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Nonmedicinal Treatment Touted for Preschoolers with ADHD 5-year study, most ambitious of its kind, identifies effective strategies for decreasing aggressiveness and improving behavior Non-medicinal interventions are highly effective in preventing the behavioral and academic problems associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to a five-year study led by researchers at Lehigh University’s College of Education. The study, titled “Project Achieve” and funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), was the largest of its kind focusing on children aged 3 to 5 who have shown significant symptoms of ADHD. It also involved researchers from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa. The researchers, led by George DuPaul, professor of school psychology at Lehigh; Lee Kern, professor of special education at Lehigh; and Dr. John Van Brakle, chair of the pediatrics department at Lehigh Valley Hospital, studied 135 preschool students with ADHD symptoms. They evaluated the effectiveness of early intervention techniques in helping children decrease defiant behavior and aggression, while improving academic and social skills. The study’s results are reported in a special series on ADHD in the most recent issue of School Psychology Review. Published by the National Association of School Psychologists, the quarterly is the world’s second-largest peer-reviewed psychology journal. “Early identification and intervention are essential, but there has been a lack of research on how to identify and intervene effectively with these children during their preschool years,” said Thomas Power, editor of the journal and program director with the Center for Management of ADHD at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The investigation by Kern, DuPaul and their colleagues is the most ambitious study ever conducted of non-pharmacological, psychosocial interventions for young children with ADHD.” The results were significant. Using a variety of early intervention strategies, parents reported, on average, a 17-percent decrease in aggression and a 21-percent improvement in their children’s social skills. Teachers saw similarly strong results; in the classroom, there was a 28-percent improvement in both categories. Early literacy skills improved up to three times over their baseline status. “Medication may address the symptoms of ADHD,” says DuPaul, “but it does not necessarily improve children’s academic and social skills. And because this is a lifelong disorder, without any cure, it’s important that we start understanding what tools and strategies are effective for children with ADHD at such an early age. “There’s simply a lack of understanding about the type of non-medicinal services that are available to preschool children and their families. Our goal is to address behavioral and academic issues before they become more problematic in elementary school.” Early intervention techniques include highly individualized programs that often rely on positive supports to reinforce behavior. For example, in consultation with parents and preschool teachers, Project Achieve researchers modified the environments in home and school (such as altering tasks and activities in the classroom to accommodate for ADHD students) in an effort to improve behavior. The highly interactive techniques were presented as alternatives to medicine. ADHD is a lifelong mental disorder that may become apparent in a child’s formative preschool years. The disorder, which makes it difficult for children to control their behavior and pay attention, affects about 7 percent of the school-aged population. The disorder has become a public health concern, however, because 40 percent of children who show signs of ADHD are suspended from preschool, while approximately 16 percent are eventually expelled. The researchers suggest that a multi-tiered approach to intervention, offering more traditional services to at-risk children and more intensive services to children in greatest need, may be the most practical and cost-effective strategy for helping preschoolers overcome behavioral and academic challenges. “While parents of children with ADHD usually trace the characteristic behaviors back to the preschool years,” says Van Brakle, “pediatricians have long questioned whether such children can accurately be identified, given the overlap with normal behaviors in young children. And if so, whether any intervention that does not involve medicine can be of value. Project Achieve suggests that with careful assessment, such children can be accurately identified and that appropriate behavioral interventions are an important part of the treatment plan.” School Psychology Review’s special ADHD issue features two ADHD articles co-authored by researchers at Lehigh’s College of Education. DuPaul also contributed the Forward for the issue, which is titled, “School-Based Interventions for Students With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Current Status and Future Directions.” For additional information, visit www3.lehigh.edu/about/news/avnews.asp to watch DuPaul and Kern discuss the outcome of Project ACHIEVE and its potential impact on the ADHD community. Physicist Says Hollywood Movies Hurt Students' Understanding of Science Movies such as Spiderman 2 and Speed generate excitement among audiences with their cool special effects. But they also defy the laws of physics, contributing to students’ ignorance about science. Two University of Central Florida professors show just how poorly Hollywood writers and directors understand science in an article published in the German journal Praxis der Naturwissenschaften Physik. Common sense may indicate that people should know the stunts in movies are just make believe, but the professors say that’s not necessarily true. Some people really do believe a bus traveling 70 mph can clear a 50-foot gap in a freeway, as depicted in the movie Speed. And, if that were realistic, a ramp would be needed to adjust the direction of motion to even try to make the leap, said UCF professor Costas J. Efthimiou, who co-authored the article. “Students come here, and they don’t have any basic understanding of science,” he said. “Sure, people say everyone knows the movies are not real, but my experience is many of the students believe what they see on the screen.” And that’s not just a UCF problem. Efthimiou said students across the United States seem to have the same challenge with science. It starts young. The Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 report seems to support his observations. The report shows that the average science scores among 12th graders in the U.S. dropped from the previous year. The scores remained stagnant in the fourth and eighth grades. Worse, only about one-third of all students tested were proficient, meaning they had a solid understanding of what they should know. If youngsters aren’t getting the basics at the elementary level, it becomes very difficult for them to continue to study the subjects in college and virtually impossible for them to make significant contributions to the scientific community, Efthimiou said. Efthimiou began teaching a basic physics course at UCF in 2000. He described the experience as “horrible.” The students feared the subject matter and complained his class was too hard. Instead of continuing with the standard fare, he approached former UCF physics chair R.A. Llewellyn. Together, they came up with the movie approach now known as “Physics in Film.” They launched the course in the summer of 2002, and today it is among the most popular on campus. “I needed a hook to get the students interested in science,” Efthimiou said. “I needed something to get them beyond this fear. Now it is one of the most popular classes.” Efthimiou spends hours watching hundreds of films to find scenes that illustrate the physics concepts he needs to teach. For example, he uses a scene from Superman when the hero flies around the earth an in effort to reverse time and save Lois Lane from death. When students show up to class, they dissect the scenes and learn the real laws of physics. In the Superman example, he explains the real way angular momentum works. “It’s a lot of work, but it is worth it,” he said. “It’s a way to get them science literate.” Why would a veteran professor go through all of that trouble" Because he, like many scientists across the United States, is worried that if science and math education doesn’t improve, society will pay the price. “All the luxuries we have today, the modern conveniences, are a result of the science research that went on in the ’60s during the space race,” Efthimiou said. “It didn’t just happen. It took people doing hard science to do it.” The paper, “Hollywood Blockbusters: Unlimited Fun but Limited Science Literary,” is a direct product of the class he’s been teaching for five years. It’s loaded with physics, algebra and humor. But the message is clear. It’s time to get serious about science education. Efthimiou, who has a doctorate from Cornell University, enjoys a good movie. But he said we should be as eager to get a good science education as we are to see the next big blockbuster. Is an Early-Help Program Shortchanging Kids? School districts have long complained about the high cost of special education. Now, spurred by changes in federal law, many are pursuing a contentious new strategy designed to reduce the number of children who need to be in such pricey programs. Known as "response to intervention," or RTI, it aims to bring early help to children