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NEW REPORT: Choosing More Time for Students The What, Why, and How of Expanded Learning A crescendo of support from education researchers, analysts, reform advocates, and lawmakers about the need for additional learning time for our nation’s under-performing students may well result in the coming months in meaningful reform. In fact, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings believes that the expansion of learning time will be the next major push in school reform. The reason: our nation’s public school students need to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century but they simply cannot in public school systems that remain much the same as they were 50 years ago. The shift in educational rigor that globalization has ushered in is pushing policymakers to embrace systemic change in public education, with particular focus on closing achievement gaps between disadvantaged students and their peers. In rethinking what it will take for our public schools to better serve students who are academically behind, wisdom tell us that a comprehensive approach that encompasses numerous options will provide the best opportunity to support student learning. The expansion of learning time can serve as one effective vehicle to modernize our schools because it allows teachers, principals, community organizations and leaders, and parents to build multiple curriculums to best educate our children to succeed in the 21st century. Expanded learning time turns dissatisfaction with the limitations of the current six-hour, 180-day school year into a proactive strategy that will create a new school structure for children. Making more and better use of learning time by lengthening the school day, week, or year doesn’t just change what happens between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Expanding learning time changes what happens from 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and often encompasses additional days in the school calendar throughout the year to accelerate student learning and development. In short, expanding time for learning will revolutionize the way we teach our children. To navigate through this forthcoming and thorough-going school reform effort, this paper will define what expanded learning time means, highlight what model programs look like when used effectively, and address how to successfully implement such reform efforts. As will become clear, expanded learning time is all about using time in ways that greatly benefit our students. Read the full report: For more information on extended learning time policies, see: Expanding Learning Time in High Schools: The Massachusetts Expanding Learning Time to Support Student Success Initiative: Children Stressed Six Months Before Starting School The first few days at school can be an anxious time as children face the challenge of a new environment and making new friends but according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, children show signs of stress three to six months before term even starts. The researchers, led by Dr Julie Turner-Cobb at the University of Bath, were studying the effect of children's temperament and behaviour on how stressful they found the experience of starting school. But the researchers were surprised to find that, far from providing a baseline, children's cortisol levels were already high several months before the start of the school term. "This suggests that stress levels in anticipation of starting school begin to rise much earlier than we expected", says Dr Turner-Cobb. Whilst there was a significant rise in cortisol levels at the start of school as expected, children with a more shy, fearful personality appeared less stressed than their more extrovert peers. "More extroverted children had consistently higher levels of cortisol and their levels tended to remain high throughout the day, possibly because their more impulsive nature gets them into more confrontational situations", Dr Turner-Cobb explains. One of the concerns surrounding cortisol is that high levels, particularly when they remain high throughout the day, can suppress an individual's immune response making them more susceptible to everyday illnesses. But in this study, the researchers found that children who had higher levels of cortisol throughout the day when starting school were actually less likely to suffer from cold symptoms during the next six months and had fewer days off sick if they did catch a cold. They also found that these children were more likely to get sick during the school holidays than at term time suggesting that, at least in the short-term, higher stress levels provide some protection against colds and flu. For most children, stress levels had lowered significantly at the six months follow-up, suggesting that they had adapted well to the school environment. As Dr Turner-Cobb is keen to emphasise, this temporary stress response to starting school is natural and experiences such as this help shape a child's ability to cope with new and potentially threatening situations through life. However, some children still had high cortisol levels throughout the day at follow-up, suggesting that they were experiencing a more long-term stress response that could lead to poorer health. These children were more extroverted but had also become increasingly socially isolated during the study, perhaps because their peers had lost patience with their exuberance. According to Dr Turner-Cobb, this highlights the importance of monitoring the experiences of children starting school, particularly those who seem to find the school environment more of a social challenge. Study Examines Performance-based Pay for Teachers Teacher performance pay is a frequently discussed and controversial topic among kindergarten through 12th-grade educators. Recent findings by economics professors at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Vanderbilt University suggest that states and school districts in the United States begin developing programs that examine the effects of linking teacher pay to student achievement. The study was a collaborative effort between Michael J. Podgursky, professor of economics at Mizzou’s College of Arts and Science, and Matthew G. Springer, research assistant professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. The researchers critiqued previously published studies which evaluated the effectiveness of school district and state-sponsored merit pay systems throughout the United States, as well as programs in Israel, Africa and the United Kingdom. They found that student achievement mostly improved when teachers received financial incentives. As a result, school districts should at least consider the idea, Podgursky said, by experimenting with performance-based systems, which require flexibility and only become effective through “trial and error.” “We can’t say, ‘Do this; or this is the right way to do it,’” he said. “However, the preponderance of evidence, when you look at a variety of sources, including the limited number of evaluations and the evidence we have on the variation of teacher effectiveness, suggests that it really is something school districts should be exploring or piloting. Every one of the evaluations has been virtually positive. They all suggest there’s a positive response in terms of outcome measures – including test scores.” Podgursky and Springer’s position differs from opponents who argue that unlike sales by a salesman or billable hours for an attorney, teacher performance can’t be measured or monitored or, that incentives result in competition and less teamwork by teachers. Traditionally, teacher pay is based on a salary schedule – years of experience and education level. Nationwide, there are roughly 3.1 million teachers. Podgursky and Springer said the current salary system increases expenditures without directly impacting student achievement. In the study, he and Springer advocate school districts to emulate private sector employers which “understand that strategic pay policies are a very important lever in raising firm performance.” They said in the long run, merit pay systems result in success – for teachers and students alike. “The system isn’t passive; the evidence certainly suggests when you offer incentives, you’re likely to get better results,” Podgursky said. “It suggests that the actors do respond to the incentives.” High School Exit Exams Not Used To Gauge College or Work-Readiness in Most States 65 percent of the nation’s public high school students must pass an exit exam in order to receive a diploma. But doing well on that test does not necessarily mean that a student is ready for the demands of college and work, according to a report released by the independent, Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy. Of the 23 states with exit exams that responded to this question, only six say that the purpose of the test is to measure the knowledge and skills needed for college-readiness, while nine indicate workreadiness as a purpose. In contrast, 18 states say that the tests—which are generally aligned to the 10th-grade level—are intended to determine mastery of the state curriculum (e.g. standards, curriculum framework). And 18 states say that the exams are used to provide data to state policymakers on student progress toward state education goals to inform policy decisions. Meanwhile, 19 of the 26 states that now have or will soon have exit exams use the same test to fulfill No Child Left Behind requirements that call for states to test students at least once in high school. However, 10 of these states have a lower cut score for their graduation requirement than for NCLB purposes. “States have poured valuable resources into exit exams without seemingly having a clear purpose for their use,” said Jack Jennings, president & CEO of the Center. “And regardless of the aim of the tests, they are having a major impact on classroom teaching and learning, which leads to serious questions about the rigor of state standards and tests.” The report—State High School Exit Exams: Working to Raise Test