Ways to Enhance Teens' Interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

The nation is hoping for a bright future. Many believe the key to strengthening the U.S. economy and competing globally lies in fostering an innovative culture and educating America's youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). According to this year's Lemelson-MIT Invention Index , an annual survey that gauges Americans' perceptions about invention and innovation, teens are enthusiastic about these subjects, with 77 percent interested in pursuing a STEM career.

Hands-On Learning Approach Needed

The positive findings of this year's survey come on the heels of President Obama's introduction of Educate to Innovate, a campaign designed to increase interest and improve performance of U.S. students in STEM. The focus of Educate to Innovate is on hands-on activities outside the classroom, which the Lemelson-MIT Invention Index revealed is one of the most effective ways to engage youth ages 12 through 17.

Teens listed activities such as field trips to places where they can learn about STEM (66 percent) and access to places outside the classroom where they can go to build things and conduct experiments (53 percent) as the best ways to get them interested in these subjects. Highlighting the need for non-traditional learning regardless of setting, two-thirds of teens chose hands-on individual projects and hands-on group projects as the types of classroom-based educational methods they enjoy most. This finding aligns with recent reported trends on an increasing interest in tinkering and hands-on work.

"Increasing teen's exposure to STEM through hands-on activities will result in a more positive perception of these important subjects," said Leigh Estabrooks, invention education officer with the Lemelson-MIT Program, a non-profit organization that recognizes outstanding inventors and inspires young people to pursue creative lives and careers through invention. "It's encouraging that the White House and large corporations are taking a vested interest in STEM education. Supporting teens and giving them the resources to pursue these fields is vital."

Power of Teachers, Mentors in STEM Education

The survey also found that while in the classroom, educators play a powerful role in exciting teens about STEM -- more than half of teens (55 percent) would be more interested in STEM simply by having teachers who enjoy the subjects they teach. The 2009 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index found that mentorship plays an important role in teens' motivations; 43 percent said that role models in STEM fields would increase their interest in learning about these areas.

An overwhelming amount of respondents wishing they knew more about STEM in order to create or invent something (85 percent); however, a majority might be discouraged from pursuing professions in these areas due to a lack of understanding of the subjects or what people in these fields do, and not knowing anyone who works in these fields (51 percent). In addition, with less than one-fifth of respondents feeling scientists contribute most to society's well-being, and even fewer selecting engineers (5 percent), many teens may lack a full understanding of the societal impact that STEM professionals have, further exposing the need for teachers and mentors in these areas.

Fostering Needs of Future Innovators

The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam initiative is one way teens can get direct access to hands-on learning and STEM professionals. InvenTeams are teams of high school students, teachers and mentors that receive grants up to $10,000 each to invent technological solutions to real-world problems. InvenTeam projects this year include a portable, human-powered UV water filtration device, a physical therapy chair designed to reduce muscular atrophy, and a temperature-sensitive color-changing roof to combat global warming.

Joshua Schuler, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program, says, "Despite the need for more hands-on educational programs, it's encouraging to know that today's teens do have aspirations to invent and innovate. Schools and companies need to continue to facilitate access to STEM tools and mentors, and encourage teens to pursue their inventive passions." Schuler adds, "Introducing students to STEM at a young age helps them connect the dots between everyday invention and careers that can improve society and the U.S. economy."
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Bullying and Sexual Orientation Among Adolescents

The act and victimization of bullying continues to be a problem among today’s youth. While many children are experiencing this form of violence, it is more prevalent in children that are different from the social norm. As medical professionals continue to further their understanding of bullying, research shows a high rate of sexual minority youth who experience this harmful activity.

A new study conducted by doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that sexual minority youth, or teens that identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, are bullied two to three times more than heterosexuals.

According to the study that is now available online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, sexual minority youth are more vulnerable to a variety of physical and mental domains such as bullying or suicidal thoughts. Plus, the study found that many older adolescents reported being bullied.

“There is a need for health care professionals, and others who work with children, to be aware that sexual minority youth are more likely to be victims of bullying and other forms of violence,” said Elise Berlan, MD, lead author and physician in Adolescent Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Parents should also take time to communicate with their children about sensitive topics such as sexuality, peer relations and violence.”

Researchers examined the relationship between sexual orientation and bullying from the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), an on-going study of American adolescents, which included information on more than 7,500 adolescents. While examining the results from the 2001 survey, the study also showed that youth identifying themselves as gay or lesbian were less likely to bully others and more likely to report being bullied than heterosexual teens.

Children that are different from the social norm often become targets of social isolation, harassment and bullying. Recommended strategies to identify this type of abusive behavior include encouraging clinicians to routinely inquire about sexual orientation and their experiences with bullying, interpersonal violence and abuse; screening sexual minority youth for depression, suicidality and involvement in high-risk behaviors; and increasing the support of school policies to ensure a safe learning environment for all students.

“Students, parents, schools and community organizations can work to create environments that are supportive and accepting of all students, regardless of their sexual orientation,” said Berlan, also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Schools, in particular, need to work to increase the awareness of bullying.”
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Effects of Bullying on Depression in African American Youth

In one of the few studies to examine bullying among African American youth, Kevin Fitzpatrick and colleagues identify risk and protective factors associated with symptoms of depression and point the way to further study.

“By removing race/ethnicity from the current analysis, we examined intra-racial behavior among youth in a way unlike the majority of bullying research has over the past several decades,” the researchers wrote.

Furthermore, they concluded that the study “has clearly helped to disentangle the effects of bullying behavior on the mental health of an understudied population.”

In an article in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Fitzpatrick and colleagues Akilah Dulin and Bettina Piko examined the relationship between symptoms of depression, group membership and risk and protection among African American youth. Their data came from surveys of 1,542 low-income African American youth from a heavily African American urban school district in Alabama.

The researchers noted the need for “culturally sensitive, age-appropriate, and multi-faceted programs that recognize the link between exposure to violence and depressive symptoms.” Both exposure to violence and symptoms of depression have been linked to serious problems in school – absences, poor grades and dropping out – that have serious negative implications during adolescence and on into adulthood.

The researchers grouped students into four categories: bullies, victims, bully-victims and non-involved. The researchers found elevated levels of symptoms of depression among all four student groups as compared to national benchmarks. Among the youth in this study, the relationship between bullying and symptoms of depression varied across groups: “While victims and victim-bullies self-reported more depressive symptoms than the non-bullied or non-victimized groups, bullies did not.”

Levels of depression among members of these groups were examined in relation to risk and protective factors that have been shown to affect mental health symptoms among youth. The researchers focused on individual risk factors, such as fighting or carrying a weapon to school, as well as the presence of violence or abuse in the home and safety at school.

Protective factors – which are more than just the absence of risk – include self-esteem at the individual level, a family life that offered both supervision and bonding, and a school in which the student felt connected.

“We tried to focus on the protective factors,” Fitzpatrick said. “Sometimes, the risk factors are not something we can manipulate, so we work on what we can manipulate – protective factors – to improve outcomes.”

All of the examined risk factors contributed to the likelihood that students would report symptoms of depression. Youth who reported corporal punishment at home were more likely to report symptoms of depression. _Students who felt their school was unsafe reported more depression. When one protective factor was present – self esteem – the reports of depressive symptoms were reduced for all four student groups.

These results suggested several ways to strengthen protective factors in the schools, including establishing stronger, safer support networks within schools systems and recognizing “the importance of psychological resources in establishing resiliency in the face of risk.”

The researchers also looked at how the effects varied with gender and age. In general, it has been shown in past research that females and older adolescents show more symptoms of depression than males and younger adolescents. _Similarly, in this research, females reported higher levels of depression. However, in this study, once group membership was also considered, older adolescents did not show the expected elevated levels of depression. This result suggested the need for closer examination of the relationship between age and the risk and protective factors among African American youth.
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Lead May Be the Culprit in ADHD

ADHD, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is among the costliest of behavioral disorders. Its combination of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity leads to accidental injuries, school failure, substance abuse, antisocial behavior and more. Yet despite nearly a century of study, the disorder’s roots remain mysterious.

Much of modern ADHD research has focused on heritability of the condition, and indeed evidence suggests that genes may account for as much as 70 percent of hyperactivity and inattention in children. But that leaves 30 percent unexplained, so recently the focus has shifted to the environment. What is it that triggers an underlying susceptibility and changes it into a full-blown disorder? New research suggests that the culprit may be an old villain—lead—and what’s more it explains the causal pathway from exposure to disability.