struggling in regular-education classrooms and thus avoid having to provide them with special-education services later, when they typically cost 50% more per student. While few educators and disability advocates disagree with the theory behind RTI, some fear that, in implementation, it could become an excuse for shortchanging children with some of the most common disabilities. To see complete article: The Beginning Reading What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) review focuses on reading interventions for students in grades K–3 (or ages 5-8) that are intended to increase skills in alphabetics (phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, letter recognition, print awareness and phonics), reading fluency, comprehension (vocabulary and reading comprehension), or general reading achievement. Interventions for this review are defined as programs, products, practices, or policies that are intended to increase skills in the areas named above. For the first set of intervention Beginning Reading reports, the WWC focused on “branded” programs and products. WWC Intervention Reports provide all findings that "Meet Evidence Standards" or "Meet Evidence Standards with Reservations" for studies on a particular intervention. Intervention reports are created for those interventions that have at least one study that "Meets Evidence Standards" or "Meets Evidence Standards with Reservations." Intervention reports are one component of the decision-making process, but should not be the sole source of information when making educational decisions. Reading Recovery was the only program to be evaluated overall as “Positive effects: strong evidence of a positive effect with no overriding contrary evidence.” See the full report: http://www.whatworks.ed.gov/TopicReportLinks.asp?tid=01 Freshman Grades, Attendance Striking Predictors of Later Graduation for Chicago High School Students See summary chart: Teen Survey Reveals America's Schools Infested with Drugs 80 Percent of High Schoolers, 44 Percent of Middle Schoolers See Drugs Used, Kept, Sold, Classmates Drunk, High on School Grounds Popular Kids at Drug-Infested Schools Much Likelier to Get Drunk and Use Drugs Eleven million high school students (80 percent) and five million middle school students (44 percent) attend drug-infested schools, meaning that they have personally witnessed illegal drug use, illegal drug dealing, illegal drug possession, students drunk and/or students high on the grounds of their school according to the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XII: Teens and Parents, the twelfth annual back-to-school survey conducted by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. For the first time, this year CASA sought to survey in depth the drug situation in America’s schools. The survey revealed that at least once a week on their school grounds, 31 percent of high school students (more than four million) and nine percent of middle school students (more than one million) see illegal drugs used, sold, students high and/or students drunk. At least weekly, 17 percent of all high and middle school students (4.4 million) personally see classmates high on drugs at school. “This fall more than 16 million teens will return to middle and high schools where drug dealing, possession, use and students high on alcohol or drugs are part of the fabric of their school,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA’s chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. “Too many of our nation’s high and middle schools have become marijuana marts and pill palaces. Parents should wake up to this reality and realize more likely than not, your teen is going to school each day in a building where drug use, sale and possession is as much a part of the curriculum as math or English and do something about it. For many of our middle and high school students, school days have become school daze.” The CASA survey also found that since 2002 the proportion of students who attend schools where drugs are used, kept or sold has jumped 39 percent for high school students and 63 percent for middle school students. From 2006 to 2007 the proportion jumped 20 percent for high school students and 35 percent for middle school students. Teens at Drug-Infested Schools Likelier to Use Compared to teens at drug-free schools, those at drug-infested schools are:
Perils of Popularity The CASA survey also found that popular teens who attend drug-infested schools are much likelier to smoke, get drunk, abuse prescription and illegal drugs. Compared to teens who attend drug-free schools, teens who attend drug-infested schools are five and a half times likelier to say the popular kids at their school have a reputation for using drugs and three times likelier to say the popular kids at their school have a reputation for drinking a lot.
“CASA’s deeper dive into the American school system reveals that our nation’s youth are drenched in a culture where drug and alcohol abuse are commonplace and that drug-infested schools encourage the idea that it’s cool to get high and drunk,” noted Califano. “Over the past few years the corridors and classrooms of too many of our schools have become open drug bazaars for teens.” Parental Attitudes and Teen Behavior Teens are much likelier to smoke, drink and use drugs when their parents:
Only 11 percent of parents see drugs as their teen’s greatest concern, but twice as many teens (24 percent) say drugs are their greatest concern. Other Striking Findings
QEV Analytics conducted The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XII: Teens and Parents from April 2 to May 13, 2007. The firm interviewed at home by telephone a national random sample of 1,063 12- to 17-year olds (554 boys, 509 girls) and 550 parents (53 percent of whom were parents of teens surveyed). Sampling error is +/- three percent for teens, +/- four percent for parents. Read the complete report: Education Next: NCLB Uses a Flawed Measuring Stick to Judge School Performance The federal law No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is using the wrong measuring stick to identify failing schools, says Harvard University's Paul E. Peterson in the new issue of Education Next. To make the law’s accountability system work, he proposes two fixes:
Congressman George Miller, chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, has announced that Congress will consider changes to NCLB’s method of measuring schools’ progress this fall. Currently, NCLB looks not at how much individual students learn from one year to the next but at whether a school’s students are making adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward full proficiency -- a standard each state sets individually -- by 2014. Peterson proposes moving to an A to F scale that focuses strictly on student growth. This was not possible when NCLB was originally enacted because most states had no way of tracking student progress over time. Since 2002, however, several states, including North Carolina, Texas, and Florida, have put such systems into place. Peterson recommends that Congress mandate tracking systems in all states as a way of identifying those schools that are effective and those that are not. States that have both tracking systems and high proficiency standards could have the option of using the A to F scale as another way of showing that its schools are making AYP. As the distortions brought about by NCLB’s current method of measuring progress intensify, states will be motivated to move to the new system sooner rather than later. Peterson also points out that, for NCLB to work, individuals -- students, teachers, and administrators -- must be held accountable. As the law stands now, only entities -- schools, school districts, and states -- are recognized for gains or subjected to sanctions. In states where students are held accountable, the results have been promising, Peterson notes. In Florida, for example, the performance of third graders jumped during the first year in which they had to pass a test to move on to fourth grade. In Massachusetts, mandating that students pass a test to graduate from high school spiked performance the first year the law was introduced, with continuing gains in subsequent years. Teachers should also be held accountable for student learning, once the other elements of a well-designed accountability system have been put in place. By tracking student progress from one year to the next, classrooms in which the most, and least, learning is taking place can be identified. That information can be used to reward high-performing teachers and to help low performers improve. Likewise, says Peterson, administrative leaders can and should be held responsible for the learning gains realized at their schools. Peterson’s analysis is part of a forum on the future of NCLB published in the new issue of Education Next. Read “A Lens That Distorts: NCLB’s Faulty Way of Measuring School Quality:” The real problem with NCLB, says Michael Petrilli, is that it wrongly assumes the federal government can force recalcitrant states and school districts to do their job well. Article: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/9223531.html Basically a Good Model NCLB is a groundbreaking civil rights law that has already improved the nation’s schools, counters Dianne Piché, who offers a vigorous defense of the statute. Article: http://www.hoover.org/publications/ednext/9223561.html Majority of State & District Officials Say NCLB’s Teacher Quality Requirements Have Had Little Impact on Student Achievement More Than One-Third of