Just as a disciplined exercise regimen helps human muscles become stronger and perform better, specialized workouts for the brain can boost cognitive skills, according to Carnegie Mellon scientists. Their new brain imaging study of poor readers found that 100 hours of remedial instruction — reading calisthenics, of sorts, aimed to shore up problem areas — not only improved the skills of struggling readers, but also changed the way their brains activated when they comprehended written sentences.

The results may pave the way to a new era of neuro-education.

Carnegie Mellon researchers say poor readers initially have less activation in the parietotemporal area of the brain, which is the region responsible for decoding the sounds of written language and assembling them into words and phrases that make up a sentence, than do good readers. However, remedial instruction increases the struggling readers' activation to near normal levels.

This also was the first brain imaging study in which children were tested on their understanding of the meanings of sentences, not just on their recognition of single words.

"This study demonstrates how the plasticity of the human brain can work for the benefit of remedial learning," says neuroscientist Marcel Just, director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging (CCBI), and senior author of the new study currently available on the Web site of the journal Neuropsychologia. "We are at the beginning of a new era of neuro-education."

The poor readers worked in groups of three for an hour a day with a reading "personal trainer," a teacher specialized in administering a remedial reading program. The training included both word decoding exercises in which students were asked to recognize the word in its written form and tasks in using reading comprehension strategies. The poor readers were 25 fifth-graders taken from a stratified sample from schools in Allegheny County, which is home to Pittsburgh and a number of its surrounding municipalities.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), CCBI Research Fellows Ann Meyler and Tim Keller measured blood flow to all of the different parts of the brain while children were reading and found that that the parietotemporal areas were significantly less activated among the poor readers than in the control group. The sound-based representation that is constructed in the parietal areas is then processed for the meanings of the words and the structure of the sentence, activating other brain areas.

The sentences were relatively straightforward ones, which the children judged as being sensible or nonsense, such as "The girl closed the gate" and "The man fed the dress." The children's accurate sensibility judgments ensured that they were actually processing the meaning of the sentences, and not just recognizing the individual words.

Further, the activation increases in the previously underactivating areas remained evident well after the intensive instruction had ended. When the children's brains were scanned one year after instruction, their neural gains were not only maintained but became more solidified.

"With the right kind of intensive instruction, the brain can begin to permanently rewire itself and overcome reading deficits, even if it can't entirely eliminate them," Just said.

These findings of initial parietotemporal underactivation among poor readers provide evidence against a common misconception about dyslexia. There is a persistent but incorrect belief that dyslexia is primarily caused by difficulties in the visual perception of letters, leading to confusions between letters like "p" and "d". However, such visual difficulties are the cause of dyslexia in only about 10 percent of the cases. The most common cause, accounting for more than 70 percent of dyslexia, is a difficulty in relating the visual form of a letter to its sound, which is not a straightforward process in the English language. The same parietotemporal areas of the brain that showed increased activation following instruction are centrally involved in this sound-based processing.

The findings also give hope to using the marvels of brain plasticity for instructional purposes in "new" (for the brain) subject areas. "The human brain did not evolve to process written language, which is a cultural invention dating back only 5000 years," Just said. "Some people's brains happen to be less proficient at relating written symbols to the sounds of language, and they need focused instruction to get those areas up to an adequate level of performance." Other skills that may be valuable as newer technologies (than written language) arise should also be amenable to neuroinstruction.

"Any kind of education is a matter of training the brain. When poor readers are learning to read, a particular brain area is not performing as well as it might, and remedial instruction helps to shape that area up," Just said. "This finding shows that poor readers can be helped to develop buff brains. A similar approach should apply to other skills."

Meyler, A., Keller, T. A., Cherkassky, V. L., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Just, M. A. (2008). Modifying the brain activation of poor readers during sentence comprehension with extended remedial instruction: A longitudinal study of neuroplasticity. Neuropsychologia, 46, 2580-2592:

http://www.ccbi.cmu.edu/reprints/Meyler_Neuropsychologia-2008_P4K-remediation_reprint.pdf

Related research:

Meyler, A., Keller, T. A., Cherkassky, V. L., Lee, D., Hoeft, F., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., Gabrieli, J. D, E., & Just, M. A. (2007). Brain activation during sentence comprehension among good and poor readers. Cerebral Cortex, 17, 2780-2787.

http://www.ccbi.cmu.edu/reprints/Meyler_Cerebral-Cortex-P4K_phase1_preprint.pdf

Hoeft, F., Ueno, T., Reiss, A. L., Meyler, A., Whitfield-Gabrieli, S., Glover, G., Keller, T. A., Kobayashi, N., Mazaika, P., Jo, B., Just, M. A., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2007) Prediction of children’s reading skills using behavioral, functional, and structural neuroimaging measures. Behavioral Neuroscience, 121, 602-613.

http://www.ccbi.cmu.edu/reprints/Hoeft_Behavioral-Neurosci-2007-reprint.pdf

2008 Kids & Family Reading Report Released

Tweens and Teens who Participate in Online Activities Are More Likely to Read Books for Fun Daily

New York, NY – June 11, 2008 – A new study released today finds that 75% of kids age 5-17 agree with the statement, “No matter what I can do online, I’ll always want to read books printed on paper,” and 62% of kids surveyed say they prefer to read books printed on paper rather than on a computer or a handheld device. The Kids & Family Reading Report ™, a national survey of children age 5-17 and their parents, also found that kids who go online to extend the reading experience – by going to book or author websites or connecting with other readers – are more likely to read books for fun every day.

The 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report, a follow up to a similar 2006 study, both of which were conducted by Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and TSC, a division of Yankelovich, a leader in consumer trends research, again found that the time kids spend reading books for fun declines after age eight and continues to drop off through the teen years.

“This year, we wanted to investigate the role technology plays in the drop-off in reading books for fun after age eight, and what we found surprised us,” said Heather Carter, Director of Corporate Research, Scholastic. “Despite the fact that after age eight, more children go online daily than read for fun daily, high frequency Internet users are more likely to read books for fun every day. That suggests that parents and teachers can tap into kids’ interest in going online to spark a greater interest in reading books.”

The study also found that two-thirds of kids age 9-17 who go online have extended the reading experience via the Internet. These online reading extenders say they learn what other people think about a book, learn new things about an author and connect with other readers.

“Kids are very forward-thinking about ways technology can complement book reading,” said Kristen Harmeling, Senior Researcher at Yankelovich. “They envision a time when most books are read digitally and when they can tag and share parts of books with other people online, making online reading a gateway to social activities; yet they still want printed books.”

One in four kids age 5-17 say they read books for fun every day and more than half of kids say they read books for fun at least two to three times a week. One of the key reasons kids say they don’t read more often is that they have trouble finding books they like – a challenge that parents underestimate. Kids who struggle to find books they like, are far less likely to read for fun daily or even twice a week.

The 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report also found that parents have a strong influence over kids’ reading. They overwhelmingly view reading as the most important skill a child needs to develop, but only about half of all parents begin reading to their child before their first birthday. The percent of children who are read to every day drops from 38% among 5-8 year olds to 23% among 9-11 year olds. This is the same time that kids’ daily reading for fun starts to decline.

“Parent engagement in their child’s reading from birth all the way through the teen years can have a significant impact on how often their children read and how much they enjoy reading,” added Carter.

The following are additional key findings from the survey:

Kids and Reading: • Kids overwhelming (89%) say “My favorite books are the ones I picked out myself.” • Sixty-eight percent of kids say they love or like reading books for fun a lot (72% of girls/ 63% of boys). • Half of all kids say there aren’t enough really good books for boys/girls their age.

Technology and Reading: • Both boys and girls (age 9-17) say that they prefer to read books rather than read things on the Internet when they want to use their imagination (63% vs. 37%).  • Boys are more likely to say the Internet is better than books when they want to read for fun (54% vs. 46%). Girls choose books (63% vs. 37%). • Two in three children believe that within the next 10 years, most books which are read for fun will be read digitally – either on a computer or on another kind of electronic device.

Parents’ Role:

• 82% of parents say they wish kids would read books for fun more often. • Parents who read books for fun daily are six times more likely than low frequency reading parents to have kids who also read for fun daily. • Parents are a key source of book suggestions for their children, but nearly half of all parents say they have a hard time finding information about books their child would enjoy reading, and especially parents of teens age 15-17 (62%).

