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ETS Report: New Teacher Quality Has Improved
During Past Decade
New
teachers in American classrooms are more academically qualified today than
just a decade ago, according to a new report from the ETS Policy
Information Center. The report attributes the positive trend to a period of
unprecedented policy changes focused on issues of teacher quality.
Teacher
Quality in a Changing Policy Landscape: Improvements in the Teacher Pool ties the confluence
of policy changes at the federal, state and institutional levels to
improvements in teacher candidates’ academic qualifications. The report was
written by ETS Distinguished Researcher Drew Gitomer, who compared the
academic qualifications of teacher candidates who took Praxis assessments
for teacher licensure from 2002 through 2005 with qualifications of a
cohort of test takers from eight years before.
“The
study shows that when stakeholders focus on a common objective and use a
variety of strategies to work toward that objective, positive changes can
occur,” says Gitomer. “In the past decade, we’ve seen dramatic changes in
the academic qualifications of teacher candidates—seldom have changes in
education policies had such a positive impact in so short a time.”
Findings
in the report show that:
·
The
academic profile of the entire candidate pool, including those meeting
state Praxis requirements, has improved.
·
The
SAT-Verbal scores for candidates who passed the Praxis tests increased 13
points. SAT-Math scores increased 17 points.
·
Today’s
candidates have higher college Grade Point Averages (GPAs). The percentage
of candidates reporting higher than a 3.5 GPA increased from 27 to 40,
while the percentage of candidates reporting lower than a 3.0 GPA decreased
from 32 to 20.
·
Improvements
are consistent across genders, racial/ethnic groups, and across licensure
areas.
·
During
the last few years, increased numbers of Praxis candidates were individuals
with prior teaching experience, particularly those from university-based
teacher preparation programs.
“As
a nation, one of the greatest investments we can make is in teacher
education and support programs,” says Congressman George Miller, D-CA,
Chair, House Education and Labor Committee. “We know that having a highly
qualified teacher creates a more rigorous and engaging learning experience
for students. In fact, the most important single factor in determining a
child’s success in school is the quality of his or her teacher. A core
element in building the educational infrastructure our nation needs to
maintain our economic leadership will be to continue our efforts to place
an excellent teacher in every classroom – one of the ways we hope to
significantly improve No Child Left Behind.”
While
changes cannot be credited to any one policy effort, the report contends
that the following changes have yielded the greatest impact:
·
Increased
accountability of teacher education programs to report teacher candidates’
test scores;
·
Greater
focus on ensuring that all teachers are qualified. The No Child Left Behind
mandate for Highly Qualified Teachers (HQT) requires teachers be licensed
and show competence in their subject area. This, in turn, led to
middle-school content tests to ensure subject proficiency for teachers of
middle-school students;
·
Increased
requirements for entry into teacher education programs. Some states, for
example, set minimum GPA requirements;
·
Strengthening
of teacher quality requirements for accreditation. The National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Teacher Education
Accreditation Council (TEAC), for example, now require candidates to
provide evidence of subject area knowledge and pedagogical skill;
·
Rapid
expansion of alternate pathways into teaching.
“The
noted improvements in academic characteristics of prospective educators
over the past ten years are not random phenomena,” says Sharon P. Robinson,
President and CEO, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
“These changes result from public policy and professional practices aimed
at producing the very high capabilities we require in the nation’s
schools. This study from ETS should inspire optimism and encourage all
of us to recommit to the goal of providing every student with caring and
competent teachers in schools organized for success.”
Despite
the highly encouraging news in general, Gitomer cautions, more work remains
to be done. “One of the sobering findings of the report is that the teacher
candidate pool is no more diverse than it was a decade ago,” he says.
“Females continue to make up three-quarters of the candidate pool, which
is overwhelmingly White. The lack of language diversity continues.
Still, this report demonstrates beyond a doubt that change is possible when
we focus our collective efforts and resources on a common objective. It’s
up to us to determine what that next objective will be.”
Download
the full report, Teacher Quality in a Changing Policy Landscape:
Improvements in the Teacher Pool, for free, and view related materials
at www.ets.org/teacherqualityreport.
U.S.
Middle School Math Teachers Are Ill-prepared Among International
Counterparts
A
new study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) found that middle
school mathematics teachers in the United States are not as well prepared
to teach this challenging subject as are many of their counterparts in five
other countries. The findings of this study, Mathematics Teaching in the
21st Century (MT21), conducted by Michigan State University (MSU), were
presented today at a news conference at the National Press Club.