States, Three-Quarters of School Districts Say the Law Has Not Had a Major Impact on Teacher Effectiveness While most of the nation’s school districts—about 83 percent— report that they are on track to be in full compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act’s “highly qualified” teacher requirements, more than half of states and two-thirds of school districts report that the requirements have had little impact on student achievement, according to a new study from the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy. The study, based on a survey of officials in all 50 states and a nationally representative group of nearly 350 school districts, looks closely at how states and school districts have implemented the law’s teacher requirements. More than half of all states and two-thirds (66 percent) of districts reported that the requirements have improved student achievement minimally or not at all. Only 6 percent of states and 4 percent of districts indicated that the requirements have improved achievement to a great extent. In addition, 19 states (38 percent) and almost three-quarters (74 percent) of districts say NCLB’s requirements have had a minimal or nonexistent impact on the effectiveness of the teacher workforce. NCLB’s teacher requirements—viewed by the law’s sponsors as a critical step to improving student achievement—call for teachers to have a bachelor’s degree, full certification, and a demonstration of subject-area expertise through completed coursework, passing a state test, or other criteria. The report, Implementing the No Child Left Behind Teacher Requirements, finds that by early 2007, 66 percent of school districts reported that they were already in full compliance, and 17 percent expected to achieve full compliance by the end of the school year. States had more difficulty complying with the highly qualified teacher provisions statewide than at the district level. When surveyed by CEP in the late fall and winter of 2006-07, just three states said they were in full compliance, and 14 more states expected to reach full compliance by the end of school year 2006-07—the deadline set by the U. S. Department of Education for all teachers to be highly qualified. At least 11 states and 6 percent of districts acknowledged that they are unlikely to ever meet the highly qualified requirements for 100 percent of their teachers. Compliance is more difficult for states, according to the report, because of the large number of teachers involved, disparities in school districts’ resources and capacity to meet the requirements, and persistent shortages or staffing problems. “Despite efforts to comply with the law’s teacher quality requirements, the effect of these requirements in raising student achievement and improving teacher quality continues to be met with skepticism,” said Jack Jennings, CEP’s president and CEO. Many state and district officials felt the NCLB definition of a highly qualified teacher was too narrowly focused on content knowledge. Survey respondents and interviewees who participated in case studies prepared for the report suggested revising the definition to take into account teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom and other qualities essential to a good teacher, such as the ability to relate to students and the ability to effectively teach students from different backgrounds and differentiate instruction according to students’ needs. Special education teachers pose the greatest challenge to meeting the highly qualified requirements, with 39 of the 47 responding states (83 percent) and 47 percent of districts reportedly having difficulty complying with the law. The most common strategies used by school districts to recruit and retain highly quailed teachers were induction/mentoring programs and content-driven professional development. Equitable Distribution of Teachers The report finds varying degrees of progress toward NCLB’s requirement that states ensure lowincome and minority students are not taught by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers at higher rates than other children. Only five states reported that as a result of the law, the distribution had become more equitable to a great extent, 17 said it had become somewhat more equitable, and another 17 states said it had become minimally more equitable. A majority (55%) of districts with more than one school reported that the distribution of experienced, well-qualified teachers has always been equitable or that no real difference exists in their district based on schools’ poverty or minority enrollments. The report is from CEP’s From the Capital to the Classroom series of reports tracking the implementation of the law in its fifth year. The report includes the following recommendations drawn from what has been learned about the implementation of the teacher quality requirements not only from this year’s study, but also from the ideas that emerged from two roundtable discussions CEP hosted in the fall of 2006 as well as the previous four years of research on NCLB implementation.
Midwest School Security Survey Shows Only 15% of Schools are Extremely Confident in Ability to Combat Campus Threats The Midwest School Security Survey of principals and superintendents from middle and high schools in 12 Midwest states, conducted in July 2007, revealed that only 15 percent of respondents are extremely confident in their ability to deal with future threats, an indication that schools still have their work cut out for them when it comes to creating and maintaining a safe campus. According to the survey, the other 70 percent of respondents reported being somewhat ready to deal with security threats, and remaining 15 percent responded that they could significantly improve their level of readiness. The survey found that schools consider video a critical tool to support their security efforts. Eighty-four percent of respondents indicated that if they could select just one tool to help improve security on campus, they would invest in video surveillance. When asked to rank the most common security tools in order of importance, 55 percent ranked video as the most important, with 24 percent citing mass communications tools as important, and 20 percent ranking access control systems as their most important security tool. The survey also measured schools’ need for network (IP) video capabilities. While 55 percent of respondents are already using network video, the remaining schools that do have video technologies are still using DVRs and VCRs. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said the most important benefit of IP video is its ability to integrate with the existing IT network. Eighty-three percent of respondents indicated that easy access to video was extremely important when selecting a video solution. “As another school year starts, it is important for administrators to evaluate technologies and processes that will continuously improve campus security,” said Andrew Wren, president of Wren. “Because of IP videos’ ease of integration, remote access capabilities, and its ability to enhance other security systems, schools are increasingly realizing the power of IP video to advance security measures and provide a safer environment.” The online survey was conducted in July 2007 among principals and superintendents of public middle, junior high, and high schools in 12 Midwest states. Sixty-one percent of respondents had 500 or fewer students and 39 percent had more than 500 students. An executive summary of the survey results is available at: GRADUATION MATTERS: How NCLB allows states to set the bar too low for improving high school grad rates Despite the national focus on reforming America’s high schools, most states are setting woefully low goals for improving graduation rates and are not setting goals for ensuring that more low-income, minority, disabled and English language learner students graduate, according to a report released by The Education Trust. Graduation Matters: Improving Accountability for High School Graduation documents state-set goals for graduation rates under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, showing how improvement targets are often so low that they undercut the aim of significantly raising graduation rates. “One in four students who start ninth grade will not earn a diploma four years later, and the picture is even worse for low-income students and students of color,” said Daria Hall, Assistant Director for K-12 Policy at The Education Trust, and the report’s author. “Because current graduation rates are so low, we need targets that provoke action on behalf of students, not ones that condone the status quo.” Under the NCLB accountability provisions known as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), U.S. high schools must meet state goals for educating all students in reading and math as well as graduating them on time. While the AYP provisions are explicit about procedures for setting proficiency targets in math and reading, the discretion the law gives states in setting graduation-rate goals and improvement targets has resulted in a wide range of expectations, as demonstrated in the report. For example, overall goals for graduation rates range from 95 percent in both Indiana and Iowa to 50 percent in Nevada. But even the most ambitious goals are undercut by improvement targets that are far too low. In fact, some states have set targets as low as one-tenth of one percent, and others have asked merely whether graduation rates have stayed the same – consigning students to attending schools that are not