Methodology: The Kids and Family Reading Report is a national survey of 1002individuals -- 501 children ages 5 to 17 years old and one parent or primary guardian per child. Interviews took place through mall-intercepts in 25 major cities across the country from January through February 2008. The survey was designed and analyzed by the staffs at Scholastic and Yankelovich. Quotas for gender and children’s age were established to ensure ample base sizes for analysis purposes.

Full report:

http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/news/kfrr08web.pdf

Study Shows How to Maximize Adult Literacy Classes

A National Center for Family Literacy study found that adult literacy results can improve as much as one grade level gain for an average of every 10 hours to 13 hours of instruction.

Personalized instruction, additional teacher training and diagnostic assessments of the adult participants are the key components to producing strong results.

“This is great news for the 34 million U.S. adults who are hindered by low literacy,” said Sharon Darling, NCFL’s president & founder. “It’s great news for the economy, which needs well-educated workers; and it’s great news for our children, who need financial stability and education role models.

“These rapid gains are extraordinary for adult education programs. They show what is possible with strategic instruction based on research. When instructors are trained to analyze the exact literacy skills that are missing in each individual and then helped to deliver instructional strategies that are laser focused, the results are extremely impressive.”

The pilot project involved five counties in Kentucky in year one and 19 Kentucky counties in year two for a total of 278 adults from 2005 to 2007. Funded by Kentucky Adult Education and the Council on Postsecondary Education, the program trained educators using the book “Applying Research in Reading Instruction for Adults,” which NCFL developed.

In year one, there was a one grade-level gain for every 10 hours of reading instruction. In year two, there was the same gain for every 12.5 hours. Similar gains were shown in several other states with small volunteer-based adult education programs. The project took a new approach to training the adult education instructors, said Darling, who started Kentucky’s adult literacy program in the early 1980s, which then became a model for 38 states. However, she said it never achieved the results recorded in this study because the research simply wasn’t there.

The program achieved remarkable results for two reasons, according to Darling:

• Instructors, who are often part time and don’t have training in teaching reading, are given more in-depth training and the assistance of a coach; and

• The adults were given diagnostic tests beforehand, so teachers had more information about their specific reading strengths and needs than adult education teachers typically have.

“We trained the teachers to teach skills and strategies using direct, explicit reading instruction, which is different from what often happens in adult education classrooms,” Darling said. “Because adult learners typically have extremely varied skills, teachers often just provide them with materials to work on and then go from one to another helping them with their workbook activities. This kind of group instruction is standard and typical but unfortunately doesn’t allow for much planned, structured teaching of reading.

“In addition, the diagnostic assessment for adults is an important direction for us and for the field—having more detailed information on each student helps educators tailor their instruction to the needs of each student.”

Darling said the project also was different because it was able to take a stronger approach to professional development, which included four full days of initial training on research-based reading instruction and another full day of follow-up training. Typically, adult education teachers don’t get that much training devoted only to reading. And, because many only teach adult education part time and have extremely varied educational backgrounds, these instructors may not know as much about teaching reading as K-12 teachers.

“The tools and insights into adult learners’ struggles were eye-opening,” said Debbie Mitchell, a Jefferson County (Ky.) Public Schools adult education teacher who participated in the program. “The support and materials breakdown scientific language into how we can use research to help students. I’ve seen these strategies take effect. They enable students to grasp the material, understand how to use it and see how they can succeed.”

NCFL also has worked with community-based literacy organizations in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania on similar training. In addition, it currently is working with adult educators in New York.

The National Center for Family Literacy, the worldwide leader in family literacy, has raised more than $115 million for literacy efforts since its founding in 1989. More than 1 million families have made positive educational and economic gains as a result of NCFL’s work, which includes training more than 150,000 teachers and thousands of volunteers. For more information, contact 1-877-FAMLIT-1 or visit www.famlit.org.

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION IDENTIFIES STRONG TEACHERS,

BUT MANY SCHOOL SYSTEMS ARE NOT USING BOARD-CERTIFIED TEACHERS' EXPERTISE

WASHINGTON -- Advanced certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) is an effective way to identify highly skilled teachers, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. Students taught by NBPTS-certified teachers make greater gains on achievement tests than students taught by teachers who are not board-certified, says the report. However, it is unclear whether the certification process itself leads to higher quality teaching.

"Earning NBPTS certification is a useful 'signal' that a teacher is effective in the classroom," said Milton Hakel, Ohio Board of Regents' Eminent Scholar in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Bowling Green State University, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. "But we don't know whether the certification process itself makes teachers more effective -- as they become familiar with the standards and complete the assessment -- or if high-quality teachers are attracted to the certification process."

The report recommends further research to investigate that question, as well as to determine whether NBPTS certification is having broader effects on the educational system, beyond individual classrooms. Studies so far suggest that many school systems are not supporting or making the best use of their board-certified teachers.

Created in 1987, the nonprofit National Board for Professional Teaching Standards developed standards for what effective teachers should know and be able to do, along with a process to evaluate whether individual teachers meet these criteria. To earn certification, a teacher must complete six computer-based exercises and assemble a portfolio that shows how his or her teaching meets the standards.

From 1993 through 2007, 99,300 teachers applied for NBPTS certification, and 63,800 earned the credential. Overall, that means that there are three board-certified teachers for every five schools in the U.S., though participation rates vary widely by district and state. Not surprisingly, states that provide incentives to board-certified teachers have higher numbers of teachers who pursue certification.

POSITIVE EFFECT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Students taught by teachers who are board certified make larger gains on achievement test scores than those taught by teachers who are not, though the differences vary by state and subject, the report says. Students taught by teachers who had attempted to earn certification but failed made smaller gains than students taught either by board-certified teachers or by teachers who had not made the attempt.

Further studies should examine the effects of NBPTS certification on students' test scores in more states and subjects, the report says. Most research to date has taken place in Florida and North Carolina – states with high NBPTS participation rates – and has looked at effects on reading and math scores. Studies also should explore how board-certified teachers affect outcomes other than test scores, such as student motivation and attendance rates.

EFFECTS ON TEACHERS' CAREERS

One of NBPTS' goals is to encourage high-performing teachers to stay in the profession. Although there is some limited evidence that board-certified teachers remain in teaching at higher rates than nonboard-certified ones, it is unknown whether earning board certification affected their decisions to stay in the field. Moreover, there is no information on the career paths of teachers who earn certification compared with those who do not, the report says. NBPTS should create and maintain a database of information on applicants' future careers.

Evidence from a study of teachers in North Carolina suggests that board-certified teachers tend to change teaching jobs at a higher rate than nonboard-certified teachers, and they tend to move to more advantaged schools -- such as schools with fewer students in poverty, the report says. Still, it is not clear that this tendency is any stronger for board-certified teachers than for other teachers with excellent qualifications or that this finding would extend beyond North Carolina.

There are clear disparities in application rates, the committee noted, with teachers from advantaged schools more likely to apply for certification than others. In addition, though black teachers are as likely to apply as white teachers, they are underrepresented among those who pass the assessment. NBPTS should continue its current efforts to understand these disparities.

BOARD-CERTIFIED TEACHERS OFTEN NOT SUPPORTED

The task force that created NBPTS envisioned that the standards would have a broad impact and that board-certified teachers would influence how their colleagues teach. There is little evidence that the standards are having such spillover effects, the report says, though much of the needed research has not been conducted.

Except in isolated instances, there is no evidence that districts or schools are encouraging board-certified teachers to work in difficult schools or mentor other teachers, said the committee. In some cases, administrators have discouraged board-certified teachers from assuming responsibilities outside the classroom and have downplayed the significance of the credential. Likewise, some teachers have concealed their certification so as not to seem to be superior to their colleagues.

NBPTS NEEDS ONGOING EVALUATION AND IMPROVEMENT

The portfolios that NBPTS requires candidates to assemble provide an authentic representation of a teacher's skills, the report says. The reliability of the way NBPTS scores its assessments is consistent with expectations for a largely portfolio-based process, but lower than desired for high-stakes assessments. NBPTS should explore ways to improve the reliability of its scoring, possibly by increasing the number of exercises on the computer-based component.

