THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT
Kids who are 'held back' contribute to disruptive middle school environment
When students repeat a grade, it can spell trouble for their classmates, according to a new Duke University-led study of nearly 80,000 middle-schoolers.In schools with high numbers of grade repeaters , suspensions were more likely to occur across the school community. Discipline problems were also more common among other students, including substance abuse, fighting and classroom disruption.Public
Homeworks averages 2.9 hours (K-5) to 3.5 hours (HS) (per week, not per day!)
Homework is a source of anxiety in homes across America – students may not want to spend time on it and parents often struggle to help their children with assignments. A recent national survey from University of Phoenix College of Education reveals how much homework K-12 students are assigned and why teachers deem it beneficial.According to the survey, kindergarten through fifth grade teachers rep
FEB 27
Enrollment in elementary and secondary schools rose 5 percent 1997 to 2011
Projections of Education Statistics to 2022 provides projections for key education statistics. It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and exp
Improving Reading Outcomes for Students with or at Risk for Reading Disabilities
This report describes what has been learned regarding the improvement of reading outcomes for children with or at risk for reading disabilities through research funded by the Institute's National Center for Education Research and National Center for Special Education Research and published in peer-reviewed outlets through December 2011. The synthesis describes contributions to the knowledge base p
Birth Order and School Performance
Does birth order correlate with student performance, and if so, why? In Strategic Parenting, Birth Order and School Performance (NBER Working Paper No. 19542), V. Joseph Hotz and Juan Pantano present both empirical and theoretical evidence on these questions. They study all children born to the female respondents in the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in families of two, three, or four
FEB 26
Older fathers = higher rates of psychiatric, academic problems in kids
An Indiana University study in collaboration with medical researchers from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm has found that advancing paternal age at childbearing can lead to higher rates of psychiatric and academic problems in offspring than previously estimated.Examining an immense data set -- everyone born in Sweden from 1973 until 2001 -- the researchers documented a compelling association bet
New autism definition may decrease diagnosis by one-third
New diagnosis guidelines for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) issued by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) may reduce by almost one third the total number of people being diagnosed, according to new research from Columbia University School of Nursing published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The guidelines, released in May 2013 and the first major update to psychiatric
Why breastfed babies are so smart
Loads of studies over the years have shown that children who were breastfed score higher on IQ tests and perform better in school, but the reason why remained unclear.Is it the mother-baby bonding time, something in the milk itself or some unseen attribute of mothers who breastfeed their babies?Now a new study by sociologists at Brigham Young University pinpoints two parenting skills as the real s
No Educational or Health Advatage to Breastfeeding
A new study comparing siblings who were fed differently during infancy suggests that breast-feeding might be no more beneficial than bottle-feeding for 10 of 11 long-term health and well-being outcomes in children age 4 to 14.The outlier was asthma, which was associated more with breast-feeding than with bottle-feeding.The study also included an analysis of outcomes across families of different ra
Integrated Student Support Offers Promising Approach for Closing Education Achievement Gaps
More than 60 percent of America’s black and Hispanic school children are living in poor or low-income families, and more than one in five children overall are in poverty, putting many of these students at risk for educational failure. A new study describes a promising strategy for providing at-risk students the academic and non-academic supports necessary for educational success.Child Trends condu
FEB 25
Barriers Remain for Children with Hearing Loss
Every day, 33 babies are born with hearing loss in the United States. These children and their families face significant barriers to receiving the services and care they need according to a new survey released by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (http://www.agbell.org) titled Family Needs Assessment: Successes and Challenges, Listening to Their Voices. "T
FEB 21
Intervention Improves First-Generation Students’ Academic Performance
College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a 4-year degree (continuing-generation students). This study tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior c
FEB 20
NO SAT/ACT: College results just as good
This study examines the outcomes of optional standardized testing policies in the Admissions offices at 33 public and private colleges and universities, based on cumulative GPA and graduation rates. The study also examines which students are more likely to make use of an optional testing policy, and how optional testing policies can offer important enrollment and financial planning benefits. Four
Multilingual Children Beyond Myths and Toward Best Practices
This report debunks the myth that multilingualism is harmful to children, and offers guidance to parents (e.g., to speak language or languages in which they are comfortable), teachers (e.g., not to discourage parents from speaking L1), researchers, and policy makers on ways to promote positive language development in children from multilingual families. Children can become fluent in two languages
FEB 19
Prison-based education declined during economic downturn, study finds
State-level spending on prison education programs declined sharply during the economic downturn, with the sharpest drop occurring in states that incarcerate the most prisoners, according to a new RAND Corporation study. (Also see a separate post on this report: New Report Links Prison Education Programs to Reduction in Recidivism)Large states cut spending by an average of 10 percent between the 20
Transfer Incentives for High-Performing Teachers: Final Results from a Multisite Experiment
This study examined the impact of the Talent Transfer Initiative (TTI) on both student achievement and teacher retention in 10 school districts across seven states. The initiative gave bonuses to high-performing teachers for them to transfer to and stay in low-performing schools. Transfer teachers could receive up to $20,000 over 2 academic years. They were eligible to volunteer to participate if
States Need More Support Linking Education Data to Guide Early Childhood Efforts
Although federal and state agencies fund an array of early care and education (ECE) services and collect data documenting those services, a report released today found that most states could do much more to link this data to guide decision-making for programs serving young children. The 2013 State of States’ Early Childhood Data Systems report, released by the Early Childhood Data Collaborative, i
Critical Thinking Skills Among Elementary School Students: Comparing Identified Gifted and General Education Student Performance
Education reform efforts, including the current adoption of Common Core State Standards, have increased attention to teaching critical thinking skills to all students. This study investigated the critical thinking skills of fourth-grade students from a school district in Texas, including 45 identified gifted students and 163 general education students. Identified gifted students outperformed gener
New Report Links Prison Education Programs to Reduction in Recidivism
The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) today announced research which explores knowledge gaps and opportunities for leveraging academic and vocational education programs to improve the reentry outcomes of incarcerated adults and juveniles. The findings confirm the results of a previous report that showed the effectiveness of these programs. The research released today
FEB 18
Kids With ADHD May Benefit From 'Brain Wave' Training in School: Study
New research suggests that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may benefit from getting a type of training during school hours that monitors their brain waves to help improve attention.The study involved 104 elementary school children with ADHD who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a brain-wave monitoring ("neurofeedback") group; a cognitive attenti
Conditional Promise of College Scholarship Improves GPAs of High School African American students
As federal, state, and local governments look to increase college enrollment and graduation among minorities and low-income students, the midsized urban school district of Kalamazoo, Michigan, has found a hopeful model. Funded by anonymous donors, the scholarship is awarded to graduates based on the number of years they attended Kalamazoo Public Schools, with students enrolled by 9th grade receivi
Class size reduction helps raise student achievement
The evidence that class size reduction helps raise student achievement is strong according to Professor Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach’s report, Does Class Size Matter?, published today by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The report provides a comprehensive review of class-size research. According to Professor Schanzenbach, class-size reduction has be
FEB 15
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
FEB 14
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