4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-27-13

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT

STUDY WARNS THAT GRAD RATES WILL DIP WITH A-thru-G COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/17Zsr53 Thursday, April 25, 2013  ::  Requirements that high school students complete college prep courses as a condition of graduation may upgrade the value of the diploma and make some quick inroads on federal goals to produce college and career ready students. But new research released Thursday suggests the benchmark might prove too

BILLS PROMOTED BY LAUSD TO IMPOSE NEW TEACHER EVALUATIONS, LAYOFF RULES DIE IN COMMITTEE

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report. http://bit.ly/11Hay6n Thursday, April 25, 2013  ::  Efforts to rewrite longstanding rules surrounding teacher evaluations and educator staffing laws fell badly short of success Wednesday before a key Senate panel. First, lawmakers killed a bill that would have given school districts the ability to make teacher staffing decisions based on performance

‘The Battle of Their Lives’ over LCFF: GOV. BROWN PROMISES FIGHT OVER EDUATION OVERHAUL

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

Jerry Brown says lawmakers will get 'the battle of their lives' if they balk at his plan to give more funds to poor districts and more spending flexibility to all school districts. By Anthony York and Chris Megerian, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/15JQaHm Gov. Jerry Brown walks to a news conference on proposed education spending reforms with Mary Jane Burke, from the Marin County

U P D A T E: LAPD ARRESTS 3 IN CLEVELAND HIGH STABBING

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

By Eric Hartley Staff Writer, LA Daily News | - LA Daily News http://bit.ly/12nt4ls 4/25/2013 07:29:46 AM PDT  :: Online chatter about a fatal stabbing Wednesday afternoon outside a Reseda high school helped police find three suspects, who were arrested Thursday morning. Kevin Orellano, 18, of Reseda was playing handball at Cleveland High School just before 4 p.m. when two young men, whom Los

Shenanigans in School Board Race: BLOOMBERG DONATES $350K TO ®EFORM CANDIDATE, RUMOR OF DEAL WITH ®EFORMER ROILS UTLA

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

Michael Bloomberg donates $350,000 to L.A. school board race The New York City mayor's contribution to a political action committee led by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will benefit board candidate Antonio Sanchez. ALSO SEE: The best LA school board the NYC mayor’s money can buy: NEW YORK MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG DONATES ANOTHER $350K http://bit.ly/ZsLl2c By Howard Blume, Los Angeles

TOM BARTMAN 1946- 2013, FORMER LAUSD BOARD PRESIDENT WHO HELPED END MANDATORY BUSING

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

Article by: Associated Press  from Minneapolis StarTribune.com http://bit.ly/15QugBN Newly elected Los Angeles Board of Education member Tom Bartman is sworn in. In 1981, a majority of board members, including Bartman, voted to end mandatory busing in the school district. (Los Angeles Times / February 25, 1980) April 25, 2013 - 8:42 AM - LOS ANGELES - A man who helped end forced busing for

STUDENT AT CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL IN RESEDA FATALLY STABBED DURING ARGUMENT

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

City News Service from LA Daily News |  http://bit.ly/10CAYuA Updated:   4/25/2013 6:07:52 AM PDT - RESEDA - An 18-year-old adult education student was fatally stabbed at Cleveland High School in Reseda by two males during an argument on the campus Wednesday, authorities said. The victim was approached in the area of the school's handball courts by two males believed to be between 18 and 20

CALIFORNIA SUED ON BEHALF OF FAILING ENGLISH LEARNERS

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 day ago

ACLU Sues California On Behalf of 20,000 Students, Says Schools Are Failing English Learners Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | Pass / Fail | 89.3 KPCC http://bit.ly/10CtBDh Adolfo Guzman-Lopez - Civil Rights lawyers at a press conference Wednesday announcing a lawsuit against California for allegedly failing to provide mandated help for students who aren't fluent in English. April 24th, 2013, 4:

Expurgated: TWO EXCELLENT STORIES ON THE PARENT TRIGGER: Who ‘they’ are …stuff they don’t want you to know …and how they work to make sure you don’t find it out.