"Our
future teachers are getting weak training mathematically and are just not
prepared to teach the demanding mathematics curriculum we need for middle
schools if we hope to compete internationally in the future," said
William Schmidt, MSU distinguished professor, who directed the study.
This
inadequate teacher preparation joins deficiencies in mathematics curriculum
as reasons contributing to lower scores for American middle-schoolers.
MT21
studied how well a sample of universities and teacher-training institutions
prepare middle school mathematics teachers in the United States, South
Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Bulgaria and Mexico. Specifically, 2,627 future
teachers were surveyed about their preparation, knowledge and beliefs in
this subject area.
"The
MT21 study extends the international perspective from students to teachers,
and provides new approaches for conducting such a study," said Wanda
Ward, deputy assistant director for NSF's education and human resources
directorate. "It also offers valuable comparisons about the outcomes
of teacher education programs across the participating nations."
The
length of time needed to complete teacher preparation requirements varied
among the countries studied. While some of the requirements could be
completed within four years, others involved five to seven years of
training.
"The
real issue is the courses they take and the experiences they have while in
their programs," Schmidt said. "Basically, what we have found is
that it's not just the amount of formal mathematics training they get. It
also involves training in the practical aspects of teaching middle school
math and of teaching in general."
In
comparison to other countries in the study, U.S. future teachers ranked
from the middle to the bottom on MT21 measures of mathematics knowledge.
"What's
most disturbing is that one of the areas in which U.S. future teachers tend
to do the worst is algebra, and algebra is the heart of middle school
math," Schmidt said. "When future teachers in the study were
asked about opportunities to learn about the practical aspects of teaching
mathematics, again, we rank mediocre at best."
The
MT21 findings support previous international research, including the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), also conducted by MSU,
which showed low U.S. achievement in mathematics compared to other
countries at seventh and eighth grades. Another finding from TIMSS
indicated that one of the major factors related to this low performance was
a U.S. middle school curriculum that was unfocused, lacking coherence and
not particularly demanding or rigorous.
"We
must address this," Schmidt said. "We can make our mathematics
curriculum more demanding, instead of a mile wide and an inch deep, but we
also need teachers that are well prepared to teach it to all
children."
Other
MT21 findings include the following:
·
Future
U.S. middle school teachers' mathematics knowledge was generally weaker
than that of future teachers in South Korea, Taiwan, Germany, and in some
areas, Bulgaria. Taiwanese and South Korean future teachers were the top
performers in all five areas of mathematics knowledge.
·
The
best subject area for future teachers in the U.S. was statistics knowledge,
where they performed near the international average.
·
Taiwanese
and South Korean future teachers typically covered about 80 percent or more
of advanced mathematics topics in their training, while those in Mexico and
the U.S. covered less than 50 percent.
·
In
the practical aspect of teaching, the extent of coverage for U.S. future
teachers was also substantially less than that provided by Taiwan and South
Korea.
·
Future
U.S. middle school mathematics teachers in the study are trained in three
kinds of programs: secondary programs, elementary programs and those that
directly prepare middle school teachers.
Those
that prepare as secondary teachers have a stronger mathematics preparation.
Those that prepare as elementary teachers have stronger teaching skill
preparation. Those that prepare as middle school teachers seem to have the
worst of both these programs.
The
full MT21 report is available at http://usteds.msu.edu/related_research.asp
Teachers
From Alternative Programs Critical of On-the-Job Support
Public
Agenda and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality today
released research that raises questions about the support given to new
teachers who come to teaching through alternate routes - new teachers who
are often placed in the most troubled schools. It gives voice to the
concerns of these new teachers once they are on the job - concerns about
insufficient support from school administrators and insufficient advice and
help from colleagues.
A comment from one first-year teacher illustrates the isolation that many
of these 'alt-route' teachers feel, "Teachers have to go it alone,
especially in the city. You cannot send a student out of your room. You
have to deal with the behavior problem, and fill out forms...You're kind of
like an independent contractor. You've got to just manage your little
society in the classroom."
The second report of the "Lessons Learned" series, "Issue
No. 2: Working Without a Net" focuses on new teachers in high-needs
schools and compares the perspectives of those coming to the profession
through traditional teacher education versus those from three alternate-route
programs: Teach for America, Troops to Teachers and The New Teacher
Project.