In general, NBPTS should devote more effort to continuously evaluating and improving its assessments, the report says. The board also should publish technical documentation that demonstrates that its assessments are developed, administered, and scored in accordance with high standards; such documentation was not readily available when the committee began its assessment.

Full report:

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12224#toc

1.23 Million Students Will Fail to Graduate in 2008; New Data on U.S. Congressional Districts Detail Graduation Gaps

Graduation Data Available for Every U.S. School District and State

Report Finds State-Level P-16 Councils Are Increasingly Popular

But Often Lack Support, Clear Agendas Necessary for Success

For today’s high school graduates, postsecondary education and training have become virtual necessities for a successful adult life. Yet conflicting signals about what it takes to do college-level work create confusion and significant hurdles for many students, according to a report released today by Education Week.

The report, Diplomas Count 2008: School to College: Can State P-16 Councils Ease the Transition?, explores the rapid growth of and challenges faced by state-level P-16 councils, which seek to better align educational institutions from preschool through postsecondary by bringing together key representatives from all levels of education, state government, business, and the community.

The report also includes the latest analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center of graduation rates nationwide, finding that an estimated 1.23 million students, or almost 30 percent of the class of 2008, will fail to graduate with their peers. Native American, Hispanic, and African-American students are among the groups with the lowest graduation rates.

In addition, a new analysis conducted for Diplomas Count—which is part of a multiyear project supported by the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—reports graduation rates for each U.S. congressional district. The data will inform the lawmakers responsible for crafting the policies that shape the nation’s public schools.

“The nation and many states face severe challenges in graduating students from high school. This crisis disproportionately strikes poor, minority, and urban youths. With the graduation rate rising less than one percentage point annually in recent years, we still have much work to do,” said EPE Research Center Director Christopher B. Swanson, who conducted the graduation-rate analysis.

Nationwide, about 71 percent of 9th graders make it to graduation four years later, according to data on the class of 2005, the latest available. That figure drops to 58 percent for Hispanics, 55 percent for African-Americans, and only 51 percent for Native Americans. While more than eight in 10 students graduate on time in Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, that rate drops to fewer than six in 10 in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Carolina.

High school graduation rates likewise differ dramatically across U.S. congressional districts, ranging from fewer than one-third of students graduating to more than nine out of 10. The 7th District of New York posts the lowest graduation rate, at 24.5 percent, while the nearby 5th District of New Jersey tops the nation at 92.6 percent.

States Face Greater Accountability for Graduation Rates

In April, the U.S. Department of Education proposed changing the Title I regulations governing the methods states can use to calculate graduation rates under the No Child Left Behind Act, as well as the ways in which those rates factor into accountability decisions under the federal law. Those changes were prompted in part by concerns about the lack of uniformity and accuracy of state-reported statistics. A new analysis released in

Diplomas Count finds that in all but one instance, the states' officially reported rates for the class of 2005 are higher than those computed by the EPE Research Center.

Those discrepancies—which can exceed 30 percentage points—stem primarily from the states’ formulas. The center’s review of state accountability plans shows that most states use a leaver-rate calculation, a method that tends to produce inflated results because it relies heavily on undercounted dropout data.

States Look to P-16 Councils to Align Precollegiate, Postsecondary Education

Drawing on a 50-state database compiled by the Education Commission of the States, Diplomas Count finds that P-16 councils are one of the most popular vehicles for strengthening the connections between public schools and higher education. By bringing together key representatives from all levels of education, state government, business, and the community, the councils seek to better align educational institutions from preschool through postsecondary.

The report provides detailed analysis of the evolution and efforts of P-16 councils, case studies of three states’ experiences with such councils, and commentaries from four leading experts in the field. Among the key insights:

Councils popular, but untested: Forty P-16 councils have been formed in 38 states, most of them since 2005. Four states created councils in 2008.

Most councils permanently established: Councils in 12 states were established by governor’s executive order, 13 were authorized by state legislatures, and two formed by state board of education resolutions. The remaining councils are convened on a strictly voluntary basis, lacking formal legal authorization.

Education agencies, governors at helm: The work of coordinating council activities typically falls to the state K-12 education department, higher education agency, or governor’s office alone or in combination. Early-learning and workforce-development agencies rarely play a leadership role.

Councils put on a public face: Thirty-six of the 40 P-16 councils post information about their activities online, although the depth and breadth of that information varies considerably, according to an analysis by the EPE Research Center.

Updated Road Map to State Graduation Policies

To provide context for high school graduation rates and reform efforts, Diplomas Count examines state policies in three key areas: definitions of college and workforce readiness, high school completion credentials, and exit exams. Among the findings:

College and work readiness: Fifteen states define what students should know and be able to do to be prepared for credit-bearing courses in college, while 26 states have a definition of work readiness.

Advanced diplomas: Twenty-four states award advanced diplomas or some type of formal recognition to students who exceed standard graduation requirements.

Exit exams: Twenty-three states require exit exams for the class of 2008. The number of states basing exit exams on standards at the 10th grade level or higher has increased from six in 2002 to 19 in 2008.

Special Web-Only Features Available at edweek.org

State Graduation Briefs for every state feature detailed, state-specific data on graduation rates and accountability, definitions of college and work readiness, and policies related to high school graduation requirements.

EdWeek Maps, a powerful online mapping service, enables users to zoom in on each of the nation’s schools and districts, click a button, and compare district, state, and national figures at maps.edweek.org.

Visit Diplomas Count at www.edweek.org/go/dc08

Diplomas Count 2008 online www.edweek.org/go/dc08 Editorial Projects in Education Research Center ▪ www.edweek.org/rc

