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New Report Recognizes Five School Programs That Effectively Prepare Students for College and Career Success Low-Income Students Face Common Barriers, but Thrive with Right Support Five innovative school programs in diverse, underserved communities across the country are helping students succeed in high school and prepare for college and career. These programs share a common, effective framework of strong school leaders, rigorous coursework, and an emphasis on effective teaching, according to a new report released today. Rethinking High School: Preparing Students for Success in College, Career, and Life is the fourth report in a series by WestEd, a non-profit education research firm. The report, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, profiles programs serving predominantly low-income, minority students in Oakland, Calif.; Mabton, Wash.; Houston, Texas; Bridgeton, N.J.; and Portland, Ore. Their approaches vary, but each has demonstrated early progress, including improved test scores, graduation rates, and college enrollment for students. In addition, five programs previously examined in a 2005 /Rethinking High School/ report are revisited and continue to show strong results. Together, they are part of a growing national movement of more than 1,800 schools and programs supported by the foundation designed to ensure that all students graduate high school ready for the challenges of today's global economy. While the report highlights the programs' innovative approaches and progress, it also underscores how they each address one or more of five common barriers facing low-income students:
The programs in the report demonstrate that there are many effective approaches to preparing young people for success in college, career, and life:
These programs are addressing critical challenges in education today. Nationally, only 70 percent of U.S. high school students graduated on time in 2004, according to Education Week's 2007 "Diplomas Count" report. The graduation rate for Hispanic students is 58 percent. For African American students, it is 53 percent. Too often, the students who do graduate are not prepared for college -- only 23 percent of African American students and 20 percent of Hispanic students who started high school in the class of 2002 graduated eligible for college, according to the Manhattan Institute. To see full report: http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/842 Music Training Linked to Enhanced Verbal Skills EVANSTON, Ill. --- Music training, with its pervasive effects on the nervous system’s ability to process sight and sound, may be more important for enhancing verbal communication skills than learning phonics, according to a new Northwestern University study. Musicians use all of their senses to practice and perform a musical piece. They watch other musicians, read lips, and feel, hear and perform music, thus, engaging multi-sensory skills. As it turns out, the brain’s alteration from the multi-sensory process of music training enhances the same communication skills needed for speaking and reading, the study concludes. “Audiovisual processing was much enhanced in musicians’ brains compared to non-musician counterparts, and musicians also were more sensitive to subtle changes in both speech and music sounds,” said Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Communication Sciences and Neurobiology and director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, where the work was performed. “Our study indicates that the high-level cognitive processing of music affects automatic processing that occurs early in the processing stream and fundamentally shapes sensory circuitry.” The nervous system’s multi-sensory processing begins in the brainstem, an evolutionarily ancient part of the brain previously thought to be relatively unmalleable. “Musicians have a specialized neural system for processing sight and sound in the brainstem, the neural gateway to the brain,” said Northwestern doctoral student Gabriella Musacchia, lead author of the study. For many years, scientists believed that the brainstem simply relayed sensory information from the ear to the cortex, a part of the brain known for cognitive processing. Because the brainstem offers a common pathway that processes music and speech, the study suggests that musical training conceivably could help children develop literacy skills and combat literacy disorders. The study, “Musicians Have Enhanced Subcortical Auditory and Audiovisual Processing of Speech and Music,” will be published online the week of Sept. 24 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The co-investigators are Gabriella Musacchia, Mikko Sams, Erika Skoe and Nina Kraus. Study participants, who had varying amounts of musical training or none at all, wore scalp electrodes that measured their multi-sensory brain responses to audio and video of a cellist playing and a person speaking. The data showed that the number of years that a person practiced music strongly correlated with enhanced basic sound encoding mechanisms that also are relevant for speech. Beyond revealing super-accurate pitch coding vital to recognizing a speaker’s identity and emotional intent, the study showed enhanced transcription of timbre and timing cues common to speech and music. “The study underscores the extreme malleability of auditory function by music training and the potential of music to tune our neural response to the world around us, ” Kraus said. Previous research has shown brainstem transcription errors in some children with literacy disorders. Since music is inherently more accessible to children than phonics, the new research suggests, music training may have considerable benefits for engendering literacy skills. Study of the American School Superintendency More women are becoming superintendents of the nation’s school systems, according to a new study released today by the American Association of School Administrators. The State of the American School Superintendency: A Mid-Decade Study also reveals that superintendents are committed to helping all students succeed, have a good relationship with their school boards and find their jobs rewarding despite high levels of stress associated with the position. The State of the American School Superintendency offers a definitive look at the state of school leadership in the United States, based on a representative sample of school system superintendents nationwide. AASA has conducted an authoritative state of the superintendency report every decade since 1923. This mid-decade report offers insight into the changing role of the superintendent since the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2002 and the publication of the last state of the superintendency report in 2000. Key findings of the new report include:
The State of the American School Superintendency addresses key issues in public education and school leadership, including:
The State of the American School Superintendency is based on a May 2006 survey of superintendents nationwide. A representative sample of 1,338 school leaders responded to the survey. The study is available for purchase at www.aasa.org/leadership/SuperintendentStudy.cfm Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities This report profiles current conditions and recent trends in the education of minority students. It presents a selection of indicators that illustrate the educational achievement and attainment of Hispanic, Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander students compared with each other and with White students. In addition, it uses data from the 2005 American Community Survey to detail specific educational differences among Hispanic ancestry subgroups (such as Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban) and Asian ancestry subgroups (such as Asian Indian, Chinese, or Filipino). This report presents 28 indicators that provide demographic information and examine (1) patterns of preprimary, elementary, and secondary school enrollment; (2) student achievement and persistence; (3) student behaviors that can affect their education; (4) participation in postsecondary education; and (5) outcomes of education. The report finds that over the past quarter century, minority students have made gains in key education areas, such as completing high school and earning a college degree. However, gaps in academic performance persist between students of most minority groups and White students. In 2004, minorities represented 42 percent of the public pre-kindergarten through secondary school enrollment; however, this percentage ranged widely by state, from 80 percent in Hawaii to 4 percent in Vermont. On the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment, higher percentages of Asian/Pacific Islander 4th-graders and 8th-graders scored at or above Proficient than did American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic, and White students at the same grade levels. In 2005, the percentage of 16- to 24-year-olds who were high school status dropouts (the percentage who had not completed high school and were not currently enrolled) was higher among Hispanics than among Blacks, Whites, and Asian/Pacific Islanders. Among Hispanic 16- to 24-year-olds, the percentage of status dropouts among those who were foreign born (38 percent) was more than twice that of their native counterparts (13 percent). Between 1976 and 2004, the percentage of total undergraduate enrollment who were minority students increased from 17 to 32 percent. In 2004, more postsecondary degrees were awarded to Blacks than Hispanics, despite the fact that Hispanics represented a larger percentage of the total population. From 1990 to 2005, all racial/ethnic groups experienced an increase in the percentage of adults age 25 and over who had completed high school, and the percentages of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native adults with bachelor’s degrees also increased. Full report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007039 Prepare All High School Students for College High school teaching must focus on college-ready skills if students are to be truly prepared for the challenges of the twenty-first century, according to a new brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education. High School Teaching for the Twenty-first Century: Preparing Students for College suggests that meaningful high school reform hinges on teaching that is cognizant of and aligned to the expectations of colleges and employers. It recommends that efforts underway in some states and districts to raise high school standards and increase course requirements for graduation should be expanded, and that those efforts should be coupled with a systemic push to increase the rigor of instruction so that high school teaching is fully aligned with college expectations. “Too many of our students are proudly graduating from high school only to find themselves unprepared to succeed in college or the workplace,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “High school can no longer be viewed as the last leg of an academic journey, but rather the gateway to developing sophisticated thinking skills for success in the twenty-first century.” The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 85 percent of current jobs and almost 90 percent of the fastest-growing and best-paying jobs now require some postsecondary education. And emerging research indicates that the skills required for success in college – “college readiness” – are similar to those required for most post-high school work experiences. Nevertheless, a major disconnect continues between what is taught in high school and what is needed for success in college or the modern workplace. In addition to addressing the fundamental disconnect between the structure of high schools and college expectations, the brief considers ways that individual teachers can incorporate college-readiness skills into their instruction. It also examines the need to support teachers in their efforts to improve the quality of their teaching, including professional development, using measurements to determine college readiness so that teaching can be adjusted to the students’ needs, and ensuring that teachers are properly assigned. High School Teaching for the Twenty-first Century: Preparing Students for College is available at: