This Week's Education Research Report 2-23-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Education Research Report:

THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT

Not mixing genders in high-school classes = long-run gains

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 11 minutes ago

In most European and North American countries women have overtaken men in college graduation rates. Nevertheless, a striking gender gap persists in the salaries of men and women, even when they are highly educated – and even if the overall gap has, in fact, narrowed in some nations (Black and Spitz-Oener 2007). One important reason for that gap is that men and women choose different college majors leading to very different careers. Nearly two thirds of all humanities degrees are awarded to women. Men, instead, choose majors in engineering, economics and in the mathematical sciences ... more »

Strict Discipline in Charters - Is It Worth the Price?

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 36 minutes ago

Urban minority children are increasingly being educated at public schools run by charter management organizations (CMOs) characterized by a highly rule-ordered and regulated environment. These rules, enforced through continuous streams of reinforcements and penalties, while contributing to a tight focus on academics and a safe culture, have associated costs. This report, Charter Management Organizations and the Regulated Environment Is It Worth the Price?, scrutinizes four CMO commonalities, along with their implications: the pervasive adult monitoring of students, targeting behav... more »

Inexpensive changes to school cafeterias promote healthier foods

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 17 hours ago

In January 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture passed a series of regulations designed to make school lunches more nutritious, which included requiring schools to increase whole grain offerings and making students select either a fruit or vegetable with their purchased lunch. However, children cannot be forced to eat these healthier lunches. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers determined that small, inexpensive changes to school cafeterias influenced the choice and consumption of healthier foods. Andrew S. Hanks, PhD, and... more »

Student Loans Help Women More than Men in Reaching Graduation

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

* Women Need College Degree More to Get Good Job* Student loans provide more help to women than they do for men in encouraging graduation from college, a new nationwide study reveals. Findings showed that, on average, taking out loans actually makes graduation more likely for all students. But at a certain point – which is about $2,000 lower for men than for women – debt has diminishing returns and becomes less effective at boosting chances of graduation. One reason loans help women more may be tied to job prospects for college dropouts – which are much better for men than for wom... more »

Are countries moving towards more equitable education systems?

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

Ideally, school systems provide high-quality educational opportunities for all students, irrespective of the students’ backgrounds. students from socio-economically advantaged families and those from disadvantaged families should be equally likely to succeed in school. That is the ideal, anyway. In most countries, the reality looks a lot different. PISA results have consistently shown that socio-economic disadvantage is linked to poor performance in school. in fact, on average across OECD countries, disadvantaged students are twice as likely to be among the poorest performers in ... more »

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mega-States report

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mega-States reportfocuses on the performance of students in the five most populous states in the United States: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas. These five states have the five largest public school populations in the nation. The report focuses on the performance of public school students in three subjects: reading, mathematics, and science at grades 4 and 8. Please note that writing results were not included in this report because the 2011 writing framework begins a new trend line. In addition, the 2011 compu... more »

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Challenges for School Leadership

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Challenges for School Leadership (2012) captures the viewpoints and experiences of teachers and principals working to meet those responsibilities in an environment of continued strained resources and increased expectations to strengthen educational outcomes. Key Findings: • Among responsibilities that school leaders face, those that teachers and principals identify as most challenging result from conditions that originate beyond school doors. A majority of teachers and principals report that their school’s budget has decreased in the la... more »

The 9th Annual AP Report to the Nation

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

Data released yesterday by the College Board as part of The 9th Annual AP Report to the Nation revealed that more high school graduates are participating — and succeeding — in college-level AP courses and exams than ever before. Succeeding in AP is defined as achieving a score of 3 or higher on the five-point AP Exam scale, which is the score needed for credit, advanced placement or both at the majority of colleges and universities. *Among the class of 2012:* - The number of high school graduates taking AP Exams increased to 954,070, (32.4%), up from 904,794 (30.2%) among th... more »

The School Staffing Surge hits the Bunkum trifecta

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

The “Three’s a Harm” Award, a National Education Policy Center (NEPC) 2012 Bunkum Award for truly dreadful educational research, goes to the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice’s report *The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America’s Public Schools*. This think tank is a past Bunkum winner, and this time it has truly outdone itself. The School Staffing Surge hits the Bunkum trifecta with its inaccurate information, erroneous reasoning, and sheer audacity. According to the report, public school test scores and dropout numbers did not improve between 199...more »