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATES, CLASS OF 2005										FIVE-YEAR TREND (ALL STUDENTS)
All students		Male		Female		American Indian		Asian		Hispanic		Black		White		Graduation rate class of 2001		Change 2001 to 2005
Alabama	61.3%		†		†		†		†		†		†		†		61.6%		-0.4%
Alaska	67.6		61.8%		71.7%		46.8%		67.8%		24.4%		59.0%		74.4%		64.1		+3.5
Arizona	73.3		69.8		77.5		52.4		88.9		65.0		71.6		78.7		67.3		+6.0
Arkansas	73.2		69.2		76.5		51.2		‡		‡		65.2		74.8		70.8		+2.4
California	70.1		65.7		74.1		52.4		84.0		59.5		57.0		78.2		69.2		+0.9
Colorado	74.2		70.2		78.4		46.3		80.1		55.7		64.5		80.4		69.1		+5.0
Connecticut	78.1		74.9		80.8		25.9		79.0		53.5		59.6		84.2		76.8		+1.3
Delaware	60.1		55.0		64.0		‡		81.7		‡		48.9		67.4		64.3		-4.2
District of Columbia	57.6		51.2		‡		‡		81.3		51.3		‡		84.1		65.2		-7.5
Florida	60.8		56.1		65.5		‡		85.6		60.0		48.8		65.2		53.0		+7.8
Georgia	58.1		52.8		63.8		45.1		80.9		39.1		49.0		64.5		55.5		+2.6
Hawaii	67.4		64.6		70.4		49.3		68.9		60.5		51.1		64.2		66.0		+1.4
Idaho	76.6		74.4		78.1		48.4		‡		56.2		‡		79.2		79.8		-3.2
Illinois	76.7		72.0		77.9		34.4		83.5		56.3		52.4		83.2		74.8		+1.9
Indiana	73.6		67.7		76.3		39.4		71.5		51.1		53.5		74.7		72.5		+1.2
Iowa	82.8		80.5		83.4		‡		76.2		54.0		58.6		84.8		78.7		+4.1
Kansas	74.3		70.8		75.8		46.1		72.2		46.2		54.7		79.0		74.3		+0.0
Kentucky	71.5		66.2		76.0		21.8		82.0		49.4		58.2		72.4		65.3		+6.2
Louisiana	54.7		48.3		60.5		‡		49.4		36.8		39.9		62.8		64.1		-9.4
Maine	77.2		72.8		78.7		31.8		66.5		‡		‡		76.6		72.1		+5.2
Maryland	73.6		68.3		78.4		63.8		91.6		63.3		61.6		80.3		75.3		-1.7
Massachusetts	74.7		69.0		75.5		37.3		68.8		49.0		50.8		78.2		71.0		+3.6
Michigan	70.5		67.3		74.2		48.2		75.5		45.9		42.2		76.7		71.0		-0.5
Minnesota	78.1		77.3		81.2		40.5		69.9		41.9		38.8		83.3		78.9		-0.8
Mississippi	61.8		55.4		68.6		34.1		57.9		45.6		59.4		64.4		58.0		+3.8
Missouri	76.5		73.5		79.0		‡		81.3		59.0		60.4		79.2		73.0		+3.5
Montana	75.7		73.2		78.2		50.0		‡		57.7		59.2		79.3		77.4		-1.7
Nebraska	79.6		75.0		80.8		28.9		‡		55.0		42.4		84.4		77.7		+1.9
Nevada	45.4		†		†		†		†		†		†		†		54.7		-9.3
New Hampshire	77.1		†		†		†		†		†		†		†		74.1		+3.1
New Jersey	83.3		81.1		84.0		‡		86.3		64.4		62.2		87.3		83.4		-0.1
New Mexico	54.1		49.1		59.8		45.3		72.6		49.4		52.1		64.2		61.4		-7.3
New York	68.0		73.2		79.2		42.8		‡		‡		‡		80.4		61.8		+6.2
North Carolina	67.0		61.3		73.3		47.0		78.5		53.7		58.4		72.7		63.5		+3.5
North Dakota	79.2		76.3		80.2		37.9		‡		‡		‡		81.8		79.9		-0.7
Ohio	75.9		72.6		78.1		39.7		78.4		48.1		49.9		80.2		70.9		+5.0
Oklahoma	70.8		70.0		73.3		63.8		‡		54.0		58.5		72.3		70.1		+0.7
Oregon	70.4		69.8		76.8		42.7		78.3		60.7		44.0		74.0		73.3		-2.9
Pennsylvania	80.4		78.1		82.6		44.5		80.2		58.1		62.9		84.2		75.5		+4.9
Rhode Island	71.1		67.1		74.3		‡		47.8		52.5		58.6		75.9		73.5		-2.4
South Carolina	55.6		†		†		†		†		†		†		†		50.8		+4.9
South Dakota	75.6		71.4		77.2		30.4		‡		20.4		39.4		81.7		79.8		-4.2
Tennessee	65.4		†		†		†		†		†		†		†		57.5		+7.9
Texas	68.5		64.9		72.7		56.7		87.6		57.3		68.4		76.7		64.9		+3.6
Utah	78.6		76.1		85.2		50.6		76.9		53.6		58.2		84.0		78.5		+0.1
Vermont	80.2		73.2		74.0		77.0		‡		‡		‡		74.6		78.0		+2.2
Virginia	72.9		68.9		76.7		56.7		84.5		56.5		60.7		77.4		72.6		+0.3
Washington	68.8		64.8		74.6		42.7		75.5		56.9		51.8		72.3		62.8		+6.0
West Virginia	72.8		70.0		76.3		52.5		‡		‡		63.7		73.1		70.7		+2.1
Wisconsin	80.5		77.0		82.4		48.3		76.3		48.0		43.9		85.5		78.1		+2.3
Wyoming	74.2		69.4		75.3		‡		‡		54.6		‡		75.6		72.4		+1.8
U.S.	70.6%		67.8%		75.3%		50.6%		81.3%		57.8%		55.3%		77.6%		68.0%		+2.6%

New Report Finds Connecticut’s High School Graduation Rates Are Overstated and Declining

Analysis Reveals Gaps as Large as 39 Points, Major Shifts in Largest Districts Over Past Decade

In June 2007, ConnCAN released its first comparison of official district graduation rates, calculated by the Connecticut State Department of Education, and independent rates, calculated by Education Week’s Research Center for its Diplomas Count project. The study was downloaded more than 2,000 times from the ConnCAN website, helping to spark a constructive dialogue across Connecticut and providing an important boost to the effort to more accurately measure Connecticut’s graduation rates. Findings of this new study, include:

· The overall graduation rate for Connecticut in the Diplomas Count study was 13.1 points lower than the official statewide average of 91.2 percent—the 14th largest disparity among the 50 states.

· Connecticut’s statewide graduation rate declined 1.8 points from 79.8 percent to 78.1 percent between 2004 and 2005.

· Among the three largest districts in Connecticut, the gap between the official and independent rates was 33.7 points in Hartford, 22.6 points in New Haven, and 20.5 points in Bridgeport.

· Since 1997, Bridgeport’s graduation rate, as measured in Diplomas Count, increased almost 10 points, from 44.7 to 54.2, and Hartford’s graduation rate increased more than 5 points, from 33.5 to 38.6. By contrast, New Haven’s graduation rate declined almost 10 points, from 61.9 to 52.4.

· The Diplomas Count project found that the official graduation rates overstated the percentage of students graduating in four years with a diploma in 94 percent of Connecticut districts.

· In seven districts the graduation rates were overstated by 25 or more points: West Haven (38.8 points), Trumbull (36.2), Hartford (33.7), Bloomfield (32.5), Manchester (29.5), Stamford (29.3), Windham (26.6) and Putnam (25.8).

A school system’s high school graduation rate is one of the most important indicators of its success. Research has demonstrated that, on average:

· High school dropouts earn just 37 cents for every dollar earned by high school graduates.

· High school dropouts live 9 years less than high school graduates.

· Every 10 percent increase in high school graduation rates is correlated with a 13 percent lower rate of auto thefts and a 20 percent lower rate of murders and assaults.

The Diplomas Count report comes on the heels of a national push to measure high school graduation rates more accurately, including the adoption of a “Compact on State High School Graduation Data” developed by the National Governors Association (NGA) and endorsed by Alliance for Excellent Education, Association of American Colleges & Universities, Education Commission of the States, National Education Association, and The Education Trust. The compact, signed by the governors of all 50 states including Gov. Rell, calls for a uniform standard based on: 1) four-year adjusted cohort graduation rates, 2) longitudinal data tracking individual students from preschool through postsecondary education, and 3) straightforward annual reports on rates of graduations, completions and dropouts.

While it is not yet possible based on available Connecticut data to perform longitudinal tracking of individual students, the rates calculated by Education Week’s Research Center, drawing upon results from the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD), move us closer to the goals of the NGA’s “Compact on State High School Graduation Data.”

Four-year graduation rates were calculated using the Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) method. As recommended by the Compact, this approach represents graduating from high school as a four-year process from 9th through 12th grade, rather than a single event, and measures graduation based on receipt of a standard diploma rather than a GED or other equivalency degrees. Since this approach is not able to track individual students with existing data, however, one limitation is that it cannot distinguish between students who dropout and those who transfer to parochial, private or other out-of-district schools, and includes all such students in the category of “non-graduates” of the system.

Fully implementing the recommendations of the NGA will require a new state data system that uses unique student identifiers to track the movement of students between schools and districts within Connecticut, as recommended in ConnCAN’s “Great Schools for All” plan. In 2007, $6.4 million over two years was included in the state education budget to support the creation of a state longitudinal data system and the State Department of Education is currently working to develop this new system.

“Graduation rates are too important an indicator of educational success to not have the most accurate data possible,” said Alex Johnston, executive director of ConnCAN. “This new study adds to the urgency to create and fully implement a comprehensive and publicly-accessible system for tracking the progress of every public school student in our state.”

Download the new ConnCAN District Graduation Comparison Chart:

http://www.conncan.org/matriarch/documents/ConnCAN_Grad_Rates_Comparison_2005.pdf

Rethinking High School: Supporting All Students to be College Ready in Math - Interlake HS, Bellevue

In mathematics classes across the country, many students identify themselves as being in one of two camps: Those who can do math and those who can't. Such labels may be assumed by the students themselves or unconsciously assigned to them by the adults in their lives based on students' math achievement. Whatever its source, the can't label may be a costly one.

This Rethinking High School report profiles three high schools supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that have successfully implemented mathematics programs that prepare all students for college. The high schools are Interlake HS, Bellevue , WA; Fenway HS, Boston; and Granby HS, Norfolk, VA.