Scores—indicates that high school exit exams remain a force in American education, with 26 states expected to have them in place by 2012. At that point, 76 percent of the nation’s public high school students—and more than 82 percent of minority students—will be required to pass the tests to graduate. All states using exit exams continue to show significant gaps in pass rates between student groups, with English language learners, African-American students, and Latino students among those most likely to fail the exams. However, states report that students with disabilities are the at-risk group whose performance is most difficult to lift. States are working hard to improve pass rates for these groups, according to the report. More than half of the exit exam states reported providing targeted funding or technical assistance intended to close achievement gaps in mathematics (14 states) and reading/language arts (15 states). Programs often included funding specifically to help English language learners, disabled, and low-income students. All exit exam states reported providing general, statewide assistance to help raise pass rates, with the most common forms of assistance being additional supports for teachers, including help in test administration and test preparation, and helping teachers become proficient in their content area. The least common forms of assistance included support for districts to improve professional development for teachers, formative uses of assessment, and instructional leadership provided by administrators. In addition:
Recommendations In its report and a complementary set of case studies in five states with exit exams, the Center finds that the effectiveness of intervention and remediation strategies is largely unknown, and that many states do not have the capacity to track the impact of these efforts. As such, the Center recommends that as states devote an increasing amount of time and resources to improve pass rates, they should also develop ways to evaluate the effectiveness of those efforts. In contrast, the Center’s findings indicate that the exams are having a major impact in influencing curriculum and instruction, especially for disadvantaged students. To develop a better understanding of this relationship, the Center recommends that states take steps to monitor the effectiveness of high school exit exams as a tool for influencing and advancing curriculum, instruction and student performance. Individual state profiles can be found at the back of the report To read full report:http://www.cep- 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.” More information about SMPY can be found on its Web site, http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Peabody/SMPY/. Researchers Estimate About 9 percent of US Children Age 8 to 15 Meet Criteria for Having ADHD An estimated 8.7 percent of U.S. children age 8 to 15 meet diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, but fewer than half receive treatment, according to a report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. “Despite widespread concern that the rate of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is on the rise, the national population-based prevalence of ADHD in U.S. children has not [previously] been firmly established,” the authors write as background information in the article. ADHD is characterized by hyperactivity, impulsive behavior and an inability to pay attention to tasks; the condition affects social behaviors and achievement at school and work. Tanya E. Froehlich, M.D., of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues studied a group of 3,082 children designed to represent the entire population of 8- to 15-year-olds in the United States. Between 2001 and 2004, children’s parents or other caregivers were interviewed by phone and provided information about each child’s ADHD symptoms, including when they first appeared and any impairment they caused during the previous year. They also reported whether their child had ever been diagnosed with ADHD or taken medicine to treat it, in addition to providing sociodemographic details. Based on standard diagnostic criteria, 8.7 percent of the children (equivalent to 2.4 million children nationwide) fulfilled criteria for ADHD in the year prior to the survey. Hispanics were less likely than whites to have ADHD and boys were more likely than girls to meet criteria, although girls who did have ADHD were less likely to have their condition recognized. A total of 47.9 percent of the children who met ADHD criteria had previously been diagnosed with the condition. The poorest one-fifth of children were more likely than the wealthiest one-fifth of children to have ADHD. “Reasons for the increased likelihood of ADHD in poorer children may include the elevated prevalence of ADHD risk factors (i.e., premature birth and in utero or childhood exposures to toxic substances) in this group,” the authors write. “In addition, given the high heritability of ADHD and its negative impact on social, academic and career outcomes, it is plausible that families with ADHD may cluster within the lower socioeconomic strata.” Among children meeting criteria for ADHD, 39 percent had received some medication treatment and 32 percent were treated consistently with ADHD medications during the previous year. Despite the prevalence of ADHD in poorer children, they were least likely to receive medications consistently. This finding “warrants further investigation and possible intervention to ensure that all children with ADHD have equitable access to treatment when appropriate,” the authors conclude. The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of U.S. Public Schools Since 1993-94, white students have become less isolated from minority students while, at the same time, black and Hispanic students have become slightly more isolated from white students. These two seemingly contradictory trends stem mainly from the increase of more than 55% in the Hispanic slice of the public school population. Read the report: Teaching and Learning Takes Center Stage in Curriculum Management Audit The Wake County (NC) Board of Education today received the results of a six-month Curriculum Management Audit conducted by Phi Delta Kappa International, the first of its kind for the Wake County Public School System. The results were presented by Dr. Rosanne Stripling, Professor and Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and Education at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, who served as lead auditor on the project. The comprehensive audit of the school system’s teaching practices focused on five key areas: governance and control (policy); direction and learner expectation; connectivity and consistency (alignment of programs); assessment and feedback (use of data to drive decisions); and productivity and efficiency. The 400-page report delivered to the school board cited eight recommendation areas and also recommended a total of 117 possible action steps to be considered. The report suggested 47 action steps for the Wake County Board of Education in the area of policy review and development and 70 suggested actions for administrative staff in the areas of alignment, academic implementation and operations. “I called for this independent audit to have our system measured against world-class standards for education. We do not want to coast on our past success,” said Del Burns, superintendent. “This was not an exercise to pat ourselves on the back. We wanted to see where we had gaps in our processes and alignment so we can move this school system and our children to the next level academically. We wanted and we received the hard look we asked for and will work with the Board of Education in processing and aligning these recommendations into our system” To read full report: Children in Poverty Face Greatly Reduced Prospects Children in poverty face greatly reduced educational prospects and future life chances. This is the conclusion not just of social policy experts and government statisticians, but of young children themselves. Emerging research published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows that children are aware of such outcomes from an early age and that their own stereotyping reinforces these differences. Eight reports looking into the experiences and attitudes of children from different backgrounds represent the first phase of a major new JRF programme on education and poverty. Social background influences the way children feel about school from an early age. At primary school, children in poverty are more likely to have negative experiences and feel "got at" by teachers. Donald Hirsch, author of the Round-up summary of the work, said, "This doesn't necessarily mean teachers are prejudiced, but that low-income children find themselves in schools where the pressures are greater, and this reinforces prior disadvantages." While children from all backgrounds see the advantages of school, deprived children are more likely to feel anxious and unconfident about school. Out-of-school activities can help build self-confidence by improving learning relationships, and children from advantaged backgrounds greatly benefit from the access they have to more structured and supervised activities beyond school. A crucial difference highlighted by the research is in experiences of homework. Children from poorer families are less likely to have space in which to do their homework, or to get as much help from parents as children with higher socio-economic status. Poorer parents may be under greater pressure. They may also lack the confidence in their own abilities and have bad memories of school. "Poorer children do less well not just because their parents read to them less, but because of the rest of their life experience. If we are serious about improving the life chances of the poorest children, we have to do much more than worry about the curriculum," added Hirsch. The research also found that many children and young people who become disaffected with school develop strong resentments about mistreatment (including perceptions of racial discrimination) and these issues need to be taken into account when working with such children. Work with disaffected young people is most effective where it creates a new environment and new relationships, where children feel more involved in their own futures. Only a quarter of students receiving free school meals gain five good GCSEs or equivalent, compared to over half the overall population in England. The gap between the outcomes of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those from advantaged backgrounds is wider in the UK than in most other similar countries. Hirsch concluded, "We're not talking about just a small group of children in 'extreme circumstances'. The issues highlighted in this research affect one in four of our children." Experiences of poverty and educational disadvantage, draws on the reports listed below:
To see report: http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/2123.asp Lack of Sleep Among New School-goers Leads to Behavioral, Cognitive Problems The first investigation of developmental sleep duration patterns throughout childhood shows that children just beginning school and who get little sleep are more likely to have behavioral and cognitive problems in the classroom, according to a study published in the September 1 issue of the journal SLEEP. The study, authored by Jacques Montplaisir, MD, of the Sleep Disorders Center at Sacre-Coeur Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, focused on 1,492 children, who were studied annually from five months of age to six years. A questionnaire, filled out by the children’s mothers, measured each child’s hyperactivity-impulsivity (HI), inattention and daytime sleepiness scores for each of those years. Four developmental sleep duration patterns were identified in the study: short persistent (six percent), composed of children sleeping less than 10 hours per night until the age of 6 years; short increasing (4.8 percent), composed of children who slept fewer hours in early childhood but whose sleep duration increased around 41 months of age; 10-hour persistent (50.3 percent), composed of children who slept persistently approximately 10 hours per night; and 11-hour persistent (38.9 percent), composed of children who slept persistently around 11 hours each night. According to Dr. Montplaisir, the study found no difference in sleep duration between weekdays and weekends, indicating that children were not compensating on the weekend for sleep loss occurring during the week, even in the group of short persistent sleepers. Short increasing sleepers, who had evidence of a nocturnal sleep consolidation problem before the age of 41 months, did not compensate their short nighttime sleep duration by more daytime sleep at 29 months, added Dr. Montplaisir. The results indicate that a modest but chronic reduction of just one hour of sleep nightly in early childhood can affect the child’s cognitive performance at school entry. Short sleep duration multiplied by 3.1 the risk of low performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Revised. This suggests that language acquisition and the consolidation of new words into memory could be significantly impeded by chronically shortened sleep duration throughout childhood, said Dr. Montplaisir. Low performance on the Block Design subtest was also observed in the short increasing sleep group. This means that, although sleep duration improved at three years of age, the risk of scoring low on the Block Design subtest at six years of age remained more than 2.4 times higher. This finding points to an early critical period for cognitive development that may be jeopardized by short sleep duration, noted Dr. Montplaisir. The results also demonstrate a significant relationship between high HI scores at six years of age and a short increasing sleep duration pattern. Although sleep duration improved at three years of age, the risk for high HI scores at six years of age remained 3.2 times higher. There is a critical period in early childhood where the lack of sleep is particularly detrimental on various aspects of development even if the sleep duration normalizes later on, warned Dr. Montplaisir. “The results of this paper highlight the importance of giving a child the opportunity to sleep at least 10 hours a night throughout childhood, especially before the age of three-and-a-half years, to ensure optimal cognitive performance at school entry,” said Dr. Montplaisir. It is recommended that children in pre-school sleep between 11-13 hours a night, and school-aged children between 10-11 hours of sleep a night. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) advises children to follow these steps to get a good night’s sleep:
Childhood TV Viewing Linked to Teenage Attention Problems Children who watch a lot of television are more likely to have attention problems when they are teenagers, according to a new study by University of Otago (New Zealand) researchers. The study is the first in the world to investigate a possible long-term link between television viewing in childhood and attention problems in adolescence. The research comes out of the University's long-running Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study and appears in the latest issue of the US journal Pediatrics. The study has followed more than 1000 children born in Dunedin in 1972-1973. The time they spent watching television was recorded every two years between the ages of five and 11. Otago researcher and paper co-author Erik Landhuis says that those who watched the most television had more difficulty paying attention when they were teenagers. The attention problems were reported by their parents, teachers and the participants themselves. Co-author and Deputy Director of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit (DMHDRU) Dr Bob Hancox says the findings suggest that childhood television viewing may contribute to the development of attention problems. The researchers found that those who watched more than two hours - and particularly those who watched more that three hours - of television per day during childhood had above-average symptoms of attention problems in adolescence. Symptoms included short attention span, poor concentration and being easily distracted. These findings could not be explained by early-life attention difficulties, socio-economic factors or intelligence. Even after all of these factors were taken into account, watching more television was associated with teenage attention problems, Dr Hancox says. "Although teachers and parents have been concerned that television may be shortening the attention span of children, this is the first time that watching television has been linked to attention problems in adolescence. "This latest study adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests parents should take steps to limit the amount of TV their children watch." Previous studies by the DMHDRU have linked children's excessive TV viewing to childhood obesity, a range of health problems in young adulthood, as well as lower educational achievement. "These findings support the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics to limit children's television to a maximum of two hours per day," Dr Hancox says. Reception Year Teachers Most Important for Primary Education A good reception year teacher makes the biggest and longest-lasting difference to primary school education, an assessment of over 70,000 children from Durham University’s Curriculum, Evaluation and Management (CEM) Centre reveals. The research, presented today at the British Educational Research Association Conference (BERA), suggests that while relative progress in each year of school is important, the earlier years are the most crucial. A modest boost in reception year is still detectable in the final year of his/her primary schooling at the age of 11, equivalent to a improvement of about a fifth of a level in a child’s SAT test results. This can be added to by boosts in later years. It also casts doubts on the current practice of schools focusing their best teachers on the later primary years in attempts to boost SAT test results used in Government league tables. A final dash to the finishing post at the end of Key Stage 2 might not result in the long terms gains that are so important for secondary education and beyond. The paper’s author Professor Peter Tymms, Director of Durham’s CEM Centre explained the potential policy implications: “This work reinforces research which shows early years education is critical for children’s later cognitive development and that while attention should of course be given to every year of education, more value should be placed on the most sensitive times, the first few years. “Currently in England the primary school league tables have prompted schools to concentrate on generating the greatest gains in children’s attainment in Year 6, to coincide with the year in which pupils sit the Government SAT tests from whose results the primary school league tables are published. This research shows that schools could well be misplacing some of their key resources and need to look carefully at their reception teaching and attainment of the children in this year group.” The research also revealed the opposite was true, that setbacks in a child’s reception year could still be creating negative repercussions for his/her schooling six years later. The research data comes from the CEM Centre’s Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) assessments, which measure cognitive development, such as vocabulary, maths and reading, in children throughout primary education. It used data from over 70,000 pupils who started school in England in 1999 and who were then tracked to the end of their primary education in 2005. It aimed to look for the impact of high quality provision in schools, by measuring relative progress (or “value-added”) year on year. The analysis found cumulative effects throughout primary schooling. Adolescents' Use of Cell Phones After Bedtime Contributes to Poor Sleep The use of modern means of interpersonal and mass communication has become an essential part of being