identified for any support or intervention, even in cases where graduating is a 50-50 proposition. “If we are serious about reforming our high schools, we have to get serious about meaningful accountability for student success in completing high school,” said Ross Wiener, Vice President of The Education Trust. “While progress may not come as quickly as we’d like, the improvements we’ve seen in New York City show us that, even under some of the most challenging circumstances, real change is possible.” According to the report, New York City has significantly improved its graduation rates over the last two years. And, while the district’s rates are still far too low, the gains that have been made since 2004 resulted in more than 3,000 more African American and Latino students leaving New York City high schools in 2006 with a diploma in hand. As low as state graduation rate goals may be, unlike accountability for reading and math achievement, NCLB only requires that high school graduation rate goals and improvement targets apply to overall averages, not to student groups. “By choosing to hold schools accountable only for overall graduation rates, policymakers are turning a blind eye to the persistent gaps that we know exist between poor and non-poor and White and minority student groups,” said Hall. “But, we also know that it doesn’t have to be this way.” Massachusetts, a recognized leader in holding its schools accountable for meeting high standards, takes responsibility for the graduation of low-income and minority students by going beyond what NCLB requires and applying its graduation rate goal to all student groups – not just the overall average – when making AYP determinations for high schools. Because of that decision, attention will be called to the performance of the low-income students and students of color who struggle most – an important first step in getting the support needed to the schools they attend. Rather than being viewed as exceptions to the rule, the stories from New York City and Massachusetts are prime examples for federal and state policymakers of what is possible for both real improvement and meaningful accountability throughout the U.S. The Education Trust report provides recommendations for policy changes at both the federal and state levels, including the following priorities for NCLB reauthorization:
“The pending reauthorization of NCLB provides a critical opportunity to translate local successes into legislative goals for the rest of the nation,” said Wiener. “We need to send a strong signal to high schools that we are willing to do what it takes to help them improve.” Graduation Matters: Improving Accountability for High School Graduation can be found online at: Does Playing the Brain/Memory Game Really Help? Brain and memory training programs are popular, but they don't work well for everyone, says a Universitiy of Michigan psychologist. New research by Cindy Lustig, a U-M assistant professor of psychology, and colleague David Bissig, a U-M graduate now at Wayne State University—U-M's University Research Corridor alliance partner—reveals what can help make a training program successful, especially for those older adults who could use the most help. Their findings are published in the August issue of Psychological Science. Programs claiming to "train your brain" are becoming increasingly popular as baby boomers head into their golden years, the researchers say. Even Nintendo has gotten into the game, with a program designed to lower your brain's "age" with repeated playing. However, not all of these programs have been shown to work, they say. For those that do work, scientists' understanding of how and why they work is very limited. Worse yet, the older a person is and the less memory ability he or she has before training, the less likely that person is to show benefits. "The bottom line is that in most memory training programs, the people who likely need training the most—those 80 and older and people with lower initial ability—improve the least," Lustig said. The researchers, who conducted their studies at Lustig's U-M psychology lab, were able to show that the kinds of strategies people use are related to how much benefit they show from training. Accounting for those strategies can eliminate age and ability differences in training success. Lustig and Bissig took a memory training program that has been used both with healthy older adults and people in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's disease, and asked what was different about people who showed big benefits from training versus those who showed little or no improvement. The results of the study suggest that in order to improve memory, one needs not only to work hard, but work smart. People in their 60s and 70s used a strategy of spending most of their time on studying the materials and very little on the test, and showed large improvements over the testing sessions. By contrast, most people in their 80s and older spent very little time studying and instead spent most of their time on the test. These people did not do well and showed very little improvement even after two weeks of training. One of their conclusions: What matters for memory—and what seems to change as people get older—is not only how much time we spend on trying to remember something, but where we put our efforts. "My lab is now working on training people of more advanced age and lower education to use the strategies that our most successful participants used, to see if we can boost the performance of these potentially at-risk groups," Lustig said. "A stitch in time saves nine—and studying at the right time just might save your mind." As Autism Diagnoses Grow, So Do Number of Fad Treatments, Researchers Say Ineffective or even dangerous fad treatments for autism, always a problem, seem to be growing more pervasive, according to researchers who studied the problem. “Developmental disabilities like autism are a magnet for all kinds of unsupported or disproved therapies, and it has gotten worse as more children have been diagnosed with autism,” said James Mulick, professor of pediatrics and psychology at Ohio State University.” “There's no cure for autism, and many parents are willing to believe anything if they come to think it could help their child.” Mulick chaired a symposium on “Outrageous Developmental Disabilities Treatments” Aug. 20 in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. The symposium included presentations by several of Mulick's students at Ohio State who participated in a graduate seminar on fad treatments in autism. Tracy Kettering, a doctoral student in special education at Ohio State , said a Google search for the phrase “autism treatment” yields more than 2.2 million matches. “You get hundreds of different types of therapies that come up, and many have quotes from parents that claim a particular therapy ‘cured' their child,” Kettering said. “It's no wonder that parents want to believe. But very few of these treatments have any evidence to support them.” The number and range of fad treatments has seemed to grow in recent years as more children have been diagnosed with autism, said Mulick, who is also editor of a book on fad treatments called Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities: Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice. Mulick said when he began treating autism in the 1970s about 3 children in 10,000 were said to have autism. Now, reports are 1 in 166 children have the condition. The number of cases has mushroomed because of better diagnoses, and a changing definition of autism that includes a broader range of disorders. Some of the newer, more popular fad treatments for autism involve special diets or nutritional supplements. Megadoses of Vitamins C and B6 are popular, as well as supplements with fatty acids like omega-3s. A casein and/or gluten-free diet, which involves eliminating dairy and wheat products, has also gained favor with some parents. While many of these treatments have never been adequately studied, that doesn't mean they aren't promoted. “One of the characteristics of fad treatments is that they are discussed in the media and on the internet, where many parents can be exposed to them,” said Anne Snow, an Ohio State psychology graduate student. And while some fads are simply ineffective, others can even be dangerous, Mulick said. Chelation therapy, which involves taking medicines to remove the heavy metal mercury from the body, has reportedly led to the death of at least one autistic boy receiving that treatment. Chelation therapy was also touted years ago as a new treatment against some forms of cancer but was eventually shown to have no helpful effect. Many parents try multiple approaches, hoping at least one will help. Kettering said one survey she found suggests that the average parent of a child with autism has tried seven different therapies. For instance, most scientists believe that many cases of autism are caused by genetic mutations, and some mutations can be caused by various chemicals that we encounter in our everyday lives, Mulick said. But still, there is no evidence that any particular chemical causes mutations that lead to autism, as some have claimed. “There's a shred of truth in the rationale presented for some fad treatments, and that is enough for some people to go with,” he said. Another reason that fad treatments persist has to do with the natural course of autism, Mulick said. Autism, like many conditions, has cycles in which symptoms get worse and then get better. Parents tend to search for treatments when symptoms