Lead is a neurotoxin. This has been known for a long time, and in fact government regulation drastically reduced environmental lead a generation ago. But regulating automobile fuel and paint didn’t entirely eliminate lead from the environment. It’s found in trace amounts in everything from children’s costume jewelry to imported candies to soil and drinking water. Every American today is exposed to low levels of the metal, and indeed nearly all children have measureable levels of lead in their bodies. According to psychological scientist Joel Nigg of the Oregon Health & Science University, this universal low-level exposure makes lead an ideal candidate for the disorder’s trigger.

This was just a theory until quite recently, but two recent studies now provide strong evidence. The first study compared children formally diagnosed with ADHD to controls, and found that the children with the disorder had slightly higher levels of lead in their blood. This study showed a link only between blood lead and hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms, not inattention. But a second study showed a robust link between blood lead and both parent and teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms, including both hyperactivity and attention problems. In both studies, the connection was independent of IQ, family income, race, or maternal smoking during pregnancy.

Nigg offers a causal model for the disabling symptoms associated with ADHD: Lead attaches to sites in the brain’s striatum and frontal cortex, where it acts on the genes in these regions—causing them to turn on or remain inactive. Gene activity shapes the development and activity of these brain regions. By disrupting brain activity, the toxin in turn alters psychological processes supported by these neurons, notably cognitive control. Finally, diminished cognitive control contributes to hyperactivity and lack of vigilance. Nigg describes his new data and his explanatory model in the February issue of the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science.
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National Assessment of Educational Progress Resources

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2010 assessments are now being administered to students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in public and private schools across the country. From January 25 through March 5, students will take NAEP assessments in civics, geography, and U.S. history, and the NAEP website has a wealth of resources to help those selected students, parents, teachers and schools who are participating.

Are you participating in NAEP this year? The NAEP website offers a broad range of resources:

* The new Student pages have answers to frequently asked questions, student videos, games, study tools, and more for students of all ages!

* The Parents' page offers a broad range of resources designed specifically for families of NAEP students:

* Usted también puede visitar la página para familias en español:


* The Selected Schools pages feature fact sheets for teachers and principals, tools to encourage student participation, and helpful links to get more information.
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Teacher Absences Decrease When Principal Can Fire

This paper studies the effect of employment protection on worker productivity and firm output in the context of a public school system. In 2004, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) signed a new collective bargaining agreement that gave principals the flexibility to dismiss probationary teachers (defined as those with less than five years of experience) for any reason, and without the elaborate documentation and hearing process typical in many large, urban school districts.

Results suggest that the policy reduced annual teacher absences by roughly 10 percent and reduced the prevalence of teachers with 15 or more annual absences by 20 percent. The effects were strongest among teachers in elementary schools and in low-achieving, predominantly African-American high schools, and among teachers with high predicted absences. There is also evidence that the impact of the policy increased substantially after its first year.
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Reducing Student Plagiarism

Despite the concern that student plagiarism has become increasingly common, there is relatively little objective data on the prevalence or determinants of this illicit behavior. This study presents the results of a natural field experiment designed to address these questions.

Over 1,200 papers were collected from the students in undergraduate courses at a selective post-secondary institution. Students in half of the participating courses were randomly assigned to a requirement that they complete an anti-plagiarism tutorial before submitting their papers. The authors found that assignment to the treatment group substantially reduced the likelihood of plagiarism, particularly among student with lower SAT scores who had the highest rates of plagiarism.

A follow-up survey of participating students suggests that the intervention reduced plagiarism by increasing student knowledge rather than by increasing the perceived probabilities of detection and punishment. These results are consistent with a model of student behavior in which the decision to plagiarize reflects both a poor understanding of academic integrity and the perception that the probabilities of detection and severe punishment are low.
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Boys in education face a variety of issues

Boys face high rates of a variety of mental health issues, in addition to lagging behind girls in academic performance and college attendance, according to two new papers by University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Judith Kleinfeld.

The studies, recently published in the journal Gender Issues, note that boys have higher rates of suicide, conduct disorders, emotional disturbance, premature death and juvenile delinquency than their female peers, as well as lower grades, test scores and college attendance rates.

The first paper, “The State of American Boyhood,” offers a status report on the academic, mental and social health of boys in the United States. Her conclusion: There is neither a “girl crisis” nor a “boy crisis.”

“Rather, boys and girls suffer from different types of characteristic problems,” Kleinfeld wrote, noting that girls have higher rates of depression, suicide attempts and eating disorders. “Schools need to pay attention to the difficulties of both girls and boys and bring these problems to the attention of families, teachers and mental health professionals.”

Still, boys are in far more serious trouble, she argues. The gender gap in reading and writing at the end of high school, for example, is far wider than the gap in math and science ever was. More than a quarter of American male high school graduates can’t understand a newspaper article, compared to about 10 percent of girls.

Kleinfeld’s second study, “No Map to Manhood: Male and Female Mindsets Behind the College Gender Gap,” drew on in-depth interviews with 99 high school seniors in the Fairbanks area, as well as national statistics on college attendance. She aimed to shed light on why boys are less likely than girls to seek postsecondary education.

“Males who do not have a college education are far more vulnerable to unemployment and the wages of men without a college education are plummeting,” Kleinfeld said.

She notes that nearly 60 percent of college students are female, but that most studies don’t ask graduating seniors why they are making the choices they do. Kleinfeld chose to focus her interviews on Alaska students because Alaska has one of the highest college-attendance gender gaps in the nation.

Through her interviews, she found several reasons why boys are less apt to go to college. Some mistakenly thought they could earn high wages right away without a college education, deciding they would rather get paid for working than pay for college. Some had limited knowledge of the job market and little concept of how much it costs to live a middle-class lifestyle. Many simply disliked school and didn’t want more of it.

Her interviews also showed that high school students, both boys and girls, are stereotyping boys. Kleinfeld notes that when she asked students about the gender gap in education, their explanations centered on three themes: young men are lazy, they don’t plan ahead and they are prone to peer pressure.

“Boys are getting little respect,” Kleinfeld said. “These negative stereotypes may well further depress boys’ academic achievement.”

Kleinfeld hopes her current work will offer more insight on the reasons why boys are struggling. Her newest study focuses on pressures on men in American society and changing concepts of manhood. In addition to her position on the UAF faculty, Kleinfeld is director of The Boys Project, a national program that aims to promote discussion and action on the educational and cultural needs of boys.
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Children with suspected development problems may not get needed referrals, study shows

Many pediatricians score high on screening their patients for developmental delays, but barely make a passing grade in referring children with suspected delays for further testing or treatment, according to a study from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and other institutions to appear in the February issue of Pediatrics.

Because screening is only effective if followed by referral and treatment, pediatricians need two separate formalized systems in their practices — one for screening and one for referral — the investigators write in their report available online Jan. 25.

The report also notes that pediatricians, and their patients, would fare better if the doctor's office places the referral on a patient's behalf instead of handing the family a phone number to do so on their own.

In 2006, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued guidelines that call for informal clinical evaluation of development of all children younger than 3 years during all well-child visits, and the use of a standard developmental screening test in all children at ages 9, 18 and 24 (or 30) months. The AAP recommends that children who fail a screening test be referred to a specialist for more testing and to an early intervention program.

The new study, launched as an AAP project to improve screening and referral, analyzed screening and referrals over nine months among 17 pediatric practices in 15 states, whose physicians and staff were trained on the new AAP guidelines.

Although screening rates improved from 68 percent of patients to 85 percent of patients after the training, referrals remained low, with only 61 percent of those with suspected delays sent for further testing and therapy.

Among pediatricians who referred patients for further testing and treatment, many failed to follow up with the family to check whether the family acted on the referral. The investigators say many families don't follow up and some don't understand the reason for the referral in the first place.

In addition, the investigators said, even when pediatricians did refer, their patterns were all over the map, with most pediatricians failing to refer children to both a specialist and an early intervention program, but choosing one or the other.

"The ultimate goal of screening is to improve outcomes for children with developmental delays, but in our study we found that many pediatricians did not act properly even when serious red flags were present," said lead researcher Tracy King, M.D. M.P.H., a pediatrician at Hopkins Children's. "This is where we should focus our efforts: making sure that more children with suspected delays get referred for testing and therapy."

King and colleagues say referrals work best if they are placed by the pediatrician's office on the patient's behalf and tracked much like any other medical referral. Historically, referrals for developmental delays have not been treated as medical referrals but rather informally, by handing the parents a phone number and telling them to follow up with an early intervention program or a therapy provider.