http://www.all4ed.org/publications/HSTeach21st.pdf Ability Groups Harm Children's Education, Say Sussex Researchers Two new separate studies show that sorting school children into ability groups is neither an accurate way of assessing ability, nor is it beneficial to their learning. Research by Jo Boaler, Marie Curie Professor of Education at Sussex, revealed that children in mixed ability mathematics classes outperformed those grouped by ability. She reviewed a new way of grouping children that also resulted in unusually good behavior and high levels of respect and responsibility among the young people. Another new study by Sussex researchers shows that children are being placed in ability groups according to social class, with pupils from middle-class backgrounds more likely to be assigned to higher groups, irrespective of their prior attainment. The results of Professor Boaler's study, which followed 700 teenagers in the US over four years, were all the more remarkable because the mixed ability group came from disadvantaged backgrounds and were initially less able at math. Professor Boaler, who has been invited to present her findings to Gordon Brown's advisors, said: "In England we use more ability grouping than possibly any other country in the world, and children are put into groups at a very young age. It is no coincidence that our society also has high levels of anti-social behavior and indiscipline. Children who are put into low groups in school quickly learn to view themselves as unsuccessful and develop anti-school values that lead into general anti-social behavior." The study, which analysed the results of different methods of teaching maths in three American high schools, found that an approach that involved students not being divided into ability groups, but being given a shared responsibility for each other's learning, led to a significant improvement in the achievements of high and low achieving students. The approach had further benefits in that it taught students to take responsibility for each other and to regard that responsibility as an important part of life. "Many parents support ability grouping because they think it is advantageous for high attaining children," points out Professor Boaler. "But my recent study of a new system of grouping in the US showed that the system benefited students at high and low levels and the high attaining students were the most advantaged by the mixed ability grouping, because they had opportunities to learn work in greater depth. If our government is concerned about the behavior of young people then it is time to explore systems of student grouping that teach students respect and responsibility, rather than disillusionment and anti-school values." Professor Boaler was also the author of an earlier study in England that found that mixed ability classes achieved at higher levels than those put into groups. Her earlier research is reported in her book, Experiencing School Mathematics. Her recent study, 'Promoting "relational equity" and high mathematics achievement through an innovative mixed ability approach', was presented at the British Educational Research Association's annual conference earlier this month and is to be published in the British Educational Research Journal in the coming months. In a separate study Dr Mairead Dunne, senior lecturer in education at Sussex, led a project that analysed grouping practices in 168 primary and secondary schools and found that working-class pupils are more likely to be placed in lower groups than middle-class pupils who have the same test results, and that pupils from middle-class backgrounds more likely to be assigned to higher groups, irrespective of their prior attainment. "Schools said that prior attainment and perceived ability were the main criteria on which setting decisions were based," said Dr Dunne. "However, over half the pupils with low prior attainment in English ended up in middle or high groups. Setting decisions were therefore clearly not made on this basis alone. Teacher judgments and pupil behavior influenced setting decisions but social class was more important." Dr Dunne and her colleagues, who presented their findings to the British Educational Research Association's annual conference, examined pupil-placement decisions in English and Maths in 44 secondary schools and 124 primaries. Their analysis included information on pupils' prior attainment, gender, ethnicity and home neighbourhood. The researchers, including Dr Sara Humphreys and Professor Judy Sebba at the University of Sussex and Alan Dyson, Frances Gallannaugh and Daniel Muijs of the University of Manchester, also checked to see whether individual pupils were entitled to free school meals. Boys and girls were equally likely to be placed in low groups. However, some ethnic groups, such as Bangladeshis, were slightly less likely to be put in higher groups. Everyone's Doing It, but What Does Teacher Testing Tell Us about Teacher Effectiveness? This paper explores the relationship between teacher testing and teacher effectiveness using a unique dataset that links teachers to their individual students. The findings show a positive relationship between some teacher licensure tests and student achievement. But they also suggest that states face significant tradeoffs when they require particular performance levels as a precondition to becoming a teacher: some teachers whom we might wish were not in the teacher workforce based on their contribution toward student achievement are eligible to teach based on their performance on these tests, while other individuals who would be effective teachers are ineligible. Full paper: http://www.caldercenter.org/PDF/1001072_everyones_doing.PDF Less Than 3 Percent of UK 11-year-olds Take Enough Exercise Objective measurement of levels and patterns of physical activity Less than 3 per cent of UK 11 year olds are taking enough exercise, suggests research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. It is recommended that kids spend at least an hour a day doing some form of moderate to vigorous physical activity, in a bid to promote good health and stave off the risks of subsequent obesity and diabetes. The researchers monitored the physical activity levels of more than 5,500 11 year olds in the South West of England over seven consecutive days between January 2003 and January 2005. The children were part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), which has tracked the health of more than 14,000 children since birth. Each child was kitted out with a special piece of equipment (accelerometer), worn on an elasticated belt, which recorded minute by minute the intensity and frequency of physical activity. The researchers were particularly interested in total levels of physical activity and the amount of moderate to vigorous exercise the kids were taking daily. When the data were analysed, they showed that the children were around twice as physically active as adults, but they were still not active enough. oys were more physically active than girls, and they were also more likely to engage in moderate to vigorous forms of activity. One in five (22%) girls averaged at least one bout of moderate to vigorous activity a day, lasting at least five minutes. This compares with 40% of the boys. But both sexes spent most of their day in light intensity activities. Less than 1% of the children averaged at least one 20 minute bout a day. And only just over 5% of the boys and 0.4% of the girls actually achieved current recommended daily levels of physical activity, equating to 2.5% across both sexes. Only sustained activity is likely to promote cardiorespiratory fitness, say the authors, adding: “It is a sobering thought that children’s activity levels actually peak at around this age [11] and decline precipitously during adolescence.” Cramming: The Effects of School Accountability on College-Bound Students This paper is the first to explore the effects of school accountability systems on high-achieving students' long-term performance. Using data from a large state university, the authors relate school accountability pressure in high school to a student's university-level grades and study habits. The authors find that an accountability system based on a low-level test of basic skills apparently led to reduced performance by high-achieving students, while an accountability system based on a more challenging criterion-referenced exam apparently led to improved performance in college on mathematics and other technical subjects. Both types of systems are associated with increased "cramming" by students in college. The results indicate that the nature of an accountability system can influence its effectiveness. Full paper: Bad News for Hispanic Teens: Parents' Marital Disruption Hurts Them Least Compared to teens from other racial and ethnic groups, Hispanic adolescents don't experience nearly the level of problems during the process of their parents' divorce or separation. But that's not something to be glad about. New research suggests that Hispanic teens aren't as affected by their parents' marital disruption – including divorce and separation -- only because they already face a host of difficulties and disadvantages before the breakup. “For many Hispanic adolescents, their life situation is already poor before their family dissolves – there may not be much further for them to drop,” said Yongmin Sun, co-author of the study and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University's Mansfield campus. The study showed the European and Asian American teens faced the most serious problems as the result of parental divorce or separation. The reason is the flip-side of what happens to Hispanic youth: European and Asian Americans start out with the most advantages in terms of well-being and resources, so they have the furthest to fall, Sun said. African American teens showed slightly fewer problems than their European and Asian American peers before family disruption, but not to the level of Hispanics. The study appears in the current issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family. While some people may be surprised that African American teens didn't respond similarly to Hispanics in the study, Sun said the results showed that in terms of overall well-being and parental resources, African Americans were doing better than Hispanics pre-divorce. That helps explain why parents' marital disruption has a greater negative effect on African Americans than it does on Hispanic Americans. Data for this study came from the National Education Longitudinal Study, which surveyed thousands of students beginning in 8th grade in 1988. This study involved 9,252 students who were surveyed in 1990 and again in 1992 when they were in their 10th and 12th grades. In this study, about 700 children who experienced family disruption between the two waves of data collection were compared to the other students. The researchers examined how the children fared before and after the divorce on nine well-being indicators in three broad areas: academic success, psychological well-being and behavioral problems. They also examined the families' economic and human resources (parent income and educational level), as well as social resources. Social resources include how well the parents and children get along with each other, how often they talk to each other and how often they do things together. The results showed that, when compared to Hispanic youth, European, Asian and African American adolescents showed wider and greater levels of problems as the result of family disruption. European-American students showed difficulties in more areas than did African Americans, but did not show higher levels of difficulties in each individual area. Hispanics stood out from the other groups. “In this study, Hispanics started off with a large number of difficulties and disadvantages in their lives,” Sun said. “When that's the case, family crises like divorce may not add much to the original problems.” The results also challenged the theory that divorce doesn't cause the same level of problems in children in racial and ethnic groups where divorce is more common, because divorce is less stigmatized in those communities. This study found that the negative effects of divorce were still relatively strong in African Americans, who have the highest divorce rate of the groups studied. “Just because divorce is more common