young. Technology has enabled two people to connect with each other virtually anywhere and at any time, a privilege that, according to new research, is often abused by youngsters and cutting into their sleep time. A study published in the September 1 issue of the journal SLEEP finds that cell phone use after bedtime is very prevalent among adolescents, and its use is related to increased levels of tiredness after one year. The study, authored by Jan Van den Bulck, PhD, of the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, focused on 1,656 school children with an average age of 13.7 years in the youngest group and 16.9 years in the oldest group. According to the results, only 38 percent of the subjects never used their cell phones after bedtime. Those using cell phones less than once a month increased the odds of being very tired one year later by 1.8. Those who used it less than once a week were 2.2 times more likely to be very tired. Using it about once a week increased the odds by 3.3, and those who used it more than once a week were 5.1 times more likely to be very tired. Overall, 35 percent of the cases of being very tired were attributed to the use of the cell phone. Use of the cell phone right after bedtime increased the odds of being very tired by 2.2. Between midnight and 3 a.m., the odds were 3.9 times higher, and in those who used it at any time of the night, the odds were 3.3 times higher. “Parents often worry about the hazards of media use when they think about the time children spend watching TV or listening to music or surfing the Internet,” said Dr. Van den Bulck. “The mobile phone, on the other hand, is usually only seen as a simple communication device, useful in emergency situations. This study shows that parents should be aware of the fact that young people today use the modern means of communication in ways they probably cannot imagine. Communication and staying in touch are important for young people, and they now have the technology to stay ‘connected’ more or less permanently. Taking a mobile phone to your bedroom is not trivial. They spend a lot of time ‘connecting’ to other people, and some of them do this all hours of the night.” School-Based Overweight Prevention Program May Cut Risk of Eating Disorders Among Girls Eating disorders among adolescent girls and boys can have substantial negative impact on their health and lead to dangerous weight-control behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting or abusing laxatives or diet pills to control weight. The middle school age is a high risk time, especially for girls starting to engage in these dangerous weight-control behaviors that affect millions of Americans. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) set out to determine if an obesity prevention program called 5-2-1-Go! could reduce the risk of eating disorder symptoms and harmful weight-control behaviors in adolescents. The study showed that almost 4% of middle-school girls receiving only their regular health education began vomiting or abusing laxatives or diet pills, but just 1% of the girls in the 5-2-1-Go! program did so. The results showed no effect of the program on middle-school boys. The study appears in the September 2007 issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. “We are very encouraged by the results,” said S. Bryn Austin, assistant professor at HSPH and a researcher at Children’s Hospital in Boston. “We are hopeful that carefully designed health promotion programs like this one may help us prevent both eating disorders and overweight at the same time. The protective effect that we found was strong and held up under two rigorously designed studies,” she said. The 5-2-1-Go! program (eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, limit screen time to no more than 2 hours a day, and get at least 1 hour of physical activity daily) includes the Planet Health curriculum, which was developed by HSPH researchers. It emphasizes eating a balanced diet, staying physically active and reducing the amount of time spent watching television. A previous study of the Planet Health curriculum had shown a protective effect on disordered weight-control behaviors in girls. The researchers wanted to see if that beneficial effect could be repeated in a larger study among a different group of schools. The randomized, controlled study took place in 13 middle schools in Massachusetts between 2002 and 2004 and involved 1,451 sixth- and seventh-graders (749 girls, 702 boys). Six schools utilized the 5-2-1-Go! curriculum and seven utilized just their regular health education. The results showed a two-thirds reduction in risk of adopting disordered weight control behaviors among girls in the 5-2-1-Go! program. The results suggest that it may be possible for school-based programs to help prevent obesity and eating disorder symptoms in adolescent girls. “Unhealthy weight loss behaviors and overweight are taking an enormous toll on the health of young people today,” said senior author Karen E. Peterson, director of the Program in Public Health Nutrition at HSPH and an associate professor at the School. “These problems may be linked in a number of ways, and the solutions are likely to be too. Approaches that foster healthy weights by changing lifestyles of youth in schools seem to be very promising.” The authors note that further studies are needed to tackle the question of how other obesity prevention programs are affecting eating disorder symptoms in young people. “We found that our obesity prevention program was safe, that is, it did not worsen eating disorder symptoms and even protected against the development of eating disorder symptoms among girls,” said Austin. “The team of scientists and educators that created the program was also very careful not to single out or stigmatize overweight kids. Those involved with other obesity prevention programs in schools and communities around the country should look at the effects of those programs on eating disorder symptoms and weight-related bullying to make sure they’re safe for the children.” Underage Drinking Starts Before Adolescence New summary of surveys shows 4th, 5th and 6th graders have already started drinking A new study finds that parents and teachers should pay attention to alcohol prevention starting as early as fourth grade. “A review of national and statewide surveys conducted over the last 15 years shows that among typical 4th graders, 10% have already had more than a sip of alcohol and 7% have had a drink in the past year. While the numbers are small in the fourth grade, the surveys show that the percent of children who have used alcohol increases with age, and doubles between grades four and six. The largest jump in rates occurs between grades five and six,” according to John E. Donovan, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is author of the study, “Really Underage Drinkers: The Epidemiology of Children’s Alcohol Use in the United States,” published in the September issue of Prevention Science, a peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR). Dr. Donovan said that although there are many published national surveys of alcohol use among adolescents, national surveys and those conducted by state governments that have looked at alcohol use among young children are often unpublished. He found that 39 of the 50 states have conducted statewide surveys that included children in the 6th grade or younger. His study summarized the results of the available national surveys as well as the statewide surveys conducted by Arizona, Delaware, New York, Ohio and Texas, which included fourth and fifth graders. Several of the surveys conducted on a regular basis since 1990 show that the numbers of elementary school children who have ever used alcohol, who have used alcohol in the past year, and who have used alcohol in the past month have all decreased significantly over time. “But the numbers are still alarming because of the connection between early alcohol consumption and negative outcomes later during both adolescence and young adulthood. It is this linkage that argues most strongly for preventing alcohol use prior to adolescence,” Donovan said. The surveys also show that African-American children are at as much at risk for early drinking as are other children, despite their lower risk for drinking as adolescents. “Children are drinking, and our concern with underage drinking needs to start in elementary school, not in high school or college. Research shows that prevention programs should begin before the targeted behavior begins. But alcohol use prevention programs among 5th graders or younger students have shown inconsistent results. Successful programs aimed at these children have involved parents and other family members, not just the children in the school setting,” according to Donovan. “Prior to this review, these data on children’s drinking were buried in foundation or state government reports, or stored on hard-to-find internet web sites, so we didn’t know the true extent of the problem of children’s involvement with alcohol,” he said. Donovan located four national surveys that included questions about children’s alcohol and drug use. The four surveys were the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS), the National Survey of Parents and Youth (NSPY), the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HSBC) survey and the PRIDE Survey. These surveys included limited questions about children’s use of alcohol. Surveys of young children conducted by states included versions of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the Communities that Care (CTC) questionnaire, and the PRIDE survey. The study by the University of Pittsburgh researcher was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. It points out the need for an ongoing national survey of children aged 12 and under to monitor children’s alcohol use and the need for alcohol prevention efforts in this population. “Knowing how many children have had experience with alcohol would serve as an indicator of the number potentially at risk for later use of marijuana and other illicit