Follow-up is critical because children with developmental delays who are treated promptly fare better than those who get delayed treatment or no treatment at all, King said. For example, a child with a speech problem who receives early speech-language therapy will improve faster and do better in the long run than a child who is either not identified until later or whose referrals are not acted upon.

To increase referral and follow-up, each practice should establish a separate referral log and tracking system that prompts staff, nurses and doctors not only to refer a patient, but to call and check with the family periodically to ensure action.

Other findings from the study include:

• While nine of the 17 practices reported conducting developmental screening prior to the training, none of the 17 practices were following AAP screening guidelines.

• After the training, all practices incorporated successfully AAP-recommended screening into their clinic routines.

• Fourteen percent of all screened children during the nine-month study failed a developmental screening, a red flag signaling possible developmental delays.

• Referrals ranged from 27 percent to 100 percent among the 17 practices, with an average of 61 percent.

• Unlike screening rates, referral rates did not increase over time. They dropped down even further during the second half of the nine-month study with just over half of the children who failed a screening test getting a referral.

The most common deterrent to universal use of standard screening tools was fear that the time it takes might slow down patient flow.
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Online Education up 17 Percent to 4.6 Million;

Annnual Survey Shows Recession, Influenza Among Factors Driving Growth

The 2009 Sloan Survey of Online Learning reveals that enrollment rose by nearly 17 percent from a year earlier. The survey of more than 2,500 colleges and universities nationwide finds approximately 4.6 million students were enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2008, the most recent term for which figures are available.

"Online enrollments in U.S. higher education show no signs of slowing," said study co-author Jeff Seaman, Co-Director of the Babson Survey Research Group at Babson College. "More than one out of four college and university students now take at least one course online."

The seventh annual survey, a collaborative effort between the Babson Survey Research Group, the College Board and the Sloan Consortium, is the leading barometer of online learning in the United States. The complete survey report, "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009" is available on the Sloan Consortium Web site, http://www.sloanconsortium.org . The report includes a detailed analysis of the factors driving the growth in online education.
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Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings from First Graders in 39 Schools

Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula: Findings from First Graders in 39 Schools reports on the relative impacts of four math curricula on first-grade mathematics achievement. The curricula were selected to represent diverse approaches to teaching elementary school math in the United States. The four curricula are Investigations in Number, Data, and Space; Math Expressions; Saxon Math; and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics.

First-grade math achievement was significantly higher in schools randomly assigned to Math Expressions or Saxon Math than in those schools assigned to Investigations in Number, Data, and Space or to Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics.


The research described in this report is consistent with WWC evidence standards:

Strengths: This is a well-implemented randomized controlled trial
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Factors to Help Children Avoid Social Rejection

Neurobehavioral researchers at Rush University Medical Center have found three key factors in a child's behavior that can lead to social rejection. The studies are a crucial step in developing scientifically sound screening tests and treatment planning for social-emotional learning difficulties. The results from the studies are published in the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Findings from the pair of studies indicate that the ability to pick up on non-verbal cues and social cues in social interaction as well as recognize the meaning and respond appropriately to them are key to helping children develop skills to maintain friendships and avoid a host of problems in later life.

A child who experiences social rejection is more likely to suffer from academic failure, drop out of school, experience depression or anxiety, and experiment with drugs.

"Children's ability to develop positive peer relationships is critical to their well-being," said Dr. Clark McKown, study principal investigator and associate executive director and research director at the Rush Neurobehavioral Center. "Compared to children who are accepted by their peers, socially rejected children are at substantially elevated risk for later adjustment troubles."

Researchers observed two groups of children. One was a random sample of 158 children in the Chicago school system. The other group was a random sample of 126 clinic-referred children.

The studies indicate that some children have difficulty picking up on non-verbal or social cues.

According to McKown, "They simply don't notice the way someone's shoulders slump with disappointment, or hear the change in someone's voice when they are excited, or take in whether a person's face shows anger or sadness."

A second major factor is that some children may pick up on non-verbal or social cues, but lack the ability to attach meaning to them. The third factor is the ability to reason about social problems.

"Some children may notice social cues and understand what is happening, but are unable to do the social problem solving to behave appropriately," said McKown.

A child who can take in social cues, recognize their meaning and respond appropriately, and who is capable of "self- regulating," or controlling behavior, is more likely to have successful relationships.

"The number of children who cannot negotiate all these steps, and who are at risk of social rejection, is startling," said McKown.

Nearly 13 percent of the school age population, or roughly four million children nationwide, have social-emotional learning difficulties.

For some time, behavioral scientists have known the social costs associated with this problem. Illinois is one of a handful of states which require school districts to assess and monitor the social-emotional learning needs of its students.

"Because it is not known exactly which behaviors set a child up for failure, or how to measure these skills, it was difficult to provide support," said McKown. "Now, it will be possible to pinpoint which abilities a child needs to develop and offer help."

According to researchers at Rush, the results of the studies could potentially help develop tests to assess for social-emotional learning that are easy to administer and scientifically sound.
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Elementary school women teachers transfer their fear of doing math to girls

Female elementary school teachers who are anxious about math pass on to female students the stereotype that boys, not girls, are good at math. Girls who endorse this belief then do worse at math, research at the University of Chicago shows.

These findings are the product of a year-long study on 17 first- and second-grade teachers and 52 boys and 65 girls who were their students. The researchers found that boys' math performance was not related to their teacher's math anxiety while girls' math achievement was affected.

"Having a highly math-anxious female teacher may push girls to confirm the stereotype that they are not as good as boys at math, which in turn, affects girls' math achievement," said Sian Beilock, Associate Professor in Psychology and the Committee on Education at the University of Chicago, lead author of a paper, "Female Teachers' Math Anxiety Affects Girls' Math Achievement" published in the January 11 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Beilock is an expert on anxiety and stress as they relate to learning and performance.

Other authors were University graduate students Elizabeth Gunderson and Gerardo Ramirez as well as Susan Levine, Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology, Comparative Human Development, and the Committee on Education at the University of Chicago.

More than 90 percent of elementary school teachers in the country are women and they are able to get their teaching certificates with very little mathematics preparation, according to the National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education. Other research shows that elementary education majors have the highest rate of mathematics anxiety of any college major.

The potential of these teachers to impact girls' performance by transmitting their own anxiety about mathematics has important consequences. Teachers' anxiety might undermine female students' confidence in learning mathematics throughout their years of schooling and also decrease their performance in other subjects, such as science and engineering, which are dependent on mathematical understanding.

To determine the impact of teachers' mathematics anxiety on students, the team assessed teachers' anxiety about math. Then, at both the beginning and end of the school year, the research team also tested the students' level of mathematics achievement and the gender stereotypes the students held.

To assess stereotypes, the students were told gender neutral stories about students who were good at mathematics and good at reading and then asked to draw a picture of a student who was good at mathematics and one that was good at reading. Researchers were interested in examining the genders of the drawings that children produced for each story.

At the beginning of the school year, student math achievement was unrelated to teacher math anxiety in both boys and girls. By the end of the school year, however, the more anxious teachers were about math, the more likely girls, but not boys, were to endorse the view that "boys are good at math and girls are good at reading." Girls who accepted this stereotype did significantly worse on math achievement measures at the end of the school year than girls who did not accept the stereotype and than boys overall.

Girls who confirmed a belief that boys are better in math than girls scored six points lower in math achievement than did boys or girls who had not developed a belief in the stereotype (102 for the girls who accepted the stereotype, versus 108 for the other students).

Other research has shown that elementary school children are highly influenced by the attitudes of adults and that this relationship is strongest for students and adults of the same gender. "Thus it may be that first- and second-grade girls are more likely to be influenced by their teachers' anxieties than their male classmates, because most early elementary school teachers are female and the high levels of math anxiety in this teacher population confirm a societal stereotype about girls' math ability," Beilock said.

The authors suggest that elementary teacher preparation programs could be strengthened by requiring more mathematics preparation for future teachers as well as by addressing issues of math attitudes and anxiety in these teachers.
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Mixed-handed children more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems

Children who are mixed-handed, or ambidextrous, are more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems in childhood than right- or left-handed children, according to a new study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London and other European institutions, suggest that their findings may help teachers and health professionals to identify children who are particularly at risk of developing certain problems.

Around one in every 100 people is mixed-handed. The study looked at nearly 8,000 children, 87 of whom were mixed-handed, and found that mixed-handed 7 and 8-year old children were twice as likely as their right-handed peers to have difficulties with language and to perform poorly in school.