The program elements identified by research and explored in this report are:

· Offering high-level math courses and supports

· Continually improving teachers' skills and math content knowledge

· Using student information to drive instruction

According to this report, access to and enrollment in challenging courses had a greater impact than any other factor, including income level and parents' level of education.

Full report:

http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/GF-08-01.pdf

Expert Task Force Charges School Reform Alone Will Fail in Closing Achievement Gap; Diverse Bipartisan Group Launches Campaign for 'Broader, Bolder' Policies to Improve Education, Bridge Achievement Gaps

A new task force of national policy experts with diverse religious and political affiliations, in public policy fields including education, social welfare, health, housing, and civil rights today launched a campaign calling for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts that promised much and have achieved far too little.

Co-chaired by Helen Ladd, a Duke University professor of public policy studies, Pedro Noguera, a sociologist at New York University and an expert on educational policy, and Tom Payzant, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a former Boston schools superintendent and U.S. assistant secretary of education, the Task Force's framework points to the many flaws in the approach of the current No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law and charges that the nation's education and youth development policy has erred by relying on school improvement alone to raise achievement levels of disadvantaged children.

According to the Task Force, multitudes of children are growing up in circumstances that hinder their educational achievement. Statistics suggest the rhetoric of leaving no child behind has trumped reality. As the Task Force's ads in today's New York Times and Washington Post note, "Some schools have demonstrated unusual effectiveness. But even they cannot, by themselves, close the entire gap between students from different backgrounds in a substantial, consistent and sustainable manner on the full range of academic and non-academic measures by which we judge student success."

The timing of the release of a "Broader, Bolder Approach" comes after months and months of gridlock in Washington tied to the reauthorization of NCLB. The statement signed by more than 60 leaders provides a fresh way of thinking about education and youth development policy for governors, state legislators, and a President and Congress who are now running for election in November.

The signatories to "Bolder Approach" reads like a Who's Who of diverse national leaders from all political and policy spectrums, who have come to agree that the policy embodied in NCLB has failed. The list includes former officials of the current administration, including Susan B. Neuman, who served as Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education when NCLB was first enacted; John DiIulio, who was President Bush's first director of faith-based programs; and Dr. Richard Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General until last year. It also includes education, health, and human services officials from the Clinton Administration, such as Marshall Smith, who was Undersecretary of Education; Peter Edelman, who was Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Joycelyn Elders, U.S. Surgeon General.

Although some supporters of NCLB call it a "civil rights law," the signatories include civil rights advocates such as Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP; Hugh Price, former President of the National Urban League; John Jackson, President of the Schott Foundation and former Chief Policy Officer at the NAACP; Julianne Malveaux, President of the Bennett College for Women; the noted sociologist William Julius Wilson; Ernie Cortes, director of the Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation; and Karen Lashman, Vice-President for Policy of the Children's Defense Fund.

The list includes well-known conservatives, such as Nobel economist James Heckman; Diane Ravitch, who served as Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush; and Glenn Loury, a Brown University economist. Also included are progressives such as Linda Darling-Hammond, an education advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama; Debbie Meier, founder of the Central Park East schools, and authors John Goodlad and Ted Sizer.

Other notable signatories include Robert Schwartz, the founding president of Achieve, the education reform organization of the nation's governors and leading corporate executives; Milton Goldberg, the executive director of the commission that produced the report, A Nation At Risk in 1983; Richard Kazis, Vice-President of Jobs for the Future, the high school reform organization; and Bella Rosenberg, formerly the assistant to the late Albert Shanker of the AFT. Although many of the signers are known for their concern about the education of urban youth, the Task Force also includes Rachel Tompkins, one of the nation's leading experts in the problems of rural education.

The statement's diverse group of religious leaders include the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Richard Mouw, president of the Fuller Theological Seminary, the nation's leading evangelical seminary in Pasadena, California; and Joseph O'Keefe, S.J., Dean of the School of Education at Boston College.

Prominent academic scholars of child development and the economics of education, including James Comer, David Grissmer, Christopher Jencks, Sharon Lynn Kagan, and Jane Waldfogel, are also members of the group, as are urban schools superintendents Rudy Crew (Miami-Dade), Arne Duncan (Chicago), and Beverly Hall (Atlanta).

"After six years, it has become clear that No Child Left Behind has not succeeded in improving the quality of education available to America's neediest children. This Task Force is united around the need for a more comprehensive approach to federal policy that specifically responds to the needs of children and schools in low-income areas," said Co-Chair Pedro Noguera. "Our 'Bold Approach' identifies critical community support systems that can effectively work to narrow the disheartening achievement gap that exists in America."

"Schools can't do it alone," said Co-Chair Helen Ladd. "Accountability is a pillar of our education system, but schools need the support of the community - both before children arrive at school and during their school years - for all children to achieve high standards."

"'A Bold Approach' calls for a broader partnership and a sturdier bridge across schools, public health, and social services," said Co-Chair Tom Payzant. "When we ensure our children are provided their most basic needs, then we can work toward the highest of standards applied to all of our students."

"A Broader, Bolder Approach" applies equally to federal, state and local policy and acknowledges the centrality of formal schooling, but also focuses on the importance of high quality early childhood and preschool programs, after-school and summer programs, and programs that develop parents' capacity to support their children's education. Specifically, "A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" calls for:

1. Continued school improvement efforts. To close achievement gaps, we need to reduce class sizes in early grades for disadvantaged children; attract high-quality teachers in hard-to-staff schools; improve teacher and school leadership training; make college preparatory curriculum accessible to all; and pay special attention to recent immigrants.

2. Developmentally appropriate and high-quality early childhood, pre-school and kindergarten care and education. These programs must not only help low-income children academically, but provide support in developing appropriate social, economic and behavioral skills.

3. Routine pediatric, dental, hearing and vision care for all infants, toddlers and schoolchildren. In particular, full-service school clinics can fill the health gaps created by the absence of primary care physicians in low-income areas, and by poor parents' inability to miss work for children's routine health services.

4. Improving the quality of students' out-of-school time. Low-income students learn rapidly in school, but often lose ground after school and during summers. Policymakers should increase investments in areas such as longer school days, after-school and summer programs, and school-to-work programs with demonstrated track records.

"We are pleased to support the 'Broader, Bolder Approach to Education' campaign," said Nicholas C. Donohue, President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, New England's largest philanthropy that focuses exclusively on education. "The Task Force reminds us that proper health care and a safe and nurturing environment are keys to learning. We are hopeful their initiative will promote a new conversation about the next stage of education reform."

The release of "A Broader, Bolder Approach for Education" marks the beginning of a long-term effort to persuade federal, state and local policymakers to consider a more enriching framework as they work to support every child's education.

The Task Force

Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, convened the Task Force to consider the broader context of the NCLB law in the nation's approach to education and youth development policy. The Task Force drafted a statement adopted unanimously to articulate the theme that the nation has erred by attempting to rely on school improvement alone to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children. To read the full statement and view the list of signers with their biographical information, please visit http://www.boldapproach.org .

Changing the Kindergarten Cutoff Date: Effects on California Students and Schools

California has one of the latest kindergarten entry cutoff dates in the nation, December 2, which effectively allows children as young as four years, nine months to enter kindergarten. Proponents of moving the cutoff date to earlier in the year contend that children who enter kindergarten before age five are not developmentally mature enough yet for school, and that entering at an older age should improve academic performance.

The authors of this report examine 14 recent studies on the short- and long-term effects of entering kindergarten at an older age, and their review suggests that moving California’s entry age would likely have a number of benefits, including boosting student achievement test scores. But it may also have the potential to increase the achievement gap among certain student subgroups.

Full report:

http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=825

Knowing looks: Using gaze aversion to tell when children are learning

People use eye contact in a variety of ways every minute of every day but how often do you find yourself staring into space with concentrating on an issue or problem? Psychologists now know that people who are carrying out a complex task tend to look away from anyone else who is nearby. They refer to it as 'gaze aversion'.

Now they are finding out how to use changes in a child's gaze aversion to understand their educational progress. A group led by Dr Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon at the University of Stirling, and funded by Economic and Social Research Council, has looked at gaze aversion in both children and adults.

They found that children aged 4-6 are more likely to avert their gaze when they are carrying out a task that they find difficult, or new to them. They also avert their gaze less if they are being tested by someone they know.

