New data on home schooling

This is a Brief Issues report from NCES...

"The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "1.5 Million Homeschooled Students in the United States in 2007."

This Issue Brief provides estimates of the number and percentage of homeschooled students in the United States in 2007 and compares these estimates to those from 1999 and 2003. In addition, parents' reasons for homeschooling their children in 2007 are described and compared to 2003. Estimates of homeschooling in 2007 are based on data from the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey (PFI) of the 2007 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES)."

To view, download and print the report as a PDF file, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009030

Re-invest in higher ed: commentary

This article in Dec. 16 Inside Higher Ed caught my attention because it is written by the president of my former employer, Oregon State University. Ed Ray is an economist by training and says, in part,
"At a time when our global competitors from Ireland to China are investing aggressively in their higher education systems, almost every state in our nation is headed the other direction. This pattern, now nearly three decades old, not only hampers our ability to be engines for economic prosperity, it also threatens our historic — and essential — role in creating opportunity for students who have traditionally looked to us as their gateway to success....

Lest we forget, that public mission is to provide higher education opportunities to students who often come from ordinary or worse economic and social circumstances, many of whom are capable of accomplishing extraordinary things. In fact, the history and the promise of this great nation is predicated on the fact that social and economic mobility have provided the dynamism that has created the most technologically sophisticated and prosperous nation on earth. Education has been the most powerful source of that mobility and dynamism. If public universities are forced to abandon that public mission for lack of funding, we are at risk as a nation of creating a permanent underclass of disadvantaged citizens who have little or no stake in our society and of losing the dynamism that has served us so well at the very moment when challenges we face relative to global economic competition have never been greater.

There are further, clear benefits to society within this public mission. The average college graduate working full time, for instance, pays roughly 134 percent more in federal income taxes and about 80 percent more in total federal, state and local taxes than the average high school graduate....

Our public universities have represented hope to generations of Americans. In a campaign year in which the concept of hope has become central to our electoral dialogue, we must not forget that real hope, meaningful hope, requires financial investment and that among the institutions in need of a financial rescue plan, public higher education must be a top priority."

Read it all!

Newest data on higher ed staffing and salaries

IPEDS data reported by NCES:
"This report presents information from the Winter 2007-08 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) web-based data collection. Tabulations represent data requested from all postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV federal student financial aid programs. The tables in this publication include data on the number of staff employed in Title IV postsecondary institutions in fall 2007 by primary function/occupational activity, length of contract/teaching period, employment status, salary class interval, faculty and tenure status, academic rank, race/ethnicity, and gender. Also included are tables on the number of full-time instructional faculty employed in Title IV postsecondary institutions in 2007-08 by length of contract/teaching period, academic rank, gender, and average salaries."
To view, download and print the report as a PDF file, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009154

New PEW report on the future of the Internet

Links to all portions of the new PEW report, "The Future of the Internet III," are available here as are links to earlier reports. Just in case you run out of things to read over the semester break :-)

Ranking higher education journals

The paper, "Status of journals in the field of higher education," by Bray and Majors was recently presented at ASHE. The research questions they addressed were:

1. Which journals do higher education faculty consider to be the top five in the field?
2. In which tiers do higher education faculty believe that specific journals fall?
3. With which journals do higher education faculty members exhibit the most familiarity?
4. Which journals do higher education faculty read the most frequently?
5. Which journals do higher education faculty cite the most frequently?
6. Using a weighted average of faculty perceptions of prestige and their knowledge and use of journals, into which tiers do specific higher education journals fall?

I'll be happy to send you a copy of the paper if you're interested.

Science education professors need more support

"Could science professors who focus more formally on teaching be the key to turning around the poor performance of many American students? That’s the suggestion of a new survey of science professors at the California State University System." Another interesting article in Dec. 19 Inside Higher Ed...couldn't find the study results online, yet.

New research supports the CW that diversity has benefits

Interesting article in Dec. 19 Inside Higher Education that finds research support for what has previously been the conventional wisdom--diversity can offer real benefits to all, not just the culturally non-dominant group members. The study found that, "Generally, and regardless of the attitudes with which students entered UCLA, those who lived with members of other ethnic groups showed statistically significant gains in comfort levels with people of different groups, having circles of friends beyond one’s own group, and a variety of other measures of tolerance toward different groups." There were other more controversial findings as well, so read the article. I'll put the book, The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus, on order for the Lied collection as well.

Did you know the Carnegie classifications had changed?

I didn't, so I thought I would share some Web sites where you can find out more if you are interested.

• Here's the guide to using the Classifications Web site: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/sub.asp?key=638&subkey=2155
• There's a basic description of the changes and rationale here: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/index.asp?key=791
• There's an FAQ here: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/about/sub.asp?key=18&subkey=405#1.0.1
• And here's a description of UNLV's classification: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/sub.asp?key=748&subkey=15096&start=782

Academia.edu: UNLV's College of Ed needs some attention!!

Below is the note that came across a professional listserv describing this effort to link scholars around the world. So far only 1 person from UNLV's Ed Psych department is representing the College of Education there. So here's something you can fill those idle holiday hours with--get your name and scholarship out there!! :-)

Subject: [collib-l] Announcing "Academia.edu" to the College Library
Community

Dear all,
I recently finished my Ph.D on the philosophy of perception from Oxford.With a team of people from Stanford and Cambridge, I've just launched a website,www.academia.edu, which does two things:

- It shows academics around the world structured in a 'tree' format,
displayed according to their departmental and institutional affiliations.
- It enables academics to see news on the latest research in their area -the latest people, papers and talks.