When they reached 15 or 16, mixed-handed adolescents were also at twice the risk of having symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They were also likely to have more severe symptoms of ADHD than their right-handed counterparts. It is estimated that ADHD affects between 3 to 9 percent of school-aged children and young people.

The adolescents also reported having greater difficulties with language than those who were left- or right-handed. This is in line with earlier studies that have linked mixed-handedness with dyslexia.

Little is known about what makes people mixed-handed but it is known that handedness is linked to the hemispheres in the brain. Previous research has shown that where a person's natural preference is for using their right hand, the left hemisphere of their brain is more dominant.

Some researchers have suggested that mixed-handedness indicates that the pattern of dominance is not that which is typically seen in most people, i.e. it is less clear that one hemisphere is dominant over the other. One study has suggested that ADHD is linked to having a weaker function in the right hemisphere of the brain, which could help explain why some of the mixed-handed students in today's study had symptoms of ADHD.

Dr Alina Rodriguez, the lead researcher on the study from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "Mixed-handedness is intriguing – we don't know why some people prefer to make use of both hands when most people use only one. Our study is interesting because it suggests that some children who are mixed handed experience greater difficulties in school than their left- and right-handed friends. We think that there are differences in the brain that might explain these difficulties, but there needs to be more research.

"Because mixed-handedness is such a rare condition, the number of mixed-handed children we were able to study was relatively small, but our results are statistically and clinically significant. That said, our results should not be taken to mean that all children who are mixed-handed will have problems at school or develop ADHD. We found that mixed-handed children and adolescents were at a higher risk of having certain problems, but we'd like to stress that most of the mixed-handed children we followed didn't have any of these difficulties," added Dr Rodriguez.

To study the effects of mixed-handedness, Dr Rodriguez and her colleagues looked at prospective data from a cohort of 7,871 children from Northern Finland. Using questionnaires, the researchers assessed the children when they reached 7 to 8 years of age and again at 15 to 16 years of age.

When the children were aged 8, the researchers asked parents and teachers to assess their linguistic abilities, scholastic performance and behaviour. The teachers reported whether children had difficulties in reading, writing or mathematics and rated the children's academic performance as below average, average or above average.

The adolescents' parents and the adolescents themselves completed follow-up questionnaires when they were 15-16 years of age, with the children evaluating their school performance in relation to their peers and the parents assessing their children's behaviour, on a questionnaire that is widely used to identify ADHD symptoms.Mixed-handed children more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems

Children who are mixed-handed, or ambidextrous, are more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems in childhood than right- or left-handed children, according to a new study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London and other European institutions, suggest that their findings may help teachers and health professionals to identify children who are particularly at risk of developing certain problems.

Around one in every 100 people is mixed-handed. The study looked at nearly 8,000 children, 87 of whom were mixed-handed, and found that mixed-handed 7 and 8-year old children were twice as likely as their right-handed peers to have difficulties with language and to perform poorly in school.

When they reached 15 or 16, mixed-handed adolescents were also at twice the risk of having symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They were also likely to have more severe symptoms of ADHD than their right-handed counterparts. It is estimated that ADHD affects between 3 to 9 percent of school-aged children and young people.

The adolescents also reported having greater difficulties with language than those who were left- or right-handed. This is in line with earlier studies that have linked mixed-handedness with dyslexia.

Little is known about what makes people mixed-handed but it is known that handedness is linked to the hemispheres in the brain. Previous research has shown that where a person's natural preference is for using their right hand, the left hemisphere of their brain is more dominant.

Some researchers have suggested that mixed-handedness indicates that the pattern of dominance is not that which is typically seen in most people, i.e. it is less clear that one hemisphere is dominant over the other. One study has suggested that ADHD is linked to having a weaker function in the right hemisphere of the brain, which could help explain why some of the mixed-handed students in today's study had symptoms of ADHD.

Dr Alina Rodriguez, the lead researcher on the study from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "Mixed-handedness is intriguing – we don't know why some people prefer to make use of both hands when most people use only one. Our study is interesting because it suggests that some children who are mixed handed experience greater difficulties in school than their left- and right-handed friends. We think that there are differences in the brain that might explain these difficulties, but there needs to be more research.

"Because mixed-handedness is such a rare condition, the number of mixed-handed children we were able to study was relatively small, but our results are statistically and clinically significant. That said, our results should not be taken to mean that all children who are mixed-handed will have problems at school or develop ADHD. We found that mixed-handed children and adolescents were at a higher risk of having certain problems, but we'd like to stress that most of the mixed-handed children we followed didn't have any of these difficulties," added Dr Rodriguez.

To study the effects of mixed-handedness, Dr Rodriguez and her colleagues looked at prospective data from a cohort of 7,871 children from Northern Finland. Using questionnaires, the researchers assessed the children when they reached 7 to 8 years of age and again at 15 to 16 years of age.

When the children were aged 8, the researchers asked parents and teachers to assess their linguistic abilities, scholastic performance and behaviour. The teachers reported whether children had difficulties in reading, writing or mathematics and rated the children's academic performance as below average, average or above average.

The adolescents' parents and the adolescents themselves completed follow-up questionnaires when they were 15-16 years of age, with the children evaluating their school performance in relation to their peers and the parents assessing their children's behaviour, on a questionnaire that is widely used to identify ADHD symptoms.
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The High Cost of Low Educational Performance

While governments frequently commit to improving the quality of education, it often slips down the policy agenda. Because investing in education only pays off in the future, it is possible to underestimate the value and the importance of improvements.

This report uses recent economic modelling to relate cognitive skills – as measured by Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international instruments – to economic growth, demonstrating that relatively small improvements to labour force skills can largely impact the future well-being of a nation.

The report also shows that it is the quality of learning outcomes, not the length of schooling, which makes the difference. A modest goal of all OECD countries boosting their average PISA scores by 25 points over the next 20 years would increase OECD gross domestic product by USD 115 trillion over the lifetime of the generation born in 2010. More aggressive goals could result in gains in the order of USD 260 trillion.
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A computer per student leads to higher performance

than traditional classroom settings



A dozen years into the "1 to 1" computing movement's push to pair every schoolchild and teacher with a laptop, studies show the students in these programs outperformed their peers in traditional classrooms, according to researchers.

Students who have participated in 1:1 computing report higher achievement and increased engagement, according to findings of studies published in a special issue of the Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment, published by Boston College's Lynch School of Education.

The journal's January 2010 edition represents the first-ever collection of peer-reviewed research articles examining the impacts of providing every teacher and student their own laptop computer in school – typically know as "1:1 computing."

"This new collection of articles brings together some of the best evidence to date on the implementation and impacts of 1:1 computing," said Boston College Assistant Professor of Education Laura M. O'Dwyer, a co-editor of the journal, which is housed jointly in the Technology and Assessment Study Collaborative (inTASC) and the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) at Boston College.

The journal includes co-editor and Lynch School researcher Damian Bebell's evaluation of a pilot program in Massachusetts' Berkshire County. Bebell found the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative produced improved performance in English and writing, though results for math achievement were flat. Overwhelmingly, the laptops got students excited about school.

Bebell said that across all of the studies contained in the journal, one common link is clear: the value of teachers committed to making 1:1 computing work.

"One of the most salient findings was the critical role that teachers played in the success of each 1:1 program," Bebell said. Additional factors critical to student success across 1:1 technology settings included:

*Having a strong commitment from school leadership

*Developing consistent and supportive administrative policies

*Creating professional development opportunities for teachers, particularly the sharing of best practices

All of the studies that examined the impact of 1:1 computing on student achievement found that students in the 1:1 settings outperformed their traditional classroom peers on English/Language Arts standardized tests by a statistically significant margin. Study authors also reported on evidence of increased student motivation and engagement, as well as changes in teachers' instructional practices.
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Media Use Amoong Student Way Up


Most Youth Say They Have No Rules About How Much Time They Can Spend With TV, Video Games, or Computers


With technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth, according to a study released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.

The amount of time spent with media increased by an hour and seventeen minutes a day over the past five years, from 6:21 in 2004 to 7:38 today. And because of media multitasking, the total amount of media content consumed during that period has increased from 8:33 in 2004 to 10:45 today.

Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the Foundation about young people’s media use. It includes data from all three waves of the study (1999, 2004, and 2009), and is among the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information about media use among American youth.