in an ethnic or racial group, it doesn't necessarily make it easier for children who are going through such a family disruption,” Sun said. In another important finding, the study showed that parents' marital disruption hurts teens of different racial and ethnic groups in different ways. Asian American adolescents seemed to be affected most by a shortage of family social resources in predivorced families – meaning they missed things like talking to their parents and spending time with them. African American teens, on the other hand, were most hurt by the shortage of economic resources in predivorced families. European Americans were equally hurt by shortages in both types of resources. One possible explanation for the sharp contrast between African and Asian Americans is that Asian American families generally enjoy a high level of economic and human resources, so that financial difficulties associated with predivorced families may not be as harmful to adolescents' well-being. Individual Teacher Incentives And Student Performance This paper is the first to systematically document the relationship between individual teacher performance incentives and student achievement using United States data. The authors combine data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey with original survey data regarding the use of teacher incentives. The authors find that test scores are higher in schools offering individual financial incentives for good performance. Moreover, the relationship between the presence of merit pay and student test scores is strongest in schools that may have the least parental oversight. The association between teacher incentives and student performance could be due to better schools adopting teacher incentives or to teacher incentives eliciting more effort from teachers. Full paper: Dating Violence Among High School Students A startling number of high school and college students - both female and male -- are being battered, sexually abused or stalked by their dates, according to a Kansas State University professor. "Approximately 30 percent of college students have been in relationships that involve physical aggression. Even more have been in relationships that are emotionally abusive," said Sandra Stith, director of the marriage and family therapy program at K-State and a nationally recognized expert in domestic violence. Likewise, approximately 25 percent of high school students who are in relationships are subjected to abuse, according to Stith. Why? Research points to many complex triggers, said Stith, who also is a pioneer in couples treatment for domestic violence. Stress and the inability to control anger are common ones. Another is the intensity of the relationship. Stith said studies show that the more serious the liaison, the more likely it is to be violent. Too many students think they don't deserve better treatment, she said. Some think hitting and abusive language are acceptable. "It is never OK to be emotionally abusive or physically violent," Stith said. "We need to send a clear message that abuse in any form is not normal, not acceptable and not OK." Research clearly indicates that both male and female students are victims of physical and emotional abuse. "We cannot minimize violence against women," she said. "Male violence is more likely to cause serious injury and death." However, just like female victims, male victims often accept blame for the abuse, saying things like "it's my fault because I am not listening to her," Stith said. She said abuse in young relationships takes other forms: attempting to control the partner's behavior, extreme jealousy, constant belittling and trying to frighten a partner with activities such as driving recklessly. Stith lists several red flags that indicate abuse or potential violence:
It is important, Stith said, to ask this question: "Do I feel better or worse about myself when I am in this relationship?" A healthy relationship makes you feel proud of yourself, she said. It makes you feel that "you are a beautiful person." Stith's advice to those who face dating violence: Get help or get out. Stith is director of Kansas State University's marriage and family therapy program and a nationally recognized expert in domestic violence. "Admittedly, it is hard to get out of a relationship alone ... and students shouldn't have to," Stith said. "Studies indicate that many victims want help but don't know where to turn." For students who believe a friend may be abused, Stith urges them to speak up. Silence adds to the problem, she said. Ask about the black eye, the bruised arms, the constant tears, Stith said. Say "I'm worried about you," Or tell a teacher, parent or counselor. "You want peace of mind. You want to know that you did all you could," Stith said. Campuses and communities offer a myriad of counseling and support resources. Teacher Training, Teacher Quality and Student Achievement Using longitudinal data from the state of Florida, this study examines the effects of various types of education and training on the ability of teachers to promote student achievement. It suggests that teacher training generally has little influence on productivity. One exception is that content-focused teacher professional development is positively associated with productivity in middle and high school math. In addition, more experienced teachers appear more effective in teaching elementary and middle school reading. There is no evidence that either pre-service (undergraduate) training or the scholastic aptitude of teachers influences their ability to increase student achievement. Full paper: Future Career Path of Gifted Youth Can Be Predicted by Age 13 The future career path and creative direction of gifted youth can be predicted well by their performance on the SAT at age 13, a new study from Vanderbilt University finds. The study offers insights into how best to identify the nation’s most talented youth, which is a focus of the new $43 billion America Competes Act recently passed by Congress to enhance the United States’ ability to compete globally. “Our economy depends upon the creative sector – science, technology, the arts, medicine, law and entertainment,” David Lubinski, study co-author and professor of psychology at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development, said. “Our research finds that differences in creative potential among highly gifted youth can be identified at age 13, offering opportunities for educators and policymakers to develop programs to cultivate these individuals based on their unique strengths and abilities.” The research was drawn from the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth or SMPY, which is tracking 5,000 individuals over 50 years identified at age 13 as being highly intelligent by their SAT scores. Lubinski and Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Peabody College, lead the study. Their co-author on the new report, published online by Psychological Science Sept. 7, was Gregory Park, a doctoral student in Peabody’s Department of Psychology and Human Development. The current study looked at the educational and professional accomplishments of 2,409 adults who had been identified as being in the top 1 percent of ability 25 years earlier, at age 13. “We found significant differences in the creative and career paths of individuals who showed different ability patterns on the math and verbal portions of the SAT at age 13,” Benbow, a member of the National Science Board and vice chair of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, said. “Individuals showing more ability in math had greater accomplishments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, while those showing greatest ability on the verbal portion of the test went on to excel in the humanities – art, history, literature, languages, drama and related fields.” Overall, the creative potential of these participants was extraordinary. They earned a total of 817 patents and published 93 books. Of the 18 participants who later earned tenure-track positions in math/science fields at top-50 U.S. universities, their average age 13 SAT-M score was 697, and the lowest score among them was 580, a score greater than over 60 percent of all students who take the SAT. Benbow believes the latest findings from SMPY may be relevant to the ongoing public discussion about education and competitiveness. "SMPY has already shown that highly achieving adults can be identified at an early age. These results now show us that we can also predict in which areas they are most likely to excel," she said. "The policy question becomes: how best can we support individuals such as these, especially during their formative years, to help promote their development and success?" The findings contradict recent reports that the SAT has no predictive value. “The key factor in our study is that the SAT was administered at a young age,” Lubinski said. “When students take the test in high school, the most able students all score near the top, and individual differences are harder to see. Using the test with gifted students at a young age allows us to easily identify differences in strengths and abilities that could potentially be used to help shape that person’s education.” Contrasting Intellectual Patterns Predict Creativity in the Arts and Sciences Many Colleges Ignore SAT Writing Test Hundreds of universities, including several top schools, ignore or pay little heed to students' scores on the writing section of the SAT in admissions decisions, skeptical about how well the essay reflects writing skills. Reservations about the validity of the essay portion of the writing exam frustrate students who spend hours and sometimes thousands of dollars preparing for it and raise questions about the test's future. Criticism about the essay has been building for more than a year since an MIT professor's experiment indicated that students could get high scores simply by writing longer and throwing in big words…. …The College Board, which administers the test, said its surveys and checks of university websites show that 56 percent of the roughly 1,000 four-year colleges do not use the writing section for admissions, although the overwhelming majority of the nation's 61 most selective colleges use it in some fashion. College Board officials said universities' shunning of the writing test is not necessarily an indictment of the test. They said colleges are awaiting results of research to see if students with higher scores on the SAT writing exam also are high performers in writing classes in college… To see full article: The Effects of NBPTS-Certified Teachers on Student Achievement This study considers the efficacy of a certification system for teachers established by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). The authors utilize a four-year span of the longitudinal data from Florida to determine the relationship between teacher NBPTS certification and student test scores on low-stakes and high-stakes exams. They find evidence that NBPTS certification provides a positive signal of teacher productivity in some cases, but it is highly variable. The process of becoming NBPTS certified does not appear to increase teacher productivity nor do NBPTS-certified teachers appear to enhance the productivity of their colleagues. Full paper: Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative A new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute At first glance, the explosive growth of "alternative" teacher certification--which is supposed to allow able individuals to teach in public schools without first passing through a college of education--appears to be one of the great success stories of modern education reform. From negligible numbers twenty years ago, alternatively prepared candidates now account for almost one in five new teachers nationwide. That's a "market share" of nearly 20 percent. As longtime supporters of alternative certification, we should be popping champagne, declaring victory, and plotting our next big win, right? Not so fast. As the old cliché says, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. "Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative" contends that alternative certification programs, contrary to their original mission, have not provided a real alternative to traditional education schools. In fact, they represent a significant setback for education reform advocates.
