May 2009
Copyright © 2009 Queue, Inc.
IN
THIS ISSUE:
Georgia Receives $8.9 Million
Grant to Improve Education Data System
Georgia Education Report Back Issues
(http://www.queuenews.com/GAnews.html)
Education Research Report Back
Issues (http://queueeducation.blogspot.com)
Queue, Inc. is offering public schools free previews of QueueÕs best-selling test prep and curriculum-based workbooks. Queue publishes test prep workbooks in reading comprehension and math for grades 2-8 based on the CRCT standards as well as a a wide variety of workbooks in language arts, reading comprehension, math and science ideal for test prep.
Go to http://www.qworkbooks.com/GA/GA.html descriptions.
The 2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education honors urban school
districts making the greatest progress nationwide in raising student
achievement.
This yearÕs five finalists are: ¥ Aldine Independent School
District, near Houston ¥ Broward County Public Schools, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. ¥
Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta ¥ Long Beach Unified School
District, Calif. ¥ Socorro Independent School District, El Paso, Texas
The Broad (rhymes with ÒroadÓ) Prize for Urban Education is the largest education award in the country given to school districts that demonstrate the best overall performance and improvement in student achievement while reducing achievement gaps among ethnic groups and between low- and non-low-income students.
The winner of The Broad Prize, will receive $1 million in
scholarships for high school seniors who will graduate in 2010. The four
finalist districts will each receive $250,000 in scholarships.
One commonality among this yearÕs finalists, which all serve
significant percentages of low-income and minority students, is that all five
made notable gains in reducing achievement gaps chronically present in large
urban districts in the United States. For example, between 2005 and 2008, all
five districts narrowed achievement gaps between Hispanic students and the
state average for white students in reading and math at multiple school levels.
In addition, a higher percentage of lowincome students in these five districts
performed at the highest achievement level on state assessments in reading and
math than did their counterparts statewide in 2008.
The districts in the running for the 2009 Broad Prize include
four-time finalist Aldine, two-time finalist Broward County, three-time
finalist and former Broad Prize winner Long Beach, and two first-time
finalists, Gwinnett County and Socorro.
Previous Broad Prize winners have included the Brownsville
Independent School District (2008); the New York City Department of Education
(2007); Boston Public Schools (2006); Norfolk Public Schools in Virginia
(2005); the Garden Grove Unified School District in California (2004); and the
Houston Independent School District (2002).
Every year, 100 of AmericaÕs largest urban school districts are
eligible for The Broad Prize. In selecting the five finalists, the review board
evaluated publicly available academic performance data on each district that
was compiled and analyzed by MPR Associates, Inc., a leading national education
research consulting firm. The review board chose five districts that stood out
in areas including: ¥ Academic performance and improvement on state exams compared
with other districts in the state with similar low-income student populations
and with the rest of the state as a whole ¥ Closure of income and ethnic
achievement gaps ¥ College readiness indicators such as graduation rates, SAT,
ACT and Advanced Placement exam data
For more information about The Broad Prize, this yearÕs finalists
and the review board, please visit www.broadprize.org.
Georgia
has been awarded an $8.9 million grant by the federal government to improve its
statewide educational data system.
Georgia
was one of 27 states that received a 2009 Statewide Longitudinal Data System
Grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences, a division of the U.S.
Department of Education.
"This
grant will allow the state, our schools and school systems to use data more
efficiently and effectively to guide policy and instruction," said State
Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox. "We have already made tremendous
progress in this area, but this grant will allow us to go the next level."
Georgia
will use the grant money over the the next four years to improve data exchanges
between the state and local districts as well as other areas of education, such
as pre-K and higher education. The State Board of Education has identified the
improvement of statewide data tools and resources as one of its key initiatives
in its strategic plan.
The
Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grants were created to enhance the ability
of States to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education
data, including individual student records. The data systems developed with
funds from these grants should help states, districts, schools, and teachers
make data-driven decisions to improve student learning, as well as facilitate
research to increase student achievement and close achievement gaps.
A
study released today by the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) confirms that
homework is linked to higher student achievementÑbut only if it is judiciously
assigned and engaging to the student.
The
substantial evidence review brings up to date the landmark 2006 study by Harris
Cooper, which systematically reviewed homework research published between 1987
and 2003.
CCLÕs
systematic review examines results of 18 studies, published from 2003 to 2007,
that looked into the effectiveness of homework in primary, intermediate and
secondary schools across Europe and the United States. There were no equivalent
Canadian studies published in this five-year period.
The
key findings are summarized in CCL's Lessons in Learning article "Homework helps, but not always," which is a digest
of the 61-page systematic review.
Key
findings
á
Homework
that demands active student engagementÑsuch as deciding which strategy to use
for a particular mathematics word problemÑis more likely to be effective than,
for example, rote repetition..
á
Of
the three studies examining primary students, the evidence did not suggest that
homework benefits younger students.
á
Lower
achieving students appear to have the most to gain from doing homework.
á
CCLÕs
review confirmed Harris CooperÕs general rule of thumb that homework should not
exceed 10 minutes per grade level per day. (i.e., a Grade 8 student should
receive no more than 80 minutes of homework per day.)
The
impact of homework on academic achievement is a topic that was identified by
the Canadian Teachers' Federation as an issue of importance to teachers.
Complete
report:
http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Reports/SystematicReviews/Homework.htm
Building
on several statesÕ success in raising reading achievement in the early grades,
a major new report from the nonprofit Southern Regional Education Board urges
states to develop comprehensive adolescent literacy policies that establish
improvement in middle grades and high school reading and writing as the most
immediate critical priority for public schools.
The
recommendations developed by the Committee and published in the report call for
states to:
Develop
statewide policies that establish improvement in reading as the top priority in
all public middle grades and high schools. These policies can be set out by
executive order, legislation or state board of education action. They should be
embraced by all state leaders and bodies, because this work will require
sustained, serious attention.
* Call for state education
agencies to work with local school systems across the region to make sure these
changes begin to take place and that every educator knows higher reading skills
are the top priority in public education.
Complete
report:
http://www.sreb.org/publications/2009/09E01_Critical_Mission_Reading_.pdf