We are hoping that Academia.edu will eventually list every academic in the world -- Faculty Members, Post-Docs, Graduate Students, and Independent Researchers. Academics can add their departments, and themselves, to the tree by clicking on the boxes.

Academics are joining the tree rapidly. More than 15,000 academics have added themselves in the last two months. Some professors on the site include:

- Richard Dawkins - http://oxford.academia.edu/RichardDawkins
- Stephen Hawking - http://cambridge.academia.edu/StephenHawking
- Paul Krugman - http://princeton.academia.edu/PaulKrugman
- Noam Chomsky - http://mit.academia.edu/NoamChomsky
- Steven Pinker - http://harvard.academia.edu/StevenPinker

We're trying to spread the word about Academia.edu as much as possible. It would be terrific if you could visit the site, and add yourself to your department on the tree...

And do spread the word to your friends and colleagues if you can.
Many thanks,

Richard

Dr. Richard Price
http://oxford.academia.edu/RichardPrice

NCES reports surprising findings on homework

Following a cohort of children who were in Kindergarten in 1998-99, this study looked at homework assigned in 1st, 3rd & 5th grade.
"Children in schools with higher percentages of minority students had teachers who expected more homework on a typical evening, whereas generally children in lower minority schools had teachers who expected less homework. In addition, in all three grades, larger percentages of Black, Asian, and Hispanic children than White children had parents who reported that their child did homework five or more times a week."
Full report available here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009033

NCEE report on teacher preparation to work with students with disabilities

A new report from REL Southeast:
"The study examines the extent to which elementary education teacher preparation programs in 36 randomly selected colleges and universities in the six Southeast Region states integrate content related to students with disabilities. Findings show most programs require one disability-focused course, two-thirds incorporate fieldwork related to students with disabilities, and more than half incorporate disability content into their mission statements."

Report links here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=171&productID=124

Meta-analysis of Reading Recovery studies

The What Works Clearinghouse recently reviewed 28 studies utililizing the Reading Recovery program, "a short-term tutoring intervention intended to serve the lowest-achieving (bottom 20%) first-grade students," conducted since 2005.

Here are their conclusions:

"Four studies of Reading Recovery^® meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, and one study meets WWC evidence standards with reservations. The five studies included approximately 700 first-grade students in more than 46 schools across the United States.³

Based on these five studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for Reading Recovery^® to be medium to large for alphabetics, small for fluency and comprehension, and medium to large for general reading achievement."

The overview of their review and links to the full report and appendices are here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/reading_recovery/

WWC report on Early Intervention Reading (EIR) program

Not many studies meet the evidence criteria for WWC. Only one study looking at EIR did and here are excerpts from the summary findings.

"Early Intervention in Reading (EIR)^® is a program designed to provide extra instruction to groups of students at risk of failing to learn to read. The program uses picture books to stress instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, and contextual analysis, along with repeated reading and writing. In grades K, 1, and 2, the program is based on whole-class instruction, with additional small group instruction provided to struggling readers. In grades 3 and 4, the program consists of small group instruction for 20 minutes, four days a week. Teachers are trained for nine months using workshops and an Internet-based professional development program.

Research

One study of EIR^® meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards...

Based on this one study, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for EIR^® to be small for alphabetics and comprehension. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations examined the effectiveness of EIR^® in the fluency or general reading achievement domains.

Effectiveness

EIR^® was found to have potentially positive effects on alphabetics and comprehension."

Links to other parts of the report are here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/eir/index.asp

Lots of $$ and not much gain in reading ability

From the Executive Summary...
"This report presents findings from the third and final year of the Reading First Impact Study (RFIS), a congressionally mandated evaluation of the federal government’s $1.0 billion-per-year initiative to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (PL 107-110, Title I, Part B, Subpart 1) established Reading First (RF) and mandated its evaluation...

• Reading First produced a positive and statistically significant impact on amount of instructional time spent on the five essential components of reading instruction promoted by the program (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension) ingrades one and two.
  

• Reading First produced positive and statistically significant impacts on multiple practices that are promoted by the program, including professional development in scientifically based reading instruction (SBRI), support from full-time reading coaches, amount of reading instruction, and supports available for struggling readers.
  

• Reading First did not produce a statistically significant impact on student reading comprehension test scores in grades one, two or three.
  

• Reading First produced a positive and statistically significant impact on decoding among first grade students tested in one school year (spring 2007)."

Links to the full report, Executive Summary and Appendices are available here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20094038.asp

Newest data on elementary/secondary schools from NCES

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2006-07."

This report presents 2006-07 school year information at the national and state level on student enrollment by grade and by race/ethnicity within grade, the numbers of teachers and other education staff, and several student/staff ratios.

To view, download and print the report as a PDF file, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009305

Defining and Debating 'Double Dipping' in Scholarship

I thought this would be a great article to get a conversation started about faculty scholarship since UNLV's increased focus has raised everyone's attention level. This recent article from Inside Higher Education summarized some national level conversations about what constitutes 'double dipping' and how we should count scholarship efforts.
I'm going to go ahead and stick my neck out just to give us a starting/reaction point and I hope you'll send your comments. I think impact is a key measure for faculty scholarship and so I agree with the opinion of one person quoted who says, basically, that it's ok to provide essentially the same content to two different audiences. If in fact, the point of scholarship is to share knowledge and have an impact on the field, doesn't it make sense to disseminate as widely as possible. As long as one is clear in documenting your work that the same presentation was made to different audiences? For example, I work across disciplines in my collaborations so I might publish or present similar information in a venue targeted to librarians and another targeted to educators or counselors. What do you think about the questions raised in this article?