drugs. Childhood use of alcohol also predicts involvement in alcohol problems, alcohol abuse and dependence in both adolescence and adulthood. And early drinking relates to a variety of other problems, including absences from school, delinquent behavior, drinking and driving, sexual intercourse and pregnancy,” Donovan said. The Society for Prevention Research is an international organization focused on the advancement of science-based prevention programs and policies through empirical research. The membership of the organization includes scientists, practitioners, advocates, administrators and policymakers who are concerned with the prevention of social, physical and mental health problems and the promotion of health, safety and well being. Teachers, Principals Have Huge Influence When it comes to the racial achievement gap, principals or teachers can have a bigger impact on achievement in one year than whether a child is poor or from a single-parent home, according to a Carnegie Mellon University professor. At a Pittsburgh Public Schools education committee meeting last night, Robert Strauss, a professor in the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management at CMU, released a report on the racial achievement gap that he conducted with graduate students. The study tried to identify the causes of the gap in which white students perform better than black students. Dr. Strauss noted the gap in grades 5, 8 and 11 ranged from 12 percent to 19 percent on the state tests given in the spring this year. The study looked at 89 principals, 236 English teachers and 199 math teachers of students taking the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in reading and math in March 2005. He found that some principals and teachers didn't have a positive or negative impact on results. However, 62 principals had an effect on math results -- ranging from scores 17.5 percent higher to those 37.2 percent lower. And 33 principals had an effect on reading -- ranging from scores 15.66 percent higher to 35.65 percent lower. Among teachers, 148 had a significant impact in math scores and 90 did so in reading, both also by a wide range, positive and negative. Dr. Strauss said his study showed that those teachers and principals who made a positive difference helped both white and black students, not just students of one race or the other. Complete article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07254/816420-298.stm Report: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/rs9f/rpt_pps_racialGap_9_6_07_1page.pdf Denver Classroom Teachers Association Report: "Promoting School Success" Denver teachers want to see a crackdown on classroom discipline, smaller class sizes and mandatory retention for struggling students in grades 3, 5 and 8. Those are among the recommendations released today by the Denver Classroom Teachers Association in a report titled, "Promoting School Success." The 10-page report, compiled over the summer from a spring survey of hundreds of teachers, is intended to inject "the teacher viewpoint" in the reform of Denver Public Schools… Among the recommendations included in the report:
Complete article: Lunchroom Nutrition: What’s Your School’s Calorie Quotient? Children obtain about one-third or more of their daily energy requirement from their school meals, and they should expend about 50 percent of their daily energy expenditure while at school. So how’s your child’s school doing? “Comparing the amount and type of food available for your child to consume versus the opportunity for physical activity is a way to determine your school’s Calorie Quotient (CQ),” says Joseph Cifelli, Ed.D., assistant professor of education at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. “Increasingly, schools are implementing innovative programs focused on improving student nutrition. Often it’s parents who initiate such changes.” Cifelli is helping schools assess their CQ in the Philadelphia area. He says, “It’s a simple formula — lots of high saturated fat and high sugar foods like soda, pizza, hot dogs, fries and candy over minimal physical activity equals a HIGH potential to put more kids at risk for obesity.” According to Cifelli, curriculum must also be considered. “It’s ironic,” he explains, “School officials want higher achievement on standardized tests so they minimize non-tested disciplines like science, health and physical education, while study after study links nutrition and physical activity with school performance.” Cifelli’s research shows that kids who have a well-founded understanding of food energy are able to make more healthy food choices. In addition to checking out the teachers on Back-to-School night, Cifelli recommends that parents also check out their school’s CQ. Higher Social Skills Are Distinctly Human, Toddler and Ape Study Reveals Apes bite and try to break a tube to retrieve the food inside while children follow the experimenter's example to get inside the tube to retrieve the prize, showing that even before preschool, toddlers are more sophisticated in their social learning skills than their closest primate relatives, according to a report published in the 7 September issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society. This innate proficiency allows them to excel in both physical and social skills as they begin school and progress through life. "Social cognition skills are critical for learning," Herrmann said. The children were much better than the apes in understanding nonverbal communications, imitating another's solution to a problem and understanding the intentions of others," she said. This is the first comprehensive test comparing social and physical skills of children, chimpanzees and orangutans, Herrmann explained, adding that the findings provide important insight into the evolution of human cognition. The findings support the cultural intelligence hypothesis that suggests that humans have distinctive social cognitive skills to interact in cultural groups, Herrmann said. An alternate hypothesis suggests that humans differ from apes uniformly across physical and social cognitive tasks because they have more general intelligence. About 230 subjects – chimps, orangutans and 2.5 year-old children – were compared using a battery of tests and found all to be about equal in the physical cognitive skills of space, quantities and causality. In the social skills of communication, social learning and theory-of-mind skills, the children were correct in about 74 percent of the trials, while the two ape species were correct only about 33 percent of the time. The researchers chose to study children at an age when they have about the same physical skill level of chimpanzees. Children at 2.5 years are old enough to handle these tasks and people have not taught them too much so they provide a good comparison, Herrmann said. The apes ranged in age from 3 to 21. All of the subjects – about 100 chimps (Pan troglodytes), 100 children (Homo sapiens) and 30 of the more evolutionarily distant orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) – were given the same cognitive tests that the Max Planck group developed and named the Primate Cognition Test Battery. The battery analyzes primate cognition dealing with the physical and social world (involved in foraging, for example) and was developed based on the primate cognition research of coauthors Josep Call of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Michael Tomasello of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. In one example of the social learning tasks, a researcher demonstrated how to pop open a plastic tube to retrieve food or a toy inside. The children watched and copied. The chimps and orangutans did not imitate the researcher and instead tried to break the tube or pull the contents out with their teeth. The tests took between three and five hours and were spread between five and eight days over two weeks. The apes were tested in the sanctuaries where they live in Africa and Indonesia. The researchers plan to test other closely related species with the Primate Cognition Test Battery to map out the evolution of cognitive ability through systematically testing a variety of primate species and eventually comparing their genomes as they become available. America’s Clean Hands Report Card: Students Barely Pass; Parents Average Just a “C” Students are receiving less-than-stellar grades on basic hand hygiene. Parents should hit the books too. School nurses and health professionals come out on top. And teachers aren’t far behind. These grades on hand hygiene come from the third Clean Hands Report Card (SM) issued by The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA). The overall grade of C shows that all of us can do better when it comes to proper hand hygiene practices (though it is a slight improvement from the overall C- given on the 2006 Report Card). School nurses/health professionals surveyed by SDA received pretty good marks – averaging a B+. Teachers notched a B-. Parents earned a C, but moms (B-) were much better than dads (D+). Students, however, really need to do their homework: they received a grade of D. The 2007 Report Card is based on an omnibus telephone survey of parents of school-age children and on-site surveys at conferences attended by teachers, school nurses/health professionals and students. The survey questioned respondents’ hand hygiene behavior and knowledge of the importance of regularly cleaning one’s hands throughout the day. “With cold and flu season coming up, good hand hygiene is vital to infection control. Cleaning our hands is especially critical at school and at work, where germs lurk in every corner and in every handshake,” said Nancy Bock, SDA Vice President of Education. “This year’s ‘Most Likely To Succeed’ will be the person who practices a simple three-step process: Wet, lather and rinse.” SDA offers the following refresher course for effective hand washing:
More information on hand hygiene is available online at www.cleaning101.com/handhygiene. Report Card Summary The following brief summary offers a review of how the different groups fared on the Clean Hands Report Card (SM): School Nurses/Health Professionals – Overall Grade: B+ Not surprisingly, school nurses/health professionals report having the most knowledge about the benefits of hand hygiene – and put it into practice. Nearly every single respondent knows that cleaning hands regularly is the number one way to prevent colds and flu. Further, 64% washed their hands more than 10 times each day. A near-perfect amount (97%) report always washing hands after going to the bathroom, while a majority report always or frequently washing hands before eating lunch and after coughing and sneezing. But 44% lather their hands with soap for less than the recommended 15-20 seconds. Teachers: Overall Grade: B- Like school nurses and health professionals, teachers seem to understand the importance of clean hands in preventing colds and flu (98%). Yet they do not always put this knowledge into practice, with only passable marks on always washing hands at three key touch points (after bathroom use, before lunch and after coughing or sneezing). Parents: Overall Grade: C The very mixed responses provided by parents show how much education is needed coming into cold and flu season. A full 50% fail to note the number one way to prevent colds and flu (“clean hands regularly”) and almost one-third (31%) seldom or never wash their hands after coughing or sneezing. Yet at the same time, most parents always wash their hands after going to the bathroom (76%) and before eating lunch (93%) and almost one-third (32%) do say that they lather their hands for more than 20 seconds each time – the highest percentage of any of the groups surveyed. But mothers are better than fathers when it comes to hand hygiene. Dads are significantly more likely than moms to report they never wash their hands after they cough or sneeze (17% vs. 3%), while moms are more likely to report that they always do (38% vs. 21%). Moms are also more likely than dads to report that they always wash their hands after going to the bathroom (97% vs. 89%). Students - Overall Grade: D f all the groups studied, students demonstrate an immediate need for across-the-board education about clean hands. Handwashing simply is not a priority for this group: a full one-fifth (22%) do not wash their hands every time they use the bathroom; 31% seldom or never wash their hands before eating lunch and more than two-thirds (41%) seldom or never wash their hands after coughing or sneezing. SDA, which has been educating the public about health and hygiene issues since 1926, offers a range of resources for parents, educators, and students at its website: www.cleaning101.com. The 2007 Clean Hands Report Card (SM) was based on the following surveys:
A more detailed summary of the survey results is available at http://www.cleaning101.com/newsroom/surveys/. GenderSAFE: New Report Shows US Schools Move Closer to Protecting Students of All Genders The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition's 2007 GENIUS Index (Gender Equality National Index for Universities & Schools) tracks and evaluates the efforts of colleges, universities, and K-12 school districts to prohibit discrimination and promote awareness of gender identity and expression in their policies. The report analyzes and enumerates non-discrimination policies, gender-neutral bathrooms, gender-neutral housing, and anti-harassment policies. This is the second year that GenderPAC has published the GENIUS Index. The 2007 Index reflects a tremendous increase in response rate: 496 students, administrators, and alumni, representing 278 colleges and universities, responded to the survey, as compared to the 2006 Index which received 124 responses (81 schools). GenderPAC also noted an increase in the number of universities specifically banning discrimination based on gender identity or expression: 147 colleges and universities currently have such policies, as compared to 131 in 2006. More than 100 public K-12 school districts, encompassing thousands of individual schools, have extended similar protections to nearly 3.5 million children in 23 states. Despite the fact that all eight Ivy League schools have inclusive non-discrimination policies, there were a few surprising omissions among “Top 25” schools: the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, all lack protections for gender nonconforming people. “We applaud the new schools in GENIUS 2007 that stepped up to ensure a new kind of student equality. We are proud that there are more gender-based protections for all students at schools across the country,” said Riki Wilchins, GenderPAC’s Executive Director. “At the same time, GenderPAC urges and expects that schools still without the protections will implement policies to ensure that their campuses are GenderSAFE™ – supportive, protective and equitable for all students, whether or not they fit expectations for masculinity or femininity.” “The issue of gender safety affects students of all genders and ages; whether we’re talking about an elementary school playground or an Ivy League campus, we see an ongoing epidemic of gender-based prejudice, discrimination, and violence,” continued Wilchins. A recent GenderPAC survey found that, of 651 students currently enrolled at US-based colleges and universities, 30% have been harassed or discriminated against on campus because they didn't fit expectations of masculinity or femininity; 13% have been harassed for using a restroom because they didn't fit expectations of masculinity or femininity; and 25% have felt unsafe in campus housing because they didn't fit expectations of masculinity or femininity. GenderPAC also supported a University of Illinois study of 200 high school students in suburban Chicago. 62% of the students saw peers who weren’t masculine or feminine enough being called names and verbally harassed; 46% saw peers who weren’t masculine or feminine enough ostracized and excluded from groups; and 21% saw peers who weren’t masculine or feminine enough physically assaulted: pushed, shoved, or hit. For those at schools without GenderSAFE protections, life can be unpleasant and sometimes dangerous. Students across the country have been mobilizing on their campuses to get the more inclusive policies and practices enacted. “The GENIUS Index supports our work with campus groups nationwide,“ said Brittney Hoffman, GenderPAC’s Youth Program Coordinator. “We work every day with student activists who are trying to create GenderSAFE campuses. Our GENIUS Action Tool Kit provides student activists with the resources necessary to organize on their own campuses, and in their communities, around these issues. We have 63 GenderYOUTH chapters across the country: that’s over 300 progressive student and youth leaders working to raise awareness about gender stereotypes, gender-motivated violence, and gender as a human rights issue.” Laboratories of Reform: Virtual High Schools and Innovation in Public Education There has been no shortage of solutions for improving the nation's public schools. School leadership, teacher quality, standards, testing, funding, and a host of other issues have crowded reform agendas. But an important trend in public education has gone largely unnoticed in the cacophony of policy proposals: the rise of a completely new class of public schools—"virtual" schools using the Internet to create online classrooms—that is bringing about reforms that have long eluded traditional public schools. Online learning, of course, is not new. Over 90 percent of public colleges and universities offer online courses, and high schools have offered virtual learning for over a decade. Though online education is controversial in some circles, research shows that it can be as effective as traditional classroom learning. The small body of research focused on the effectiveness of K–12 virtual schooling programs supports findings of similar studies on virtual courses in higher education. They find "no significant difference" in student performance in online courses versus traditional face-to-face learning. But the new, publicly funded online schools are proving to be more than merely another delivery system for students. In a wide range of other industries, and now, increasingly in K–12 education, the Internet has enabled deep structural changes. In each case, new organizations developed alternative management structures, distribution methods, and work models. iTunes, Apple Computer's immensely popular music software, for example, has radically changed the way people collect, listen to, and share music. With its online store and a management system for listening to music and watching videos, consumers, whether music enthusiasts or casual listeners, are no longer confined to the selections in stores. Nor do they have to purchase an artist’s pre-determined collection of songs on an album; instead, they can personalize their music experiences. As a result, the entire music industry has changed, and most noticeably in retail, where brick-and-mortar stores are finding new ways to integrate online music options into their more conventional settings. Virtual schooling is driving the same sorts of transforming changes in public education. While the importance of effective teaching and learning has not changed, the Internet has enabled educators to significantly alter the experience of schooling. Virtual schools are personalizing student learning and extending it beyond the traditional school day. They've created new models for the practice of teaching—with opportunities to easily observe, evaluate, and assist instructors. And they are pioneering performance-based education funding models. Many school reformers have sought these same changes in traditional public schools. Where successful, virtual schooling demonstrates that innovative reforms can be readily integrated into the public school system. As a result, it is increasingly important to understand both the innovations that are emerging from online schooling and their potential to leverage reform on a far larger scale in public education. Please download the full report: Strategic Learning Initiatives: New Learning Process Helped