When observing 5-8 year-olds, the researchers found that gaze aversion is related to the complexity of the task being undertaken, rather than to other stimuli. The results were consistent for a variety of settings and for a range of tasks, such as balancing a beam with asymmetrical loads.

Dr Doherty-Sneddon said: "These results are important because they show that children avert their gaze when they are trying to carry out a task which is difficult or with which they are not yet familiar. In our most recent work we have investigated whether gaze aversion is associated with transitional knowledge states. That means that gaze aversion is a useful thing for teachers, carers and parents to know about."

She says that, from the point of view of the teacher, gaze aversion is a positive sign. A child who is doing it is likely to be developing their understanding and is what Dr Doherty-Sneddon terms an "improver". By contrast, children who are not improving their performance, or who are regressing, use gaze aversion less often.

Keeping an eye on gaze aversion is especially valuable for teachers and social workers who are trying to understand the mental state of people with: Autistic spectrum disorders (ASD); Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); or Williams Syndrome, the genetic condition popularly called Cocktail Party Syndrome. "People with Williams Syndrome have been characterised as being hypersociable and using excessive amounts of eye contact, which is an interesting contrast to people with autism. Our gaze aversion work promises to provide new and important insights into the mental and social functioning of such groups" says Dr Doherty-Sneddon.

Warning Signs Identify Children Likely To Fail High School Exit Exam

As Early as Fourth Grade, Predictions of Success or Failure on the High-Stakes Test Are Reliable

Children who are at risk of failing the California High School Exit Exam can be accurately identified as early as the fourth grade, according to a study released today by the Public Policy Institute of California with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The study suggests that shifting resources to struggling students in early grades will be a more effective way to improve achievement than the state’s current approach of focusing on students in the last year of high school.

Identifying both the characteristics that predict exam performance and the optimal age to give a student remedial help has important implications for parents, teachers, school administrators, and policymakers. The exit exam is the only part of the California accountability system with direct consequences for students, and the failure of many students to pass it, even after multiple attempts, is cause for concern. State-funded efforts to boost students’ skills are concentrated on students in 12th grade who are at risk of failing the test and those who already have left school and were unable to pass it. The study concludes that these efforts alone are unlikely to be effective. Of the students who leave 12th grade without passing the exam, few re-enroll in school or take the test again. Allowing students in the class of 2006 the option to retake the exam the following year raised the passing rate only marginally, from 90.4 percent to 90.7 percent.

“Now that we know we can identify students in the earlier grades who are likely to fail, it makes sense to help them while they’re still in school and while they’re being taught the basic skills that will be tested later on,” says Julian Betts, a PPIC adjunct fellow, who co-authored the study with Andrew Zau, a senior statistician at the University of California, San Diego. “We don’t have to wait until the 11th hour or even worse, after students have failed and left the system.”

Like high school exit exams in many other states, California’s has been the focus of legal and legislative challenges from the start. The test, which became a requirement for graduation in 2006, covers math up to the eighth-grade level and English language arts up to the 10th-grade level.

The PPIC researchers were able to follow individual students over time using detailed data from the San Diego Unified School District that included grades, test scores, and academic environment. SDUSD, the state’s second-largest school district, mirrors the demographics of other large districts and its students’ performance on the exit exam reflect those of the state as a whole: 75 percent pass the test in 10th grade, and students who are English language learners, African American or in special education are significantly less likely to pass by the end of 12th grade.

The study concludes that information available in the early grades is such a strong indicator of a child’s future performance on the exit exam that it is possible to predict who will fail nearly as accurately in fourth grade as in ninth grade. Among the key findings:

· Fourth-grade GPA is an especially strong predictor of success on the exam. For every one-point increase in GPA, students increase their likelihood of passing the test by 11.6 percent. In later grades, GPA is a less significant predictor of success on the exit exam.

· Classroom behavior in the elementary grades is nearly as important. Classroom behavior is more important than math and reading test scores in forecasting test performance. San Diego teachers evaluate students in categories such as “follows directions,” “classroom behavior,” and “self-discipline.” The PPIC study translates these measures into a “behavior GPA.” For every one-point increase in the behavior GPA in fourth grade, students increase their likelihood of passing the exit exam in 10th grade by 3.7 percent and in 12th grade by 5-6 percent.

· Test scores are less powerful predictors, and they differ across grades. Math test scores in grades 4-6 are better indicators of success than English test scores, probably because the exam tests eighth-grade math skills. In grades 7-9, English test scores are better forecasters of success, probably because the English section of the exam tests 10th-grade English skills.

· English learner status matters less in early grades than later on. Students who are classified as English learners in fourth grade are no less likely to pass the exam than their peers who are otherwise similar, but students who are still classified as English language learners in ninth grade are much less likely to pass the test.

· High school teachers’ qualifications play a minor role in test performance. Teachers’ demographic background, education level, years of teaching experience, and credentials have only a small effect on students’ chances of passing the exit exam. This is relevant in light of a lawsuit, Valenzuela vs. O’Connell, filed in 2006 and later settled, which contended in part that the exit exam should be not required because some students attend high schools where the teachers are not highly qualified. The PPIC study finds that even if teacher qualifications were equalized across high schools and among students within high schools, passing rates would change very little.

The study points out that it is not just the students who fail the exit exam who are a source of concern. There are many more who barely pass it. Roughly a quarter of students fail both parts of the test in 10th grade, a troubling result on an exam that tests relatively low-level skills. A student who can barely pass a test of eighth-grade math skills and 10th-grade English is probably not well-prepared for a successful career.

Providing remedial help to students in earlier grades when they are learning the material that will be on the exit exam would have a number of benefits beyond raising passing rates on the exit exam. It could improve results on the California Standards Tests and help schools meet achievement goals required by the federal No Child Left Behind law. Help with reading in early grades would benefit students in all other subjects, a particularly important benefit for English learners.

The study recommends an expansion of tutoring on a limited trial basis in randomly selected schools to identify the grade levels at which remedial help is most effective. Different approaches, from after-school tutoring to professional development for teachers, can be tested to pinpoint the most useful. These tests would provide a rigorous research basis for policymakers to determine when and how to best ensure the success of all students.

Full study:

http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_608AZR.pdf

Study Finds Folk Art Teaches Children History, Diversity

A study in the Spring issue of Social Studies Research and Practice finds that lessons about folk art can be an effective tool for teaching young children about community, history and diversity.

The study, co-authored by Lois Christensen, Ph.D., an associate professor of education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), examined how kindergarten and first grade teachers at a local school taught social studies through the introduction of folk art as part of the lessons about community and community history.

The 38 kindergarten and first grade students read books about various communities, with an emphasis on Harlem, making comparisons between the Harlem Renaissance period and their own community.

The first graders, as part of their study about communities, later visited a museum to see an exhibit of Alabama Folk Art, comparing the features of the art work, including texture, colors, styles and themes. “Some themes have diversity or social issues as a focus of which the young children were able to identify,” the study’s authors said.

The children then went online and examined folk art by African American artist Romare Bearden and his depictions of Harlem’s Renaissance period. They examined the rich colors and shapes found in the folk art work and later created collages to replicate their favorite pieces of art.

The teachers also had the students to read other books about the historical figures of the Harlem Renaissance. The kindergarten and first graders later held an exhibition to share what they had learned with other students and their parents. The children created invitation brochures and panels which documented what they had learned about folk art and the history of the Harlem Renaissance as a part of their study about community.

“As the young social studies students engaged in detailed observations and were led in critical discussion, they experienced a depth of learning,” the study’s authors said. “They [students] began to construct a historical context about how art, music, geography and historical figures and events were connected. They taught others of all ages about what they learned and certainly learned more about diversity and themselves in the process. We saw that young children can, with an active ‘learning/research approach,’ begin historical understanding.”

Ellen Stubblefield, Ed.S., and Glenda Watson, M.Ed., teachers at Gwin Elementary School in Hoover, co-authored the study.

Infection Control Intervention Helps Keep Kids in School

A study from researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston published in Pediatrics found that a simple infection control intervention in elementary schools – disinfecting frequently-touched surfaces and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers – helped reduce illness-related student absenteeism.