Teacher Retention Strategies: An overview from the northeast region REL

This report from the northeast region REL provides a description of the Compendium of Strategies to Reduce Teacher Turnover in the Northeast and Islands Region, a searchable database of selected profiles of retention strategies implemented in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The Compendium is not a complete inventory of teacher retention policies and programs in these states but a sample that offers an overview of the range of interventions that have been implemented. The Compendium includes contact information to policy and program experts, allowing questions to be asked relevant to the decisionmakers’ work and context. A guide to searching the database is appended.

Parental involvement in school improvement plans --NREL report

This study of schools requiring improvement (per NCLB) in the Northwest region shows that only 46% of the school improvement plans included the required parental involvement components (as specified in NCLB). Limitations of the study include the fact that only 84% of improvement plans were available to the study authors, and the report does not address actual implementation of parental involvement activities, just specification in the plan. The report authors surveyed the literature to find reports of parental involvement activities that were correlated with improved academic performance.

State math assessments align with 2009 NAEP

Five new reports from REL Southwest examine the alignment of mathematics assessement standards in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Okalahoma, and New Mexico with the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics framework. These reports look at the extent to which current state assessments standards cover the content on which the 2009 NAEP assessments will be based.

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Texas and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=120

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Arkansas and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=119

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Louisiana and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=118

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: Oklahoma and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=117

* Aligning mathematics assessment standards: New Mexico and the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=168&productID=116

2007 College Student Health Survey

All those things your mother told you were true--watching too much TV, spending too much time on the computer, drinking, etc. will hurt your grades--and here's the evidence. Nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 14 Minnesota colleges were surveyed. Surprises had to do with the negative relationship of smoking to GPA. Stress is the most commonly reported problem, but doesn't necessarily effect grades. Pertinent perhaps to our local students is the linear negative relationship between gambling and GPA. You can find the full report here.

Social Justice is political --support William Ayers

An article in today's (Tuesday, Oct. 14) Inside Higher Ed again brought to my attention the efforts by one presidential campaign to defame a person who has for decades sought to foster social justice. This is admittedly a political action to encourage you to visit the web site soliciting endorsements for Dr. Ayers--but then I do believe that advocating for social justice is always political.

Scrapbooks for teaching and learning

Thanks to my former OSU colleagues who created Infodoodads, I'm posting on a somwhat lighter topic than usual. Apparently those clever K-12 teachers have discovered the power of scrapbooking (digitally or literally) to personalize curriculum and make it meaningful. Read the this little article from Edutopia that was linked from Infodoodads. Seems like this could have some real potential for counseling work as well.

Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives: 2008

"This report examines both the educational progress of American Indian/Alaska Native children and adults and challenges in their education. It shows that over time more American Indian/Alaska Native students have gone on to college and that their attainment expectations have increased. Despite these gains, progress has been uneven and differences persist between American Indian/Alaska Native students and students of other racial/ethnic groups on key indicators of educational performance." (Description from website)

WWC Review of Dropout Prevention Studies

What Works Clearinghouse reviewed 84 studies--looking at 22 school and community based projects targeted to dropout prevention or recovery. Only 23 studies, looking at 16 projects, met WWC evidentiary standards. Tabular presentation indicates which studies demonstrated positive or potentially positive effects on at least one of these three outcome domains: "staying in school, progressing in school, and completing school." The overview with links to all sections of the report and appendices is here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/dropout/topic/

IES Practice Guide: Reducing Problem Behaviors in the Elementary Classroom

Although I don't always agree with the exclusive focus on quantitative research promoted by the What Works Clearinghouse, I think the approach is warranted and fruitful in this area. This Practice Guide provides a detailed review of the evidence in support of 5 intervention strategies along with fairly detailed information for implementation (e.g., exemplar charts for tracking behaviors). Targeted to general classroom teachers of K-5 students (including special education students who spend time in the general classroom).

Research training seminars: Application deadline Nov. 23

Two three-day seminars on the use of longitudinal datasets for education research and policy analysis will be held January 13-15, 2009 in Washington D.C. The seminars will focus on the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) database and the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 (NLTS2) database. PEELS and NLTS2 study children and youth with disabilities and are administered by the National Center for Special Education Research within the Institute of Education Sciences.

Both seminars are open to advanced graduate students and faculty members from colleges and universities nationwide and to researchers, education practitioners, and policy analysts from federal, state, and local education and human services agencies and professional associations. The application deadline is November 23, 2008.

PEELS
The PEELS includes a sample of over 3,000 children with disabilities and is designed to describe the characteristics of children receiving preschool special education, their educational programs and services, and their transitions from preschool programs to elementary schools. For more information about PEELS, see http://www.peels.org

For more information about the PEELS database training seminar, see
http://ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/conferences/?id=378&cid=4

NLTS2
The NLTS2 includes a sample of more than 11,000 students with disabilities and is designed to support research on a wide range of topics pertaining to youth with disabilities as they move from secondary school into adult roles. For more information about NLTS2, see http://www.nlts2.org

For more information about the NLTS2 database training seminar, see http://ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/conferences/?id=379&cid=4

Results of Childhood Longitudinal Study

This new report looks at the children who were in the kindergarten cohort of 1998-99 (representing about 4m children) and who are now in eighth grade. The report itself is not long with most data presented in tabular form. Narrative Introduction and Selected Findings are just a couple of pages and provide an overview of the findings. Factors such as ethnicity/race and parental characteristics (e.g., mother's level of education) are correlated to performance on reading, math and science measures, as well as participation in school activities, and educational aspirations.