Make Chicago Public School Number One in Reading Gain The Willa Cather Elementary School, is rated Chicago’s number one school in reading improvement for the past school year out of 481 Chicago public elementary schools. Cather showed reading gains at a rate of increase that is nearly seven times faster than the City average. At the heart of the school’s success is its work with the Focused Instruction Process (FIP). FIP brings together Strategic Learning Initiatives’ (SLI) fifteen years of experience in Chicago with some of the most successful school reform efforts from across the nation. Strategic Learning Initiatives is a Chicago-based nonprofit focused on closing the achievement gap in urban schools, particularly in low income areas. Its approach is built around teams that focus on shared leadership, professional development, and parent engagement. Dr. John Simmons, president of Strategic Learning Initiatives, notes that “The Focused Instruction Process is a process, not a program. While programs come and go, a process can be continuously improved and adapted by the teachers, parents and administrators. It can be adjusted to meet the particular needs of different schools and it is low cost per school. ” The Focused Instruction Process is a data driven process in which teachers and students get results back the next day on classroom observations and teacher-selected assignments, rather than relying on once a year statewide testing. Teachers become less isolated by attending regularly scheduled meetings with their grade level teams to discuss “what’s working” and “what needs improvement”. A shared instruction calendar and input into the shared assessment tools across the school and network also provide common ground. And, SLI’s parent engagement team, winner of the for the past three years, offers parents the tools (in Spanish or English) to provide support to their children at home through a year long series of workshops. Cather teacher Barbara Relerford explains, “FIP was so successful in our school, with its focus on reading, that we used aspects of the strategies in other subject areas as well, such as science and math.” Located in the West Garfield Park neighborhood on the City’s West Side, Cather is also number one with its composite score gains which combine reading, math and science, all measured by the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT). Congressman Danny K. Davis visited one of the FIP schools in his Congressional District. He had the opportunity to hear from a third-grade boy about his struggle with one week’s lesson, his opportunity to get extra help in the tutoring group when he didn’t do so well, and his vow to get into the enhancement group in the following week by working even harder in class. As a former Chicago Public School teacher himself, Rep. Davis is working to close the achievement gap in schools across the nation. “I’m impressed with our progress in Chicago and haven’t seen this kind of progress in any other urban area in the country. I am committed to bringing the Chicago model to other cities. Strategic Learning Initiatives acts as a highly effective resource for schools. Cather staff, students and parents, plus the results that they have achieved are a model for the nation.” Cather, a K-8 school, is part of a network of five elementary schools which volunteered to work with Strategic Learning Initiatives for four years to implement the Focused Instruction Process. The network schools, in their first year of participation, showed reading gains on the average per school that were twice as fast as the CPS elementary schools citywide. Cather’s ISAT reading score increased 12.5 percentage points from 35.2 in 2006 to 47.7 in 2007. The citywide average for reading increased 1.8 percentage points from 59.1 to 60.9. (The CPS average is based on all the students, regardless of schools, while the network average is the school average not taking into account the different number of students at each school. The difference between the two is minimal.) Cather Principal Hattie King described what happened as a “complete turnaround.” She explained what is making the difference in her school: “When I started here we were in the fourth year of restructuring, on probation, and ready to be reconstituted or closed. We realized that we had to prescribe a plan that would address those problems. And we needed to act fast.” “Strategic Learning Initiatives’ Focused Instruction Process provided a framework for what we knew we had to do. This meant diagnosing the ills in terms of students; looking at their assessments, seeing what they needed and where they were falling short, and then providing a plan which targeted instruction for groups of kids.” “We were not only trying to get a plan for differentiating the instruction for different students, but also for the teachers. We provided professional development to guide the teachers. We wanted to make best practices routine.” Major Talent Drain in Our Nation's Schools Squanders Potential of Millions of High-Achieving, Lower-Income Students, Report Reveals Current Education Policy Focused on 'Proficiency' Misses Opportunity to Raise Achievement Levels Among 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 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: Even before they enter first grade, lower-income high achievers are off to a bad start - only 28 percent of students in the top quarter of their first grade class are from lower-income families, while 72 percent come from higher-income families. From first to fifth grade nearly half of the lower-income students in the top 25 percent of their class in reading fell out of this rank. In high school, one quarter of the lower-income students who ranked in the top 25 percent of their class in eighth grade math fell out of this top ranking by twelfth grade. In both cases, upper-income students maintain their places in the top quartile of achievement at significantly higher rates than lower-income students. 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: The significance of a college education is underscored by our nation's growing knowledge economy, which demands more than a high school degree. More than nine out of ten high-achieving high school students attend college, regardless of income level-a great success at a time when only 80 percent of all twelfth graders enter postsecondary education. 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:
"These extraordinary students are found in every corner of America and represent the American dream. They defy the stereotype that poverty precludes high achievement. Notwithstanding their talent, our schools are failing them every step of the way," said John Bridgeland, CEO of Civic Enterprises and a co-author of the report. The report can be downloaded at: http://www.jackkentcookefoundation.org/jkcf_web/Documents/Achievement%20Trap.pdf Private K–12 Schools Lag Far Behind Public Schools in Using Federal Education Programs Fewer than half of the nation’s private elementary and secondary schools use the federally funded services available to them, says a new Urban Institute study. Many of these resources—special education for disabled children, teachers’ professional development, drug abuse prevention, and more—are meant to help public- and private-school students alike, but go largely untapped by the private institutions. In the report, “Private School Participants in Programs under the No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” education policy researcher Gayle Christensen finds that only 43 percent of private schools have students receiving special-education services available under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and just 44 percent take advantage of any one of many programs outlined in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In fact, even among the five ESEA activities most popular with private schools, the schools’ participation rates do not top 20 percent for any single program. The report analyzes private-school participant rates for the 2004–2005 school year. Almost all public school districts receive funding under ESEA and IDEA. Even the ESEA program with some of the strictest eligibility standards—Title I, a targeted program for needy students—serves 93 percent of public school districts. Ahead of the private pack are Catholic schools, which connect their students, teachers, and parents to federally funded education programs in by far the greatest proportion than do other private schools. Sixty-two percent of Catholic schools link students to special services through IDEA, and a noteworthy 80 percent have students or teachers drawing on at least one ESEA offering, such as grants for innovative teaching, safe schools, and educational technology. By comparison, no more than 40 percent of other religious or nonsectarian private schools take advantage of opportunities under IDEA or ESEA. What’s stopping so many private schools from making the most of federal education funds for their students? Christensen finds that while a large number of schools intentionally opt out, a lack of information is an obstacle for others. “Lots of schools make a conscious choice not to participate in federal programs. But other school representatives said they were not aware of the programs,” says Christensen. “Providing more information to these private schools may help ensure equitable participation for private-school students, teachers, and parents.” In 2007, $10.7 billion were available under IDEA and more than $19 billion for ESEA activities for both public- and private-school students, teachers, and parents. The full report is available at http://www.urban.org/publications/411541.html. Comprehending Challenging Texts, 4–12 Do your students often struggle with difficult novels and other challenging texts? Do they think one reading of a work is more than enough? Do they primarily comprehend at a surface-level, and are they frequently unwilling or unable to discover the deeper meaning found in multi-layered works? Do you feel that you are doing more work teaching the novel than they are reading it?