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 2 days ago

THESE ARTICLES HAVE BEEN REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE AUTHOR Yasha Levine Writes: Thu, Apr 25, 2013 10:23 am  ::  I'm the author of the the two articles you published on your blog. I'm glad you liked them, but we're a paid subscription publication that relies on people reading the site (and hopefully subscribing) in order to be able to

SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH BILL FALLS VICTIM TO GUN BILL DEFEAT

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 2 days ago

Capitol Connection Newsletter - ASCD Public Policy http://bit.ly/15NsYaH smf/4AKids: The NRA and their bought-and-paid-for fellow travelers argued that “Guns don’t kill people, people with mental illness kill people”.  But now that they’ve defeated meaningful gun regulation they couldn’t care less about improving mental health services for children. Apr 24,

SB 69: DEMOCRATIC SENATORS OFFER ALTERNATIVE TO BROWN’S FUNDING FORMULA

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 2 days ago

By John Fensterwald, EdSource Today |  http://bit.ly/12J1IYc April 23rd, 2013   ::  Democratic leaders of the state Senate want to delay Gov. Brown’s sweeping plan for changing how schools are funded by a year and will recommend significant changes to it in a bill that they will reveal on Thursday. In a news release Tuesday, Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and chairs of the

The best LA school board the NYC mayor’s money can buy: NEW YORK MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG DONATES ANOTHER $350,000 TO LAUSD RACE

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 2 days ago

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/15I2ibF 4/24/2013 3:10:10/Updated: 4/24/2013 3:40:53 PM PDT  ::  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed $1 million to a slate of reformers in the LAUSD primary election, has now donated $350,000 to support a candidate facing a runoff for a school board seat in May. According to statements filed today on the city

FORMER SUN VALLEY TEACHER ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF HAVING CHILD PORN

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 3 days ago

Douglas Randolph Collins taught at Fernangeles Elementary School until the issue came to light last fall. By City News Service from North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch | http://bit.ly/13Yv5IY April 23, 2013   3:17 pm  ::  A former fifth-grade teacher at a Sun Valley elementary school was arrested Tuesday for allegedly possessing child pornography. Douglas Randolph Collins was scheduled to

CALIFORNIA RANKS LOW IN DIAGNOSIS RATES OF ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 3 days ago

By Jane Meredith Adams, EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/10b8ErD April 22nd, 2013  ::  California has one of the lowest rates of diagnosis in the nation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, raising questions about the role of regional, economic and cultural differences in identifying what scientists regard as a brain disorder. Over-diagnosing ADHD and over-prescribing

KOCH BROTHERS TO PURSUE CONTROL IN THE MEDIA

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

Koch Industries wants to change the way the mainstream media portrays them, feeling that they have been unfairly covered due to their political beliefs. News Analysis By Elizabeth Miller | Nation of Change / http://bit.ly/ZImOl4 Monday 22 April 2013   :: We know the Koch Brothers, Charles and David Koch, as deniers of climate change, billionaire oil moguls, and environment destroyers,

STOP DISSING THE HUMANITIES

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

Obama loves 'Moby-Dick.' Eric Garcetti reads Borges. Wendy Greuel's husband is a literary agent. But what have they done for the liberal arts lately? Op-Ed in the L.A. Times by David Kipen | http://lat.ms/10u4bb1 "Money spent on the liberal arts does more than feed and clothe the creative class. It creates a heritage of intellectual property that can yield economic and social benefit for

D.C. CHEATING ISSUE CALLS TEST-DRIVEN INCENTIVES INTO QUESTION

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

commentary by Charles Taylor Kerchner in EdSource Today | http://bit.ly/17e5TfI April 21st, 2013  ::  The smoke surrounding allegations of test score cheating in the Washington, D.C., public schools burst into flame last week. In a 4,300-word blog post, titled Michelle Rhee’s Reign of Error, the veteran educational journalist John Merrow linked the former schools chancellor with documents that

Bill Gates: A FAIRER WAY TO EVALUATE TEACHERS

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

By Bill Gates, Op-Ed in the Washington Post | http://bit.ly/11EMEHb Microsoft's chairman Bill Gates recently warned against overusing students' standardized test scores in evaluating how well teachers are doing their jobs. (Pius Utomi Ekpei / AFP / Getty Images / April 10, 2013) April 03, 2013  ::  Tom Brady may be the best quarterback in football, but he is also infamously, hilariously slow.