School Vouchers had a “tiny insignificant impact” on College Enrollment

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

The “Trust Us, There’s a Pro-Voucher Result Hiding in Here Somewhere” Award, a National Education Policy Center (NEPC) 2012 Bunkum Award for truly dreadful educational research, has been given to Matthew M. Chingos, Paul E. Peterson and The Brookings Institution. Their report, The Effects of School Vouchers on College Enrollment: Experimental Evidence from New York City, searches far and wide for any possible evidence of the benefits of school vouchers. This report’s raison d’être was to make the case that an old (now expired) New York City voucher policy, providing $1,400 per year... more »

Including Students With Disabilities and English Learners in Measures of Educator Effectiveness

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

This report provides an overview of the challenges of accounting for students with disabilities (SWDs) and English learners (ELs) in the evaluation of mainstream teachers. It focuses on the two prominent indicators of teaching quality—classroom observations and value-added scores. The report begins by describing each indicator and outlining the specific challenges related to the inclusion of SWDs and ELs in mainstream teacher evaluation. The report makes recommendations for states and districts to ensure that teacher evaluation systems adequately and fairly account for these stu... more »

College Courses Can Use Technology To Improve Access and Reduce Costs

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

* Experimental study shows students learn as much online as do peers in traditional courses* While increasing attention is being given to the rising cost of a college education, there has been little systematic research on the potential for online learning to deliver high-quality instruction on a more cost-effective basis. Now a new experimental study has shown that students enrolled in a large “hybrid” introductory statistics course at six public university campuses, featuring online learning modules with lecture periods as supplements, learn as much as students in traditional lec... more »

Saxon Math has mixed effects on mathematics achievement for middle school students

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

*Saxon Math* is a core curriculum for students in grades K–12 that uses an incremental approach for instruction and assessment. New concepts are introduced gradually and build upon previously introduced content, giving students daily time to practice. After reviewing 21 studies on the effectiveness of *Saxon Math* on the mathematics achievement of middle school students, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) found that five of the studies meet WWC evidence standards. These five studies included 6,601 students in grades 6–8 from 52 schools in four states. One study is a randomized co...more »

Upping the Ante of Text Complexity in the Common Core State Standards

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago

* Examining Its Potential Impact on Young Readers* The Common Core Standards for the English Language Arts (CCSS) provide explicit guidelines matching grade-level bands (e.g., 2–3, 4–5) with targeted text complexity levels. The CCSS staircase accelerates text expectations for students across Grades 2–12 in order to close a gap in the complexity of texts typically used in high school and those of college and career. This article examines the theoretical and empirical support for three assumptions that underlie the acceleration of text complexity in Grades 2–3. The first step of the... more »

Modifying Media Content for Preschool Children: Sesame Street and Dora

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago

Full text Abstract: BACKGROUND: Although previous studies have revealed that preschool-aged children imitate both aggression and prosocial behaviors on screen, there have been few population-based studies designed to reduce aggression in preschool-aged children by modifying what they watch. METHODS: We devised a media diet intervention wherein parents were assisted in substituting high quality prosocial and educational programming for aggression-laden programming without trying to reduce total screen time. We conducted a randomized controlled trial of 565 parents of preschool-aged... more »

Simple interventions bridge the achievement gap between Latino and white students

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago

The achievement gap in academic performance between academically at-risk minorities and white students has concerned educators for decades now. It's a troubling fact that Latino Americans and African Americans, for example, earn lower grades on average than their white peers and are much more likely to drop out of high school. Amid such sobering statistics, a bright spark has appeared in the form of research being led by Geoffrey Cohen, a professor of education and of psychology at Stanford, and David Sherman of the University of California-Santa Barbara. In an article published on... more »

Dual Credit and Exam-Based Courses in U.S. Public High Schools:

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 3 days ago

During the 2010-11 school year, 82 percent of high schools reported that students were enrolled in dual credit courses. “Dual Credit and Exam-Based Courses in U.S. Public High Schools: 2010-11,” a First Look report from the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) provides national data about enrollment in dual credit courses, eligibility requirements for enrolling in dual credit courses, the types of instructors in dual credit courses, and expenses paid by students and their parents. This survey is an update to a 2002-03 dual credit survey. Findings include: • During the 2010–11 schoo... more »