Mobile media driving increased consumption. The increase in media use is driven in large part by ready access to mobile devices like cell phones and iPods. Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in ownership among 8- to 18-year-olds: from 39% to 66% for cell phones, and from 18% to 76% for iPods and other MP3 players. During this period, cell phones and iPods have become true multi-media devices: in fact, young people now spend more time listening to music, playing games, and watching TV on their cell phones (a total of :49 daily) than they spend talking on them (:33).

Parents and media rules. Only about three in ten young people say they have rules about how much time they can spend watching TV (28%) or playing video games (30%), and 36% say the same about using the computer. But when parents do set limits, children spend less time with media: those with any media rules consume nearly 3 hours less media per day (2:52) than those with no rules.

Media in the home. About two-thirds (64%) of young people say the TV is usually on during meals, and just under half (45%) say the TV is left on “most of the time” in their home, even if no one is watching. Seven in ten (71%) have a TV in their bedroom, and half (50%) have a console video game player in their room. Again, children in these TV-centric homes spend far more time watching: 1:30 more a day in homes where the TV is left on most of the time, and an hour more among those with a TV in their room.

“The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it’s even more than a full-time work week,” said Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation. “When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”

Heavy media users report getting lower grades. While the study cannot establish a cause and effect relationship between media use and grades, there are differences between heavy and light media users in this regard. About half (47%) of heavy media users say they usually get fair or poor grades (mostly Cs or lower), compared to about a quarter (23%) of light users. These differences may or may not be influenced by their media use patterns. (Heavy users are the 21% of young people who consume more than 16 hours of media a day, and light users are the 17% of young people who consume less than 3 hours of media a day.)

Black and Hispanic children spend far more time with media than White children do. There are substantial differences in children’s media use between members of various ethnic and racial groups. Black and Hispanic children consume nearly 4½ hours more media daily (13:00 of total media exposure for Hispanics, 12:59 for Blacks, and 8:36 for Whites). Some of the largest differences are in TV viewing: Black children spend nearly 6 hours and Hispanics just under 5½ hours, compared to roughly 3½ hours a day for White youth. The only medium where there is no significant difference between these three groups is print. Differences by race/ethnicity remain even after controlling for other factors such as age, parents’ education, and single vs. two-parent homes. The racial disparity in media use has grown substantially over the past five years: for example, the gap between White and Black youth was just over two hours (2:12) in 2004, and has grown to more than four hours today (4:23).

Big changes in TV. For the first time over the course of the study, the amount of time spent watching regularly-scheduled TV declined, by 25 minutes a day (from 2004 to 2009). But the many new ways to watch TV–on the Internet, cell phones, and iPods–actually led to an increase in total TV consumption from 3:51 to 4:29 per day, including :24 of online viewing, :16 on iPods and other MP3 players, and :15 on cell phones. All told, 59% (2:39) of young people’s TV-viewing consists of live TV on a TV set, and 41% (1:50) is time-shifted, DVDs, online, or mobile.

“The bottom line is that all these advances in media technologies are making it even easier for young people to spend more and more time with media,” said Victoria Rideout, Foundation Vice President and director of the study. “It’s more important than ever that researchers, policymakers and parents stay on top of the impact it’s having on their lives.”

Popular new activities like social networking also contribute to increased media use. Top online activities include social networking (:22 a day), playing games (:17), and visiting video sites such as YouTube (:15). Three-quarters (74%) of all 7th-12th graders say they have a profile on a social networking site.

Types of media kids consume. Time spent with every medium other than movies and print increased over the past five years: :47 a day increase for music/audio, :38 for TV content, :27 for computers, and :24 for video games. TV remains the dominant type of media content consumed, at 4:29 a day, followed by music/audio at 2:31, computers at 1:29, video games at 1:13, print at :38, and movies at :25 a day.

High levels of media multitasking. High levels of media multitasking also contribute to the large amount of media young people consume each day. About 4 in 10 7th-12th graders say they use another medium “most” of the time they’re listening to music (43%), using a computer (40%), or watching TV (39%).

Additional findings:

Reading. Over the past 5 years, time spent reading books remained steady at about :25 a day, but time with magazines and newspapers dropped (from :14 to :09 for magazines, and from :06 to :03 for newspapers). The proportion of young people who read a newspaper in a typical day dropped from 42% in 1999 to 23% in 2009. On the other hand, young people now spend an average of :02 a day reading magazines or newspapers online.

Media and homework. About half of young people say they use media either “most” (31%) or “some” (25%) of the time they’re doing their homework.
Rules about media content. Fewer than half of all 8- to 18-year-olds say they have rules about what TV shows they can watch (46%), video games they can play (30%), or music they’re allowed to listen to (26%). Half (52%) say they have rules about what they can do on the computer.

Gender gap. Girls spend more time than boys using social networking sites (:25 vs. :19), listening to music (2:33 vs. 2:06), and reading (:43 vs. :33). Boys spend more time than girls playing console video games (:56 vs.: 14), computer games (:25 vs. :08), and going to video websites like YouTube (:17 vs. :12).

Tweens and media. Media use increases substantially when children hit the 11-14 year-old age group, an increase of 1:22 with TV content, 1:14 with music, 1:00 using the computer, and :24 playing video games, for total media exposure of 11:53 per day (vs. 7:51 for 8-10 year-olds).

Texting. 7th-12th graders report spending an average of 1:35 a day sending or receiving texts. (Time spent texting is not counted as media use in this study.)
The report, Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, was released today at a forum in Washington, D.C. that featured the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, media executives and child development experts.


The report, related materials, and a live webcast are available online.


Methodology: The study was designed and analyzed by staff at the Kaiser Family Foundation, in collaborationwith researchers from Stanford University. Data collection, sampling and weighting were conducted by Harris Interactive®. The report is based on a survey conducted between October 2008 and May 2009 among a nationally representative sample of 2,002 3rd-12th grade students ages 8-18. Respondents completed a self-administered written questionnaire in the classroom. Figures for grade level, school type, region, urbanicity, gender, race/ethnicity, parent education, and school grade enrollment were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportion in the population. A self-selected subsample of 702 respondents completed seven-day media use diaries, which were used to calculate multitasking proportions. The study accounts for media multitasking in the following way: Total media exposure refers to the amount of media content young people consume in a day—the number one gets by adding up the amount of time spent with each medium (10:45). But most young people often use more than one medium at a time (e.g., listening to music while using the computer). This multitasking is taken into account in the calculation of total media use, which is calculated by reducing media exposure by the proportion of time spent media-multitasking (7:38). All times are presented in hours:minutes, such as 2:32. The study focuses on recreational use of media: for example, time spent using the computer or reading for school is not included in calculations of media use. The study covers TV, movies, computers, video games, music/audio, and print. Time spent using a cell phone for media consumption is counted as media use, but time spent talking or texting on the phone is not. This is the third in a series of studies conducted by the Foundation in 1999, 2004, and 2009, with a different group of respondents participating each time. The report includes data from each wave, and notes changes over time. A summary of key changes in question wording and structure over the years is included in Appendix B of the full report. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 3.9%, higher for subgroups. Note that sampling error is only one of many potential sources of error in this or any other survey. A more detailed description of the methodology can be found in the full report.
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Identification of Children and Youth With Disabilities

Presenting a national description of identification patterns across time and outcomes for children with disabilities, a new study reports that the percentage of children in each age group who were newly identified or continuing to receive early intervention and special education services increased from 1997 to 2005.

"Patterns in the Identification of and Outcomes for Children and Youth With Disabilities" uses existing data collected by the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies to present information on infants and toddlers (birth through age 2), preschool-age children (ages 3 through 5), and school-age children and youth (ages 6 through 21) served under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Released by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, the purpose of the report is to provide background context for studies of program implementation and effectiveness occurring under the National Assessment of IDEA.
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Adolescent Girls Fighting In School and Out

One in Four Girls Aged 12-17 Were Involved in Serious Fights or Attacks in the Past Year

A report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that, in the past year, one quarter (26.7 percent) of adolescent girls participated in a serious fight at school or work, group-against-group fight, or an attack on others with the intent to inflict serious harm.

“These findings are alarming,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. “We need to do a better job reaching girls at risk and teaching them how to resolve problems without resorting to violence.”

When combined, 2006 to 2008 data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that 18.6 percent of adolescent females got into a serious fight at school or work in the past year, 14.1 percent participated in a group-against-group fight, and 5.7 percent attacked others with the intent to seriously hurt them; one quarter (26.7 percent) of adolescent females engaged in at least one of these violent behaviors in the past year. Other key findings from the NSDUH survey include:

- The prevalence of these violent acts in the past year decreased as annual family income increased. The violent behaviors were reported by 36.5 percent of adolescent females who lived in families with annual incomes of less than $20,000, 30.5 percent of those in families with annual incomes of $20,000-$49,999, 22.8 percent with annual incomes of $50,000 to $74,999, and 20.7 percent with annual incomes of $75,000 or more.