Summary of recent WWC reports

Perhaps the What Works Clearinghouse should be called the "What Works and What Doesn't Clearinghouse." Of course it does not roll quite so trippingly off the tongue, but what distinguishes WWC from other publication & information venues is that they publish results of what was not found or supported. This is of course closely tied to whether or not you agree to their criteria for what works and what doesn't :-) Here is a rundown of recent reports:

Practice Guides!
- Dropout Prevention
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/#dp_pg
- Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/#adlit_pg
- Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/practiceguides/#turning_pg

Intervention Reports in the Following Topic Areas!

Beginning Reading:
- Reading Mastery
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/rdgmastery/
- Open Court Reading(c)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/open_court/
- Houghton Mifflin Reading(c)
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/houghton/

Early Childhood Education:
- Breakthrough to Literacy
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/early_ed/btl/

Dropout Prevention:
- Accelerated Middle Schools
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/dropout/ams/
- New Century High Schools Initiative
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/dropout/new_century/

Middle School Math:
- Mathematics in Context - http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/middle_math/math_context/

Quick Reviews!
- Abstract Examples in Learning Math Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/abmath/
- Arkansas Teacher Performance-Pay Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/littlerock/
- Board Games and Numeracy Skills Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/boardgames/
- Los Angeles Charter School Performance Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/charterschool/
- Sixth Grade in Middle School Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/sixthgrademiddle/
- Student Incentives in Charter Schools Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/payforas/
- Teach For America Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/tfa/
- Texas Advanced Placement Incentive Program Study
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/texasapip/

Medical school study documents the value of affirmative action

An article in today's (Sept. 10) CHE also alerted me to this study that just came out in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Saha, S., Guiton, G, Wimmers, P.F. and Wilkerson, L. (2008). Student body racial and ethnic composition and diversity-related outcomes in U.S. medical schools. JAMA, 300(10), 1135-1145.
The authors state in their abstract, " White students within the highest quintile for student body racial and ethnic diversity, measured by the proportion of underrepresented minority (URM) students, were more likely to rate themselves as highly prepared to care for minority populations than those in the lowest diversity quintile ... This association was strongest in schools in which students perceived a positive climate for interracial interaction. White students in the highest URM quintile were also more likely to have strong attitudes endorsing equitable access to care..."

Mostly good new about the teacher shortage

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation issued the results of their recent survey on college educated adults interested in changing careers to become teachers. According to an article in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, "42 percent said they would consider entering the field. Those in engineering, science and information technology are “somewhat more likely” to consider teaching, and those who have a postgraduate degree, have attended selective colleges, and report having higher-than-average grades are also disproportionately represented in the potential teacher pool."

These talented people are motivated by desires to contribute to society and find personally rewarding careers as well as balancing work and family life. What they need is more money and training opportunities that mesh better with their learning styles and life styles. A link to recommendations for capitalizing on this pool of talent is available at the report summary "Teaching as a Second Career."

SAT's show increasing minority and income gaps

An article in the August 25th Inside Higher Education reports that there are growing gaps between the scores of white and Asian students, who show modest increases, and other minority groups, who are showing decreases over time. There are also marked discrepancies between scores based on family income, with students from higher income factors achieving markedly higher scores.

Practice guide on improving adolescent literacy

"The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)has released the latest practice guide from the Institute of Education Sciences, "Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices."

....This guide presents practical strategies that classroom teachers and specialists can use to help students in grades 4-12 refine and build upon their reading skills. The recommendations can be integrated into classroom instruction to help students gain more from their reading tasks, improve their motivation for and engagement in the learning process, and assist struggling readers who may need intensive and individualized attention." (announcement from IES)

Trends in faculty & librarian attitudes

Whew! I got a little behind in the run up to the new term. I'll try and get caught up with my postings in the next couple of days.
The new Ithaka Report on the most recent survey results also identifies trends in faculty attitudes "related to online resources, electronic archiving, teaching and learning and related subjects..." In addition to providing a link to the white paper, this Web page also links to several more targeted presentations such as the short powerpoint on "What Characteristics of a Scholarly Journal Are Important to Authors?"

National ACT scores

You may have heard the brief report on NPR this morning and today's Inside Higher Education also talks about the slight drop in this year's composite score compared to last year. Mitigating factors include the substantial increase in the percentage of high school students taking the ACT and even in one case (Michigan) being required to take it. One-year and five-year trends by ethnic group are also available in the IHE article and state comparisons are availabe at ACT's Web site.

Two new REL - West reports (Nevada & California)

The National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance within the Institute of Education Sciences released two new reports from REL West today. The first of these reports, "Examining the Links between Grade 12 Mathematics and Remedial Courses in Nevada Public Colleges and Universities," analyzes remediation rates by students' highest grade 12 mathematics course level and grade point average, and by various student and school characteristics.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?id=145

The second report, "Trends in California Teacher Demand: A Country and Regional Perspective," highlights the differences among California's counties and regions in their use of under prepared teachers and needs for new teachers in the coming decade, as driven by projected student enrollment changes and teacher retirements. The findings show county and regional variations in key factors that influence teacher labor markets.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?id=144

NCES Descriptive summary of beginning post-secondary students

This NCES report provides a description of the characteristics and enrollment patterns of a nationally representative sample of students who began postsecondary education for the first time during the 2003-04 academic year. Using data from the 2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, the report describes the background, academic preparation, and experience of these beginning students over three academic years, from July 2003 to June 2006, and provides information about rates of persistence, program completion, transfer, and attrition. The focus is on differences among students beginning at either 4-year, 2-year, or less-than-2-year institutions.
Report is available for viewing/download here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008174

State funding for higher education: Fiscal year 2007

The fifth annual SHEEO State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) study of state support
for higher education was issued today. There is an article summarizing the reports findings in today's Inside Higher Education; it includes a table comparing public higher ed institutions in all states. Nevada has higher than the national average for per student appropriations but appears to net considerably less of the tuition.