The report argues that policymakers, reform advocates, and philanthropists who think they have "won" the battle in favor of alternative certification should think again. Twenty-five years later, concerns about the quality of education schools remain--as does the need for bona fide alternatives: swifter, better, surer, cheaper ways to address teaching aspirations on the one hand and workforce quality and quantity problems on the other. So put away the champagne. Full report: To see more commentary on this issue: Southern States Lead Nation in Creation of State Virtual Schools Founded in 1948, the Southern Regional Education Board is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works with leaders and policy-makers in 16 member states to improve pre-K through postsecondary education. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Nearly all SREB member states now have a state-sponsored virtual (online) school, and the remaining states are planning or beginning initial implementation, a new report shows. SREB’s Report on State Virtual Schools, August 2007, notes that just 12 years ago, none of the 50 states had a state virtual school. Today, through the efforts of SREB’s Educational Technology Cooperative, the SREB region leads the nation in using the Web to provide needed academic courses to middle grades and high school students. Click on the report above for a detailed update on the status of state virtual school efforts in each SREB state. Full report: Secondhand Smoke Increases Teen Test Failure Teens exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. “Our retrospective study suggests that in adolescents, secondhand smoke exposure could interfere with academic test performance,” said lead author Bradley Collins, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health and director of the Health Behavior Research Clinic at Temple University. Taking other known risk factors into account — for example, socioeconomic status, gender, prenatal exposure to smoking and active smoking during adolescence— Collins and his colleagues found that exposure to secondhand smoke at home decreased the odds of passing standardized achievement tests by 30 percent in 16- and 18-year-olds. Surprisingly, the study found that when examining the effects of prenatal tobacco exposure and secondhand smoke together, prenatal exposure did not influence test performance. These study results bolster growing evidence of academic-related secondhand smoke consequences beyond the known health consequences, and should further encourage efforts to reduce this environmental threat, the researchers stated. “It’s important that we help smoking parents learn how to reduce their children’s exposure to secondhand smoke, a goal that can be achieved without requiring the parent to immediately quit smoking, although that’s the ultimate goal for the health of the entire family,” said Collins. Current smoking cessation success rates are low, ranging from 20 percent to 28 percent in the United States. The researchers, who analyzed data from 6,380 pregnant women and children from the 1958 British National Child Development Study, initially were interested in the long-term effects of prenatal exposure to smoking on adolescent achievement test performance when controlling for the effects of secondhand smoke exposure during adolescence. They found it interesting that secondhand smoke exposure trumped prenatal exposure. The researchers note that the United States and the United Kingdom share similar statistics on smoking: Approximately one third of women in their childbearing years are smokers, 10 percent to 15 percent of women report smoking during pregnancy, and up to 60 percent of children may be exposed to smoke at home. The study did not reveal why secondhand smoke influenced failure, and the researchers were unable to include other known factors, for example, learning disabilities, that could also affect learning and academic test performance. However, prior research has linked exposure to prenatal smoke to a higher risk of cognitive and academic defects, learning disabilities and impulsivity. But few studies have looked simultaneously at the effects of both prenatal and environmental exposure to smoking on academic achievement beyond childhood and into adolescence. Collins currently is conducting a smoking treatment research study that is focused on reducing young children’s exposure to secondhand smoke, breaking down behavior changes into smaller steps. He is one of a few researchers looking at smoking in underserved, high-risk populations and helping them find solutions that don’t require smoking abstinence as the first-step goal. How and Why Do Teacher Credentials Matter for Student Achievement? In this paper, the authors use a ten-year span of longitudinal data from North Carolina to explore a range of questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials, on the one hand, and student achievement on the other. They conclude that a teacher's experience, test scores and regular licensure all have positive effects on student achievement, with larger effects for math than for reading. Taken together the various teacher credentials exhibit quite large effects on math achievement, whether compared to the effects of changes in class size or to the socio-economics characteristics of students. Full paper: http://www.caldercenter.org/PDF/1001058_Teacher_Credentials.pdf 'It's Important ... But Not for Me': Research Indicates Kansas and Missouri Students and Parents Get the Importance of Math, Science and Technology Education Generally, But Not for Themselves There is growing consensus among the nation's business, government and higher education leaders that unless schools do more to train and nurture a whole new generation of young Americans with strong skills in math, science and technology, U.S. leadership in the world economy is at risk. A new research report from the opinion research and citizen engagement organization Public Agenda concludes that Kansas and Missouri parents and students didn't get the memo. "Important, But Not for Me: Parents and Students in Kansas and Missouri Talk About Math, Science and Technology Education" details parents' and students' current thinking about MST education and their satisfaction with the existing curriculum which most experts see as vastly below world-class standards. According to the study, just 25 percent of Kansas/Missouri parents think their children should be studying more math and science; 70 percent think things "are fine as they are now." The report also explains why parents and students are so complacent in this area and what kinds of changes might be helpful in building more interest in and support for more rigorous MST courses. "A crucial part of our ten year initiative to improve MST throughout the Kansas City area is to better understand how parents and students view MST careers, the importance of these subjects in their lives, and the value they place on these subjects in the school curriculum," said Dennis Cheek, Vice President of Education at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. "This study resoundingly confirmed what was observed in an earlier Public Agenda national study - parents and students have not received a clear message about the importance of MST to life, learning, and earning in this new millennium despite a multitude of national reports and pronouncements by national policy makers. The challenge ahead of us is to more fully inform and engage parents and students as full partners in educational reform." "Important, But Not for Me" shows that parents and students are aware of the United States' slippage in international standings on MST education and recognize that students who complete advanced courses in MST education have good employment prospects and can expect a successful future. But the report also describes a disconnect between this understanding and their own personal interests and expectations. "Students would not be motivated to take MST courses by abstract notions of international competitiveness, but could be convinced take higher level classes if they believed they were essential for the career and college opportunities to which they aspire," said Jean Johnson, Executive Vice President of Public Agenda and Director of Education Insights. The full report along with the complete questionnaire and topline data are available online at: http://www.publicagenda.org/ImportantButNotforMe The findings are based on twelve focus groups with parents, teachers and students in the Kansas City region, fifteen expert interviews with local business, education and community leaders and telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,472 parents of children grade 6-12 in public school in Kansas and Missouri and 1,295 public school students in grades 6 through 12. What Parents and Kids Say While 86 percent of parents agree that "students with advanced math and science skills will have a big advantage when it comes to work and college opportunities" and 63 percent of students say "it's crucial for most of today's students to learn higher-level math skills like advanced algebra and calculus," when it comes to ordering their personal priorities, MST education looses out. While 92 percent of parents and 83 percent of students say it is "absolutely essential" (as opposed to "important but not essential") that students learn basic reading and writing and 91 percent of parents and 79 percent of students think having basic math skills is "absolutely essential," only 23 percent of parents and 26 percent of students believe it is essential to understand higher level math like calculus and only 23 percent of parents and 24 percent of students say it is essential to understand advanced sciences like physics. On a postive note, the report notes that algebra is fairing well as a priority. The subject has been given significantly more national attention by leaders in recent years who have argued that it is a critically important subject for all students to master, and the Public Agenda research suggests that this emphasis is paying off. Nearly 8 in 10 parents (79 percent) and 7 in 10 (70 percent) students say algebra is absolutely essential. This suggests that parents and students may be open to arguments about the importance of advanced MST mastery for today's students. "In fact, this is something we saw quite clearly in focus groups for this project," said Jean Johnson. "As people learned more about the expanding role of math, science and technology in the new economy, the more importance they attached to students mastering these subjects." Satisfaction with Teachers, Curriculum Both parents and students are satisfied with their schools' MST teachers and curriculum. Parents say that courses are harder than when they were in school (69 percent say math courses are harder and 51 percent say science courses are harder). This, the report contends, has lead to complacency among parents and students. When it comes to whether their child's school should be teaching more math and science, 70 percent say "things are fine as is." Asked whether all students should be expected to take advanced science classes such as physics and advanced chemistry, 72 percent of students said no, "It should be expected only of students who are interested." Like their parents, students give MST teachers high marks. More than 7 in 10 say that their teachers are helping them "learn a lot" about these subjects. And only 20 percent say that low student achievement can be attributed to not having enough good math and science teachers. In Need of Convincing Some good news from the research: kids do not buy into the stereotypes that MST achievement depends on natural ability or that students who do well in these subjects are less popular or socially awkward. Seventy percent of students disagree with the statement that "students who are strong in math and science tend to be less popular." An even larger majority (85 percent) hold that math and science are subjects that "kids can learn in school and develop with experience" rather than being "something kids are mostly born with." So, if kids believe they could do it, what would convince them to do it? Three-quarters of students (76 percent) say that math and science are irrelevant to their lives. But when such courses are required for college, it seems to make the difference. In the survey, parents and students both said they would be most motivated by arguments that relate to future opportunities for young people in higher education or in the job market. Sixty-three percent of students say advanced math is crucial for success in college and work. Additionally, the focus group portion of the research indicated very low levels of understanding among students of just what sorts of careers involved knowledge of math, science and technology. Together this suggests that families would likely put more emphasis on advanced MST education in high school if universities and trade schools mandated MST prerequisites for a greater number of incoming students whose intended majors necessitate such knowledge. More abstract arguments for students taking higher level MST courses are not likely to work, the report