• In the past year, adolescent females who engaged in any of these violent behaviors were more likely than those who did not to have indicated past month binge alcohol use (15.1 vs. 6.9 percent), marijuana use (11.4 vs. 4.1 percent), and use of illicit drugs other than marijuana (9.2 vs. 3.2 percent).

• Adolescent females who were not currently enrolled or attending school were more likely than those who were in school to have engaged in one of these violent behaviors in the past year (34.3 vs. 26.7 percent). Among those who attended school in the past year, rates of violent behaviors increased as academic grades decreased.

Despite media attention on high-profile accounts of females’ acts of violence, rates of these violent behaviors among adolescent females remained stable according to the NSDUH report when comparing combined data from 2002-2004 and 2006-2008.

Violent Behaviors among Adolescent Females is based on the responses of 33,091 female youths aged 12 to 17 participating in the 2006, 2007, and 2008 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
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Reasons explored for making child repeat first grade

Reasons explored for making child repeat first grade

Reasons for requiring a child to repeat the first grade may go far beyond the basic "three R's," reveals a study by two Texas A&M University education psychologists. They say parents must often shoulder at least part of the blame or credit.

Victor Willson and Jan Hughes, professors in the College of Education and Human Development, studied a sample of 784 children to see how psychological and social variables contribute to grade retention. Their research was published in the Elementary School Journal.

Early school failure has long-term negative influences on a person's behavior, academic performance and eventual occupation, so it is important to understand the underlying reasons, Willson says.

At the beginning of the study, 784 children with below-average literacy performance in kindergarten or at the beginning of first grade were assessed on academic competence, school context, home environment and other variables.

"Then we studied how the 165 students retained in first grade differ from the promoted students," Willson explains. "Academic competence, not demographics, psychosocial, or behavioral problems, was found to be the primary determiner of retention.

Hughes adds that home and environmental conditions, such as economic disadvantage, are predictive of grade retention.

"This finding is reasonable, because economic stressors affect time with children, opportunities to learn, even reading to children when parents work long hours or different shifts," she explains. "However, the association between economic disadvantage and retention is most likely due to the fact that economic disadvantage predicts achievement. In other words, economic disadvantage likely affects retention indirectly, via its direct effect on achievement."

Importantly, certain parenting practices and beliefs directly affect the likelihood that a child will be retained, even after considering the child's achievement levels.

"Children whose parents are directly involved in their children's schooling and who advocate for them are more likely to be promoted. Parents who are less involved with their children's schooling but who have a generally positive view of the school are more likely to be retained," she says.

Study findings have implications for reducing children's risk of being retained in grade, including better parental information about their role in children's early schooling, improved home literacy activities prior to schooling, or careful evaluation by schools of the age of entry of children into first grade, according to Willson.

The Texas A&M psychologists suggest that parents should get "more involved with the school and their child's schooling" in order to reduce the risk of their child being retained. They say parents can help by communicating regularly with teachers and taking some responsibility to monitor children's school work and activities.

Willson and Hughes have done extensive research on retention, such as examining the effect of retention on students' later school performance, which may provide valuable information for parents, school administrators and policy makers.
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Reading skills linked to neighborhood

Disadvantaged neighborhoods set children's reading skills on negative course

A landmark study from the University of British Columbia finds that the neighbourhoods in which children reside at kindergarten predict their reading comprehension skills seven years later.

The study, published this week in the journal Health & Place, finds children who live in neighbourhoods with higher rates of poverty show reduced scores on standardized tests seven years later – regardless of the child's place of residence in Grade 7. The study is the first of its kind to compare the relative effects of neighbourhood poverty at early childhood and early adolescence.

"Our findings suggest that it's not necessarily where children live later in life that matters for understanding literacy in early adolescence – it's where they lived years earlier," says lead researcher Jennifer Lloyd of UBC's Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP). "Children's reading comprehension may be set on a negative course early in life if children and their families are living in resource-deprived places."

Lloyd explored children's Grade 7 reading comprehension outcomes in relation to their residential neighbourhoods' level of poverty (concentrated disadvantage) at kindergarten and Grade 7. Higher rates of poverty have been shown to be associated with higher rates of infant mortality, low birth weight, high school drop-out rates and adolescent delinquency.

Along with colleagues Leah Li and Clyde Hertzman, Lloyd collected Grade 7 Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) data for 2,648 urban British Columbia children, followed from kindergarten to Grade 7, as well as socioeconomic data describing the children's residential neighbourhoods at both time points.

The researchers found a "delayed effect" of the residential environments in which children are raised. Children who lived in neighbourhoods with a higher socioeconomic status at kindergarten age scored better on the Grade 7 FSA than children who came from poorer neighbourhoods – regardless of where they lived in Grade 7.

The researchers say it's possible that the socioeconomic conditions of children's early residential neighbourhoods exert a strong effect later because acquiring reading skills involves the collective efforts of parents, educators, family friends and community members, as well as access to good schools, libraries, after-school programs and bookstores.

"Sadly, our findings demonstrate the lasting effect of neighbourhood poverty on children's reading comprehension – highlighting that children's literacy is not simply an important issue for parents, but also for community leaders and policy makers alike," Lloyd says.
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STATE CHARTER LAW RANKINGS


Report Finds 24 States Risk Race to the Top Funding Because They Are Closed to New, High-Quality Charters


The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools today released the first-ever ranking of all state charter school laws that is based on the full range of values in the public charter school movement: quality and accountability, funding equity, facilities support, autonomy, and growth and choice.

How State Charter Laws Rank Against The New Model Public Charter School Law,” assesses the strengths of each state’s charter school law against the 20 essential components of a strong law contained in the new model public charter school law released by the Alliance in June 2009. Evaluating each state law against each component – a total of 800 separate ratings – the Alliance ranks each law from strongest to weakest.

“State legislation really sets the bar for the charter school movement,” explained National Alliance President and CEO Nelson Smith. “When states combine equitable resources, real autonomy, and tough accountability, charter schools flourish and meet the high expectations of parents and policymakers. These new rankings not only show which state laws are making the grade, but also show how they do it: by paying attention to specific issues that are crucial to school and student success.”

As states prepare to submit applications for the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) grant program, the rankings provide clear indications of where some states excel and others come up short in charter-related policies.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan commented, "It's very important to have better, clearer charter laws – laws that enable innovation, promote transparency about how charter schools perform and how they are held accountable, and provide fair access to public funds and facilities. We're encouraged that the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools supports creation of better charter school laws as models of learning, and we encourage authorizers to hold charters accountable for student performance."

The report finds that 13 states fail to meet a key test of the Race to the Top guidelines because they continue to place restrictive caps on charter school growth. They are: Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. Plus, 11 states still have yet to enact public charter school laws.

According to the lead author of the report, Alliance Vice President for Policy Todd Ziebarth, these 24 states are closed to new high-quality charters and should be disqualified from the RTTT competition until they significantly improve their laws: “No matter how strong its policies in other areas, a state that maintains a cap on charter schools – or passes no charter law at all – is a state that is missing a key building block of reform.”

For this analysis, the Alliance weighted each of the 20 essential components from the Alliance’s model law on a scale of “1” to “4.” Then the Alliance rated each state law on each component on a scale of “0” to “4.” To obtain each state’s rank, the Alliance multiplied the weight and rating for each component, then added up the scores for each of the 20 components. The highest score possible was 208.

The top ten state laws shown to support the growth of high-quality charter schools are: Minnesota (152), D.C. (131), California (130), Georgia (130), Colorado (128), Massachusetts (125), Utah (123), New York (121), Louisiana (120), and Arizona (120).

The complete analysis can be downloaded at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools web site: www.publiccharters.org/charterlawrankings.

See detailed state-by- state summaries and color-coded maps of how state laws measure against each component at www.publiccharters.org/charterlaws.
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The Foundations and Future of Common Standards

New Findings from Quality Counts 2010: Fresh Course, Swift Current

Fresh Course, Swift Current—Momentum and Challenges in the New Surge Toward Common Standards provides a timely, in-depth investigation of the latest iteration of the national debate over common academic standards. An on-again, off-again fixture of the education-policy landscape since at least the 1980s, interest in developing common academic standards and assessments has again swept the nation during the past year. Through a unique combination of original journalism and research, the report reviews the origins of the standards movement and highlights the challenges that current initiatives pose for administrators, educators, and state and local officials.