School district revenues and expenditures

The most recent data released by NCES is for fiscal year 2006. Specifics on what the report covers are summarized below. While Nevada was near the median in terms of both revenues and expenditures, there was over a 200% difference in expenditures per student for schools with the lowest vs. the highest revenues. The report is fairly brief with the bulk of information presented in tables.

"The School District Finance Survey for School Year 2005-06 (fiscal year 2006), part of the Common Core of Data (CCD), presents data submitted annually to NCES by state education agencies (SEAs) in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. All financial transactions associated with assets, expenditures, revenues, and indebtedness are accounted for, including revenues from federal, state, and local sources and expenditures in categories such as instruction and instruction-related activities, student support services, administration, operation, capital outlay, and debt services... this report focuses on school districts that operate public schools and charter school districts.

The survey found that regular school districts had median total revenues per pupil of $10,173 in FY 06. The federal range ratio was 1.9, which indicates that the magnitude of the difference between total revenues per pupil at the 5th ($7,349) and 95th ($21,048) percentiles of districts was approximately 190 percent. Independent charter school districts had median total revenues per pupil of $8,357 in FY 06, with a federal range ratio of 1.9. For regular school districts, median current expenditures per pupil were $8,587 in FY 06. Median expenditures per pupil on instruction and instruction-related activities in regular school districts were $5,528. For independent charter school districts, median current expenditures per pupil were $7,499 in FY 06. Median expenditures per pupil on instruction and instruction-related activities in independent charter school districts were $4,123."

Two new REL reports released

New from REL West -
"Characteristics of California school districts in improvement"
This descriptive analysis provides a statistical profile of California's Title I school districts in program improvement. As an independent analysis of these districts in the aggregate, it is intended to inform the context for district improvement as California rolls out and refines its district intervention strategies.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?id=152

New from REL Central -
"Preparing teachers to teach in rural schools"
The Central Region states have greater percentages of rural students and schools than the U.S. average. This report describes how nine teacher preparation programs in the region prepare their graduates for teaching positions in rural settings.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?id=10

Effects of Preschool Curriculum Programs on School Readiness

The National Center for Education Research within the Institute of Education Sciences today released the report on the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research (PCER) initiative, an efficacy evaluation of several preschool curricula. The report, Effects of Preschool Curriculum Programs on School Readiness, provides individual results for each curriculum evaluated. Under the PCER initiative, twelve research teams were funded to implement and conduct research on 14 preschool curricula in a variety of settings serving predominantly low-income children under an experimental design. Evaluation data were collected from all research sites in fall and spring of the preschool year and spring of the kindergarten year using a common set of measures. The goal of the PCER initiative was to identify the impact of each preschool curriculum on five student-level outcomes (reading, phonological awareness, language, mathematics, and behavior) and six classroom-level outcomes (classroom quality, teacher-child interaction, and four types of instruction). This final report presents findings for the impact of each curriculum on student-level and classroom-level outcomes.

2008 Schott report on graduation rates of black males

Today's Inside Higher Education notes, "A new analysis shows just how poorly many states are doing at graduating black males from high school. The Schott Foundation for Public Education last week released an “education inequity index,” comparing black male and white male graduation rates for high school — and the figures may be chilling for colleges hoping to boost black male enrollments. Nationally only 47 percent of black male students are graduating from high school with their cohorts, and in 10 states, the gap in black male and white male graduation rates is at least 30 points, let by Wisconsin, where the black male rate is 36 percent and the white male rate is 87 percent. Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska also have gaps of more than 40 percentage points. The states with the narrowest gaps (or none) tend to be states where there are relatively few black students, Vermont and Maine for example."

Nevada ranks 16th highest in the inequity index and has lower than national averages for graduation rates of both black (40%) and white (55% ) males.

"For over five years, The Schott Foundation for Public Education has tracked the performance of Black males in public education systems across the nation. Past efforts by Schott were designed to raise the nation’s consciousness about the critical education issues affecting Black males; low graduation rates, high rates of placement in special education, and the disproportionate use of suspensions and expulsions, to name a few.

The 2008 edition, Given Half a Chance: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, details the drastic range of outcomes for Black males, especially the tragic results in many of the nation’s biggest cities. Given Half a Chance also deliberately highlights the resource disparities that exist in schools attended by Black males and their White, non-Hispanic counterparts. The 2008 Schott report documents that states and most districts with large Black enrollments educate their White, non-Hispanic children, but do not similarly educate the majority of their Black male students...

• More than half of Black males did not receive diplomas with their cohort in 2005/2006.

These trends... are evidence of a school-age population that is substantively denied an opportunity to learn, and of a nation at risk." (from the Executive Summary at http://www.blackboysreport.org/node/106)

Give Margaret Spellings an A+ for Guts

No kidding! Would you be willing to take on Stephen Colbert? You just have to give her extra credit for that :-) Although he did try to give her a bad time about the need for a federal mandate on spanking and the potential value of leaving some children behind, she held her own in standing up for NCLB--check out this short video clip . (Disclaimer: I do not intend through this post to advocate for Spellings, the Bush administration or NCLB.)

Career & Technical Education Trends, 1995-2005

Since a substantial number of students come to our campuses from (or in conjunction with) the community college system, I thought this recently released (July 2008) report, or at least the Executive Summary, might be of interest.
"The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Career and Technical Education in the United States: 1990-2005," the fourth volume to describe trends in career and technical education (CTE, formerly known as vocational education). The compendium looks over time at CTE offerings, who participates in CTE, what types of CTE students take, who teaches CTE, and the labor market and further education outcomes attained [emphasis added] by CTE participants..."