concludes. While policy leaders often invoke dire warnings about regional and national competitiveness, the research found that parents and students are less moved by this argument than they are by the idea that a strong MST background might give a leg up on college applications. Quoted in the report, one typical student said, "I hate math because it's hard for me to understand how that's ever going to come back and help me. There's just not a point." Another said, "Science doesn't matter unless you want to become a doctor or something like that." The majority of students continue to see advanced MST education as irrelevant to their career aspirations, and few recognize just how many "new economy" jobs require advanced math, science and technology comprehension. Full report: High Poverty Schools and the Distribution of Teachers and Principals The central question for this study is how the quality of the teachers and principals in high poverty schools in North Carolina compares to that in the schools serving more advantaged students. A related question is why these differences emerge. The consistency of the patterns across many measures of qualifications for both teachers and principals leaves no doubt that students in the high poverty schools are served by school personnel with lower qualifications than those in the lower poverty schools. Moreover, in many cases the differences are large. Additional evidence documents that the differences largely reflect predictable outcomes of the labor market for teachers and principals. Full paper: http://www.caldercenter.org/PDF/1001057_High_Poverty.pdf Major Talent Drain in Our Nation's Schools, Squandering the Potential of Millions of High-Achieving, Lower-Income Students, New Report Uncovers Current education policy focused on "proficiency" misses opportunity to raise achievement levels among the brightest, lower-income students A disturbing talent drain in our nation's schools, squandering the potential of millions of lower-income, high-achieving students each year was exposed today before the U.S. House of Representative's Education Committee. New research cited at the hearing shows that students who demonstrate strong academic potential despite obstacles that come with low incomes, are currently ignored under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Alternative NCLB legislation being debated in the Education Committee hearing today includes provisions that could, for the first time, hold schools accountable for the academic growth of students performing at advanced levels. The report cited in the testimony -Achievement Trap: How America is Failing 3.4 Million High-Achieving Students from Lower-Income Families - is a first-of-its-kind look at a population below the median income level that starts school performing at high levels, but loses ground at virtually every level of schooling and suffers a steep plummet in college. "No Child Left Behind's successes in demanding greater accountability for reversing poor achievement among low-income students are laudable and should be continued," testified Joshua S. Wyner, Executive Vice President of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which wrote the report with Civic Enterprises. "But we are missing an important opportunity to promote high achievement for all students, no matter what their income and background. The needs of high potential and high-achieving students should not be pitted against the educational needs of underachievers." Overlooked under the No Child Left Behind law, these 3.4 million extraordinary students are larger than the populations of 21 individual states and largely representative of the race, ethnicity, gender and geography of America as a whole. The report's authors say the faulty assumption that these students don't need help to achieve at high levels is causing an enormous, but preventable talent drain in our nation's schools. As a result, the top 25 percent of students are disproportionately higher-income. K-12 findings:
Tanner Mathison, a student featured in the report who is now a freshman at Dartmouth College studying medicine, said: "There are a ton of smart, low-income students in this country who do not have someone to speak for them - no one to get them access to the programs and enrichment they need. In modern society we tend to associate monetary gains with success, and sadly with this paradigm, we often fail to recognize that academic talent can rest within lower-income students." College and graduate school findings: Although high-achieving lower-income students are attending college at impressive rates, they are less likely to graduate from college than their higher-income peers (59 percent versus 77 percent). In addition, lower-income, high-achievers are:
Full report: Mayo Clinic Study Indicates Medication for ADHD May Help Student Outcomes In an 18-year-study on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Mayo Clinic researchers found that treatment with prescription stimulants is associated with improved long-term academic success of children with ADHD. The Mayo Clinic results are the first population-based data to show stimulant drug therapy helps improve long-term school outcomes. A related Mayo Clinic study reveals that compared to children without AD/HD, children with ADHD are at risk for poor long-term school outcomes such as low achievement in reading, absenteeism, repeating a grade, and dropping out of school. Both studies appear in the current edition of the Journal of Development & Behavioral Pediatrics, (http://www.jrnldbp.com). Nearly 2 million children, or approximately 3 percent to 5 percent of young children in the United States, have ADHD. This disorder affects a child’s ability to focus, concentrate and control impulsive behavior (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/adhd.cfm). This disorder is so common that most school classrooms have at least one child with clinically-diagnosed ADHD. Significance of the Mayo Clinic Studies The two Mayo Clinic studies are the first population-based, long-term studies to investigate links between ADHD, school performance and factors that modify long-term school performance of children with ADHD. Researchers followed the children from the time they were born for, on average, 18 years. Of the more than 5,000 children evaluated, 370 (277 boys and 93 girls) were identified as having ADHD. Researchers matched them by age and gender to 740 children who did not meet the research criteria for having AD/HD. In addition to medical stimulants such as methylphenidate, also called Ritalin, the study examined the effects on school outcomes of maternal age, socioeconomic background, and special education services the students received. School Outcome Results At a Glance The children treated with stimulants typically began taking medication in elementary school and received it for nearly three years -- on average, for 30.4 months. Results indicate:
Implications for Parents and Caregivers Dr. Barbaresi believes that both studies provide the first solid evidence of the long-term negative academic performance associated with untreated ADHD -- as well as evidence for the best way to manage this problem. Dr. Barbaresi says, “The finding that treatment with stimulant medications is associated with long-term improvement in school outcomes is significant. Previously, there was evidence that treatment with stimulant medications improved short-term academic performance, but there was no good evidence that long-term outcomes are better with stimulant treatment. Our data can guide clinicians in their efforts to help children with ADHD succeed in school.” About the Studies The Mayo Clinic team had a unique ability to identify groups of children with and without ADHD. Mayo Clinic has maintained a comprehensive communitywide medical records database since 1935, and researchers had access to all conditions, diagnoses and treatments the children received. In addition, Mayo obtained a research agreement with Independent School District #535, Rochester, Minn., including public and private schools, to access non-identifiable school records of all children born in Rochester between Jan. 1, 1976 and Dec. 31, 1982. This enabled researchers to correlate school performance of both children with and without ADHD in terms of medical conditions, maternal age, socioeconomic status and special education efforts. Researchers Find Eye Movement Can Affect Problem-solving, Cognition A pair of Beckman Institute researchers has discovered that by directing the eye movements of test subjects they were able to affect the participants’ ability to solve a problem, demonstrating that eye movement is not just a function of cognition but can actually affect our cognitive processes. Previous research (Grant and Spivey, 2003) has shown a relationship between eye movements and problem-solving but Psychology Professor Alejandro Lleras, a member of the Human Perception and Performance group, and Ph.D. candidate Laura Thomas have taken that work in a groundbreaking direction. They report in the current (Aug., 2007) issue of Psychonomic Bulletin and Review that by occasionally guiding the eye movements of participants with a tracking task unrelated to the problem, they were able to "substantially affect their chances of problem-solving success" to the point where those groups outperformed every control group at solving the problem. These results, they conclude, demonstrate that "it is now clear that not only do eye movements reflect what we are thinking, they can also influence how we think." The previous work of Grant and Spivey suggested a relationship between eye movements and problem-solving by showing that certain patterns of eye movement were reflected as participants got closer to solving the problem. "We said we are going to do the opposite: rather than see what the relationship is between the eye movement and the solution right before you solve the problem, we said we’re going to see if we can force people to think differently and, without conscious awareness, move their eyes in different ways and influence their thought patterns," Lleras said. As reported in their paper, titled Moving eyes and moving thought: On the spatial compatibility between eye movements and cognition, the researchers were able to manipulate eye movement in order to guide participants to the problem’s solution. "So it’s not just the case that people who are going to get the solution are moving their eyes in a given way, but that the people who might not have gotten the solution, if you have them move their eyes in that way, then they actually can solve it," Thomas said. The tracking task used in the study – which had participants identify a digit among letters in different locations within the problem diagram – did not itself help them solve the problem. In fact, the researchers report, "many believed the tracking task was a purposeful distraction from the radiation problem." "The theory that we’re working with right now is the idea that when people do these sorts of movements it actually starts them on what’s called a perceptual simulation," Lleras said. "The idea is that you basically use the same structures in the brain when you are thinking about doing something that you would actually use when you do that task. So we start them on this movement and that starts this simulation of how to solve the problem." Lleras and Thomas have been invited to give a talk on the subject at the Association for Psychological Science meeting this spring. To read the paper: Education at a Glance is the OECD’s annual round-up of data and analysis on education, providing a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of indicators on education systems in the OECD’s 30 member countries and in a number of partner economies. The main areas covered are:
The 2007 edition investigates the effects of expanding tertiary education on labour markets. Graduation rates from higher education have grown significantly in OECD countries in recent decades, but has the increasing supply of well-educated workers been matched by the creation of high-paying jobs? Or will everyone with a university degree some day work for the minimum wage? Using recent data and indicators comparable among OECD countries, Education at a Glance 2007 finds that the expansion of tertiary education has had a positive impact for individuals and national economies, and that there are, so far, no signs of an inflation of the value of qualifications. Complete Report: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/4/55/39313286.pdf U.S. Report: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/22/51/39317423.pdf Almost Half of States Failed Academic Standards Test in 2006 Weak expectations drive calls for national testing Five years after No Child Left Behind made standards-based education reform the law of the land, a new study finds that the subject-by-subject state standards that undergird this reform strategy remain inadequate in most jurisdictions. The State of State Standards 2006, the first full review of such standards since 2000, confers an average grade of "C-minus"-the same as six years earlier-even though most states revised their standards during that period.