"Based on this survey, our question is: Are we willing to create a
system that gives new teachers the support that will help them succeed
regardless of the route they take to teaching? These are three
well-established, well- respected programs, so the results here points up
an important challenge for the field," said Public Agenda Executive
Vice President and Director of Education Insights Jean Johnson. "The
plight of new teachers wrestling with difficult assignments with limited
guidance and minimal mentorship is more pronounced among the 'alt-routes,'
but significant numbers of traditionally- trained teachers find themselves
in the same boat - especially those in high-needs schools."
Sabrina Laine, Director of NCCTQ, which commissioned and helped to design
the research said, "That new teachers in high-needs schools are
feeling isolated and abandoned in their classrooms is a significant
problem. School leaders need to make supporting this new generation of
teachers a priority, no matter where these teachers teach and what route
they took to the classroom. Administrators can start by listening and
responding to these teachers' desires for more opportunities to collaborate
in both instruction and classroom management."
Steve Cantrell, Director of REL-Midwest, who provided guidance on the
design and analysis said "The perfect recipe for increasing the
achievement gap is to assign those students with the greatest needs to
those teachers least equipped to address these needs. And if these highly
mission-driven teachers feel like their efforts don't make a difference,
they will find other ways than teaching to contribute to society. It's a
vicious cycle that our educational system cannot afford to
perpetuate."
According to the survey, the alternate route teachers from these three
programs are especially motivated by the desire to help disadvantaged
children but at the same time more disheartened by the conditions they find
in their classrooms. Whether it is their belief that they are assigned the
toughest classrooms or their perceptions about the level of support they
get from administrators and other teachers, those who come to teaching
through alternate routes are considerably more disheartened by their
experiences than new traditionally-trained teachers who also serve in
high-needs schools.
The differences between the two types of first-year teachers is striking:
Significant differences emerged on many of the items on the survey,
including reflections on the usefulness and relevance of their training and
reactions to various proposals to improve teacher quality and
effectiveness, among others. These differences persist even when
controlling for a high-needs school environment. The study questions
whether the contrast comes out of differences in the reception, training
and support these alternate-route teachers receive on the job or whether
they stem from different standards held by these new teachers (many of whom
come out of selective colleges and universities or have served in the
military) may bring to the job.
The new report and complete questionnaire are available at http://www.publicagenda.org/LessonsLearned2
The entire "Lessons Learned: New Teachers Talk About Their Jobs,
Challenges and Long-Term Plans" series is online at: http://www.publicagenda.org/LessonsLearned.
Teacher
Salary Lags Behind Inflation
Despite
the value of education to Americans, the National Education Association
published figures tshowing that investments in America’s public schools
remain stagnant, as the average increase in teacher salary continues to
trail behind the rate of inflation for 2005–06.
According
to NEA’s publication, Rankings and Estimates: Rankings of the States 2006
and Estimates of School Statistics 2007, the average one-year increase in
public schoolteacher salaries was 2.9 percent, while inflation escalated
3.9 percent. Over the past 10 years, the average salary for public
schoolteachers increased only 1.3 percent after adjusting for inflation.
According
to the report, the national average public schoolteacher salary for 2005–06
was $49,026. State average public schoolteacher salaries ranged from those
in California ($59,825), Connecticut ($59,304) and the District of Columbia
($59,000) at the high end to South Dakota ($34,709), North Dakota ($37,764)
and West Virginia ($38,284) at the low end.
Rankings
& Estimates provides statistics to raise public understanding of key
issues affecting teaching and learning conditions in the nation’s public
schools. Other public education indicators, including school population and
student-teacher ratio, can be found in the state-by-state report. Among the
other highlights:
•
Public school enrollment — Public school enrollment was 48,727,536, up 0.7
percent over fall 2004. The largest percentage of school enrollment
increases from fall 2004 to fall 2005 were in Nevada (3.1%), Georgia
(2.9%), Texas (2.8%) and Arizona (2.4%). Eighteen states and the District
of Columbia experienced declines in student enrollment in fall 2005. The
greatest declines were in Louisiana (-9.6%), North Dakota (-2.2%),
Utah
(-1.9%) and the District of Colombia (-1.3%).