A CURRICULUM CRUNCH FOR CALIFORNIA

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

The new Common Core State Standards are supposed to be implemented in schools in 2014. But the state is far from ready. By The L.A. Times editorial board | http://lat.ms/10u37nt Teacher Maria Duarte watches from a distance while her students solve fraction problems on the board in her math class at Los Angeles Elementary School. (Los Angeles Times / June 17, 2011) April 22, 2013  :: 

NEW STANDARDIZED TESTS FEATURE PLUGS FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS …adding the © to the ® in $chool ®eform

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

by Valerie Strauss | Washington Post/Answer Sheet| http://wapo.st/YGatOn April 20, 2013 at 10:53 am  ::  Talk about corporate-based school reform. New high-stakes standardized tests aligned with the Common Core State Standards are featuring plugs for commercial products. And the companies didn’t have to pay a penny. Yes, New York state students who this past week took Pearson-designed

TEST SCORES UNDER INVESTIGATION AT BURBANK SCHOOL

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

By Kelly Corrigan, la tIMES/la nOW | http://lat.ms/17dRZKk April 21, 2013, 2:40 p.m.  ::  A McKinley Elementary teacher has been placed on administrative leave after a third-grade student reported that the teacher helped a class answer questions on state standardized tests this week. Burbank Unified Supt. Jan Britz, who made the announcement during Thursday's school board meeting, added that

IN L.A. SCHOOL BOARD RACE, SKY-HIGH SPENDING CONTINUES

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

The contest between Antonio Sanchez, a former mayoral aide, and Monica Ratliff, a teacher, will be decided in May's runoff. Money pours in for their campaigns. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | http://lat.ms/12BQMeX April 21, 2013, 9:33 p.m.  ::  Record spending will continue in the last remaining race for a seat on the Los Angeles school board, as a political action committee has put

Old news you should know: CA DEMOCRATS TAKE AIM AT EFFORTS TO OVERHAUL EDUCATION, CEQA

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 4 days ago

  by Torey Van Oot, Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert | http://bit.ly/13N1WAq   smf: Sorry readers, but my personal life the past two weeks got in the way of posting some stories – here’s a bit of catch-up April 14, 2013  | 4:03 PM  ::  California Democrats took aim at efforts to overhaul the state's education system and

MARTIN RICHARDS, 2005-2013 – Killed at Boston Marathon bombing

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 5 days ago

photo from Facebook via Huffington Post from The Huffington Post: Third grader Martin Richard died Monday waiting for his father to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon. His mother and 6-year-old sister were injured severely. Lucia Brawley, a friend of Martin's former teacher, posted a photo on Facebook of the 8-year-old holding a sign with an important -- and now haunting -- message.

Michelle Rhee: TIGER MOM… OR PAPER TIGER MOM …with kids in private school?

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 week ago

following up on MICHELLE RHEE’S REIGN OF ERROR Education advocate Michelle Rhee fends off accusations Head of a group that advocates using student test scores to evaluate teachers, fends off accusations that she failed to pursue evidence of cheating when she ran the D.C. school system. By Howard Blume, Los Angeles Timeshttp://lat.ms/1796S0y.

BALDWIN PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT WINS #1 SPOT IN CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 week ago

Deepa Fernandes | kpcc pASS/fAIL  | http://bit.ly/ZD0JEJ Maya Sugarman/KPCC  Sixth grader, Reyna Ugalde, at Foster Elementary in the Baldwin Park School District, highlights in pink the edges of her handmade polyhedron. April 17th, 2013, 1:00pm  ::  Recently we reported on two schools in the Baldwin Park school district that have unique programs: a high school that helps teenage parents stay in

SAL CASTRO: Legendary Los Angeles Chicano rights activist-teacher dies at 79

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 week ago

By City News Service, from the LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/17Mn3SV Sal Castro speaks at CSUN's Aztlan graduation ceremony on May 29, 1999. (Daily News file photo) 04/16/2013 05:24:50 PM PDT  ::  LOS ANGELES - Former LAUSD teacher Sal Castro, who joined his students in East Los Angeles school walkouts in 1968 to protest inequities in educational opportunities for Latinos and whose efforts