The Fordham report includes an account by former San Jose Mercury News journalist Joanne Jacobs explaining how three top-rated states (California, Indiana, and Massachusetts) developed "A"-rated standards for all subjects. http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/about/press_release.cfm?id=30 To see how each state's standards measure up, visit To Dream the Impossible Dream: Four Approaches to National Standards and Tests for America's Schools To Dream the Impossible Dream: Four Approaches to National Standards and Tests for America's Schools, identifies one possible alternative to dysfunctional state standards: a rigorous system of national standards and tests. This report brings together education policy leaders across the political spectrum, including philanthropist Eli Broad, former West Virginia governor Bob Wise, and Hoover Institution fellow Diane Ravitch, to flesh out and evaluate several forms that national testing could take:
To access the report: School, Family and Community Involvement Are All Needed to Increase the Activity Levels of Adolescents Effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review of controlled trials The researchers from the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit also found significant positive results for multi-component interventions aimed at adolescents. These are programmes which along with traditional health education included policy or environmental changes, for example additional PE classes. The authors say the programmes that work can make important differences and should be actively promoted. The review, which looked at all the published literature on the effectiveness of promoting physical activity to children and adolescents, also found some evidence that programmes which change children’s environments, for example, improving a playground, can have significant effects. Programmes aimed at children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can also have some impact on activity levels. However, the researchers say both these areas need to be investigated more closely. Increasing physical activity among young people has been identified as one of the key ways to tackle obesity. The authors say children who are inactive tend to remain inactive as adults, which means their risk of developing cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis in later life is increased. They argue this means developing and evaluating these sorts of programmes is therefore a priority. To date it has been unclear how successful efforts to increase the activity levels of young people have been. The reviewers found no evidence that initiatives which use education alone had any effect on children’s activity levels and there was inconclusive evidence of the benefit to adolescents. The evidence for the benefit of programmes which used a variety of components, for example additional PE classes, PE teacher training or the availability of extra equipment, was found to be inconclusive for children. There was strong evidence however that this is an effective strategy for adolescents. They found strong evidence to support the use of programmes where adolescents were involved in school-based initiatives but where the family or community had to become involved as well, for example, through homework assignments or incorporating physical activity into existing community events. The effects seen in the studies ranged from 3 minute increases during PE to a 50% increase in the number of participants being regularly active. Overall they say there was stronger evidence for the effectiveness of physical activity programmes among adolescents, yet that could be because the studies were of higher quality and they also included large sample sizes. One of the reasons for the increased effectiveness among adolescents could also be that they are known to be less active than children so there could be greater potential for change. Complete study: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmj.39320.843947.BEv1 Top 10 Social Skills Students Need to Succeed Reading, writing, ‘rithmetic and… good manners? Researchers have found that 10 basic social skills such as taking turns, listening and simply being nice are just as important to children’s academic success as the subjects they study, and that students can and should be learning these skills in the classroom. “If we increase social skills, we see commensurate increases in academic learning. That doesn’t mean that social skills make you smarter; it means that these skills make you more amenable to learning,” Stephen Elliott, Vanderbilt Peabody education and psychology researcher and co-author of the newly published The Social Skills Improvement System—Classwide Intervention Program, said. “In our research, we found that elementary kids and teachers value cooperation and self-control. When we teach and increase those behaviors, we reduce problem behaviors and maximize learning time.” Elliott and co-author Frank Gresham identified the top 10 skills that students need to succeed based on surveys of over 8,000 teachers and over 20 years of research in classrooms across the country. They are:
“Our new publication is based on a survey we did in 2006, but we found almost exactly the same list of desired social skills when we did the survey in 1989,” Elliott said. “Society has not changed what it values as fundamental social behaviors.” In the new book, Elliott and Gresham present a detailed 10-week program that teachers can use to incorporate teaching of these skills into pre-school through middle school curriculum. The program devotes a week to each of the 10 skills, with each section building upon what is learned in the previous unit. In addition to the guide for teachers, the program includes student workbooks, videos and other supplemental materials. Elliott believes that rather than adding on to a teacher’s already heavy workload, the program will in fact help them reach children more effectively. “Many teachers feel pressured by the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act and see this as an add-on,” Elliott said. “But we have found after this program they can teach these skills at the same time as they are teaching science and math, and it will help them be more effective across the board.” The program includes a simple screening tool that teachers use at the beginning of the year to assess their individual students’ social and basic academic skills. The tool allows them to provide specific assistance in a particular area based on the student’s needs, and also to assess progress. It includes communication with parents throughout the process to encourage their involvement in supporting these skills at home. Elliott is professor of special education, Dunn Family Chair in Educational and Psychological Assessment and interim director of the Learning Sciences Institute at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development. Gresham is professor of psychology at Louisiana State University’s Department of Psychology. Pearson, Inc. published the SSIS. More information is available at http://www.PearsonAssessments.com. Interpreting 12th-Graders’ NAEP-Scaled Mathematics Performance Using High School Predictors and Postsecondary Outcomes From the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) This report utilizes four sources of NELS:88 data: questionnaire responses, tests, high school transcripts, and postsecondary education transcripts. The NELS:88 1992 12th grade mathematics assessment scores were transformed to the NAEP scale. The report relates mathematics results expressed in the NAEP metric (specifically, the NAEP achievement levels) to cross-sectional (12th grade) correlates of math achievement. It also relates 12th grade NAEP-scaled NELS:88 mathematics results (again expressed in terms of the NAEP achievement levels) to postsecondary educational outcomes. The report is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1 provides background information and an introduction. Chapter 2 examines the correlates of math achievement— student, family, and high school predictors (e.g., sex, race, socioeconomic status [SES], school sector, highest math course taken, grades, etc.) of 12th graders’ NAEP-Scaled performance. Chapter 3 relates high school seniors’ NAEP-scaled mathematics performance to later outcomes such as entry into postsecondary education, and baccalaureate attainment. These senior-year correlates (chapter 2) and future outcomes (chapter 3) are explored through bivariate tables; senior-year achievement correlates are also examined in a logistic regression. Two appendixes provide technical notes, a glossary of variables used, and tables of standard errors for all estimates contained in the report. Please download the full report: Public School Practices for Violence Prevention and Reduction: 2003–04 This Issue Brief (1) examines principals’ reports of the prevalence of formal practices in public schools designed to prevent or reduce school violence and (2) describes the distribution of these practices by selected school characteristics. This analysis is based on school-level data reported by principals participating in the school year 2003–04 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) administered by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Findings from the analysis indicate that schools implemented a variety of school violence prevention and reduction practices and that some practices were more commonly used than others. For example, 59 percent of schools formally obtained parental input on policies related to school crime and 50 percent provided parental training to deal with students’ problem behaviors. In addition, practices differed by school level and other selected school characteristics. For example, high schools were more likely than primary schools to implement safety and security procedures, while primary schools were more likely than high schools to promote training for parents to deal with students’ problem behavior. Please download the full report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007010 The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2007 This report presents results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading at grades 4 and 8. Results for students in the nation and in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Department of Defense schools are reported as average scores and as percentages of students performing at or above three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Scores are also reported at selected percentiles, showing changes in the performance of lower-, middle-, and higher-performing students. Results for groups of students defined by various background characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, and students’ eligibility for free or reduced-price school lunch) are included, as well as sample assessment questions with examples of student responses. Additional technical notes and appendix tables provide information on NAEP samples, school and student participation rates, exclusion and accommodation of students with disabilities and English language learners, and additional state-level results. Highlights of the national results show that reading skills are improving for both fourth- and eighth-graders, particularly among lower-and middle-performing students. Fourth-graders scored higher in 2007 than in all previous assessment years, with higher percentages of students performing at or above the Basic and Proficient achievement levels. The average reading score for eighth-graders was up 1 point since 2005 and 3 points since 1992; however, the trend of increasing scores was not consistent over all assessment years. In comparison to both 1992 and 2005, the percentage of students performing at or above the Basic level increased, but there was no significant change in the percentage of students at or above the Proficient level. State results show gains since 2005 for both fourth- and eighth-graders in 4 states and jurisdictions. An additional 14 states and jurisdictions showed gains for grade 4 only, and 2 states showed gains for grade 8 only. Two states showed declines since 2005 at grade 8. Among the 42 states and jurisdictions that participated in both the 1992 and 2007 fourth-grade reading assessments, 25 showed higher average scores in 2007, and 1 showed a decline. Among the 38 states and jurisdictions that participated in the 1998 and 2007 eighth-grade reading assessments, 6 states showed higher average scores in 2007, and 7 states showed declines. Please download the full report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007496 NAEP Reading 2007 State Snapshot Reports Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the NAEP 2007 reading assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. The reports in this series present bulleted text describing overall student results, bar charts showing NAEP achievement levels for each year in which the state participated, and tables displaying results by gender, race/ethnicity, and eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch. In addition, bulleted text describes the trends in average scale score gaps for gender, race/ethnicity, eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch, and the 25th compared to the 75th percentile score. Trends in scale scores at selected percentiles are also displayed. Please download the full report: The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2007 This report presents results of the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics at grades 4 and 8. Results for students in the nation and in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Department of Defense schools are reported as average scores and as percentages of students performing at or above three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Scores are also reported at selected percentiles, showing changes in the performance of lower-, middle-, and higher-performing students. Results for groups of students defined by various background characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, and students’ eligibility for free or reduced-price school lunch) are included, as well as sample assessment questions with examples of student responses. Additional technical notes and appendix tables provide information on NAEP samples, school and student participation rates, exclusion and accommodation of students with disabilities and English language learners, and additional state-level results.Highlights of the national results show that both fourth- and eighth-graders reached a higher level of performance in 2007 in comparison to all earlier assessment years. The average score for fourth-graders increased 27 points over the past 17 years, and the score for eighth-graders increased 19 points. Students at all levels of performance made gains, resulting in higher percentages of students at or above the Basic and Proficient achievement levels.State results show gains since 2005 for both fourth- and eighth-graders in 15 states and jurisdictions. An additional 8 states showed gains for grade 4 only, and 11 states showed gains for grade 8 only. All of the 42 states and jurisdictions that participated in both the 1992 and 2007 fourth-grade mathematics assessments showed higher average scores in 2007, and all 38 states and jurisdictions that participated in the 1990 and 2007 eighth-grade mathematics assessments showed higher average scores in 2007. Please download the full report: NAEP Mathematics 2007 State Snapshot Reports Each state and jurisdiction that participated in the NAEP 2007 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. The reports in this series present bulleted text describing overall student results, bar charts showing NAEP achievement levels for each year in which the state participated, and tables displaying results by gender, race/ethnicity, and eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch. In addition, bulleted text describes the trends in average scale score gaps for gender, race/ethnicity, eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch, and the 25th compared to the 75th percentile score. Trends in scale scores at selected percentiles are also displayed. Please download the full report:
2007 Nation's Report Card Shows Minority Students Posting All-Time Highs The Nation's Report Card shows across-the-board improvement in 4th and 8th grade reading and math.
African-American and Hispanic students are making significant progress, posting all-time highs in a number of categories.
