often have delayed speech, but a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder shows that the lag in using words does not mean that the children don't understand what's being said.The nature of the connection between behavioral inhibitions—such as shyness or fearfulness—and delayed language acquisition has not been well understood.The new study, published
Study challenges claims of single-sex schooling benefits
As many American public school districts adopt single-sex classrooms and even entire schools, a new study finds scant evidence that they offer educational or social benefits. The study was the largest and most thorough effort to examine the issue to date, says Janet Hyde, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison."We looked at 184 studies, representing the testing of 1.
Data-driven team is key to sustaining positive behavior framework in schools
A new study finds that a dedicated team that makes decisions based on data is crucial for launching and sustaining a framework designed at the University of Oregon in the early 1990s to prevent and reduce behavioral problems in the nation's schools.The study, published in the January issue of the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, involved a comprehensive survey of 257 school team members
Expanded School Time Key to Successful Common Core Implementation
Public schools that significantly expand their schedules will be in a much stronger position to successfully implement the Common Core State Standards, the most rigorous English and math standards in the history of U.S. public education, says a report released by the National Center on Time & Learning, or NCTL, and the Center for American Progress at an event at CAP in Washington, D.C.“The Co
"Turning Around" Urban Texas High Schools: No Improvement
A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools.This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution.Although some organizational changes were apparent; overall, respondents cited rapidly changing