ONE WEEK TO APPLY FOR COMMON CORE TECHNOLOGY JOBS IN LAUSD

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 week ago

referred in an email from LAUSD |Procurement | Facilities Contracts News : We are Hiring! Are you interested in joining the Common Core Technology Project team? We currently have several openings for certificated and classified positions. Click on a position to learn more about the role and how to apply. Certificated (administrative or teaching credential required): Director, Common

LAUSD CHIEF JOHN DEASY DRAWS FIRE AS HE PURSUES AGGRESSIVE ®EFORM PLAN

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 week ago

By Barbara Jones, Staff Writer, LA Daily News | http://bit.ly/131VuoC Sunday, 4/14/2013 11:50:21 AM PDT  ::  During a recent speech at Loyola Marymount University, John Deasy recalled his promotion from deputy superintendent to chief of Los Angeles Unified two years ago, tasked with turning around a district plagued by failing schools, struggling students and an epidemic of dropouts. "I

TEACHERS: WILL WE EVER LEARN?

smf at 4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit - 1 week ago

  By Op-Ed Contributor JAL MEHTA in the New York Times |http://nyti.ms/156WR5F ^Leigh Guldig April 12, 2013  - CAMBRIDGE, Mass.  :: IN April 1983, a federal commission warned in a famous report, “A Nation at Risk,” that American education was a “rising tide of mediocrity.” The alarm it sounded about declining competitiveness touched off a tidal wave of

Top Content this Week - 4-27-13 The Educator's PLN Top Content this Week - The Educator's PLN:

Top Content this Week - The Educator's PLN:

1	Rick Wormeli: How Much Should Homework Count? Added by Shawna Hixson on April 4, 2013
2	Cyberbullying Posted by Nicole Olbrish on October 27, 2012
3	Fellowship of Open Spokes -- Education in 5 Years #openspokes Added by Sheri Edwards on April 22, 2013
4	What is the Collaborative Classroom? Added by Lacey Smith on April 23, 2013
5	Prep Hour Praise: Communicating With Parents Added by Brian Durst on April 23, 2013
6	Belkin Tablet Stand with Storage Named a "Cool Tool" Finalist in EdTech Digest Awards Program Added by DC Nelson on April 26, 2013
7	30 Ways to Promote Creativity in Your Classroom Added by Lacey Smith on April 23, 2013
8	Literacy Across the Curriculum Added by Sharon Keehner on April 25, 2013
9	Belkin Tablet Stands - Adding Ergonomics to the Tablet Equation Added by DC Nelson on April 22, 2013
10	Greener education Ad

This Week's Education Research Report 4-27-13 #SOSCHAT #EDCHAT #P2

Education Research Report

THIS WEEK'S EDUCATION RESEARCH REPORT

Shaping Professional Development to Promote the Diffusion of Instructional Expertise Among Teachers

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 hour ago

This study examines how high-quality professional development can promote the diffusion of effective teaching strategies among teachers through collaboration. Drawing on longitudinal and sociometric data from a study of writing professional development in 39 schools, this study shows that teachers’ participation in professional development is associated with providing more help to colleagues on instructional matters. Further, the influence of professional development on participants’ instructional practice diffuses through the network of helping. These findings suggest that in ad... more »

Reasons for Attending College Affect Students’ Academic Success

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 23 hours ago

Students not performing well academically? Look no further—the answer may be in their motivation for attending college in the first place. Researchers at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester found that student motivation for attending college is related to academic success. And, they uncover unique relationships that exist between the different types of student motivation—as conceptualized by Self-Determination Theory (SDT)—and academic achievement and persistence. Their study tracked the relationship between student motivation for attending college and the... more »

More Days in Classroom ≠ More Learning in Mexico

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 23 hours ago

As Mexico and other Latin American countries wrestle with improving the quality of education for primary school students, economists at the University of California, Riverside have found that extending the length of the school year in the region will do little to improve student performance on standardized tests. Such policies also have the unintended result of widening the achievement gap between students in impoverished communities and those who attend more affluent schools, the researchers also found. These findings have significant implications for policymakers in Mexico — and... more »