Regional Education Laboratories Program Report on AZ Schools

There's a new report out on the characteristics of Arizona's lowest performing schools--part of a school improvement effort. The research is done under the auspices of the REL West, of which Nevada is a part: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/

Preserve YOUR copy rights!

Read this post on the Duke U. Scholarly Communications blog: http://library.duke.edu/blogs/scholcomm/
APA (American Psychological Association) is trying to charge authors for putting their NIH-funded work into into PubMed--as mandated by law. This is a good reminder that the creators of the content--you the faculty--are the only ones who can rein in such attempts by the publishers. If you need more information on how to negotiate maintenance of copyright for articles you want to publish, see the tips at the SPARC website.

Upcoming online seminars on applying for research funding

"The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) will host a series of webinars related to research funding opportunities at the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) and the National Center for Education Research (NCER)." Everything from "Grant Writing Workshop for Young Investigators" to information on training grants and targeted funding is being offered in the next few weeks by IES. See the schedule here: http://ies.ed.gov/funding/webinars/

Preparing to serve ELL students: IES REL report

Preparing to Serve English Language Learner Students: School Districts with Emerging English Language Learner Communities: "This report aims to help school districts deal with the challenges of newly enrolling or rapidly increasing English language learner students by offering background information and sharing the experiences of districts that have addressed similar challenges in providing services and infrastructure to support the success of English language learner students."

What Works Clearinghouse: 2 new Quick Reviews

The Advantage of Abstract Examples in Learning Math: "This study examined whether college students are better able to apply knowledge of simple mathematical concepts when they are taught the concepts using abstract symbols or concrete examples... College students taught the mathematical concepts using abstract symbols were better able to apply this knowledge to a new example than college students taught using concrete examples."

The Effects of Teach for America in High School: "This study examined whether having a Teach For America (TFA) teacher instead of a non-TFA teacher affects the academic performance of high school students...TFA improved student performance on standardized end-of-course tests in math and science—by about one-tenth of a standard deviation. This is equivalent to moving a student from the 50th to the 54th percentile."

New report issued on the impact of the Spellings Commission

The National Assoc. of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) has issued an analysis of what's happened in the two years since the Spellings Commission (A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education) issued its report on higher education. According to Inside Higher Ed (July 15), "It dispassionately presents and balances the often conflicting viewpoints of participants in the commission’s work and aftermath..." Inside Higher Ed has put together this bibliography of news coverage on the Commission's report: http://insidehighered.com/news/focus/commission

The NACUBO report itself offers this: “[T]he impact of the Commission and the effectiveness of the initiative overall can be seen most clearly in: 1) the attention it afforded to the issues and themes addressed in the Report and follow-up activities; 2) the dialogue that has been stimulated by these efforts; and 3) the numerous voluntary improvement projects and programs that have been energized and inspired during this period...However, the effort has had considerably less impact and success in fostering the kind of mutual respect, constructive collaboration, and engaged partnering that seems necessary to unite the higher education community, Congress, and the Department in the joint pursuit of a common agenda.” Read the full report here:
Assessing the impact of the Spellings Commission : the message, the messenger, and the
dynamics of change in higher education. Brent D. Ruben, Laurie Lewis, Louise Sandmeyer ;
with Travis Russ, Stacy Smulowitz, Kate Immordino.

America's Children: Key Indicators of Well-Being, 2008

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics has released America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008. The annual report profiles the status of the nation's children and youth, presenting up-to-date federal statistics in one convenient reference. The National Center for Education Statistics in the Institute of Education Sciences is one of the 22 federal agencies that participate in the Forum and contribute to the report. In addition to information on education, the report also includes indicators on child poverty, health care, housing, and at-risk behavior.

You can view, download, and print the report at http://www.childstats.gov/

NCSER grant applications: Letters of intent due August 4

The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) within the Institute of Education Sciences is accepting applications for its research grant programs. The ten research topics are:

* Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education
* Reading, Writing, and Language Development
* Mathematics and Science Education
* Social and Behavioral Outcomes to Support Learning
* Transition Outcomes for Special Education Secondary Students
* Cognition and Student Learning in Special Education
* Teacher Quality
* Related Services
* Systemic Interventions and Policies for Special Education
* Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The Request for Applications is currently available on the NCSER website http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/funding/. The application package will be available through www.grants.gov by August 4, 2008. Letters of intent are due August 4, 2008. Applications must be submitted electronically by October 2, 2008 at 4:30 p.m., Washington, D.C. time. For more information, please contact Kristen Lauer (Kristen.Lauer@ed.gov; 202-219-0377).

Stanford School of Ed mandates open access for scholarly publishing

I actually heard this information from a faculty member at Stanford who was a panelist on open access publishing at the national library conference a couple weeks ago. This blurb made it into Inside Higher Education today (July 10).

"Stanford University’s School of Education has decided to require all faculty members to make their scholarly articles available online and free. The open access movement has been gaining ground of late, and the Stanford move is the first such policy by an education school."

A more complete account is in the July 9 Stanford News Service.

Are you really ready for the TEACH grants?

This article in the July 1 Inside Higher Ed cautions that the application for and acceptance of TEACH grants be accompanied by clear information about the obligations of grantees that must be met in order to avoid these monies turning into loans that accrue interest--especially since the Congressional Budget office estimates that 80% of these grants will convert to loans. Useful discussion about the situations where these grants are likely to be most beneficial is included. There is a link to the TEACH grant page itself, a link to implementation suggestions and a link to a powerpoint presentation outlining actions that education institutions can take to get ready for the program.