Crime, Violence, Discipline, and Safety in U.S. Public Schools, Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety: 2005-06 This First Look report uses data from the 2005–06 School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) to examine a range of issues dealing with school crime and safety, such as the frequency of school crime and violence, disciplinary actions, and school practices related to the prevention and reduction of crime and safety. SSOCS is the primary source of school-level data on crime and safety for NCES. Since 1999, it has been administered three times to the principals of a nationally representative sample of public primary, middle, high, and combined schools. Please download the full report: Study: Children of Immigrants Form Ethnic Identity at Early Age A study of more than 400 children of first-generation immigrants is among the first longitudinal studies to demonstrate that one’s ethnic identity forms prior to adolescence. Furthermore, the three-year study found that a child’s positive sense of ethnic identity is associated with the desire to socialize with children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Cynthia Garcia Coll, professor of education, and Amy Marks, both affiliated with Brown University’s Center for the Study of Human Development, conducted the research with colleagues from Howard University and University of Illinois–Chicago. Their findings are published in The International Journal of Behavioral Development. The sample included two groups of children in first and fourth grades from first-generation Cambodian, Dominican and Portuguese families in Providence and East Providence, R.I. Researchers assessed the children’s emerging ethnic identities through a label selection procedure that involved the children selecting labels that described themselves. Categories included labels of nationality (i.e., Portuguese, Dominican); hyphenated (i.e., Portuguese-American); panethnic (i.e., Latino, Asian); racial (white or black); and ethno-linguistic (i.e., Spanish, English, Khmer). Each child was also asked a series of questions about their degree of ethnic pride, the centrality of their ethnic identity, and which label makes them the happiest. Results demonstrate that second-generation children in three very different ethnic groups showed a robust awareness of their ethnic heritage and identified with being both part of their parents’ culture of origin, as well as being American. Other findings include:
“This research indicates these children are actively constructing this part of their identities, learning, and choosing from the environments they are part of,” said Garcia Coll, the Charles Pitts Robinson and John Palmer Barstow Professor of Education, Psychology and Pediatrics at Brown. “As adults we can’t adopt a color-blind posture, but should support them in these important psychological tasks.” During years two and three of the study, children were asked about their preferences for socializing with children of their own and other ethnicities and racial groups. Displaying sets of photographs of white, black, Asian, and Latino groups of children, interviewers asked how comfortable the child was playing with and socializing with each group. Researchers measured each child’s social preference for the “ingroup” and a social preference for the “outgroup.” Researchers found:
“What we found at this early age is that children want to play with peers from their own ethnic backgrounds and peers from other backgrounds as well,” said Marks, adjunct assistant professor of human development at Brown’s Center for the Study of Human Development. “Importantly, the better children feel about their own ethnic identities, the more they want to play with others, regardless of ethnicity.” Marks continued, “This has implications for understanding how to foster children’s social skills and friendships in today’s increasingly multicultural classroom environments. Today, one in five schoolchildren are from immigrant families, and that proportion is growing. Parents and teachers should support children in forming strong, positive cultural identities while encouraging children’s curiosities for interethnic group contact and friendships.” Privatizing Education in Philadelphia: Are Educational Management Organizations Improving Student Achievement? Is privatization a viable option for improving urban schools and the achievement of students who attend them? This issue has captured headlines and provoked much editorial debate recently as large urban systems like Philadelphia have turned over management of some of their lowest-performing schools to private managers. Bringing additional empirical evidence to bear on this question is essential for informed policy decisions. Based on longitudinal analysis of achievement growth for four successive cohorts of Philadelphia middle-grades students, this article addresses the question of whether students in schools under private management show greater achievement growth than those in district-managed schools. Full paper: http://www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP141.pdf Studies: Children Obese Due to a Host of Unhealthy Pressures Unhealthy options and pressures influence nearly every part of children's daily lives, according to studies released this week in a special supplement of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. The national studies, which include work conducted at the University of Michigan, reveal that, in most middle and high schools across the nation, contracts with soft drink bottling companies give students easy access to sugary beverages. Low- versus high-income neighborhoods have a higher proportion of their restaurants serving fast foods and have fewer supermarkets and more convenience stores at which to buy their groceries. In the media, television advertisements steer kids to spend their money on junk food, and minority students get considerably more such exposure, the studies showed. For the special supplement, Bridging the Gap, a national research program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based at U-M and the University of Illinois at Chicago, produced a groundbreaking collection of evidence on factors that contribute to the escalating rates of childhood obesity. The studies offer new insight about how current school policies, neighborhood characteristics and advertising collectively impact the childhood obesity epidemic—and together create an overwhelmingly unhealthy environment for young people. A study by U-M Distinguished Research Scientist Lloyd Johnston and colleagues finds that the vast majority of middle schools (67 percent) and high schools (83 percent) have contracts with a soft drink bottling company, which in many cases gives students access to soft drinks all day long. Estimates of the median annual revenue for soft drink contracts in high schools turn out to be $6,000 ($6.48 per student), while for middle schools the annual revenue is about $500 (70 cents per student). "The financial benefits of school contracts are modest in relation to the health threat that soft drink promotions entail, and clearly the problem is most serious at the high school level," Johnston said. Other studies by the U-M team found that physical education is lacking among older students. The average number of minutes students spend in PE each week drops from 172 minutes in 8th grade to 89 minutes in 12th grade, by which time only a third of students are even taking a gym class at some time during the school year. Minority students from lower socioeconomic levels attend schools in which fewer students are involved in varsity sports, quite possibly because such schools have fewer resources available to offer a full range of sports and the exercise that goes with them.
U-M's Patrick O'Malley and colleagues found that in the 10 percent of schools that have the least overweight students, one in 10 students are overweight, on average, whereas in the 10 percent of all schools with the greatest problem, fully 44 percent of their students are overweight, on average. "Research is showing us that we have in our schools and communities a perfect storm that will continue to feed the childhood obesity epidemic until we adopt policies that improve the health of our communities and our kids," said Frank Chaloupka, head of the University of Illinois at Chicago research team. The UIC researchers found that, outside of school, it does not get much easier for kids to consume a healthy diet. Too many kids live in neighborhoods where fast-food restaurants and convenience stores far outnumber supermarkets. This is especially true in lower-income communities. UIC economist Lisa Powell found a statistically significant association between the availability of supermarkets and lower adolescent and overweight status. In addition, Powell found a statistically significant association between the availability of convenience stores and higher overweight status. "In communities where convenience stores outnumber supermarkets and fast-food restaurants are particularly prevalent, we're making it extremely difficult for parents and kids to eat balanced, healthy diets," Powell said. "These families simply don't have easy access to affordable fresh foods." Powell and her colleagues also found that high-income neighborhoods have a significantly lower proportion of fast-food restaurants than do lower-income neighborhoods. There are also racial disparities: predominantly African-American urban neighborhoods have a significantly higher proportion of fast-food restaurants out of total restaurants compared with predominantly white urban neighborhoods. "I think that the role of the environment in bringing about the epidemic of overweight among our children is still not fully appreciated," Johnston said. "There are many influences in our schools, communities and the media that contribute significantly to the problem and that can be changed for the better. If we don't make those changes, the consequences in terms of the health, longevity and the health care costs of our newest generations are going to be staggering." National School Beverage Guidelines Cutting Calories in Schools Across America Calories from beverages are being removed at a healthy pace in schools across the nation just one year into implementation of the National School Beverage Guidelines. In May 2006, the American Beverage Association and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation developed national School Beverage Guidelines to limit the number of calories students consume through beverages at school. And it commits to removing all full-calorie soft drinks by the 2009-2010 school year. The School Beverage Guidelines Progress Report 2006-2007 shows that a dramatic change in beverage choices is already taking place in schools after the first year of implementation. The following studies provide information on the consumption of beverages in schools: Measuring the Purchases of Soft Drinks by Students in U.S. Schools (.pdf) School Beverage Guidelines Progress Report 2006-2007 Executive Summary School Beverage Guidelines Progress Report 2006-2007 Full Text A Risk Analysis Model of the Relationship Between Beverage Consumption from School Vending Machines and Risk of Adolescent Overweight. Forshee et al. Risk Analysis Vol. 25, No. 5, 2005 Other relevant studies include: Elevated Blood Pressure in Youth Linked to Rise in Childhood Obesity A Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) researcher is the lead author of a new study that finds that after decades of decline, blood pressure (HBP) levels in children and adolescents are increasing. "General obesity, called 'overweight' in childhood, increased over time in all racial and ethnic groups," said Rebecca Din-Dzietham, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of community health and preventive medicine at MSM in Atlanta, Ga. "The prevalence of childhood obesity drifted slightly and steadily higher after the 1963 survey and increased significantly during the 1976-1980 survey period with a sharp rise after that time." Din-Dzietham said that each one centimeter increase in waist circumference raised the likelihood of high blood pressure by 10 percent and the likelihood of pre-high blood pressure by five percent. The study is based on an analysis of national health surveys between 1963 and 2002 published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers analyzed data from seven U.S. government surveys conducted in children and adolescents ages eight to 17 between 1963 and 2002. They examined trends in the age-adjusted prevalence of high blood pressure and pre-high blood pressure in boys and girls. They also looked at trends in various racial/ethnic groups and the impact of increasing obesity on those trends. Some of the government surveys included children younger than eight, but their data were removed from the analysis. Normal blood pressure was defined as having both systolic pressure (the upper number representing the pressure when the heart contracts, or beats) and diastolic pressure (the lower number representing the pressure when the heart relaxes between beats) below the 90th percentile. Pre-HBP was defined as either a systolic or diastolic blood pressure above the 90th percentile but below the 95th percentile or having blood pressure levels above 120/80 mm Hg, but below 95th percentile. HBP was defined as either systolic or diastolic blood pressure at or above the 95th percentile. The prevalence of HBP and pre-HBP in children and adolescents showed a downward trend between 1963 and the 1988-1994 survey. But the trend began to reverse through 2002. For example, the prevalence of high blood pressure in all children and adolescents decreased from 11.1 percent in the 1976-1980 (Black and