are getting worse, and when their children get better – as they do in the normal course of disease – parents credit the new therapy. “It's natural to have this bias that the therapy you're trying has had some positive effect,” he said. “People want to believe.” While other treatments are still being investigated, right now the only therapy that has been shown to have a long-term positive affect on autism is called Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, Mulick said. EIBI is a highly structured approach to learning, in which children with autism are taught first to imitate their teachers. But this treatment is very time-consuming and labor intensive. It involves one-on-one behavioral treatment with the child for up to 40 hours a week for several years. Mulick said other treatments and therapies are being studied. However, it takes years to test treatments for autism because of the nature of the disease and problems with proving effectiveness. “Autism studies are a long, time-consuming, and expensive process,” Mulick said. “And some of the fad treatments being used today would never be approved for testing – they are just too dangerous.”Administrative Hurdles Continue to Block Food for Hungry Children During the Summer Months Fewer than one out of every five eligible low-income children participated in the summer nutrition programs in 2006, according to the Food Research and Action Center’s Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report. In many states, administrative hurdles and inadequate reimbursements in the federal food programs continue to be the largest obstacles to making sure that low-income children have access to healthy meals during the summer months. While 17.4 million low-income children receive school lunch during the regular school year, only 2.85 million get summer food when school is out. That means the summer nutrition programs are only reaching 17.7 percent of low-income children who depend on school lunch during the school year – a ratio that has fallen from 22.2 percent in 2000. FRAC’s annual analysis of participation in the summer nutrition programs underscores the benefits of the Simplified Summer Food Program. Originally developed as a pilot program by Congress in a limited number of states, the Simplified Summer Food Program reduces the administrative barriers that prevent many sites and organizations from participating in the program and from receiving full reimbursement. The dramatic increases in summer food participation in pilot states speak to its success. Over the past six years, the 13 states originally allowed to use the Simplified program have seen their summer numbers climb by 51 percent, while states never added to the pilot dropped by 16.5 percent. "The robust increase in participation in 'simplified' states means Congress must act now to make it nationally available to all hungry children," said Jim Weill, FRAC president. "Thousands of children in nearly every state are losing access to healthy meals, and we know a solution to this problem that works." Last week, the House Appropriations Committee announced that its Agriculture Appropriations Bill includes funds to add all remaining states to the Simplified program beginning in 2008. FRAC called on Congress to include the House step in the final appropriations bill so all states can use the simplified rules. The summer nutrition programs are especially important for the millions of low-income children (and their parents) who rely on school breakfast and lunch during the school year to help keep hunger at bay. Families with tight budgets find themselves especially strapped during the summer. Summer food programs make sure that children are surrounded by access to healthy food – even when school is out. Summer recreation and educational programs help keep children safe and engaged over the summer and combat "summer learning loss" that can leave children – especially low-income children – behind when they return to school. Summer nutrition programs attract children to summer programs, bring federal dollars into support them, and combat both hunger and obesity. Key Findings from the Report Include:
Download Report: "Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation 2007": Struggling Male Readers Respond Better to Female Teachers Boys with difficulty reading actually respond better to female teachers, according to a new Canadian study. Research shows that boys develop higher positive self-perceptions as readers when they worked with female research assistants compared to working with male research assistants. The study focused on 175 third- and fourth-grade boys who were identified as struggling readers by their teachers. The boys participated in a 10-week reading intervention to determine the effect of the reading teacher’s gender on boys’ reading performance, self-perception as readers, and view of reading as a masculine, feminine or gender-neutral activity. “As competent reading is the strongest predictor of school success, it’s crucial to find ways to engage boys to become stronger readers,” says University of Alberta professor Herb Katz. “Although boys and girls enter kindergarten with similar performance in reading, by the spring of third grade, boys have lower reading scores, which makes this an opportune time for reading intervention.” Over the 10-week period, the research assistants visited children at school to conduct 30-minute reading sessions, reading books that hold high interest for boys. The process included duet reading during which student and tutor read simultaneously and solo reading in which the student read independently. “From this we can conclude that the drop in the number of male teachers, especially in elementary schools, is not the reason why boys are underachieving in reading,” says Katz. “Therefore, the strategic hiring of male teachers as a way to address boys’ poor reading scores may be naïve.” The study appears in the May 2007 issue of the journal Sex Roles. Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments: A Report from the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project This report describes results from the third and last field investigation in the NAEP Technology-Based Assessment Project, which explores the use of new technology in administering NAEP. (The first two focused on assessments of math and writing online.) In the TRE study, two extended scenarios within the domain of physical science were created for measuring students’ ability to solve problems using technology. The TRE Search scenario required students to locate and synthesize information about scientific helium balloons from a simulated World Wide Web environment. The TRE Simulation scenario required students to conduct experiments of increasing complexity about relationships among buoyancy, mass and volume. These scenarios were delivered via school computers or on laptop computers taken into the schools. The sample was nationally representative, consisting of over 2,000 public school 8th grade students tested in 2003. Students were randomly assigned to the assessment scenarios. The TRE project was intended as an exploratory study of how NAEP can use technology to measure skills that cannot be easily measured by conventional paper-and-pencil means. TRE Search produced a total score and two subscores, scientific inquiry and computer skills. The TRE Simulation scenario produced a total score and three subscores: scientific exploration, scientific synthesis, and computer skills. The results indicate that the TRE scenarios functioned well as assessment devices. Read the complete report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007466 Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2006 This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other G-8 countries--Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. Twenty indicators are organized in five sections: (1) population and school enrollment; (2) academic performance; (3) context for learning; (4) expenditure for education; and (5) education returns: educational attainment and income. Read the complete report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007006 Researchers Pinpoint Techniques for Better Learning People have incredible amounts to learn throughout their lives, whether it be preparing for a test in middle school or training for a new job late in life. Given that time is often at a premium, being able to efficiently learn new information is important. One way people can learn efficiently is to accurately evaluate their learning and decide how to proceed. For example, if you were studying for a final exam, you could most efficiently use your time if you were able to accurately judge between those concepts that you have learned and understood well versus those that you have not learned well. In doing so, you can invest your time on the latter. This ability is known as “metacomprehension,” and psychological research has repeatedly demonstrated that people are not very accurate at judging how well they have learned complex materials. As a result, researchers have been searching for techniques to improve the accuracy of people’s judgments of their text learning, and most recently, some important discoveries have been made. In an article published in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Kent State researchers John Dunlosky and Amanda Lipko examined techniques that can improve people’s comprehension of texts. After reviewing several studies, they found that rereading or summarizing text can improve people’s ability to accurately evaluate how