NCTQ issues report on elementary math prep for teachers

The National Council on Teacher Quality has issued a new report which reports the results of their study of elementary math teacher education programs. According to the July 3 Inside Higher Ed, "A report released Friday by the National Council on Teacher Quality looked at 77 elementary education programs from all states but Alaska, examining the math courses elementary teacher candidates had to take. The report looked at three factors: “relevance,” the extent to which courses were relevant to what candidates would be teaching in the field; “breadth,” the degree to which “essential” topics are covered; and “depth,” if enough time was given to these topics.

Only 10 of the 77 programs scored adequately on all three criteria, according to the report,"No Common Denominator: The Preparation of Elementary Teachers in Mathematics by America's Education Schools."

Several appendices in the report offer rubrics for evaluating elementary mathematics textbooks, sample math course syllabi and sample practice teaching assignments.

Request for Applications for the Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grant Program

The purpose of this program is to provide grants to state education agencies to enable such agencies to design, develop, and implement statewide longitudinal data systems to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, disaggregate, and use individual student data, consistent with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The long term goal of this program is to increase the number and capacity of comprehensive statewide longitudinal data systems, thereby permitting states to generate accurate and timely data to meet reporting requirements; support evidence-based education decision-making; and increase the efficiency and organization of transferring educational data among schools, districts, and states to improve student achievement. These grants will support the development of statewide longitudinal systems that link individual student data, promote interoperability across institutions and states, and protect student privacy consistent with applicable privacy protection laws. The submission deadline for the Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grants is September 25, 2008.

More information about the program can be found at
http://ies.ed.gov/funding/

New NCES Report on the 100 Largest School Districts: 2005-06

Nevada has 2 of the 100 largest school districts based on 2005-06 data: Clark County ranks # 6 and Washoe County ranks #58.

This report describes the characteristics of the 100 largest public elementary and secondary school districts in the United States and its jurisdictions. These districts are defined as the 100 largest according to the size of their student population. The information in this report was provided by state education agency officials to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for inclusion in the Common Core of Data (CCD). The report uses data from the 2005–06 school year and includes student membership and staff in public schools and school districts in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Bureau of Indian Education, the Department
of Defense dependents schools (overseas and domestic), and the four outlying areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). This report also includes graduate counts, high school dropout rates, and graduation rates for the 2004–05 school year and revenues and expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2005.
Highlights of the report include the following:

• The 100 largest public school districts, representing less than 1 percent (0.6 percent) of all school districts in the United States and jurisdictions, were responsible for the education of 23 percent of all public school students.
• The 100 largest public school districts employed 22 percent of the United States and jurisdictions’ public school full-time-equivalent (FTE) teachers and contained 17 percent of all public schools and 20 percent of public high school completers.
• The 100 largest public school districts had larger average school enrollments compared to the average for all school districts (695 vs. 518) as well as a higher median pupil/teacher ratio (15.9 vs. 15.4).
• The percentage of students in the 100 largest public school districts who were other than White, non-Hispanic was 71 percent, compared to 44 percent of students in all school districts.
• In FY 2005, current expenditures per pupil in the 100 largest public school districts ranged from lows of $5,104 in the Puerto Rico Department of Education and $5,503 in the Alpine District, Utah to a high of $18,878 in the District of Columbia Public Schools and $17,988 in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Three states—California, Florida, and Texas—accounted for 45 percent of the 100 largest public school districts.

The report is available for viewing and download here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008339

National Indian Education Study - Parts I & II

You can read about the findings from their look at 4th and 8th graders in two major reports. Report I deals with reading and math performance, while Report II presents information about the educational, home, and community experiences of American Indian and Alaska Native students in the United States. Executive summaries and full reports are downloadable here: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/

Condition of Education 2008 - now available

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released "The Condition of Education 2008," a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States. The 43 indicators included in this year's report cover all aspects of education, from early childhood through postsecondary education and from student achievement to school environment and resources. Among the report's findings:

* This year, public school enrollment is expected to approach about 50 million students. Total public school enrollment is projected to set new records each year from 2008 to 2017, at which time it is expected to reach 54.1 million.

* Minority students make up 43 percent of the public school enrollment overall and 48 percent in the South and 55 percent in the West.

* In 2005–06, about a third of Black students and a third of Hispanic students attended high-poverty schools compared with 4 percent of White students.

* Average reading scores of 4th- and 8th-graders were higher in 2007 than in 1992.

* Average mathematics scores increased 27 points for 4th-graders and 19 points for 8th-graders between 1990 and 2007.

* Among public high school students in the class of 2005, about three-fourths graduated on time.

* Since 1970, women's undergraduate enrollment has increased over three times as fast as men's. Currently, women make up 57 percent of undergraduate enrollment.

* In 2006, young adults with a bachelor's degree earned about $11,000 more than those with an associate’s degree, about $16,000 more than those who had completed high school, and more than twice as much than those who did not earn a high school diploma.

The full text of "The Condition of Education 2008," along with related data tables and indicators from previous years, can be viewed at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe

New IES report: Guidelines for educational research

Here's the abstract from a new set of guidelines (Technical Methods Report: Guidelines for Multiple Testing in Impact Evaluations) on dealing with educational research that attempts to address multiple hypotheses ( by Peter Z. Schochet).

This report presents guidelines for addressing the multiple comparisons problem in impact evaluations in the education area. The problem occurs due to the large number of hypothesis tests that are typically conducted across outcomes and subgroups in these studies, which can lead to spurious statistically significant impact findings. The guidelines, which balance type I and type II errors, involve specifying confirmatory and exploratory analyses in the study protocols, structuring the data by delineating outcome domains, conducting t-tests on composite domain
outcomes, and applying multiplicity correction procedures to composites across domains. Guidelines are discussed for subgroup analyses, designs with multiple treatment groups, power analyses, and reporting impact findings. The report also provides background for applying the guidelines, including a detailed discussion of the multiplicity problem, statistical solutions that are found in the literature, and weighting options for forming composite domain outcomes.

