Six out of every 10 teachers believe that changing the design of the classroom is key to improving learningby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 16h
Several studies have already acknowledged the benefits of a suitably designed classroom. Research News \ facing a teacher at a blackboard has been a reality for decades. However, research reveals that this way of organizing the classroom furniture in schools is not the best way for favouring the learning process. Especially if the needs of 21st-century students are taken into account, who, accord
Bottom Line intensive advising for low-income high school students: Potentially Positive Findingsby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) recently reviewed the research on Bottom Line and its impacts on high school students. The results are summarized in an intervention report released today by the Institute of Education Sciences. Bottom Line provides intensive advising for low-income high school students, most of whom are the first in their family to go to college. The advising is designed to hel
Link between test anxiety and poor sleepby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d
Research News College students across the country struggle with a vicious cycle: Test anxiety triggers poor sleep, which in turn reduces performance on the tests that caused the anxiety in the first place. New research from the University of Kansas just published in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine is shedding light on this biopsychosocial process that can lead to poor grades, wit
Eye movements of those with dyslexia reveal laborious and inefficient reading strategiesby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d
Research News Researchers have long noted that readers with dyslexia employ eye movements that are significantly different from non-dyslexics. While these movements have been studied in small sample sizes in the past, a new paper written by Concordia researchers and published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports looks at a much larger group. The study used eye-tracking technology to record th
Effects of Educational Apps on Preschool to Grade 3 Children’s Literacy and Math Skillsby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d
Complete report Thousands of educational apps are available to students, teachers, and parents, yet research on their effectiveness is limited. This meta-analysis synthesized findings from 36 intervention studies and 285 effect sizes evaluating the effectiveness of educational apps for preschool to Grade 3 children and the moderating role of methodological, participant, and intervention character
Substantial impacts can be obtained for struggling readersby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d
This article reviews research on the outcomes of diverse reading programs on the achievement of struggling readers in elementary schools. Sixty‐five studies of 51 different programs met rigorous standards. Eighty‐three percent were randomized experiments and 17% quasi‐experiments. Outcomes were positive for one‐to‐one tutoring and were positive but not as large for one‐to‐small group tutoring. Th
Success for All: Reading success of disadvantaged students.by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d
Success for All (SFA) is a comprehensive whole-school approach designed to help high-poverty elementary schools increase the reading success of their students. It is designed to ensure success in grades K-2 and then build on this success in later grades. SFA combines instruction emphasizing phonics and cooperative learning, one-to-small group tutoring for students who need it in the primary grade
Police Officers in Schools: Making Schools Safer but Escalating Disciplinary Responseby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d
The “defund the police” movement has recently called for the removal of police—or school resource officers (SROs)—from schools. This call is driven by concerns that SROs may heighten student contact with criminal justice or lead to disproportionately harsh disciplinary consequences. This study uses linked disciplinary, academic, juvenile justice, and adult conviction data from North Carolina to e
Research on the effectiveness of categories of adult education strategiesby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d
A new IES snapshot, Adult Education Strategies: Identifying and Building Evidence of Effectiveness , summarizes a systematic review of existing, rigorous research on the effectiveness of categories of adult education strategies. Key findings include— There has been little rigorous research on whether particular strategies in adult education improve learner outcomes. The rigorous research that has
Reading Skills of Fourth-Graders Performing Below NAEP Basicby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d
Results from the 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study show, for the first time, that fluent reading of text can be a major challenge for many fourth-grade public school students who perform below NAEP Basic on the NAEP reading assessment. This study was administered to a nationally representative sample of over 1,800 fourth-graders from 180 public schools. Students read two types of text ou
Community college enrollment dropped precipitously in fall 2020by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 4d
Enrollment increased slightly at both the California State University and University of California systems in fall 2020, but the effects of the pandemic on enrollment in the California Community College system are mostly unknown and might differ substantially from the effects on 4-year colleges. This paper provides the first analysis of how the pandemic impacted enrollment patterns and the academ
Rising Grades and College Completion Ratesby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 4d
College completion rates declined from the 1970s to the 1990s. This study documents that this trend has reversed--since the 1990s, college completion rates have increased and investigates the reasons for the increase in college graduation rates. Collectively, student characteristics, institutional resources, and institution attended do not explain much of the change. However, grade inflation can
Minority Student and Teaching Assistant Interactions in STEMby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 4d
Graduate student teaching assistants from underrepresented groups may provide salient role models and enhanced instruction to minority students in STEM fields. This study explores minority student-TA interactions in an important course in the sciences and STEM – introductory chemistry labs – at a large public university. The uncommon assignment method of students to TA instructors in these chemis
The Effect of Serving “Breakfast After-the-Bell” Meals on School Absenteeismby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 7d
With the rise in the availability of absenteeism data, it is clear that students are missing a staggering amount of school. Policymakers have focused efforts on identifying school programs that might reduce absenteeism. This study examined whether implementing the program “Breakfast After-the-Bell” (BAB) might reduce school absenteeism exploring longitudinal statewide datasets (Colorado and Nevad
Teacher Assistants Improve Student Outcomesby Jonathan Kantrowitz / 7d
Motivating t he present study is the significant reduction in state-funded staffing levels for TAs in North Carolina that took place during the Great Recession and that have continued to the end of our study period. The authors exploit variation in staffing levels over the period 2001–2012 to estimate causal effects on student outcomes at the elementary level. Their main finding is that TAs enhan
Do Interactions With School Resource Officers Predict Students’ Likelihood of Being Disciplined and Feelings of Safety?by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 7d
School resource officers (SROs) are common in schools, yet consequences of their presence are poorly understood. This study leveraged mixed-methods data from student surveys and group interviews across 25 schools to examine how the frequency of interactions and trust/comfort between students and
