Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, April 18, 2020

THIS WEEK Education Research Report

Education Research Report


THIS WEEK 
Education Research Report




Teachers just as likely to have racial bias as non-teachers

More support and training for teachers urged to mitigate implicit biases AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION SHARE PRINT E-MAIL WASHINGTON, D.C., April 15, 2020--Research released today challenges the notion that teachers might be uniquely equipped to instill positive racial attitudes in children or bring about racial justice, without additional support or training from schools. Instead, th
Landmark study of adolescent brain development

NIH-supported, multi-institute research program will generate robust data about how young brains mature. This figure represents functional organization of the 9-10-year-old brain, averaged across 1,166 individuals. Each color represents a distinct set of brain areas. Dr. Scott Marek/Washington University in St. Louis With nearly $290M of new funding for seven years to research institutions around
K–12 School Teachers in the U.S. From the National Teacher and Principal Survey

The National Center for Education Statistics released a new report, Characteristics of Public and Private Elementary and Secondary School Teachers in the United States: Results From the 2017–18 National Teacher and Principal Survey First Look . The report introduces new information about public and private K–12 school teachers. During the 2017–18 school year, public school teachers were predomina

APR 14

Lack of funding report is not a credible policy document

A recent report from the Reason Foundation walks the reader through a calculation of Arizona’s complicated school finance formula, pointing out a number of funding inequities. It then sets forth 16 policy recommendations to change the funding system. David R. Garcia, a professor at Arizona State University, reviewed A Roadmap to Fix Arizona School Finance: Steering the Grand Canyon State Toward F

APR 13

Time spent with smartphones and social media not hurting social skills of kids

Despite the time spent with smartphones and social media, young people today are just as socially skilled as those from the previous generation, a new study suggests. Researchers compared teacher and parent evaluations of children who started kindergarten in 1998 - six years before Facebook launched - with those who began school in 2010, when the first iPad debuted. Results showed both groups of
19. Expanding and Diversifying the Pool of Undergraduates who Study Economics

There is widespread concern that economics does not attract as broad or diverse a pool of talent as it could. For example, less than one-third of undergraduates who receive degrees in economics are women, significantly lower than in math or statistics. This article presents a case study of a new introductory undergraduate course at Harvard, “Using Big Data to Solve Economic and Social Problems,”
EdTech may have relatively small effects on academic outcomes

EdTech which includes online education, computer assisted learning (CAL), and remote instruction was expanding rapidly even before the current full-scale substitution for in-person learning at all levels of education around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic. Studies of CAL interventions have consistently found large positive effects, bolstering arguments for the widespread use of EdTe

APR 10

State Policies to Address COVID-19 School Closure

The COVID-19 crisis led to a near-nationwide closure of K-12 public schools. Many states are not planning to re-open schools for face-to-face instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced that Michigan will end face-to-face instruction, require schools to submit plans for distance learning, and suspend many requirements for assessment and instru

APR 09

Major Academic Impacts from COVID-19 Closures for Students, Especially in Math

NWEA, a not-for-profit provider of assessment solutions, released today projections that current school closures due to the COVID-19 global pandemic could result in substantially lower achievement levels for students. The forecasts leveraged previous NWEA research on summer learning loss (also known as summer slide) and used a national sample of over five million students in grades 3-8 who took M
Boys are More Confident than Girls When it Comes to Math, Survey Shows

Gender gap exists in math even among top U.S. high school students, according to surveyor Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics A national survey of 16- to 18-year-olds shows that even among some of America’s top high school students, not only do boys favor math more than girls, but they also have more confidence in math class. The survey, conducted by Philadelphia-based Society for Indu
Public policies push schools to prioritize creating better test-takers over better people

Personal growth and job skills have taken a backseat to an increased focus on standardized test scores in schools across the nation, according to new University at Buffalo-led research. The study, which analyzed the educational goals of principals at thousands of public, private and charter schools over two decades, found the shift in priorities is most pronounced in public schools. The change in


Effects of 3 Interventions on Student Achievement

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) recently reviewed the research on three interventions designed to improve student academic achievement. Two interventions— Web-Based Intelligent Tutoring for the Structure Strategy and 
Education Research Report