THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT
Teacher attendance rert
This report breaks down teacher attendance for 40 districts in the nation's largest cities in the 2012-2013 school year. The report identifies districts with the greatest percentage of teachers with excellent attendance as well as those with the biggest percentages of chronically absent teachers. In addition to identifying districts that are leaders and laggards in school attendance, the report ta
AUG 20
'Getting-by girls' straddle gap between academic winners and losers
UC Berkeley sociologist finds high school subculture that threatens to perpetuate struggling lower-middle classEveryone notices the academic superstars and failures, but what about the tens of millions of American teens straddling these two extremes? A new study from the University of California, Berkeley, has spotlighted a high school subculture that has made an art of slacking – even with ample
Range of skills students taught in school linked to race and class size
Pressure to meet national education standards may be the reason states with significant populations of African-American students and those with larger class sizes often require children to learn fewer skills, finds a University of Kansas researcher."The skills students are expected to learn in schools are not necessarily universal," said Argun Saatcioglu, a KU associate professor of educ
AUG 19
Physically fit kids have beefier brain white matter than their less-fit peers
A new study of 9- and 10-year-olds finds that those who are more aerobically fit have more fibrous and compact white-matter tracts in the brain than their peers who are less fit. "White matter" describes the bundles of axons that carry nerve signals from one brain region to another. More compact white matter is associated with faster and more efficient nerve activity.The team reports its
Black students at any class level are more likely than their white counterparts to attend a four-year university
Students who have books and computers at home, who take extramural cultural classes, and whose parents give advice and take part in school activities are most likely to enroll for a four-year college degree. Also, more American black students – irrespective of their class or background – will set off on this education path than their white counterparts. So says David Merolla of Wayne State Univers
Charter School Productivity Report Lacks Validity
A recent report from the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform (DER) on charter school productivity asserts charter schools are more effective in producing achievement on standardized tests and are also less costly per pupil than traditional public schools. A new review released today finds the report’s claims suffer from multiple sources of invalidity, rendering the report useless
AUG 18
Unemployment: The problem isn't lack of education but over-education
Concerns that there are problems with the supply of skills, especially education-related skills, in the US labor force have exploded in recent years with a series of reports from employer-associated organizations but also from independent and even government sources making similar claims. These complaints about skills are driving much of the debate around labor force and education policy, yet
AUG 13
Assessing the Impact of Classroom Composition on Student Achievement
This study evaluates the effects of classroom peers on standardized testing achievement for all third- and fourth-grade students in the Philadelphia School District over 6 school years. With a comprehensive individual- and multilevel data set of all students matched to teachers, classrooms, and schools, two empirical strategies are employed. The first relies on the observable distribution of stude
AUG 11
Hybrid Interactive Online Learning Formats
What is the study about?This study measured the impact of using hybrid forms of interactive online learning in sevenundergraduate courses across universities in the University System of Maryland. In college courses, interactive online learning typically involves video lectures, extensive opportunities for discussion and interaction with instructors and peers, and online assignments and exams. Hybr
Why Have Statewide Alignment Efforts Been Ineffective?
High rates of academic remediation among college students suggest that many states have still not aligned high school and college curricular standards and assessments to ensure college readiness. One structure created by many states that is designed to improve this alignment is the P–20 Council. To understand why the lack of alignment persists despite the creation of this, and other, structures, t
AUG 08
Musical training offsets some academic achievement gaps
Learning to play a musical instrument or to sing can help disadvantaged children strengthen their reading and language skills, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention.The findings, which involved hundreds of kids participating in musical training programs in Chicago and Los Angeles public schools, highlight the role learning music can ha