well they are learning those texts. In addition, techniques that focus people’s attention on just the most important details of a text also help them to evaluate their learning. For instance, if a text includes several key ideas, attempting to recall these ideas from memory and then explicitly comparing the recall with the correct answers improves people’s ability to accurately evaluate how well they are learning the ideas. These techniques that improve people’s ability to evaluate their progress while learning demonstrate much promise for helping people more efficiently learn complex materials, whether it involves preparing for an important briefing at the Pentagon or studying for a fifth-grade quiz. Five Myths about Girls and Science The National Science Foundation's ( NSF ) Research on Gender in Science and Engineering ( GSE ) program seeks to broaden the participation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics ( STEM ) education fields by supporting research, the diffusion of research-based innovations, and extension services in education that will lead to a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce. Though the program's name has changed over the years, it has been supporting these objectives since 1993, and its work has led to real changes in the opportunities available for girls and women to participate in the study of science, technology, engineering and math. "We know a great deal about where the challenges and opportunities are," says Jolene Kay Jesse, program director for GSE. "There are helpful strategies for teachers and for families to attract girls to science and keep them engaged in it. And, by the way, these strategies are helpful in keeping students of both genders engaged." Following are five myths about girls and science. 1. Myth: From the time they start school, most girls are less interested in science than boys are. Reality: In elementary school about as many girls as boys have positive attitudes toward science. A recent study of fourth graders showed that 66 percent of girls and 68 percent of boys reported liking science. But something else starts happening in elementary school. By second grade, when students ( both boys and girls ) are asked to draw a scientist, most portray a white male in a lab coat. The drawings generally show an isolated person with a beaker or test tube. Any woman scientist they draw looks severe and not very happy. The persistence of the stereotypes start to turn girls off, and by eighth grade, boys are twice as interested in STEM careers as girls are. The female attrition continues throughout high school, college, and even the work force. Women with STEM higher education degrees are twice as likely to leave a scientific or engineering job as men with comparable STEM degrees. 2. Myth: Classroom interventions that work to increase girls' interest in STEM run the risk of turning off the boys. Reality: Actually, educators have found that interventions that work to increase girls' interest in STEM also increase such interest among the boys in the classroom. When girls are shown images of women scientists and given a greater sense of possibility about the person they could become, the boys get the message too--"I can do this!" There are more opportunities than ever for girls and boys to explore science together. One resource: the discoveries, games and hands-on experiments available at http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/. 3. Myth: Science and math teachers are no longer biased toward their male students. Reality: In fact, biases are persistent, and teachers often interact more with boys than with girls in science and math. A teacher will often help a boy do an experiment by explaining how to do it, while when a girl asks for assistance the teacher will often simply do the experiment, leaving the girl to watch rather than do. Research shows that when teachers are deliberate about taking steps to involve the female students, everyone winds up benefiting. This may mean making sure everyone in the class is called on over the course of a particular lesson, or asking a question and waiting 10 seconds before calling on anyone. Good math and science teachers also recognize that when instruction is inquiry-based and hands-on, and students engage in problem solving as cooperative teams, both boys and girls are motivated to pursue STEM activities, education and careers. Resisting stereotypes and furthering opportunities, Girls Creating Games was created as an after-school and summer program designed to support the interest of middle school girls in computers and information technology. Its goal is to increase the number of women and girls in the IT workforce. A sample of the girls' creations is accessible at http://programservices.etr.org/gcgweb/. 4. Myth: When girls just aren't interested in science, parents can't do much to motivate them. Reality: Parents' support ( as well as that of teachers ) has been shown to be crucial to a girl's interest in science, technology, engineering and math. Making girls aware of the range of science and engineering careers available and their relevance to society works to attract more women ( as well as men ) to STEM careers. Parents and teachers are also in a position to tell young people what they need to do ( in terms of coursework and grades ) to put themselves on a path to a STEM career. Best known as the first American woman to travel in space, Sally Ride is also a physicist, educator, and author. She is the founder of Sally Ride Science, a science content company dedicated to supporting girls' and boys' interests in science, math and technology. She offers a guide for parents, "Science Can Take Her Places" at http://www.sallyridescience.com/. 5. Myth: At the college level, changing the STEM curriculum runs the risk of watering down important "sink or swim" coursework. Reality: The mentality of needing to "weed out" weaker students in college majors--especially in the more quantitative disciplines--disproportionately weeds out women. This is not necessarily because women are failing. Rather, women often perceive "Bs" as inadequate grades and drop out, while men with "Cs" will persist with the class. Effective mentoring and "bridge programs" that prepare students for challenging coursework can counteract this. Changing the curriculum often leads to better recruitment and retention of both women and men in STEM classrooms and majors. For example, having students work in pairs on programming in entry-level computer science and engineering ( CSE ) courses leads to greater retention of both men and women in CSE majors. In addition, given that many students ( including men ) have difficulty with spatial visualization and learning, coursework in this area has helped retain both women and men in engineering schools. One of the most effective interventions to help young women choose and sustain a STEM educational path and subsequent STEM career is mentoring. MentorNet, a virtual e-mentoring network and community was established in 1997. Since then, it has expanded to offer award-winning, research-based, technology-leveraged mentoring programs that pair young people with professionals working in STEM careers in industry, government and higher education. Structured e-mail based mentoring relationships are sustained over a period of time with both one-on-one encouragement and advice, and online topic-based discussion groups. A resume database also assists job-seekers. MentorNet is accessible through http://www.mentornet.net. Two new publications funded by NSF offer some excellent resources. New Formulas for America's Workforce 2: Girls in Science and Engineering is the second volume in a series presenting research about the family, school and social structures that create obstacles or provide opportunities to attract girls and women to the STEM disciplines. It also presents the results of interventions that have succeeded in overcoming the obstacles and enhancing the opportunities to bring a new population to the sciences. New Tools for America's Workforce is a catalog of available resources for educators and others. The publications are accessible at http://www.nsf.gov/ehr/hrd/Newformulas/newformulas.jsp. On-line resources included in the New Tools publication are included with each of the myths discussed here. In spite of many obstacles, women have made significant contributions to the advancement of science throughout history--from the empress of China who used her scientific abilities to invent silk over 5000 years ago, to the Hollywood glamour queen who patented a missile guidance system that keeps cell phones working today. Hear some of these women's stories at http://www.womeninscience.org/then.htm. Early Childhood Education Push In England Accomplishes Nothing? Children's vocabulary, ability to count and name shapes when they start school are no better than they were six years ago, a study of 35,000 children claims… Sure Start Early years education has been a government priority - with £21bn invested since 1997 - and the research covered initiatives such as free nursery places for three and four-year-olds and the roll-out of Sure Start children's centres. It also covers the introduction of the Every Child Matters policy which aims to provide more support for the welfare of children. Researchers at Durham University's Curriculum, Evaluation and Management (CEM) Centre used a series of tests to evaluate children's vocabulary skills and their ability to do simple maths like suggesting which object is taller than the other. They looked at how about 6,000 four and