Education Research Report
TODAY
Fine motor skills, executive functions, and basic numerical skills in kindergarten
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5h
Research Findings : This study examined the interrelations between fine motor skills, executive functions, and basic numerical skills in kindergarten as well as their predictive value for mathematics achievement in 2nd grade in a sample of 136 children. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to uncover the unique predictive value and mediation of 4 predictors. The results indicated tha
Focused Early Childhood Curriculum Can Enhance Social-Emotional Competence in Low-Income Children
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5h
Research Findings : This meta-analysis examined 29 (quasi-)experimental studies that involved low-income children ages 3 to 5 who might be subject to risks of academic failure and other negative outcomes. Compared to the controls, children who learned with social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula demonstrated significantly improved social-emotional competence, with an effect size or standardized
Teaching and Learning in Pre-K through 2nd Grade - Lessons from Boston
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5h
This report explains the work that has taken place over the last decade in Boston to not only improve pre-K, but to build on the successes of pre-K through reform of classroom environments, instructional practices, and curricula in pre-K, kindergarten, and, more recently, in first and second grade. It is a story of reforming from the bottom up, of realizing that the work of increasing student ach
Postsecondary Graduation Rates, Outcome Measures, Student Financial Aid, and Admissions
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5h
About 19 percent of first-time full-time students who enrolled in 2-year institutions in 2013 graduated within two years (100 percent of normal time), according to new postsecondary data. However, that rate jumped to 37 percent when the time for graduation was extended to four years (200 percent of normal time). The National Center for Education Statistics released a First Look repor t today (Dec
Teacher Sorting is a Global Phenomenon
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 8h
Although substantial evidence from the United States suggests that more qualified teachers are disproportionately concentrated in the schools and classrooms of academically and socioeconomically advantaged children, it is not clear whether the problem of teacher sorting is global in scope. This study uses data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey to examine whether and how sch
Debunking Grit
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 8h
Grit is a construct that is widely studied by educational researchers and that has generally been enthusiastically received by educational practitioners. This essay highlights that many of the core claims about grit have either been unexamined or are directly contradicted by the accumulated empirical evidence. Specifically, there appears to be no reason to accept the combination of perseverance a
Within-Year Teacher Turnover
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 9h
Teacher turnover occurs during and at the end of the school year, although documentation of within-year turnover currently rests on anecdotal evidence. On average, over 4.6% of teachers turn over during the school year, which amounts to 25% of total annual turnover. Teachers transfer within districts at higher rates at the beginning of the school year and leave teaching at higher rates at the beg
Free and Reduced-Price Lunch: A Valid Measure of Educational Disadvantage
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 9h
Students in the United States whose household income is less than 130% of the poverty line qualify for free lunch, and students whose household income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty line qualify for reduced-price lunch. Education researchers and policymakers often use free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) status to measure socioeconomic disadvantage. But how valid is this measure? Linking
New Report on Teacher Evaluation Lacks Coherence
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 9h
A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) highlights six teacher evaluation systems purportedly “yielding substantial benefits.” This comes at the end of a decade when reformed teacher evaluation systems that link teacher performance to measures of student growth have been at the center of educational debate. Amy Farley and Leah Chamberlain of the University of Cincinnati r
YESTERDAY
Learning to read comes at a cost
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 23h
The early focus on larger units may have positive effects, and explain why young children are so good at learning certain areas of grammar, say scientists from the PSL University of Paris, the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They found that preliterate 6-year-olds were better at learning grammatical relations between words than at learning novel
Children perform better when parents are involved in school life
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 23h
A family's involvement in a child's education acts as a source of social mobility, according to a study by experts from the HSE Centre of Social and Economic School Development, Mikhail Goshin and Tatyana Mertsalova http://doi. org/ 10. 17323/ 1814-9545-2018-3-68-90 . Lower income parents who actively participate in their children's school life open up more opportunities for their children. The r
Students who meet 8-hour sleep challenge do better on finals
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 23h
Students given extra points if they met "The 8-hour Challenge" -- averaging eight hours of sleep for five nights during final exams week -- did better than those who snubbed (or flubbed) the incentive, according to Baylor University research. "Better sleep helped rather than harmed final exam performance, which is contrary to most college students' perceptions that they have to sacrifice either s
Boys with social difficulties most susceptible to early substance use
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 23h
Boys who enter sixth-grade with co-occurring social skills, anxiety, learning and conduct problems are at the greatest risk of developing aggressive behavior and using tobacco, alcohol and marijuana by the end of eighth grade, a new study found. "While substance use among all boys in the study population increased over time, it increased the fastest among boys who had the greatest social skills n
despie soaring job growth, only 64,405 students received computer science degrees
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 23h
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has released the highly anticipated report "Retention in Computer Science Undergraduate Programs in the U.S.: Data Challenges and Promising Interventions." Among its key recommendations, the report calls for additional research to provide a more nuanced understanding of the dynamics of attrition and retention, and encourages higher education instituti
Why Are STEM Doctoral Completion Rates Lower for Women?
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d
Women entering PhD programs in which they have no female peers are 12 percentage points less likely to graduate than men entering the same program. More than half of all doctoral graduates in the United States in 2016 were women, but women accounted for just 23 percent of engineering and 26 percent of mathematics graduates. In Nevertheless She Persisted? Gender Peer Effects in Doctoral STEM Progr
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Denials
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d
Complete article The hardest thing in higher education isn’t getting into an elite college; it’s getting approved for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). So far, the U.S. Department of Education has only approved 1 percent of all applications for PSLF —a federal loan program that forgives debts of borrowers who make 120 qualifying payments while working in public service jobs such as teaching
High-Stakes Testing, Stress, and Performance
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d
Chronic stress – due to neighborhood violence, poverty, or family instability – can affect how individuals’ bodies respond to stressors in general, including the stress of standardized testing. This, in turn, can affect whether performance on standardized tests is a valid measure of students’ actual ability. This study collected data on students’ stress responses using cortisol samples provided b
How attending an elite college affects later-life outcomes
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d
This paper revisits the question of how attending an elite college affects later-life outcomes. For men, the findings echo those in Dale and Krueger (2002): controlling for selection eliminates the positive relationship between college selectivity and earnings. There are also no significant effects on men's educational or family outcomes. The results are quite different for women: the authors fin
Later High School Start Times and Student Academic Outcomes
by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d
This study uses statewide student-level data from North Carolina to estimate start time effects for all students and for traditionally disadvantaged students. The authors found that urban high schools were likely to start very early or late. Later start times were associated with positive student engagement outcomes (reduced suspensions, higher course grades), especially for disadvantaged student