•
Expenditures per student — Average per student expenditure for public
elementary and secondary schools was $9,100 based on 2005–06 fall
enrollment. States with the highest per student expenditures were New
Jersey ($13,781), New York ($13,551), Massachusetts ($12,596), Vermont
($12,475) and Connecticut ($12,436). Among the states with the lowest per
student expenditures were Utah ($5,347), Arizona ($5,585), Nevada ($6,755),
Oklahoma ($6,944) and Tennessee ($6,979).
•
Gender diversity in teaching — Males comprised 24.4 percent of public
schoolteachers in 2006. Many of them taught in Kansas (33.3%), Oregon
(31.4%), Alaska (30.9%) or Indiana (30.5%). States with the lowest
percentage of male faculty were Arkansas (17.5%), Mississippi (17.7%),
Louisiana (17.8%), South Carolina (17.9%), Virginia (18.8%) and Georgia
(19.3%).
The
complete report can be found at http://www.nea.org/edstats/images/07rankings.pdf
Beyond Benchmarks and Scores:
Reasserting the Role of Motivation and
Interest in Children’s Academic Achievement
Children
at every age and stage can be surprisingly avid learners, such as the
5-yearold with encyclopedic knowledge about a favorite animal, the
10-year-old determined to advance to the next level of an electronic game,
or the young adolescent who is a repository of information about popular
musicians and their songs. In these informal situations, children pursue
learning for its own sake with tremendous intensity, becoming so absorbed
that time seems to pass by quickly, and learning is pursued for its own
sake.
Ideally,
all learners would be eager about and receptive to learning the things that
adults consider to be important. Yet much of the time, teachers find
themselves operating under a very different set of circumstances in which
one or more children are disaffected, reluctant, or even resistant toward a
particular learning task. When this occurs, teachers are confronted with
one of the most persistent puzzles of practice: What are effective ways to
motivate groups of children to achieve academically in classrooms?
This
Association for Childhood Education (ACEI) Position Paper is an effort to
respond to each of these important questions as they apply both to learners
and to teachers. It begins by redefining learning and challenging widely
held assumptions about the role of motivation and interest in learning.
Next, it focuses on incentives used to motivate learning, and finally, it
offers research-based recommendations on how to build motivation and
interest in learners. The evidence used as support emanates from an
interdisciplinary review of research in neuroscience, motivation theory,
psychology, educational psychology, and studies of effective teaching. The
three main assertions of this ACEI Position Paper are that:
•
Educational initiatives and approaches need to reflect a more
sophisticated, research-based understanding of the learning process. •
Children’s learning is supported by task-related incentives, both intrinsic
and extrinsic, that are responsive to the individual child, the domain of
study, and the sociocultural context. • Effective teaching transcends
merely imparting knowledge and relies, to a considerable extent, on educators’
ability to motivate students to learn. Any characterization of learning
that disregards the role of motivation and interest is shortsighted at best
and destructive at worst.
Full paper:
http://www.acei.org/motivPosPaper.pdf
High
Principal Turnover Found in Low-Performing Schools
Financial
Incentives Needed To Attract and Keep Strong Principals
Challenging
schools in Maryland are suffering from startling turnover in principals and
receiving inexperienced replacements, according to a new study by Advocates
for Children and Youth. This demonstrates the urgent need for financial
incentives to attract and keep strong instructional leaders in the most
troubled schools.
More
than one half of the schools experienced two changes in principals during
the last five years. Only one sixth of the replacements had any previous
experience as a principal, much less a track record in turning around
failing schools.
ACY
studied middle schools in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Prince
George’s County. Schools examined had the highest proportion of
low-performing and economically disadvantaged students. Data on prior
experience was available for Baltimore and Prince George’s Counties.
For
the full studies:
Baltimore City;
http://www.acy.org/upimages/FINAL%2012%2012%20Bal%20City(1).pdf
Baltimore County;
http://www.acy.org/upimages/FINAL_12_12_Bal_Co.pdf
Prince George’s County.
http://www.acy.org/upimages/FINAl_12_12_PG_doc.pdf
HIGH SCHOOL
DROPOUTS: A PROBLEM FOR GIRLS AND BOYS
New Report Finds
Economic Costs for Female Dropouts Outweigh Those for Males
An
alarmingly high number of girls are dropping out of high school and these
female dropouts are at particular economic risk compared to their male
counterparts, according to a report by the National Women’s Law
Center.