five-year-olds in 124 primary schools performed in the tests (known as Pips - performance indicators in primary school) in each of the six years of the study. The children were asked to complete a series of fun activities by their teachers who were prompted by a computer programme. Taking in factors like the number of children with English as a second language and those on free school meals, it found that there was no change in the children's performance in the tests over the period 2001 to 2006. "While the Pips assessments used in the study do not measure how many children were involved in national initiatives, one would have expected that the major government programmes would have resulted in some measurable changes in our sample of almost 35,000 children," she said. Better monitoring There was also no change in the ability gap between those on free school meals and those who were not, she added. Dr Merrell said that interpreting why such policies appeared to have no impact was beyond the scope of her research… Liberal Democrat children, schools and families spokesman David Laws said the report was devastating. "The government has poured billions of pounds into early years education and it is astonishing that there is not a more detectable benefit from all of this extra cash. "It seems that the government has failed to target money at those children most in need of support." To see complete article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6966112.stm To see report: New Study Finds Inequities in Spending Among Texas Schools A new study in the fall issue of Education Next shows that there is greater inequality in the spending differences among schools within districts in Texas than among districts. Researchers Marguerite Roza, Kacey Guin, Betheny Gross, and Scott DeBurgomaster of the Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington looked at variation in general per-pupil funding (excluding funding for designated programs) among Texas school districts that had more than 25,000 students. They compared individual school spending with their district’s average over a ten-year period. The researchers found that general per-pupil funding from 1993 to 2003 in the state’s four largest school districts -- Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston -- evidenced higher levels of inequity than that of the state’s other districts. Each of the four districts was also remarkably different from the others. To explore these spending patterns, the researchers looked first at the disbursement of non-categorical funds within districts. They found notable disparities among schools. For example, in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, one-third of the schools nearly always had non-categorical spending levels higher than their district’s average by at least 15 percent. One-third of the Houston schools were spending between 20 and 25 percent more than the district average. In Dallas, spending was about 30 percent higher in a third of the schools, until the 2000–01 school year when there was a dramatic drop in the level of inequality in the district. Fort Worth made steady improvements toward equity in general funding across its schools over the decade, while Austin’s allocations became less evenly distributed over the last five years of the study. “Though there were some equity gains in these four districts over the last two years of our analysis, there was no clear long-term trend toward improvement,” the authors write. Because districts dedicate additional resources beyond non-categorical spending to address school needs, Roza and her colleagues looked at specific school characteristics to explain the variation in the allocation of resources: the level of the school (high school, middle school, or elementary school), total enrollment and student body profile, average experience of teachers, and overall school performance, as measured by the school’s academic rank within the state. The researchers found that the lowest-performing schools received only slightly more funding from the district, typically 1 to 4 percent more than the district average after taking into account those categorical funds associated with specific student types. High schools tended to receive more funding -- 18 percent more -- than elementary or middle schools as did schools with more senior teachers. Funding inequities between schools have led to calls for policies, such as a weighted student formula, that would transparently and equitably allocate resources among schools using an explicit formula. Districts that adopt a weighted student formula allocate funds according to the specific student types enrolled. “Were the districts in this analysis to allocate funds using a strict weighted student funding system, we would not have found any inequities between schools,” Roza said. “Each school would receive exactly the average allocation for its mix of students.” In Texas, legislation driven by a series of court decisions has sought to address funding inequalities among districts in recent years, but no court case has yet been based on inequalities within districts. Read the full article, "Do Districts Fund Schools Fairly?": Number and Diversity of SAT® Takers at All-Time High New College Board Survey Shows Increased Focus on Writing in High Schools The College Board has announced SAT® scores for the class of 2007, the largest and most diverse class of SAT takers on record. Nearly 1.5 million students (1,494,531) in the class of 2007 took the SAT, and minority students comprised nearly four out of 10 test-takers. "The record number of students, coupled with the diversity of SAT takers in the class of 2007, means that an increasing number of students in this country are recognizing the importance of a college education and are taking the steps necessary to get there," said Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board. "I am encouraged by the greater numbers of students from all walks of life who are taking on the challenge of the SAT and college. This year's average score in critical reading is 502, a 1-point decline compared to last year, or a change of 0.20 percent. The average scores in mathematics and writing declined 3 points each compared to a year ago, bringing the scores to 515 and 494, or a change of 0.58 percent and 0.60 percent, respectively. SAT Takers in the Class of 2007 The SAT takers in the class of 2007 are the most diverse group on record, with minority students comprising 39 percent.
Of additional interest, during the past two years, among all students taking the SAT, there has been a 31 percent increase in the number of students receiving SAT fee waivers. Over the past year among all students taking the SAT, nearly 324,000 students, or one out of every nine, received a fee waiver and qualified to take the SAT at no charge. A student's eligibility for a fee waiver is primarily determined using the USDA income eligibility chart for the federal free and reduced-price lunch program. SAT Score Trends and Course Taking While the long-term trend for critical reading scores has been essentially flat, some racial/ethnic groups saw score increases in critical reading this year. Asian-Americans (+4), Mexican-Americans (+1), Other Hispanics (+1) and Other (+3) students all saw gains in critical reading scores compared to last year. Critical reading scores for females held steady at 502, while scores for males slipped by 1 point to 504 compared to a year ago. Over the last 10 years, the gap favoring males on the critical reading section has narrowed from a high of 9 points in 2003 to 2 points this year. The long-term trend in mathematics scores is up, rising from 501, 20 years ago to 511, 10 years ago to 515 this year. Mathematics scores hit an all-time high of 520 in 2005, before slipping in 2006 and 2007. When compared to 10 years ago, more students are taking precalculus and calculus. In 2007, 53 percent of students reported taking precalculus, compared to 40 percent 10 years ago. The percentage of students taking calculus rose from 23 percent to 30 percent during the same time period. While both males and females are taking more challenging math courses, a greater proportion of males continue to enroll in these courses and the score gap in mathematics persists. In 2007, females scored 499 on the mathematics section and males scored 533. This year marks the second year of scores for the writing section on the SAT, thus it is too soon for a long-term trend to be established. Sixty-six percent of 2007 college-bound seniors reported taking English Composition in high school. The average writing score for these students is 521, 27 points higher than this year's average writing score. The score gap on the writing section favors females by 11 points, with females scoring 500 and males scoring 489. New Writing Survey The results of a new College Board writing survey demonstrate that the addition of a required writing section to the SAT is contributing to an increased focus on writing in the classroom. Conducted approximately two years after the writing section was introduced on the SAT, the College Board's writing survey canvassed almost 5,000 teachers and 800 administrators nationwide to gauge their thoughts on the importance of writing in the curriculum, and if (and how) the writing section on the SAT had contributed to a change in their K-12 classrooms. The findings show that of teachers surveyed:
In addition, 76 percent of teachers and 81 percent of administrators say that over the last three years there has been an increase in the focus on writing in the classroom. For the same time period, far fewer teachers and administrators report an increase in allocation of resources for writing (34 percent of teachers and 55 percent of administrators) and time devoted to grade writing assignments (7 percent of teachers and 13 percent of administrators). "It has always been our belief that writing skills are essential for postsecondary success, and these points show that the introduction of the SAT writing section is leading to tangible and valuable change in the classroom," said Caperton. "Even though we're heading in the right direction, we must do a better job of providing teachers with the time and tools they need to teach writing well." To see national and state reports: The College Board, in partnership with National Student Clearinghouse, is now able to track college-enrollment patterns of SAT takers at the state and national level. Available for the first time this year is the percentage of 2006 college-bound seniors from public schools enrolled in college and the percentage that chose to enroll in-state or out-of-state. Information on enrollment by race/ethnicity and type of institution attended (two year, four year, public, private) is also available. The College Board will be able to follow each class of SAT takers so that in future years, additional information, including the percentage of students successfully completing each year of college, as well as graduation rates, will be available. "Not only is it important for students to gain admission to college, they must also have the tools to succeed when they get there," said Caperton. "This data will be invaluable as we continue our efforts to address concerns about college retention rates nationwide." To see state by state reports: The Effects of the New Mexico PreK Initiative on Young Children's School Readiness by Jason T. Hustedt, W. Steven Barnett, and Kwanghee Jung (2007) Summary The study estimated the effects of preschool education programs on entering kindergartners' academic skills. With the assistance of the New Mexico Public Education Department and the Children, Youth and Families Department, researchers collected data on 886 preschool and kindergarten children in the fall of 2006. The National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey study found that as a result of attending the New Mexico program at age 4:
View the full report: Most Teachers 'Highly Qualified' Under No Child Left Behind Standards, But Teacher Qualifications Lag in Many High-Poverty and High-Minority Schools Most public school teachers are "highly qualified" under the terms of the No Child Left Behind Act, but many low-income and minority students experience inequities when it comes to the qualifications of the teachers in their classrooms, according to a new U.S. Department of Education report written by experts with the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The report, "Teacher Quality Under NCLB: Interim Report," includes analyses of data from the largest national survey of teachers, principals, paraprofessionals and school district staff to be conducted since the law was passed by Congress in 2001. That study, the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind, is being done as a partnership of AIR and the RAND Corporation. At least 74 percent of general education teachers reported they were highly qualified under NCLB for the subjects they taught, 23 percent did not know their status and 4 percent said they were not highly qualified. After analyzing the characteristics of the teachers who did not know if they were highly qualified, the AIR researchers concluded that over 90 percent of teachers were highly qualified under NCLB standards set by the states. "Although a high percentage of teachers are considered highly qualified, the results tend to mask some problem areas," says Dr. Kerstin Le Floch, a principal research analyst at AIR and one of the authors of the study. A higher percentage of teachers who are not highly qualified under NCLB teach special education, limited English proficiency classes and in middle schools, as well as in high-poverty and high-minority schools. Even among teachers considered highly qualified, the teachers in high-poverty schools had less experience and were less likely to have a degree in the subject they taught. Attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers is a major challenge, especially in high-minority, high-poverty, urban and rural districts, and for specific subject areas, the report finds. "Approximately two-thirds of all districts faced challenges in special education, science, and mathematics, but some districts faced more challenges than others," the report states. "For example, in mathematics and science the percentage of high-minority districts that struggled to attract and retain highly qualified applicants was nearly double that of low-minority districts." A majority of all districts (65 percent) reported they had difficulty attracting highly qualified applicants in science. Sixty percent said highly qualified applicants in mathematics were hard to come by, and 57 percent reported difficulty in recruiting top-notch special education teachers. The problem was exacerbated in high-poverty, high-minority and urban districts, where the biggest recruitment obstacle was competition with other districts. These districts were most likely to offer financial incentives and alternate certification routes to recruit highly qualified applicants. Even though fewer than 25 percent of districts around the country used financial incentives, such as increased salaries, signing bonuses, or housing incentives to attract highly qualified candidates, more than 75 percent of high-minority districts offered such incentives, according to the report. The study of the implementation of the highly qualified teacher provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act can be found at the U.S. Department of Education Web site http://www.ed.gov , the AIR Web site http://www.air.org , and the RAND Web site http://www.rand.org . The report describes the progress states, districts and schools have made implementing the teacher and paraprofessional qualification provisions through 2004-05. The report, which presents findings from two national studies - the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under NCLB (SSI-NCLB) and the National Longitudinal Study of NCLB (NLS-NCLB) - also found:
To see full report: New Statistics Reveal No Change in Child Poverty; National Center for Children in Poverty Dismayed That Number of Children Without Health Insurance Rises by 8 Percent The U.S. Census Bureau's annual release of data on poverty, income, and health insurance revealed that the official child poverty rate in the United States remained unchanged in 2006, hovering at about 17.5 percent. According to the new figures, 12.8 million children live in families with incomes below the official poverty level - $20,000 a year for a family of four in 2006. Since 2000, the annual Census Bureau figures have shown that the number of children living in poverty has either increased or remained stagnant each year. In fact, there were 1.2 million more poor children in 2006 compared to 2000. And the number of children without health insurance increased by more than 600,000 in just one year, reaching 8.7 million. Nearly one in five children living in poverty is uninsured. Today's data release revealed another troubling fact - real median earnings of full-time, year-round workers fell by more than a full percentage point. It's clear that child poverty has dramatic, negative consequences both for those who experience it - and for our society as a whole. Moreover, flaws in the official poverty measure mean that it fails to capture the true extent of economic hardship in America. The actual number of children growing up in families who struggle to meet their basic needs is closer to 30 million than 13 million. Learn more about child poverty and low-wage work at: http://www.nccp.org Historic Reversals, Accelerating Resegregation, and the Need for New Integration Strategies This new report released by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA finds that for the first time in three decades, the South is in danger of losing its leadership as the nation's most integrated schools. The report examines the effects of the dual processes of racial transformation and resegregation on the educational opportunity of students, as well as the relationship between race and poverty and its implications in light of the recent Supreme Court decisions. The report concludes with recommendations for school districts. To see report: Lessons in Integration: Realizing the Promise of Racial Diversity in American Schools (University of Virginia Press), edited by Civil Rights Project Researcher Erica Frankenberg and Co-director Gary Orfield. This research, produced with the support of the Southern Poverty Law Center, provides new evidence on the benefits of integration, and points out that a majority of schools - particularly segregated white schools in suburban America - will inevitably become multiracial, and experience dramatic racial change as a demographic transformation of America proceeds. Lessons in Integration shows ways in which teachers, administrators, and district officials can more effectively teach in diverse classrooms and equitably structure welcoming schooling environments for students from all backgrounds. To order book: http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/frankenberg.HTM |
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