Illnesses caused by bacteria and viruses account for millions of lost school days each year.(1) According to Thomas Sandora, MD, MPH, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, “The best ways to avoid common infections are cleaning your hands and preventing exposure to the germs that cause these illnesses. Our research indicates that elementary schools should consider a few simple infection control practices to help keep students healthier.”

The study, led by Dr. Sandora, was a randomized, controlled trial involving 285 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students in an elementary school system in Avon, Ohio. Teachers in intervention classrooms used disinfecting wipes on student desks, and students used hand sanitizer in the classroom at key points throughout the school day. Control classrooms followed usual hand washing and cleaning procedures.

Over eight weeks, researchers tracked the frequency of absences and the reasons for missing school. Study investigators also tested several classroom surfaces for total bacterial counts and for the presence of several common viruses.

Researchers found absenteeism rates for gastrointestinal illnesses were nine percent lower in classrooms that followed the infection control regimen of disinfecting surfaces and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers. The absenteeism rate for respiratory illness was not affected by this intervention.

Gastrointestinal illnesses are extremely common for school-age children, and children can be at risk for these infections because of frequent exposure to ill peers and poor hand hygiene.(1) In fact, the bacteria and viruses that cause these gastrointestinal infections can be easily passed from one person to another on the hands.(2) The germs can also survive on surfaces in the environment, where some of them can persist for hours to days.(1)

The study suggests that schools should consider adopting simple infection control practices, including disinfecting desktops once a day and using hand sanitizer before and after lunch, to help reduce days lost to common illnesses.

The study involved a single elementary school system (classrooms located in two buildings) located in Avon, Ohio. Study funds, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes were provided by The Clorox Company (Oakland, Calif).

(1) http://www.itsasnap.org/snap/references.asp#6

(2) http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/faq.htm

Nearly 1 in 5 teenagers admit eating problems, but anxiety is a bigger problem than appearance

Eighteen per cent of school children who took part in two health surveys carried out a year apart admitted they had eating problems, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Thirteen per cent admitted eating problems in either the first or second survey and a further five per cent reported problems in both surveys.

Students who had ongoing eating problems were more likely to report multiple psychological problems and health complaints.

"For example we noticed that students who reported suffering from anxiety earlier in adolescence were 20 times more likely to have ongoing eating problems" says Lea Hautala from the Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at the University of Turku, Finland.

"And teenagers who were dissatisfied with their appearance only had recurring eating problems if they also reported anxiety earlier in adolescence."

Researchers from the University surveyed 372 students aged between 15 and 17, repeating the survey after one year with the same pupils. 57 per cent were girls and 43 per cent were boys.

"A total of 66 students reported eating problems – 23 only reported problems in the first survey, 24 only reported them in the second survey and 19 reported them in both surveys" she adds.

"Students who had previous problems with anxiety were much more likely to suffer sustained eating problems, while those who didn't have previous psychological problems only experienced temporary eating problems and dissatisfaction with their appearance.

"We also found that girls were twice as likely to report eating problems on one occasion than boys and five times more likely to have ongoing problems."

When the researchers compared average results across the two surveys for students with persistent problems and no problems they discovered that:

70% of students with persistent problems reported one or more health problems (abdominal pain, dizziness, fatigue, headache and insomnia), compared with only 40% of the students with no eating disorders.

47% of students with persistent problems reported anxiety, compared with 12% of non reporters.

31% reported depression, compared with 5% of non reporters.

77% were unhappy with their weight and 46% with their appearance. This was much higher than the 8% and 18% reported by students without eating problems.

Despite this, when the researchers looked at the height and weight records kept by the school nurses, they found that even students with persistent eating problems were more likely to be normal weight than over or underweight.

63% of the students who reported eating problems were normal weight, compared with 79% of the students who didn't report any eating problems. And 37% were overweight and none were underweight, compared with 20% and 1% of the students without problems.

The researchers also found higher levels of psychological problems and health complaints in students who only reported eating problems in one of the two surveys.

"Our study backs up previous research that shows that eating problems often fluctuate in children of this age and in 50 to 60% of cases last about one to two years" says Lea Hautala. "However in ten per cent of cases their eating problems can persist into adulthood.

"Although almost a fifth of the students who took part in our study reported eating problems at some point, these problems clearly sorted themselves out in the majority of cases. However, one in twenty students continued to report problems.

"We believe that our results point to the need for schools to screen adolescents with psychological problems or multiple health complaints for eating problems, as these are the two key predictive factors that emerged from our study."

Students with a delayed school start time sleep longer, report less daytime sleepiness

High school students with a delayed school start time are more likely to take advantage of the extra time in bed, and less likely to report daytime sleepiness, according to research.

The study, authored by Zaw W. Htwe, MD, of Norwalk Hospital’s Sleep Disorders Center in Norwalk, Conn., focused on 259 high school students who completed the condensed School Sleep Habits Questionnaire. Prior to the delay, students reported sleeping a mean of 422 minutes (7.03 hours) per school night, with a mean bed-time of 10:52 p.m. and a mean wake-up time as 6:12 a.m.

According to the results, after a 40-minute delay in the school start time from 7:35 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., students slept significantly longer on school nights. Total sleep time on school nights increased 33 minutes, which was due mainly to a later rise time. These changes were consistent across all age groups. Students’ bedtime on school nights was marginally later, and weekend night sleep time decreased slightly. More students reported “no problem” with sleepiness after the schedule change.

“Following a 40-minute delay in start time, the students utilized 83 percent of the extra time for sleep. This increase in sleep time came as a result of being able to ‘sleep in’ to 6:53 a.m., with little delay in their reported school night bedtime. This study demonstrates that students given the opportunity to sleep longer, will, rather than extend their wake activities on school nights,” said Mary B. O'Malley, MD, PhD, corresponding author of the study.

It is recommended that adolescents get nine hours of nightly sleep.

Poor sleep can affect a student's grades, increase emotional, behavioral disturbance

Insufficient sleep among adolescents may not only contribute to lower grades and a lack of motivation, but may also increase the odds of serious levels of emotional and behavioral disturbances, including ADHD, according to research.

The study, authored by Fred Danner, PhD, of the University of Kentucky, focused on 882 high school freshmen who provided information about their sleep habits and school grades and also completed psychological and behavioral assessments.

According to the results, students reported sleeping, on average, 7.6 hours per school night, with 48 percent reporting less than eight hours. Hours of sleep per school night were significantly positively associated with GPA and level of motivation, and significantly negatively associated with clinically significant levels of emotional disturbance and ADHD. Each additional hour of sleep on school nights lowered the odds of scoring in the clinically significant range of emotional disturbance and ADHD by 25 percent and 34 percent, respectively.

“Since these findings are based on associations rather than direct experimental manipulation, they cannot conclusively prove that insufficient sleep causes a loss of motivation, poor grades, ADHD, and emotional disturbance during adolescence,” said Dr. Danner. “The results, however, are consistent with a growing body of research that many adolescents do not get sufficient sleep and that even mild chronic sleep deprivation has serious effects on their psychological functioning. Lack of sleep should no longer be considered a traditional adolescent rite of passage because it can have serious consequences.”

While disordered sleep has a negative effect on a student academically, the sleep variables affecting school performance are different by educational level, according to other research.

The study, authored by James Pagel, MD, of the University of Colorado, focused on 98 junior high, 67 high school, and 64 college students.

“Disordered sleep has significant deleterious effects on school performance,” said Dr. Pagel. “The sleep complaints most likely to affect school performance change with age and educational status. Poorly performing junior high students are most likely to report restless legs at sleep onset. High school students reporting daytime sleepiness have the poorest levels of school performance. Low performing college students are significantly more likely to have trouble with sleep onset insomnia, complaining that they have more difficulty falling asleep than students with higher grade point averages.”

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is when you have a strong urge to move your legs. This urge is very hard to resist. It often comes with other uneasy feelings deep inside the legs.

The urge to move the legs grows worse at night and eases in the morning. RLS makes it very hard for you to rest or go to sleep. People with severe RLS may get less than five hours of sleep each night. This total sleep time is lower than with almost any other sleep disorder. It can occur at any age, from early childhood to late adult life. RLS has an “early onset” when it starts before the age of 45.