CA: New High School Graduation Standards May Deny Diplomas To Many

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 day ago

As four large California school districts—Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland—implement ambitious new graduation standards designed to increase college readiness, evidence from San Diego suggests that they will need to undertake major interventions to ensure that students succeed. Otherwise the very students these reforms aim to help could be denied high school diplomas, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), College Readiness as a Graduation Requirement: An Assessment of San Diego’s Challenges. The report looks at t... more »

Student Prosocial Behavior and Racial Composition in Urban Middle Schools

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

Encouraging student prosocial behavior (PSB) is a challenge for urban middle schools. The issue of student behavior is a racialized one, as Black students generally evince more negative behavioral outcomes than their White peers. This racial “behavior gap” may be conditional on the school environment. This study examines how one element of the school environment—racial composition—affects PSB, drawing on a sample that includes approximately 2,000 Black students and 1,400 White students in 11 urban middle schools in the Southeastern United States. Results of multilevel regression... more »

Teacher Preparation Programs Face More Scrutiny as Common Core Era Begins

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

*New analysis points to the importance of training and transparent assessments of teacher preparation programs as keys to improving quality* Teacher education has faced increasing criticism in recent years, sparked by uneven student achievement across the U.S. In a new analysis, Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), examines the extent to which teacher education has moved away from the rigors of specific training in favor of ambiguous personal and social goals that leave new teachers unprepared. “21st-Century Teacher Education: Ed schools don’t g... more »

"The Nation's Report Card: Economics 2012"

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

Economic literacy is vital for functioning effectively in today’s society. Both knowledge of economic concepts and ideas and the ability to apply basic economic analysis to solve everyday problems are necessary for an individual to function as a productive member of society—as a worker, a saver, an investor, a consumer, or an active citizen. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) monitors students’ attainment of these skills and knowledge with its twelfth-grade economics assessment. First administered in 2006, the NAEP economics assessment measures twelfth-graders’ ...more »

Troubling Patterns of Teacher Assignments Within Schools

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 2 days ago

Even within the same school, lower-achieving students often are taught by less-experienced teachers, as well as by teachers who received their degrees from less-competitive colleges, according to a new study by researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the World Bank. The study, using data from one of the nation's largest school districts, also shows that student class assignments vary within schools by a teacher's gender and race. In a paper published in the April issue of *Sociology of Education*, the researchers present the results of a comprehensive analysi...more »

Claims on Mayoral Governance Don’t Stand Up to Scrutiny

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 4 days ago

A recent Center for American Progress report purports to find that school districts led by city mayors are raising student achievement while improving the districts’ fiscal health. A new review finds some useful information in the report, but says it is too flawed to rely on for policy guidance. The report, Mayoral Governance and Student Achievement: How Mayor-Led Districts are Improving School and Student Performance, by Kenneth K. Wong and Francis X. Shen, was reviewed for the Think Twice think tank review project by Katrina E. Bulkley, Professor of Educational Leadership at Mon... more »

Priorities vs. Precedence in School Choice in Boston

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 5 days ago

School choice plans in many cities grant students higher priority for some (but not all) seats at their neighborhood schools. This paper demonstrates how the precedence order, i.e. the order in which different types of seats are filled by applicants, has quantitative effects on distributional objectives comparable to priorities in the deferred acceptance algorithm. While Boston's school choice plan gives priority to neighborhood applicants for half of each school's seats, the intended effect of this policy is lost because of the precedence order. Despite widely held impressions about th... more »

PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN EDUCATION: ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Schools seeking to boost parental involvement will need to tailor their approaches to match parents' differing views and concerns, according to a new report from Public Agenda. The report, "Ready, Willing and Able? Kansas City Parents Talk About How to Improve Schools and What They Can Do to Help," indicates that parental involvement means very different things to different parents, with some drawn to advocacy and school reform while others are more comfortable participating in time-honored tasks like helping with school clubs, sports and bake sales. While the research, underwritt... more »

The “Teacher Quality Gap” and Seniority Provisions in Collective Bargaining Agreements

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

For at least two decades, studies have demonstrated that the least experienced and credentialed teachers are concentrated in poor, minority, and low-performing schools. Some blame provisions in collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) between teachers unions and school districts that favor senior teachers. Seniority preference rules, they say, exacerbate the “teacher quality gap” by allowing experienced teachers to transfer. Using data from Florida, the authors of this study analyze whether and how CBAs influence the distribution of teacher quality within school districts, paying ... more »