Early Adolescent Music Preferences and Minor Delinquency

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

Early music preferences emerged as more powerful indicators of later delinquency rather than early delinquency, indicating that music choice is a strong marker of later problem behavior. The mechanisms through which music preferences are linked to minor delinquency are discussed within the framework of MMT. This study reveals that early fans of different types of rock (eg, rock, heavy metal, gothic, punk), African American music (rhythm and blues, hip-hop), and electronic dance music (trance, techno/hardhouse) showed elevated minor delinquency concurrently and longitudinally. Prefe... more »

Excessive TV in childhood linked to long-term antisocial behaviour

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

Children and adolescents who watch a lot of television are more likely to manifest antisocial and criminal behaviour when they become adults, according to a new University of Otago, New Zealand, study published online in the US journal Pediatrics. The study followed a group of around 1000 children born in the New Zealand city of Dunedin in 1972-73. Every two years between the ages of 5 and 15, they were asked how much television they watched. Those who watched more television were more likely to have a criminal conviction and were also more likely to have antisocial personality tr... more »

Can High Schools Reduce College Enrollment Gaps With a New Counseling Model?

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Despite planning college, disadvantaged students are less likely to enroll in college, particularly 4-year colleges. Beyond cost and academic achievement, previous research finds that a lack of college-related social resources poses barriers. However, little research investigates whether schools can help. This study examines whether, how, and for whom a new counseling model aimed at providing college-related social resources may improve college enrollment. Following nearly all seniors in Chicago Public Schools from senior year through the fall after high school, the authors find ... more »

The (Mis)Alignment Between Mathematics Instructional Content and Student Knowledge in Kindergarten

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Kindergarten mathematics skills are important for subsequent achievement, yet mathematics is underemphasized in kindergarten classrooms. Using nationally representative data, this study explored the relationship between students’ school-entry math skills, classroom content coverage, and end-of-kindergarten math achievement. Although the vast majority of children entered kindergarten having mastered basic counting and able to recognize simple geometric shapes, their teachers reported spending the most mathematics time—typically about 13 days per month—on this content. On average, e... more »

Voucher students realize substantial achievement gains after moving to the public sector

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Few school choice evaluations consider students who leave such programs, and fewer still consider the effects of leaving these programs as policy-relevant outcomes. Using a representative sample of students from the citywide voucher program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this study analyzes more than 1,000 students who leave the program during a 4-year period. Low-performing voucher students tend to move from the voucher sector into lower performing and less effective public schools than the typical public school student attends, whereas high-performing students transfer to better publi... more »

Success for All: No effect on reading achievement in grades 3 through 5

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

This study evaluates the impact of Success for All literacy instruction in grades 3 through 5 using data from the same cluster randomized trial used to evaluate effects in the earlier grades (K–2). In contrast to the early benefits, there is no effect on reading achievement in the later grades, either overall or for students and schools with high or low baseline reading achievement. This suggests that the impact of Success for All—including established long-term positive effects—may depend on early exposure. As a result, educators may experience difficulty replicating the typical... more »

The Effects of NCLB on School Resources and Practices

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

A number of studies have examined the impact of school accountability policies, including No Child Left Behind (NCLB), on student achievement. However, there is relatively little evidence on how school accountability reforms and NCLB, in particular, have influenced education policies and practices. This study examines the effects of NCLB on multiple district, school, and teacher traits using district-year financial data and pooled cross sections of teacher and principal surveys. It concludes that NCLB increased per-pupil spending by nearly $600, which was funded primarily through... more »

Do Low-SES Students Benefit from Dual Enrollment?

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Dual enrollment in high school is viewed by many as one mechanism for widening college admission and completion of low-income students. However, little evidence demonstrates that these students discretely benefit from dual enrollment and whether these programs narrow attainment gaps vis-à-vis students from middle-class or affluent family backgrounds. Using the National Longitudinal Study of 1988 (N= 8,800), this study finds significant benefits in boosting rates of college degree attainment for low-income students while holding weaker effects for peers from more affluent backgrou... more »

GPA May Be Contagious in High-School Social Networks

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

High school students whose friends' average grade point average (GPA) is greater than their own have a tendency to increase their own GPA over the course of a year, according to research published February 13 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Hiroki Sayama from Binghamton University and his collaborators from Maine-Endwell High School in Endwell, New York, including four high school student researchers. Previous studies have shown that a student's social network can influence obesity, emotional state and other cognitive traits and behavior. However, this is the first to exami...more »