THIS WEEK Education Research Report

Education Research Report

THIS WEEK 

Education Research Report

Analyzing Youth Civic Writing Within the 2016 Letters to the Next President Project

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 19h

This article investigates the civic writing practices of more than 11,000 students writing letters to the next president in the lead up to the 2016 U.S. election. The authors analyze how letter topics are associated with socioeconomic factors and reveal that 43 topics—including ones prevalent among students such as immigration, guns, and school costs—were significantly associated with socioeconom

Teachers are not being provided with the knowledge and evidence to make their teaching truly effective.

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 22h

Complete report Scientists know a lot about effective learning and teaching. In the past several decades, cognitive psychologists and other learning researchers have performed thousands of studies on effective learning and teaching practices. In some cases, research findings have gone against conventional wisdom or common practice. For example, varied practice (in terms of the variety of problems

Research on the Leadership of Black Women Principals: Implications for Black Students

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

This exploratory review considers research on Black women principals for the period 1993 to 2017, using 57 research reports obtained from dissertations, journal articles, and a book chapter. This exploration is of particular significance given the continuous disenfranchisement and subsequent underachievement of Black children in U.S. schools and the importance of black women principals in address

SEP 05

Students who do not date are not social misfits

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Prior research identified four distinct dating trajectories from 6th to 12th grade: Low , Increasing , High Middle School , and Frequent . In a new study published in the Journal of School Health , researchers found that adolescents who were not in a romantic relationship had good social skills and low depression, and fared better or equal to peers who dated. The study included 594 10th graders.

Exposure to multiple languages may make it easier to learn one

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Learning a new language is a multi-step, often multi-year process: Listen to new sounds, read new word structures, speak in different patterns or inflections. But the chances of picking up that new language -- even unintentionally -- may be better if you're exposed to a variety of languages, not just your native tongue. A new study from the University of Washington finds that, based on brain acti

Financial education programs, income-based repayment plans promote prosperity

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Young adults with student loans who participate in financial education programs become better financial managers who are able to build their personal wealth after college, researchers at the University of Illinois found in a recent study. Social work professor Min Zhan and graduate student Gaurav Sinha analyzed data on 1,924 young adults in the U.S. to explore which factors helped those with stud

Students in 'active learning' classrooms learn more than they think

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

For decades, there has been evidence that active learning - classroom techniques designed to get students to participate in the learning process - produces better educational outcomes for students at virtually all levels. And a new Harvard study suggests it may be important to let students know it. The study, published September 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , shows tha

States’ Intervention in School Districts’ Finances

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

In recent years, state takeovers of local school districts have become both increasingly common and prominent. Districts including Newark, Detroit, and Harrisburg are among those that have met this fate. Each of these takeovers—as well as many state interventions of a more limited nature in districts across the country—occurs pursuant to state law. In fact, each state has one or more laws that al

Females show more sustained performance during test-taking than males

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

Females tend to perform worse than males on math and science tests, but they perform better on verbal reading tests. Here, by analyzing performance during a cognitive test, we provide evidence that females are better able to sustain their performance during a test across all of these topics, including math and science (study 1). This finding suggests that longer cognitive tests decrease the gende

In National Ranking of School Systems, New Jersey takes the top spot

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

The third and final installment of “Quality Counts 2019” offers a comprehensive report card on the nation’s K-12 system, including A-F grades and rankings for each of the states based on a wide range of academic, school finance, and socioeconomic factors. The report, based on analysis by the Education Week Research Center, sums up how well the nation and the states do on assuring bright prospects

Preparing Students for Learning, Work and Life Through STEAM Education

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 1d

This Policy Brief explores new pathways to guide future practice, research and policy work to support access to STEAM education for all students.

SEP 04

School district secessions in the South have deepened racial segregation between school systems

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 2d

Since 2000, school district secessions in the South have increasingly sorted white and black students, and white and Hispanic students, into separate school systems, weakening the potential to improve school integration, according to a new study published today in AERA Open , a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. The study, conducted by Kendra Taylor (Sanametri

SEP 03

Student body diversity goals & giving parents a say in where their child goes to school

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences INFORMS Journal Operations Research New Study Key Takeaways: A new algorithm achieves school diversity goals while allowing parents to still have a say in where their child attends. The only caveat with the model is there is no way to control the size of a school, so diversity changes may have more of an impact on smaller schools. In o

Black Teachers' Share Fell as Southern Schools Desegregated

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

School boards' efforts to make sure white students had white teachers appear to explain a sharp decline in the share of black teachers in the Deep South. In 1970, more than 90 percent of African American students in the 11 states of the former Confederacy attended integrated schools, compared with fewer than 5 percent in 1964. But as the student bodies became more diverse, the percentage of black

Addressing Literacy Needs of Struggling Spanish-Speaking First Graders

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 3d

Given the growing number of Latino English learners and the lack of evidence-based educational opportunities they are provided, this study investigated the impact of one potentially effective literacy intervention that targets struggling first-grade Spanish-speaking students: Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL). DLL provides first-grade Spanish-speaking students one-on-one literacy instruction in their

SEP 02

A Deep Exploration of School Improvement Strategies

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 5d

Although program evaluations using rigorous quasi-experimental or experimental designs can inform decisions about whether to continue or terminate a given program, they often have limited ability to reveal the mechanisms by which complex interventions achieve their effects. To illuminate these mechanisms, this article analyzes novel text data from thousands of school improvement planning and impl

AUG 28

More than 60 percent of Pell Grants cover the total price of college attendance

by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 9d

More than 60 percent of Pell Grant recipients at 4-year institutions received federal student loans to cover the total price of college attendance in four academic years between 2003-04 and 2015-16. A new NCES Data Point 

Education Research Report