When
Girls Don’t Graduate, We All Fail: A Call to Improve High School Graduation
Rates for Girls, finds
that American girls are dropping out of high school at nearly the same rate
as boys, and at even greater economic cost. Female dropouts earn
significantly lower wages than male dropouts, are at greater risk of
unemployment, and are more likely to rely on public support programs.
When
Girls Don’t Graduate finds that close to half of the estimated dropouts from
the Class of 2007 were female students, or over 520,000 of the overall 1.2
million high school dropouts. Overall, an estimated one in four
female students will not graduate with a regular high school diploma in the
standard, four-year time period.
The
rates are even worse for girls of color. Nationwide, 37 percent of
Hispanic, 40 percent of Black, and 50 percent of American Indian or Alaskan
Native female students respectively failed to graduate in four years in
2004. While girls in each racial and ethnic group fare better than
their male peers of the same race or ethnicity, Black, Hispanic, and
American Indian/Alaskan Native female students graduate at significantly
lower rates than White and Asian-American males.
While
all high school dropouts pay significant costs for their lack of education,
the report finds that the economic costs are particularly steep for women,
who face especially poor employment prospects, low earnings potential, poor
health status, and the need to rely on public support programs. According to When
Girls Don’t Graduate:
·
Males
at every level of education make more than females with similar education
backgrounds, but the wage gap between men and women is highest among high
school dropouts.
·
Female
high school dropouts earn only 63 percent of male earnings – or about
$9,100 less annually – than male high school dropouts. Put another
way, female high school dropouts earn 63 cents for every $1 earned by male
high school dropouts.
·
In
2006, adult women without a high school diploma earned on average only a
little more than $15,500 for the year – over $6,000 less annually than
women with a high school diploma and $9,100 on average less annually than
male dropouts.
·
Only
after the average woman has some college education does she earn more than
the average male high school dropout ($26,513 vs. $24,698).
These
low wages leave female dropouts, and their families, particularly
economically vulnerable. Judged against the federal poverty line
(FPL), women without high school diplomas earn an average salary about
seven percent below the FPL for a family of three ($15,520 vs. $16,600),
while women with high school diplomas earn an average salary about 32
percent above
the FPL ($21,936 vs. $16,600). Experts suggest that families need
incomes of approximately two times the federal poverty measure to meet their
basic needs.
When
Girls Don’t Graduate finds that higher unemployment and lowered earnings are
not the only negative outcomes for female high school dropouts.
Female dropouts struggle with worse health conditions and less access to
heath coverage to address their needs. They are also forced to depend
more heavily on public support programs. Female dropouts, for
example, are more likely to rely on Medicaid assistance. More than 50
percent of Black women, approximately 35 percent of Hispanic women, and
almost 30 percent of White women dropouts are forced to rely on
Medicaid. This compares with slightly more than 30 percent of Black
men, 20 percent of Hispanic men, and 15 percent of White male dropouts.
The
report also looks at some of the barriers leading to, and risk factors for,
dropping out that are of particular importance for girls. As is also
true for boys, girls drop out for myriad reasons, including their attitudes
toward and experiences at school, the characteristics of those schools, and
the family support the girls receive. One significant risk factor for
girls is pregnancy and parenting responsibilities. In response to a
survey sponsored by the Gates Foundation, for example, one-third of female
dropouts reported that becoming a parent played a major role in their
decision to leave school. Other studies have found that low
attendance rates, the impact of sexual harassment and academic concerns –
although relevant for both boys and girls – may be more significant factors
for some groups of girls than for boys when deciding whether to drop
out.
These
studies reveal the pressing need for further gender-based research in this
area to ensure that policy makers and educators both fully understand
gender-based differences in the reasons students drop out and can design
targeted strategies that will be most efficacious in keeping girls and
boys, of all races and ethnicities, in school. Targeting strategies
in this way can help a school significantly improve its dropout rate.
For
example, the Gates Foundation survey suggests that efforts to provide
enhanced support for pregnant and parenting students is especially
important; this is the group of students that the survey found was “most
likely to say they would have worked harder if their schools had demanded
more of them and provided the necessary support.” When Girls Don’t
Graduate
recommends that schools that consider gender-based differentials in their
students’ needs or reactions to school-based stressors in order to more
effectively target interventions for their student bodies as a whole.