Kelly also provides guidance on effective lesson planning that incorporates strategies for deeper reading. Why Reading Is Like Baseball NCLB - GAO Estimates that 6 Percent of Schools Did Not Take Any of the Required Corrective Actions About a third continued corrective actions implemented during earlier years of school improvement but did not take a new action after entering corrective action status. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) focused national attention on improving schools so that all students reach academic proficiency by 2014. In the 2006- 2007 school year, about 4,500 of the 54,000 Title I schools failed to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for 4 or more years. Schools that miss AYP for 4 years are identified for corrective action, and after 6 years, they must be restructured. GAO examined (1) the characteristics of Title I schools in corrective action and restructuring; (2) the actions that schools in corrective action and restructuring implemented; (3) the assistance those schools received from districts and states; and (4) how Education supports states in their efforts to assist these schools. GAO administered two Web-based surveys to a nationwide sample of schools in corrective action and restructuring status and conducted site visits to five states. Nationwide, the 2,790 Title I schools that were in corrective action or restructuring status in the 2005-2006 school year were more frequently located in urban areas and in a few states. These schools served higher percentages of minority, poor, and middle-school students than other Title I schools, and many report that factors such as neighborhood violence and student mobility pose additional challenges to improving student academic performance. As state proficiency targets continue to increase to 100 percent in 2014, the number of schools in corrective action and restructuring may increase. A majority of schools in corrective action or restructuring status implemented required activities. However, in some cases, schools may not be meeting NCLBA requirements. GAO estimates that 6 percent of schools did not take any of the required corrective actions and that about a third continued corrective actions implemented during earlier years of school improvement but did not take a new action after entering corrective action status. While this course of action may be an appropriate path for some schools to take, the Department of Education has not provided guidance to districts delineating when continuing a corrective action is appropriate and when it is not. In addition, about 40 percent of schools did not take any of the five restructuring options required by NCLBA. While states are required to report annually to the Department of Education the measures taken by schools in improvement status, Education does not require states to report on the specific measures taken for each school. GAO estimates that 42 percent of the schools in corrective action or restructuring did not receive all required types of assistance through their school districts, although most received discretionary assistance from their state educational agencies. Districts are required to ensure that several types of assistance are provided to all schools in improvement status, including those in corrective action and restructuring status. This assistance includes help in analyzing students' assessment data and revising school budgets so that resources are allocated to improvement efforts. NCLBA generally does not require states to provide specific kinds of assistance to schools in corrective action or restructuring; however, they are required to develop a statewide system of support, including school support teams to provide technical assistance to schools and districts. Most schools received some type of assistance from the state educational agency. Education provides technical assistance and research results to states primarily through its Comprehensive Centers Program. Education also has provided more material in its Web-based clearinghouse to address a greater number of topics and is developing an initiative to outline practical steps for schools in improvement, including those in restructuring. To see full report: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d071035.pdf Children's Health Is Suffering Because They Are Losing the Chance to Play Outside, a Group of Experts Has Warned Over-anxious parents, computer games and school tests are to blame, a letter signed by almost 300 academics, authors and charity leaders says. The decline in "unstructured, loosely supervised" play is adversely affecting children's mental health, they add. It also threatens young people's long-term development. More than 40 professors, 60 psychologists and psychotherapists, and leaders of the main children's charities and teaching unions also lend their names to the letter. The experts say that play - especially when it takes place outdoors - is crucial to a child's health. An increase in traffic, parental fears about abduction by strangers and a "test-driven" culture of education have all contributed to the trend, they insist. They add that "the ready availability of sedentary, sometimes addictive screen-based entertainment and the aggressive marketing of over-elaborate, commercialised toys" have also played a part. They call for a "wide-ranging and informed public dialogue about the intrinsic nature and value of play in children's healthy development". They said: "'Real play' - socially interactive, first-hand, loosely supervised - has always been a vital part of children's development, and its loss could have serious implications. "Just as the epidemic of childhood obesity recently took the developed world by surprise, too much 'junk play' could (like too much junk food) have alarming implications for the next generation." Teachers can help English language learners break through the initial language barrier by fostering a community in which students believe that their ideas matter, by tapping into students' prior knowledge, and by providing context-rich language resources. But breaking through the language barrier should not be the final goal of such instruction. Mainstream subject-matter teachers have the responsibility of moving beyond teaching basic language and literacy skills to gaining access to students' ideas and making them visible in the classroom. By encouraging English language learners to compare, question, discuss, validate, and reflect on their own and others' ideas, teachers promote higher-order thinking skills and, at the same time, create active readers and writers. To see complete article: Top Five Signs That Your Child Is Struggling in College College can be a stressful time for young adults as they learn to navigate the world with new responsibilities, new friends and unfamiliar independence. "The first few months of college in particular can be tough,” says psychiatrist Edward Poa, MD, medical director of the Compass Young Adult Program, which treats adults ages 18 to 30. "For many people it is their first time outside the structure of their home. They have to learn how to manage their own schedules and take care of themselves, shop for themselves and manage a budget. On top of that, they have also lost their usual high school support network. They have to build a new social support network from scratch.” Students who don't cope well with the challenges of the college environment and new stressors may be more at risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, abusive relationships and depression. According to a 2004 survey by the American College Health Association, nearly half of all college students report feeling so depressed at some point in time that they have trouble functioning, and 14.9 percent meet the criteria for clinical depression. This marks an increase of 4.6 percent in the number of students who reported having ever been diagnosed with depression over a four-year time span. Young people ages 18 to 25 also have the highest prevalence of binge and heavy drinking, according to the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Parents can help their children on their journey through college, Dr. Poa says, by being mindful of times when their child is confronting the most change, such as the beginning of their child's first year of college, exam times, sorority or fraternity rush, and, if their child is an athlete, the start of their sport's season. Being mindful doesn't mean being intrusive in your child's life, emphasizes Dr. Poa. "College is a time when young adults try out new things, so parents shouldn't overreact to every change in their child and check up on him or her constantly, but be aware of drastic change. Continue being a parent. Listen and make yourself available to talk.” Your child may be struggling in college if:
With support from their parents and friends, most young adults will meet the challenges of college and learn from them. If concerns persist for two weeks to a month, getting a professional opinion is important to getting the student back on track. However, seek immediate help from a mental health professional if your child has suicidal thoughts or profound depression. Most colleges have counseling centers available to students and these centers are good places for your student to be assessed and treated. For students struggling with substance abuse or addiction, 12-step programs geared to college-aged individuals are often available within the vicinity of a college. |
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