white) and 4.7 percent in 1982-1984 survey (first national survey for Mexican-American youth) to 2.7 percent in the 1988-1994 survey (all children), but rose to 3.7 percent in the 1999-2002 survey (all children). The change was even more pronounced among Mexican-American males. For them, the prevalence of high blood pressure dropped from 6.1 percent in 1982-1984 to 3.1 percent in 1988-94 before rising to 5.3 percent in 1999-2002, making of them the subgroup with the largest and significant rise, 2.2 percent, in high blood pressure prevalence. Pre-high blood pressure is relevant because the long-running Bogalusa (La.) Heart Study found that children whose blood pressure was chronically at or above the 90th percentile showed signs of early organ damage as young adults, such as greater thickening of the heart wall or higher amounts of a protein called albumin in the urine. Autopsies on adolescents and young adults who were in the Bogalusa study, but died by accident (so supposedly healthy) also found that those with elevated blood pressure were more likely to have atherosclerotic lesions in their aorta than those with normal blood pressure. The researchers studied two kinds of overweight measures: body mass index (BMI), a measure of general overweight; and waist circumference, a measure of abdominal obesity. Although BMI and waist circumference were both associated with elevated blood pressure prevalence, the rise in abdominal obesity explained more of the rise in elevated blood pressure prevalence than did the rise in general obesity, Din-Dzietham said. For example, if the prevalence of obesity had not increased between 1988-1994 and 1999-2002, in 1999-2002 the prevalence of pre-HBP would have been lower by 64 percent when considering abdominal obesity and 27 percent lower when considering general obesity. High blood pressure is a major public health problem in adults and a common risk factor for heart attack and stroke. School Food Allergy Emergency Plans are Essential for Crisis Managemen Approximately eighty-four percent of students with food allergies will have a reaction in school, and 25 percent of first reactions occur in schools. The prevalence of potentially life-threatening food allergies in school-aged children highlights the importance of an accurate emergency plan for food allergies. A recent study in The Journal of School Nursing compared food allergy emergency plans in Illinois schools to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network’s (FAAN) Standard Plan. Although two-thirds of respondents currently utilized food allergy plans, only 15 percent of those used the current FAAN plan. In the plans studied, essential elements, such as emergency contact information, medication administration instructions, and health history information were missing components in the plans studied. School nurses should prepare a food allergy emergency plan following the FAAN Standard plan. Alterations or deviations from the plan are unnecessary and risky and can make emergency care ineffective and more difficult. A proper plan includes symptoms of allergic reaction, correct steps to stop the reaction, and emergency contacts. Research has shown that many schools don’t have written emergency plans, and when they do, school personnel do not feel comfortable with when and how to use epinephrine. Fifteen years after the first public charter school opened in St. Paul, Minn., charter schools remain a powerful educational innovation. Charter schooling expands choices for students within the public system and provides more customized teaching and learning opportunities for teachers and students by allowing for greater variation in the kinds of schools that are available. At the same time, charter schools maintain core public education ideals, such as providing universal access for students and public oversight and accountability. As independently operated public schools, charter schools offer educators increased freedom to design their own educational programs in return for heightened accountability for student performance. Unlike traditional public schools, charters that persistently fail to educate students can, and should, be shut down. As such, they provide a "third way" approach to public education—positioned between the status quo of limited choice and barriers to entry for new educational providers and free-market-oriented reforms, like vouchers, that increase competition but at the expense of public oversight or accountability. Today, there are more than 4,000 charter schools serving more than 1 million students in 40 states and the District of Columbia. That's barely 2 percent of all students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools. But this figure understates the impact of charter schools, which have become a significant part of the educational landscape in several states and cities. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools reports that in six cities charter schools serve more than 20 percent of the students, and in 19 cities more than 10 percent of students are in charters. Charter schools also have created space for innovative and successful educational models. Examples such as the Knowledge Is Power Program, a national network of schools that prepare disadvantaged youngsters to succeed in college, and the Achievement First network of high-performing schools in Connecticut and New York, challenge assumptions about what public education is and what urban schools can be expected to do. But not all charter schools are successful. Too many fail to live up to the terms of their charter contracts or improve student achievement. And too often, poor-quality charters are allowed to remain open, although charter authorizers have closed down some popular but low-performing schools, such as the John A. Reisenbach Charter School in New York and SouthEast Academy in Washington, D.C. Charter school success or failure is not simply a matter of chance. Both the existence and aggregate quality of charter schools in a state depend on the provisions of state charter school laws. These laws address a wide range of issues and vary from state to state. But the experiences of states with significant charter sectors, as well as those with innovative charter policies, provide important lessons for the charter school movement as a whole. In too many instances, charter schooling has been hobbled by the twin demons of poor performance and political opposition. The presence of too many low-quality charter schools casts a negative light on the entire movement, buttressing the case of the powerful interests that oppose charter schools and making it hard to enact legislative and regulatory changes that would expand opportunities for charter school growth or help improve quality. Yet, these laws are the key policy lever for improving both the quality and supply of charter schools. Based on a series of state and city case studies published by the Progressive Policy Institute and Education Sector, this report summarizes states' experiences with charter schooling, particularly the role of state charter school laws in shaping a state's charter sector. We identify and examine the areas of the law that have the greatest impact on the characteristics and quality of a state's charter sector and propose what we have found to be the necessary legislative and regulatory changes to promote a charter sector's quality and growth. We also look beyond state charter school laws to how a state's regulatory, political, and educational climate also shapes its charter sector. Please download the full report: New Book Explores Effectiveness, Challenges of Charter Schools As perhaps the fastest-growing sector in the school choice movement, charter schools claim to offer a bigger bang for the public education buck. The question is, is it true? According to Charter School Outcomes, a new book by some of the leading charter school researchers in the country, it depends. “There is copious speculation about the need for, the effectiveness, cost and impact of charter schools on students and on our nation’s education system,” Mark Berends, one of the volume’s editors and director of the National Center on School Choice at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, said. “This book brings tested, factual research to this debate to provide some answers based on evidence to guide U.S. educational policy and practice.” In three broad sections—teaching and learning; governance, finance, and law; and student achievement—Charter School Outcomes tackles questions most pertinent to the charter school debate. Among them: What research designs are best for comparing charter and regular public school performance? Do charter schools receive less funding per student than regular public schools? What do we know about the effects of charter and regular public schools on how children learn? Charter schools are supported by public funds but managed by a private board under contract to the local school district. Though public, they are free of many of the regulations traditional public schools face. Thus—so the idea goes—educators have the freedom to try innovative educational and administrative approaches with the end goal of improving student achievement. Interest in such innovations is growing as concerns grow about public school performance and costs. Charter schools are one of the more popular “choice” options in many states, with more than 1 million students attending about 4,000 charter schools nationwide. Other increasingly popular school options are magnet schools, school vouchers to attend private schools, and homeschooling. Charter School Outcomes is a compilation of papers presented at a September 2006 conference at the National Center on School Choice (NCSC) at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development. The book’s editors are Berends, associate professor of public policy and education, Matthew G. Springer, assistant professor and director of the National Center on Performance Incentives and Herbert J. Walberg, distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University. It was published in August 2007 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates/Taylor & Francis Group. This is the first volume in a NCSC-sponsored series, “Research on School Choice,” which will explore and report on research surrounding school choice and its impact on student learning, including perspectives from economics, sociology, politics, psychology, history and law. The series’ second volume, Handbook of Research on School Choice, is due for publication in 2008. The National Center on School Choice is one of 10 centers supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. The National Center on Performance Incentives is another such center, making Vanderbilt the only university to host two federally funded national research centers. NCSC partners are the Brookings Institution, Brown University, Harvard University, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Northwest Evaluation Association, Stanford University and the University of Indianapolis. The National Center on School Choice is one of 10 centers supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. The National Center on Performance Incentives is another such center, making Vanderbilt the only university to host two federally funded national research centers. NCSC partners are the Brookings Institution, Brown University, Harvard University, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Northwest Evaluation Association, Stanford University and the University of Indianapolis. For more information about the National Center on School Choice, visit www.vanderbilt.edu/schoolchoice. Ahead of the Curve: The Power of Assessment to Transform Teaching and Learning Educational publishing company Solution Tree released a new anthology, Ahead of the Curve: The Power of Assessment to Transform Teaching and Learning, on Wednesday, September 26. With contributions from leading assessment experts, this tome contains a collection of experiences, recommendations, and strategies focused on shattering antiquated ideas of assessment practices. Douglas Reeves, Rick Stiggins, Anne Davies, Richard DuFour, Thomas Guskey, Robert Marzano, and Dylan Wiliam are among the international authors included in Ahead of the Curve. The anthology addresses numerous challenges educators face, such as applying assessments to English language learners and special needs students. While the authors each present a unique perspective, they offer a united front for the need to use assessment to shatter archaic evaluations that trap students in the bell curve. “The essential mission of this book (is) a new vision of achievement, assessment, and equity,” writes Reeves. “The fundamental premise of this new vision is a rejection of the determinism inherent in the bell curve and the embrace of the essential truth that teachers and school leaders make a difference. … Teaching is not merely the act of transmitting knowledge, but an inherently collaborative, interactive, and relationship-based enterprise.” Edited by Douglas Reeves, Ahead of the Curve is the second anthology in the Solution Tree Leading Edge series. The company describes “the leading edge” as “the undefined space where leaders venture to impact change — it is the place where transformation begins.” The inaugural book of the series, On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities, edited by Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour, sets a standard Solution Tree plans to uphold in each ensuing installment. The Leading Edge series unites education authorities from around the globe and asks them to confront the important issues that affect teachers and administrators. |
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