Key Findings

Over the years, states have established firm foundations that may allow them to move toward common academic standards.

As of the 2008 edition of Quality Counts, all states had adopted academic-content standards in the core areas of English/language arts, mathematics, and science.

By the 2009-10 school year, about half the states had developed grade- or course-specific standards across all grade spans in English/language arts (27 states) and mathematics (26). Slightly fewer have such detailed standards in social studies/history and science (23 and 22 respectively).

States have also provided educators with supplementary resources or guides that elaborate on the official academic-standards documents. Forty-two states have such resources for all core-subject areas, while 39 states have tailored supplementary materials for particular student populations (e.g., English-language learners, special education).

More recently, states have engaged in a variety of efforts to better connect academic-content standards to day-to-day instruction in the classroom.

For the 2009-10 school year, 49 states made assessment frameworks in English/language arts available to educators, while 45 states released sample test items.



Thirty-eight states provided curriculum guides in English, with 31 states also offering sample lesson plans in that subject.

Findings were nearly identical for mathematics.



States already look beyond their own borders when developing and revising their academic standards, with many seeking guidance from the same sources.

In 45 states, academic standards for mathematics were influenced by some outside source, with 39 states reporting such influence in English/language arts.

National organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Council of Teachers of English were the most common external sources of guidance, cited by 42 states for mathematics and 37 for English/language arts.

Roughly half the states examined the frameworks of other states when developing their own standards, with even fewer states engaging in some form of international comparison or benchmarking.

In all, 30 states were referenced at least once by their peers as an influence on their English or math standards. California, Indiana, and Massachusetts led the nation, with each mentioned at least 10 times.



Although 48 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, states anticipate a variety of both political and practical challenges associated with adopting the initiative’s recommendations for common standards.

According to an original EPE Research Center survey, 18 states raised concerns about the high level of stakeholder input and support required to move a common-standards agenda forward in their states.

Also frequently noted as potential challenges were: disruptions to ongoing state efforts (17 states); misalignment between state expectations and common standards (16); insufficient quality, content, or rigor of common standards (14); and complex testing and accountability implementation (14).

Very few states, by contrast, reported expecting difficulties related to the initiative’s aggressive timeline or possible conflicts with local control over schools.

COMMON STANDARDS

States Cite Hurdles in Path to Common Standards

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have agreed to take part in the Common Core State Standards Initiative. This process, led by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, seeks to develop a set of high-quality, common academic standards in math and English/language arts, which then would be adopted by participating states.

The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center asked states to describe the challenges they expected to face in adopting Common Core content standards and implementing the common assessments that many see as a necessary complement to the standards initiative. The word-cloud graphic below illustrates the words and phrases most commonly used by the states to describe those challenges. Expressions mentioned more often appear in larger text size.

High stakeholder input/support required (18 states)

Inadequate information to make plans (13)

High financial costs (11)

Common Core process too top-down (5)

Timeline overly aggressive (3)

Conflict with local control (2)

Disruption of ongoing state efforts (17 states)

Misalignment between state and common standards (16)

Insufficient quality, content, and rigor of common standards (14)

Complex testing and accountability implementation (14)

Need to coordinate with other states (7)

Timing considerations (4)

States bound by pre-existing testing contracts (3)

Navigating Politics and Process

States often cited concerns related to the process of developing the common academic standards themselves, as well as the larger political and fiscal landscape surrounding these efforts.

Pointing to Practical Concerns

States also cited a host of practical concerns about the quality and content of the standards or assessments, as well as the feasibility of implementing them in practice.


Common Standards




States Look to Their Peers



Many states look to their neighbors to inform the writing and rewriting of their own academic-content standards. In fact, 30 states were cited as influencing the way in which their peers defined expectations for student learning and performance in either English/language arts or mathematics.

The standards of California, Indiana, and Massachusetts were most frequently mentioned as models, with each cited at least 10 times by other states.



States Look Internationally



In an increasingly globalized economy, education policymakers now frequently note that U.S. students must be able to compete with students from around the world. To better ensure that their students are learning at the same levels as peers overseas, states are beginning to compare their own academic-content standards against international models.

Standards from eight nations were cited as references for state standards in English/language arts and/or mathematics. States mentioned Singapore’s mathematics standards eight times, making them the most commonly cited model.
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Report Card Grades States on Ed. Performance, Policy

Grades and Highlights Reports Issued for All 50 States and D.C.




Nation Scores High on Standards Policies, But Struggles to Provide Opportunities to Succeed


The nation and many states face a continuing struggle to deliver a high-quality education to all students, according to Education Week’s annual education report card. The nation received a C when graded across the six distinct areas of policy and performance tracked by Quality Counts, the most comprehensive ongoing assessment of the state of American education. Maryland topped the nation with a B-plus overall, followed closely by Massachusetts and New York, both of which earned a B. The majority of states received grades of C or lower.

States posted their highest scores for polices related to standards, assessments, and accountability. The nation as a whole earned a B in this area, with 20 states receiving grades of A or A-minus. The top-ranking states—Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, and West Virginia—had near-perfect showings on the policies examined, many of which have been tracked since the report’s inaugural edition in 1997.

“Over the years, states have made tremendous progress in adopting policies that establish standards for academic content, align assessments to those standards, and hold schools accountable for results,” said Christopher B. Swanson, vice president of Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit organization that publishes Education Week. “In fact, many policies that were considered highly innovative when we first launched Quality Counts 13 years ago are now commonplace.”

The report also finds that the nation has made little progress in improving the opportunities for students to succeed throughout their lives. The nation received a C-plus on the report’s annual Chance-for-Success Index, the same grade as last year. Only one state—Massachusetts—earned an A, while Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New Jersey posted grades of A-minus. Three states received a D-plus. The EPE Research Center’s Chance-for-Success Index provides a detailed look at the role that education plays as a person moves from childhood, through formal K-12 education, and into college and the workforce.

Quality Counts 2010, supported by the Pew Center on the States, also updates national and state grades in two other categories that are monitored on an ongoing basis: school finance and policies that aim to strengthen the teaching profession. The national grade in school finance dropped to a C from a C-plus last year, while the results for the teaching profession held steady with the nation earning a C.

SPECIAL FOCUS ON COMMON STANDARDS

Quality Counts 2010: Fresh Course, Swift Current—Momentum and Challenges in the New Surge Toward Common Standards also investigates the latest iteration of the national debate over common academic standards. An on-again, off-again fixture of the education policy landscape since at least the 1980s, interest in common academic standards and assessments has again swept the nation during the past year, fueled in large part by the Common Core State Standards Initiative led by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association. The report reviews the origins of the standards


movement and presents new reporting and analysis that highlight the challenges that current initiatives pose for administrators, educators, and state and local officials.

An original 50-state survey conducted by the EPE Research Center finds evidence of solid foundations that may facilitate a more unified approach toward defining common academic standards. When crafting and revising their academic standards, a large majority of states already look beyond their own borders for guidance. The work of national subject-matter organizations has influenced English/language arts or mathematics standards in more than 40 states, while just over half of those have examined the frameworks of other states to inform their own standards.

However, far fewer states (16) have engaged in the type of international comparisons or benchmarking that has received considerable attention in recent policy discussions. In addition, a number of states have reported challenges—ranging from the political to the practical—that they believe may complicate efforts to adopt common-core standards. The leading concerns, each raised by at least 15 states, include: securing a high level of input and support from stakeholders; possible disruptions to the state’s own policy efforts; and misalignments between state expectations and the common standards.

“A convergence of political and economic factors has generated a great deal of momentum behind the push for common standards right now,” Swanson added. “But the success of this movement will ultimately hinge on follow-through on key issues like aligning curriculum with the common standards, supporting high-quality instruction, and measuring student performance against the new expectations.”

REPORT EXAMINES PROGRESS, OPPORTUNITIES IN MATHEMATICS

To complement Quality Counts 2010’s exploration of reinvigorated national interest in common standards and assessments, the EPE Research Center created a new Math Progress Index, which comprises a dozen indicators that examine: levels of mathematics performance, trajectories of change over time, poverty-based disparities, and student access to opportunities that promote greater learning and successful school careers.

Results reveal that even the national leaders—Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire—fall shy of 80 points on the index’s 100-point scale. The highest- and lowest-performing states (Massachusetts and Louisiana, respectively) are separated by a 27-point gap, which would translate to a difference of roughly two to three full letter grades on a metric more akin to Quality Counts’ grading scale.