The
report also outlines other specific proposals to help reduce girls’ dropout
rates, many of which are likely to help boys as well. The
recommendations include: improving data collection; increasing school
accountability for dropouts; providing additional support for pregnant and
parenting students; ensuring girls have equal access to Career and
Technical Education training for high-skill, high-wage jobs and
after-school programs; protecting students from sexual harassment and
bullying; and ensuring that students know how to report sex discrimination.
The
full report is available at http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/DropoutReport.pdf
Baltimore
City's High School Reform Initiative
This
report presents findings from the first detailed study of Baltimore's 5
year high school reform. Using administrative data, Urban Institute
researchers found that test scores and attendance rates were higher for
students in Baltimore's innovation high schools than in the city's
comprehensive or newly formed neighborhood high schools. Students in
innovation and neighborhood schools also showed more stability in their
enrollment than their counterparts in comprehensive schools. These findings
remained after controlling for students' backgrounds and previous
achievements even though students at innovation schools were more
academically advantaged than their peers in other schools prior to entering
high school.
In
2001, the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) released its
blueprint for reforming the city's high schools. Central to the blueprint
were plans to create eight innovation high schools and to convert all nine
large, comprehensive high schools into smaller neighborhood schools. The
innovation and neighborhood high schools were expected to reflect three
guiding principles: (1) strong academic rigor, (2) small supportive
structures, and (3) effective, accountable instruction and leadership.
Neighborhood
schools are small schools created by breaking up large comprehensive high
schools. Innovation schools are new, independent small schools developed by
or with outsider operators or technical assistance providers. Unlike
neighborhood schools, innovation schools are given autonomy in hiring staff
and selecting and implementing curriculum. Student enrollment in innovation
schools is, and always has been, based on student interest. Student
enrollment in neighborhood schools was originally determined first by
geography, and then by student interest as space allowed. By 2005, however,
BCPSS had instituted a citywide system of choice and neighborhood school
enrollment that was no longer assigned by geographic boundaries. The
creation of both innovation and neighborhood schools has unfolded more
slowly than expected. As of 2007, only four of the nine comprehensive
schools have been broken into smaller schools and only six of the eight
planned innovation schools are underway.
Since
May 2003, the Urban Institute has been conducting a five-year evaluation of
the implementation of Baltimore's high school reform efforts. During this
time, we administered annual surveys to all students and teachers in each
of the reforming high schools and analyzed data provided by the Maryland State
Department of Education (e.g., standardized test scores, attendance rates).
The evaluation reports described the academic and social environments in
the district's innovation, neighborhood, and remaining comprehensive high
schools. While BCPSS also has selective and "other" (i.e.,
alternative high schools for special populations), these schools were not
included in previous evaluation reports.
Over
the course of the evaluation, conversations with school personnel and key
stakeholders suggested concerns that reform efforts in Baltimore had
further stratified the city's high schools. Specifically, some stakeholders
voiced apprehension that, for a variety of reasons, the innovation high
schools were attracting and admitting more academically promising students
and, perhaps, discouraging more challenging students. In short, a process
of student sorting was possibly taking place. In a system of school choice
a variety of factors-student motivation and interest, parent involvement,
peer influence, geography, and encouragement from school personnel-can
affect which students attend which schools. As a consequence, more
academically successful students or more academically challenging students,
for example, may end up in some schools than would be expected if students
were randomly assigned to schools. The extent of sorting raises valid
questions about the value added of schools that enroll more academically
motivated students and how the performance of such schools should be
compared to schools that enroll less motivated or able students.
This
report addresses such questions using student-level administrative data and
the survey data collected by the Urban Institute. Specifically, we answered
the following questions:
1.
a) Are students enrolled in innovation high schools more socially and
academically advantaged than students enrolled in other BCPSS high schools
(i.e., neighborhood, comprehensive, selective and
"other"/alternative)?
b)
Are the social and academic characteristics of students enrolled in the
neighborhood high schools significantly different from students enrolled in
the original comprehensive high schools or from one another?
2.
Do students in innovation high schools perform better (i.e., test scores,
attendance) than students in other BCPSS high schools (i.e., neighborhood,
comprehensive, selective and "other"/alternative)? Are these
differences due to the characteristics of the students enrolled in these
new high schools?
3.
Do reforming high schools (i.e., innovation, neighborhood, and
comprehensive) differ from one another on their implementation of the
guiding principles (e.g., support, effective instruction and leadership)?
Are any differences related to the characteristics of the students they
enroll? Do the levels of implementation relate to student outcomes?