“Academic Redshirting” in Kindergarten

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

This study uses two nationally representative data sets to estimate the prevalence of kindergarten “redshirting”—the decision to delay a child’s school entry. We find that between 4% and 5.5% of children delay kindergarten, a lower number than typically reported in popular and academic accounts. Male, White, and high-SES children are most likely to delay kindergarten, and schools serving larger proportions of White and high-income children have far higher rates of delayed entry. Thher is no evidence that children with lower cognitive or social abilities at age 4 are more likely t... more »

Learning disabilities affect up to 10 percent of children

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Up to 10 per cent of the population are affected by specific learning disabilities (SLDs), such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism, translating to 2 or 3 pupils in every classroom according to a new study. The study – by academics at UCL and Goldsmiths - also indicates that children are frequently affected by more than one learning disability. The research, published today in Science, helps to clarify the underlying causes of learning disabilities and the best way to tailor individual teaching and learning for affected individuals and education professionals. Specific learning di... more »

Child's counting comprehension may depend on objects counted

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Concrete objects — such as toys, tiles and blocks — that students can touch and move around, called manipulatives, have been used to teach basic math skills since the 1980s. Use of manipulatives is based on the long-held belief that young children's thinking is strictly concrete in nature, so concrete objects are assumed to help them learn math concepts. However, new research from the University of Notre Dame suggests that not all manipulatives are equal. The types of manipulatives may make a difference in how effectively a child learns basic counting and other basic math concepts... more »

Early Investment in Families Helps Children Succeed in School

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

An innovative program that supports parents and teachers of public school pre-kindergarten students improves early academic achievement, according to a new study published in the April 15 online edition of Pediatrics. In a five-year study of 1,050 minority pre-kindergarten students from disadvantaged neighborhoods in New York City, NYU Langone researchers found that ParentCorps, a family-focused, school-based program, led to better achievement test scores and overall school performance. Children from low-income families are ten times as likely as children from middle-class familie... more »

Teens’ Brains Are More Sensitive to Rewarding Feedback From Peers

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Teenagers are risk-takers — they’re more likely than children or adults to experiment with illicit substances, have unprotected sex, and drive recklessly. But research shows that teenagers have the knowledge and ability to make competent decisions about risk, just like adults. So what explains their risky behavior? In a new report, psychological scientists Laurence Steinberg and Jason Chein of Temple University and Dustin Albert of Duke University argue that some teens’ risky behavior reflects the unique effect of peer influence on the still-developing teenage brain. Their report ... more »

Making fruit easier to eat increases sales and consumption in school cafeterias

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Previous studies and surveys have shown that kids love to eat fruit in ready-to-eat bite-sized pieces, yet in most school settings, the fruit is served whole, which could be the cause that children are taking fruits but not eating them. Most people believe that children avoid fruit because of the taste and allure of alternative packaged snacks. A study by Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab researchers Brian Wansink, David Just, Andrew Hanks, and Laura Smith decided to get to the bottom of why children were avoiding their fruit. Could, perhaps, increasing the convenience of fr... more »

Teachers’ Online Use of Student Performance Data

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

Testing of students and computer systems to store, manage, analyze, and report the resulting test data have grown hand-in-hand. Extant research on teacher use of electronically stored data are largely qualitative and focused on the conditions necessary (but not sufficient) for effective teacher data use. Absent from the research is objective information on how much and in what ways teachers use computer-based student test data, even when supposed precursors of usage are in place. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by analyzing the online activities of teachers in one mid-siz... more »

Advertising/Corporate Sponsorships in Public Schools Threaten Students’ Health

Jonathan Kantrowitz at Education Research Report - 1 week ago

The financial squeeze caused by “The Great Recession,” and the economic doldrums that followed, placed significant pressure on school districts across the country. Schools and school districts, for years encouraged to engage in “school-business partnerships,” are pressed more and more to work with advertisers and corporate sponsors to replace lost revenue. In their quest for additional funding, many schools and school districts have allowed corporations to promote the consumption of sweetened beverages and foods of little or no nutritional value in school and in conjunction with sc... more »