Some hopeful signs also emerge from a closer examination of the Math Progress Index. For example, since 2003, nearly every state has seen improvements in math achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress at both the 4th and 8th grade levels. Although economically disadvantaged students almost always have less access to experienced math teachers, states where poor students have more-equal access to such teachers post significantly smaller math-achievement gaps.


The full Quality Counts 2010 report and interactive state report cards: www.edweek.org/go/qc10.

State Highlights Reports for the 50 states and the District of Columbia featuring detailed, state-specific data and our comprehensive grading of the states across six categories of educational performance and policy: www.edweek.org/go/qc10/shr.


Additional Resources

The 2010 release of Quality Counts includes:

The EPE Research Center’s new Math Progress Index, which provides an in-depth state-by-state analysis of math performance, improvement, and opportunities.

The Chance-for-Success Index, which grades the nation and states on 13 indicators capturing the critical role that education plays as a person moves from childhood, through the K-12 system, and into college and the workforce.

The annual update of national and state grades in key areas of performance and policy, including: the Chance-for-Success Index; the teaching profession; standards, assessments, and accountability; and school finance.

State Highlights Reports, individualized online reports featuring state-specific findings from Quality Counts, including our comprehensive state report cards.



All of these resources are available on the Education Week Web site: www.edweek.org/go/qc10.



THE MATH PROGRESS INDEX

To complement Quality Counts 2010 ’s exploration of common standards and assessments on the national stage, the EPE Research Center conducted an original analysis intended to examine state performance in one core academic area - mathematics. Built around the dimensions of performance, improvement, and opportunity, the Math Progress Index investigates academic performance in mathematics nationwide, trajectories of change over time, and student access to educational supports that promote greater learning and successful school careers. The index comprises a dozen indicators drawn largely from the National Assessment of Educational Progress as well as data on Advanced Placement testing in mathematics from the College Board, and places an emphasis on equitable outcomes and opportunities as they relate to the experiences of economically disadvantaged students. The highest possible score on the index is 100 points.


Aligning Teacher Experience and Student Need

In all but a small handful of states, low-income students are less likely to be taught by experienced math teachers than are their more affluent peers. Significant poverty-based gaps in math achievement can also be found in every state, although the size of these disparities varies considerably. However, an original analysis by the EPE Research Center finds consistently smaller performance gaps in states that more effectively target teacher talent to student need. In other words, achievement levels are more equal when low- and higher-income students have more equitable opportunities to learn from experienced teachers.
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'Essential Supports' for School Reform

Leaders looking for ways to improve learning in urban schools can depend on five key factors which, when working together, have proven to boost student achievement, according to a landmark study that led to a new book, Organizing Schools for Improvement, Lessons from Chicago.

The results emerged from a study of 390 Chicago public elementary schools over a seven-year period following the implementation of a 1988 law that increased decision-making at the local school level.

The authors of the study, current and former researchers with the Consortium on Chicago School Research, part of the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago, said those five essential supports are school leadership, parent and community ties, professional capacity of the faculty, a student-centered learning climate and a coherent instructional plan. They were effective in a wide variety of schools, including especially troubled ones. By looking closely at the social context in which schools are embedded, the book provides new insight into why schools in communities with high rates of crime and poverty struggle with improving student outcomes.

These findings are helpful as states vie for billions in federal “Race to the Top” funds designed to spur school reform. They are drawn from the kinds of robust data that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has encouraged states to use in developing their reform plans.

The authors suggest that when looking for ways to improve learning in urban schools, leaders should resist the temptation to look for “silver bullets” and think instead about “baking a cake.” Just as several ingredients are needed in the right proportions to bake a cake, so too are several ingredients — the “five essential supports” — required to boost student achievement.

The research team will present their findings to educators on Thursday, Jan. 14 at a symposium at the University’s Gleacher Center, 450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive.

The study team found some improvements since Chicago decentralized its public school system in 1988. More than 80 percent of the system’s elementary schools showed at least some gains in mathematics, and close to 70 percent gained in reading. More importantly, schools that were strong in all five essential supports were at least 10 times more likely to show substantial improvement in reading and mathematics than schools that were strong in only one or two of the essential supports. Follow-up studies conducted from 1997 to 2005 validated the findings of the first round of research.

The book, published by the University of Chicago Press, was written by Anthony S. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and founding senior director of CCSR; Penny Bender Sebring and Elaine Allensworth, interim co-executive directors at CCSR; Stuart Luppescu, chief psychometrician at CCSR; and John Q. Easton, Director of the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, and former executive director of CCSR.

For nearly 20 years, CCSR has built a massive, one-of-a-kind longitudinal data archive on Chicago public schools, and that archive made the research possible. The CCSR team visited schools, interviewed principals and did extensive surveys of principals, teachers and students to get behind what was leading some schools to progress and others to remain stagnant.

In addition to measuring local demographic characteristics, CCSR investigated community characteristics like community cohesiveness and crime rates to uncover reasons for success or failure. In taking this approach, which looks at neighborhood effects and the influence of parents, the book draws heavily on the work of other scholars currently or formerly at the University of Chicago. Sociologist William Julius Wilson, now at Harvard University, did seminal work on poverty at the University of Chicago and coined the expression “the truly disadvantaged” in a book by the same name.

James Coleman contributed definitive thinking on the role of social capital in schools to show the value of parents working with teachers to improve learning. Sociologist Robert Sampson, now at Harvard, and Steven Raudenbush, the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Sociology and chair of the University of Chicago's Committee on Education, studied the dynamics of Chicago neighborhood interactions to identify differences in dealing with crime and other issues.

In assessing student performance, the team devised a “value-added” approach. Rather than simply looking at the percentage of students in each class who met or failed to meet state standards, the team looked at the progress of each student.

The authors also identified 46 very low-performing schools, serving more than 40,000 students, which they labeled “truly disadvantaged schools.” Even in a school district where disadvantage is the norm, these schools stood apart, serving neighborhoods characterized by extreme poverty and extreme racial segregation. On average, 70 percent of residents living in these neighborhoods had incomes below the poverty line. The schools had virtually no racial integration.

But demographics tell just part of the story. Moving beyond an analysis of racial and economic descriptors, the authors examined these communities against other social indicators. They found the communities of truly disadvantaged schools had the highest crime rates and the highest percentages of children who were abused, neglected or living in foster care. Residents of these communities were the most likely to live in public housing and the least likely to attend church regularly or believe they could bring about positive change in their community.

A small number of these schools improved in reading and math, primarily because they were strong in the essential supports. But nearly half of them proved nearly impervious to systemic reform and had a lack of progress that contrasted sharply with many other schools. These schools were seven times more likely than racially integrated schools, for instance, to stagnate in math and two times more likely to stagnate in reading.
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Minority enrollment losses w/o affirmative action

A nationwide ban on affirmative action in college admissions would cause a 10 percent drop in black and Hispanic enrollment at the nation's most selective colleges and universities, according to a new study. Overall black and Hispanic representation in four-year institutions would decline by two percent, the study found.

The research, conducted by economist Jessica Howell of California State University, Sacramento, is published in the January issue of the Journal of Labor Economics.

Howell used nationwide data from the high school graduating class of 1992 to model the admissions practices of colleges as well as the application and matriculation decisions of students. She used that model to predict how institutions and students might react if affirmative action programs ended nationwide.

The model predicts that the number of minority students accepted to more than one school would drop by 2.5 percentage points. The number of minority student not accepted to any schools would go up by 1.8 percentage points. That translates into a drop in overall minority enrollment at four-year colleges of two percent.

"This result is magnified at the most selective 4-year colleges, where the affirmative action ban is predicted to result in reduced minority representation by 10.2%," Howell wrote in her report.

The enrollment declines would be almost entirely because of the admissions decisions of colleges, not because minority students would be discouraged from submitting applications, Howell found. Her model predicts only a small decline in the number of applications submitted by minority students. That result, Howell says, is similar to studies of minority applications conducted in Texas and California, where affirmative action bans are already in place.

Howell also used her model to predict the impact of programs that could potentially replace affirmative action. Texas and Florida, for example, have instituted programs guaranteeing admission to students who finish in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes. But Howell finds that such programs, if extended nationwide, would do little to offset predicted minority enrollment losses. Likewise, Howell found that stepping up minority recruitment or creating pre-college programs for minority students would also have little effect.

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Jessica S. Howell, "Assessing the Impact of Eliminating Affirmative Action in Higher Education." Journal of Labor Economics 28:1 (January 2010).
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