The
conclusions:
Relatively speaking, the reforming high schools, particularly
innovation high schools, were serving their students reasonably well.
Innovation high schools had more positive academic environments
and higher test scores and attendance than neighborhood, comprehensive,
and “other” high schools, even after controlling for student
characteristics such as previous achievement.
The results also confirm some of the concerns raised about
equal opportunity and equity. Innovation high schools enrolled more
academically successful students than other non-selective high schools in
the city and successfully retained those students at higher rates than
other school types over the initial years of high school. Additionally,
some neighborhood high schools had higher concentrations of academically
challenging students than other neighborhood high schools (e.g., a greater
percentage of overage students in one school than another), providing
further evidence of possible increased stratification.
Read
the complete
report in PDF format:
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411590_baltimoreschools.pdf
Sex education found to help
teenagers delay sex
Teenagers
who have had formal sex education are far more likely to put off having
sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs, U.S.
researchers said.
Teenage
boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have
intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59
percent less likely to have sex before age 15.
Sex
education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use
contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by
researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which
was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
"Sex
education seems to be working," Trisha Mueller, an epidemiologist with
the CDC who led the study, said in a statement. "It seems to be
especially effective for populations that are usually at high risk."
They found teen boys who had sex
education in school were nearly three times more likely to use birth
control the first time they had intercourse. But sex education appeared to
have no effect on whether teen girls used birth control, the researchers
found.
Black
teenage girls who had sex education in school were 91 percent less likely
to have sex before age 15.
Complete
article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071219/hl_nm/sex_teens_dc
Childhood
exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods negatively affects verbal ability
Vocabulary
and reading test scores lag by four points, equivalent to missing a year of
school
Childhood
exposure to severely disadvantaged communities is linked to decreased
verbal ability later in childhood, a lasting negative effect that continues
even after moving out of the neighborhood, according to research that will
be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. Living in “concentrated disadvantage” decreases later verbal test
scores by about four IQ points, which is roughly equivalent to missing a year
of school.
The
study was led by Robert Sampson, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social
Sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, with
Patrick Sharkey of New York University and Stephen Raudenbush of the
University of Chicago.
“For
children, living in disadvantaged neighborhoods appears to contribute to a
detrimental effect on trajectories of verbal ability. This is important
because language skills are a proven indicator of success later in life,”
says Sampson. “What is surprising is the durability of the effect,
continuing even when the child moves out of the neighborhood.”
Over
2,000 children from the lower, middle and upper classes, who were ages 6-12
and lived in Chicago at the beginning of the study, were followed over a
seven-year period starting in the mid-1990s as they moved in and out of
neighborhoods in Chicago and to other parts of the United States. Extensive
interviews with the children and their caretakers were conducted at three
different periods and each time the children were also given a vocabulary
test and a reading examination.
The
researchers focused on the 772 African-Americans in the study because of
their unique ecological risk—almost a third of black children were exposed
to high concentrated disadvantage compared to virtually no white or Latino
children. After incorporating the propensity of families to live in
concentrated disadvantage over time, the results showed that, by the end of
the study, black children who lived in a disadvantaged neighborhood at the mid-point
had fallen behind otherwise identical peers that did not live in
disadvantage by about four IQ points, the equivalent of missing one year of
schooling.
This
negative impact on verbal ability persisted even after a child had moved
from a disadvantaged to a non-disadvantaged neighborhood. Further research,
not included in this study, has also shown that the youngest children are
the most affected, suggesting a developmental process.
The
short-term negative impact of living in a segregated disadvantaged
neighborhood includes increased exposure to violence and reduced access to
safe public places for play. However, in addition to the immediate negative
influences, children are exposed over time to specific kinds of social
interactions that may contribute to a lasting effect on verbal development.
For example, in severely disadvantaged neighborhoods, kids are less likely
to repeatedly hear spoken academic English, which research has shown
contributes to educational and labor market outcomes. Families with
children in these environments are also more likely to “hunker down,”
limiting exposure to the varied communication skills and social exchanges
that are rewarded in American society.
The
social influences present within disadvantaged neighborhoods impact a
child’s verbal ability even outside of the effects of the public school
system or the poverty of the neighborhood. To look beyond just economic
situation, and define a neighborhood as one of “concentrated disadvantage,”
Sampson and colleagues examined the presence of six social factors in the
lives of the children: welfare receipt, poverty, unemployment,
female-headed households, segregation, and the number of children per
household. The social worlds of black and non-black children are so
different that comparable cases across race could not be found to assess
the combined effect of disadvantage.