It is recommended that adults get seven to eight hours of nightly sleep, adolescents nine hours, and school-aged children between 10-11 hours.

Injuries to high school baseball players becoming more serious

New study calls for increased use of protective equipment to reduce injuries

Although the overall rate of high school baseball-related injuries has decreased within the last 10 years, the severity of injuries that occur has increased, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. During the two-year study period, an estimated 132,000 high school baseball-related injuries occurred with an injury rate of more than one per 1,000 athletic exposures.

Potential explanations for the increase in the severity of these injuries are attributed to the increase of intensity during competition and the size and strength of players resulting in them throwing faster, hitting harder and generating more force during player-to-player contact. The fact many high school baseball players now participate in baseball year round also likely contributes to overuse injuries.

"Based on our findings regarding the risk of sustaining an injury when hit by a batted ball, we strongly recommend helmets with face shields or at least mouth guards and eye protection be used by all pitchers, infielders and batters at the high school level," explained the study's lead author Christy Collins, MA, research associate in CIRP of Nationwide Children's Hospital.

According to the study, published in the June issue of Pediatrics, being hit by a batted ball is one of the more common mechanisms of baseball-related injuries and one of the most serious. More than half of the injuries that occurred as a result of being hit by a batted ball were to the head/face and teeth and 40 percent resulted in fractures, lacerations or concussions. When compared to other injuries, injured players struck by a batted ball were more than twice as likely to require surgery. The study also found pitchers are not the only players at risk. Half of the injuries attributed to being hit by a batted ball were sustained during fielding.

"The use of face guards among batters is becoming more accepted in youth baseball," added study co-author Dawn Comstock, PhD, principal investigator in CIRP of Nationwide Children's and faculty member of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. "However, the use of proven protective equipment such as face shields, mouth guards and eye protection is not yet widely accepted by players and coaches at the high school level. Research shows that wearing such protective equipment reduces the risk of sports-related facial and dental injuries."

Many States Have Taken “Backloaded” Approach to No Child Left Behind Achievement Goals

Proficiency Targets Will Dramatically Increase in Many States This Year

When the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) became law in 2002, states were charged with the controversial goal of bringing all students to “proficiency” within 12 years. This year, halfway to the ambitious 2014 deadline, that challenge is about to become much more difficult for about half of all states, according to a new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy (CEP).

The report finds that while half of all states (25 states and the District of Columbia) have adopted incremental achievement goals that assume steady progress toward the 100 percent proficient goal, the other half of the states have taken a “backloaded” approach that will soon mean dramatically higher—and potentially unreachable—achievement goals.

Twenty-three states have taken the backloaded approach, generally setting lower expectations for the percentages of students reaching proficiency between 2002 and 2008 in contrast to much steeper expectations later on. The higher goals are now becoming a reality for states, which in some cases will need to increase the percentage of students reaching proficiency on state assessments by 10 points or more each year between now and 2014.

California, for example, set goals for English language arts at the elementary and middle school levels that increased just once between 2001-02 and 2006-07, from 13.6 percent to 24.4 percent. However, starting in 2007-08, California will expect rapid and steep jumps of at least 10 percentage points per year in order to reach the goal of having all students reach proficiency by 2014.

“Many states may have originally set lower achievement goals for the first few years under NCLB in hopes of getting systems into place or gaining some flexibility from Washington later on,” said Jack Jennings, president and CEO of CEP. “But right now, they are still on the hook for the academic equivalent of a mortgage payment that is about to balloon far beyond their current ability to pay.”

The independent, nonprofit Center on Education Policy prepared the report based on an analysis of student achievement objectives established by states in their accountability plans for NCLB. These objectives cite the percentages of students that must score at or above the proficient level on state tests each year on the way toward meeting the law’s ultimate goal of 100 percent of students achieving proficiency by the 2013-14 school year.

These annual objectives are used to determine whether schools and districts have made adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the state’s accountability system for NCLB. According to the report, “it is unclear how schools in these states will be able to produce large annual gains in the percentages of students scoring proficient.” The report suggests that states with backloaded achievement targets will need to prepare for dramatic increases in the numbers of schools identified as being in need of improvement under the law—in some cases after the number of schools that have already been identified for improvement has already grown significantly.

In addition, the report indicated that states which took a more incremental approach to achievement targets will also likely face difficulty in reaching 100 percent proficiency. Citing research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the report notes that based on recent rates of improvement, only one-quarter to roughly one-third of the states would reach the 100 percent goal, and that there is some evidence that states with lower standards and easier tests will find it easier to meet the goal.

“This problem cannot be solved by states alone. Congressional leaders must provide some assistance in the reauthorization of the law to help create a more reasonable and workable solution,” said Jennings.

The report, Many States Have Taken a “Backloaded” Approach to No Child Left Behind Goal of All Students Scoring Proficient, is available online at http://ce.edexcellence.net/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=98608&uid=42295

The report is part of CEP’s multiyear effort to track the state and local implementation of NCLB.

Additional reports are available online at www.cep-dc.org. Most state proficiency schedules can be found in each state’s accountability plan on the U.S. Department of Education’s Web site http://www.ed.gov/about/contacts/state/index.html?src=gu. For eight states (AL, CA, HI, IN, MD, NY, OK, and VA) and the District of Columbia the proficiency schedules were found on the state’s Web site.

Allocation Anatomy: How District Policies That Deploy Resources Can Support (or Undermine) District Reform Strategies

The process of creating and managing a school budget is a complex undertaking, and many districts spend countless hours amassing thick budget binders and balancing resources among departments. But those efforts often don’t reflect many of the key details and decisions that ultimately affect how money and resources are actually allocated among schools or students.

As this paper illustrates, urban districts are often large, hierarchical bureaucracies in which allocation processes are spread among different layers and executed by different players in the system. When district leaders fail to recognize the various micro-level allocation practices used to deploy millions (or in some cases billions) of dollars in their organization, they may not be aligning their resources with their intended strategies for reform. As this paper shows, resource allocation practices take on many different forms, each with different implications for various district strategies.

For example, a district’s psychology department has four psychologists, each of whom is assigned to about ten schools. In interviews with the psychologists about where they spend their time, it is clear that one spends her time in equal increments across all ten schools. Another says she spends most of her time at a school where the principal “values her work.” Another spends the largest portion of her days at the school her own child attends, and the last one focuses on the two schools he feels need his services the most. In this case, the allocation of this resource depends on the psychologists’ own discretion and priorities—it is not a function of the district’s stated strategy for reform.

This paper explores the nature of micro-budgeting decisions and shows how they support or hamper district reform strategies. It provides a framework to help district leaders recognize different kinds of allocations.

Allocations are distinguished according to:

· what gets allocated;

· the reporting authority;

· practices that dictate the flow of resources;

· restrictions that accompany the use of resources; and

· the dollar value of the allocation.

Applications of the framework to extensive fiscal data in two urban districts show the ways that many different allocation practices—including those often overlooked by district leaders—serve to determine the path of resources within a district. As the examples clearly demonstrate, the different allocation processes fit together to serve as a manifestation of the districts’ implicit strategies for serving students.

What’s also clear is that different kinds of allocations align with different district reform strategies. Allocating resources in the form of services or programs may work well for centralized reforms but can undermine strategies that purport to decentralize control and accountability to schools. Allocating resources by pupil or pupil type can support district efforts to target resources to needy students, whereas inviting staff or students to sign up for services can have the opposite effect. And for districts striving for more personalized services for students, allocating resources in the form of staff with defined roles can undermine efforts to create a more flexible, responsive staff at the school level. For district leaders pursuing any one of a set of common reform strategies, this analysis should serve as a roadmap for more strategic resource allocation.

Full report:

http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/download/csr_files/pub_sfrp_aa_may08.pdf

Charter Schools in Los Angeles Unified Outperforming Traditional Public Schools

First-Ever District and Neighborhood “Matched Comparison Analysis” of Charter Schools vs. Traditional Public Schools in Los Angeles Unified

Charter schools in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are outperforming traditional public schools on a variety of student achievement measures, according to a revealing analysis released today by the California Charter Schools Association. Entitled, “Charter School Performance in Los Angeles Unified School District: A District and Neighborhood Matched Comp