You can find the full report here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20084018.asp

New IES Report: Changes in the Characteristics, Services, and Performance of Preschoolers with Disabilities from 2003-04 to 2004-05

The National Center for Special Education Research within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the second major report from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS)... PEELS involves a nationally representative sample of children, 3 to 5 years of age when they entered the study, with diverse disabilities who are receiving preschool special education services in a variety of settings. Topics covered in the report include declassification (children leaving special education), reclassification (movement from one primary disability group to another), changes over time in the special education and related services provided to preschoolers with disabilities, and changes in children's performance on a series of direct and indirect assessments in the areas of emerging literacy, early math skills, social be!
havior, and motor skills from 2003-04 to 2004-05.
You can view, download, and print the report at
http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/index.asp#20083011

New IES Report: Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs

The evaluation reports on the impacts on student achievement of two academic programs, one for reading and one for mathematics in grades 2-5. Compared to students attending regular after-school program activities, the students selected for the after-school math program received, on average, an additional 49 hours of instruction; students selected for the reading program received 48 hours of additional instruction, on average. The evaluation found a statistically significant difference in student math achievement favoring students in the math after-school program compared with those in the regular after-school activities. There was no statistically significant difference in reading achievement between students in the reading after-school program and those in the regular after-school activities.
Go to http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20084021.asp to view, print, and download the report.

Dropout prevention programs evaluated by WWC

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Dropout Prevention reviews focus on secondary school and community-based interventions designed to help students stay in school and/or complete school. These interventions can include services and activities such as incentives, counseling, monitoring, school restructuring, curriculum design, literacy support, or community-based services to mitigate factors impeding progress in school.

Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grants info

Enhancements to the IES website have made it easier than ever to access and print information about the Institute's FY2009 research grant program competitions. The website now has browsable versions of its RFAs that will take prospective applicants to the specific research topics of their choice, and applicants can print just the material needed to apply for that particular grant program. In March, IES released three new funding announcements for FY2009: Education Research Training Grants (84.305B), Education Research and Development Center Grants (84.305C), and Special Education Research Training Grants (84.324B). For more information about IES funding opportunities, and to browse the RFAs, go to http://ies.ed.gov/funding/.

Helping everyone graduate

This article today in Inside Higher Ed discusses a newly released report from Education Sector which documents some astounding gaps in the college graduation rates of black versus white students--often as high as 25-35 percentage points. And neither race nor money are the real issues--attention to the students is! The article offers concrete suggestions for helping schools improve minority graduation rates.

Recommended education blogs

Nice article in Washington Post recommends a handful of education blogs on policy and practice. Well worth a look and you may find some blogs you want to monitor on a regular basis!

NAEP report on writing shows some improvements

Results from "The Nation's Report Card: Writing 2007" are now available, detailing performance of eighth- and 12th-graders nationally. Improvements were seen across many student groups since previous assessments in 2002 and 1998.

Results are also reported for eighth-graders in 45 participating states, the Department of Defense schools, and 10 urban school districts.

Since the last assessment, 19 states, three districts, and the Department of Defense schools made gains.

For complete results and to download the report, visit
http://nationsreportcard.gov

NCES Report: 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States (2004-05)

Hi readers,
It's been ages since I posted anything...I can only plead the challenges of moving to a new state and a new job. So yes, I am now in Las Vegas, where I have been made to feel most welcome by the UNLV Libraries staff. Here's a new report from NCES on large public schools.

This annual report provides basic information from the Common Core of Data about the nation's largest public school districts in the 2004-05 school year. The data include such characteristics as the numbers of students and teachers, number of high school completers and the averaged freshman graduation rate, and revenues and expenditures. Among the findings: These 100 largest districts enrolled 23 percent of all public school students, and employed 20 percent of all public school teachers in 2004-05. The 100 largest districts produced 20 percent of all high school completers (both diploma and other completion credential recipients) in 2003-04. Across these districts, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 70.2 percent. Four states -- California, Florida, Texas, and New York -- accounted for more than half of the 100 largest public school districts. Current per-pupil expenditures in fiscal year 2003 ranged from a low of $4,351 in the Puerto Rico School District to a high of $17,337 in Boston, Massachusetts.

There's also a new report on private schools.
Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: Results from the 2005-2006 Private School Universe Survey (NCES 2008-315). This report on the 2005-2006 Private School Universe Survey presents data on private schools in the United States with grades kindergarten through 12 by selected characteristics.

Education Updates has moved

Because I started my Education Updates blog on a service that is intended as an RSS reader and not a "true" blog, I am finally making the move to a blogging service that will allow interactivity with potential readers. The feedback I got was mixed about how important that was, but since at least some folks were interested in being able to respond and I am always interested in hearing from you, moving to BlogSpot was one of my New Year's resolutions. So Happy New Year!! If you want to go back and read the posts in Education Updates you can still do that at: http://www.bloglines.com/blog/mcmillep
You can use the calendar to go back and read the posts for any given month. I hope you'll take advantage of the new blog's option for feedback!
cheers, Paula

Book Whisperer Blog

Some of you may already read blogs. I try and am always behind but that doesn't stop me from adding more to read :-) I've sent out previous posts about this 6th grade teacher in Texas who converts the most reluctant (she says "dormant") readers into avid book junkies. She has her own blog now, if you're interested. Book Whisperer Blog. I love reading for myself and believe in the power of reading to help in so many ways--academically and personally. There was a really interesting article by Caleb Crain in the New Yorker recently about the rise and fall?? of reading. Reading has changed the brain over the centuries and more changes are on the way if we move away from reading.