“Even
beyond their economic situation, children in neighborhoods of concentrated
disadvantage are exposed to a myriad of social factors that can deflect
developmental trajectories,” says Sampson. “The persistence of the
neighborhood effect on verbal ability indicates the importance of timing in
any efforts to intervene. Not only do these circumstances have a lasting
impact on a child’s language skills, it’s not easily remedied by taking the
child out of the neighborhood. This consideration should be included in
discussions of educational policy.”
Everyday
Math and the Harcourt Math Program Rated Equally Effective
Mathematica
Policy Research Inc., paid about $80,000, for a comparative analysis of
Everyday Math and the Harcourt Math program, said they could detect no
differences in the effectiveness of two elementary math programs used in
the Pittsburgh Public Schools, meaning school board members still have no clear-cut
guidance on whether to abandon the controversial Everyday Math program.
Researchers
told the board's Education Committee that they found no difference in the
programs' overall effectiveness or in their effects on various student
subgroups, including minority students, low-performing students and
low-income students.
Complete
article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07346/840936-298.stm
Teachers
play critical role in adolescent health promotion efforts
Teachers
are among the most important influences in the lives of school-aged
children, yet relatively little emphasis has been placed on examining the
potential role general academic teachers may play in facilitating
adolescent health promotion efforts, according to a study conducted by
researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and
published in the Journal of School Health. The study results indicate that
teachers provide valuable information to school personnel about what health
issues are important to adolescents, in particular, because they hear
feedback from adolescents on a daily basis.
“We
found that teachers agreed that schools were an important venue for
discussing and providing health messages,” says Alwyn T. Cohall, MD,
associate professor of clinical Sociomedical Sciences, director of the
Harlem Health Promotion Center, and lead author. “However, they expressed
concern about their ability to handle mental health, behavioral health, and
reproductive health problems, and desire additional staff development
workshops to address these needs.”
More
than half (52%) of those surveyed overheard student discussions about
health once a week or more in classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, and
playgrounds. Seventy percent of teachers stated they were actively
approached by students one to three times per semester or more with
personal problems or health concerns. “Our study shows that relying solely
on certified health education teachers to impart health messages and
facilitate referrals for services would appear rather limiting given these
contextual realities,” noted Dr. Cohall.
While
approximately 90% of U.S. school districts require health education in
public schools, relatively little emphasis has been placed on examining the
role that non-health teachers play in facilitating adolescent health
promotion efforts. Yet, teachers are among the most important influences in
the lives of school-aged children ages six to 18.
“It
is conceivable that almost all teachers have opportunities, both formal and
informal, to influence adolescent health behavior. However, to our
knowledge, there have been few studies that examine the extent to which
general academic teachers are involved in interactions with students about
health,” observed Dr. Cohall.
The
survey was conducted among academic teachers and administrators working in
four schools in the Northern Manhattan community of New York City. These
schools had a cumulative enrollment of approximately 4,600 students, and an
active school-based health clinic on site, providing a wide range of free
physical and mental health services to students during school hours,
including primary and reproductive healthcare.
The
teachers surveyed believe that schools are an appropriate place for discussion
and dissemination of health information. Yet, the data indicates that fewer
than 20% of the teachers had provided formal classroom material on a health
topic such as nutrition (19.8%), tobacco, drugs or alcohol (19.0%),
reproductive health (17.2%), mental health (15%); less than 8% planned to
provide such material in the future.
In
general, teachers described themselves as being reasonably comfortable
addressing many of these problems. They were less comfortable discussing
problems at home, emotional or mental health, and medical problems or
illness. Sixty-three percent of teachers surveyed indicated they had
referred a student to the school-based clinic, suggesting that teachers
play an important role in facilitating care for youth.
More
than three quarters of teachers were interested in receiving staff
development on problems with peers (77.5%) and emotional or mental health
(77.3%). The other two areas where more than half of the teachers were
interested in receiving staff development were problems at home and
reproductive health issues related to sex, pregnancy, and sexually
transmitted infections.
Teachers
were approached by students regardless of race/ethnicity. The implied
impression of teachers as approachable, credible sources of information,
regardless of race/ethnicity, has important implications. For example,
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