Computers in public schools: Fall 2008

"First Look report presents data from a fall 2008 Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) survey of public schools on the availability and use of educational technology. This includes information on computer hardware and Internet access, availability of staff to help integrate technology into instruction and provide timely technical support, and perceptions of educational technology issues at the school and district level. It follows a series of school level surveys dating back to 1994; the 2008 surveys also included one conducted at the district level and another asked of teachers.

Findings from the survey of schools include:

* ...All public schools reported having one or more instructional computers with Internet access. Nearly all-97 percent -- had one or more instructional computers located in classrooms and 58 percent of schools had laptops on carts. Schools report having one instructional computer with Internet access for every three students.

* Public schools used their district network or the Internet to provide standardized assessment results and data for teachers to individualize instruction (87 percent), data to inform instructional planning at the school (85 percent), online student assessment (72 percent), and high-quality digital content (65 percent)..."

To view the full report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010034

Dialogic reading shows promise with children with disabilities

"Dialogic reading is an interactive shared picture-book reading practice designed to enhance young children’s language and literacy skills. During the shared reading practice, the adult and the child switch roles so that the child learns to become the storyteller with the assistance of the adult, who functions as an active listener and questioner.
Two studies of dialogic reading that fall within the scope of the Early Childhood Education Interventions for Children with Disabilities review protocol meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards. The two studies included 52 students with language delays, from ages three to six, participating in early childhood programs in the Pacific Northwest.³ Both studies examined intervention effects on children’s communication and language competencies...
Dialogic reading was found to have potentially positive effects on communication and language competencies for children with disabilities."

The 2 studies meeting WWC criteria are:
Crain-Thoreson, C., & Dale, P. S. (1999). Enhancing linguistic performance: Parents and teachers as book reading partners for children with language delays. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19(1), 28–39.
Dale, P. S., Crain-Thoreson, C., Notari-Syverson, A., & Cole, K. (1996). Parent-child book reading as an intervention technique for young children with language delays. Topics in Early Childhood
Special Education, 16(2), 213–235.

Links to study descriptions are here:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/ece_cd/dialogic_reading/#go_3

NCES Releases 2009 Digest of Education Statistics

"The "Digest of Education Statistics, 2009" is the 45th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest's primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons."
To view the full reports please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010013 (Digest) and
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010014 (Mini-Digest)

Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 2007

"This report uses data from the National Household Surveys Program (NHES) to present trends that focus on the use of and users of public schools (assigned and chosen), private schools (church- and non church-related), charter schools, and homeschoolers between 1993 and 2007."
The full report is linked here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010004

ProfHacker now aligned with CHE

The blog which discusses technology in teaching, ProfHacker, is now under the umbrella of the Chronicle of Higher Education blogs. This is from their post about the move...
"Today marks a new partnership between ProfHacker and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Since George and Jason founded the site, ProfHacker has focused on pedagogy, productivity, and technology, and the various ways these intersect in higher education. ... The Chronicle was interested in the idea of a site that looked at the practical side of academic life, and rather than starting one themselves, they offered to bring us on board."

WWC evaluates Saxon Math textbook series for middle school

"Saxon Math is a textbook series covering grades K–12 based on incremental development and continual review of mathematical concepts to give students time to learn and practice concepts throughout the year. The series is aligned with standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and various states, and can be adapted for special education students in inclusion classrooms, pullout programs, or self-contained resource classrooms. Although content differs by course, the incremental, distributed approach of Saxon Math is the same, with mathematical concepts presented in a series of short “lessons” intended to gradually build understanding and previously-taught concepts practiced and assessed throughout the course. ...This report includes studies that investigate the potential impact of Saxon Math texts on math achievement of middle school students...

One study of Saxon Math meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, and four studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations. The five studies included over 6,500 students from grades 6 to 8 in 52 schools in four states.

Based on these five studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for Saxon Math to be medium to large for math achievement."

Full report is linked here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/middle_math/saxon/

Bi-lingual and immersion approaches found equally effective

The results of a randomized study, which compared reading performance of children exposed to either a bi-lingual or English immersion version of "Success for All" starting in kindergarten, were found to be comparable, according to a report in Education Week. The full report from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Research and Reform in Education is linked from the article.

New Blog link--CHE Campus Cuts

Not sure how long I will leave this blog linked (see right hand side of the page) but thought some might be interested to see what programs are being cut at other campuses.

NCSER announces FY 2010 grant awards

"NCSER is investing over $36 million in 21 new special education research grants. The Center received 162 research grant applications across 10 program areas focusing on improving educational outcomes for students with or at risk for disabilities.

As a group, the new research projects cover a variety of topics and age ranges—from infants and toddlers with or at risk for disabilities, to students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), to children who are deaf or hard of hearing and parents of children with hearing loss. Research projects include one that focuses on developing an assessment of American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency, a project that will develop a mobile phone-based instructional program of ASL for parents of children with hearing loss, a project that will validate a behavioral and emotional screening assessment for preschool students and a project that focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention that targets social communication and emotional regulation in children with ASD in kindergarten through second grade."

The list of award winners is here.

WWC adds new topic area: Students with Learning Disabilities

The Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences What Works Clearinghouse (the arbiter of what is good research in education ;-) has added a new Topic Area. According to their recent newsletter, "WWC is now conducting reviews of research on interventions that focus on students who have learning disabilities. This new topic area aims to help educators make important decisions about curriculums [sic], supplemental products, and classroom methods....it is often difficult to identify research-based interventions—whether those are programs, products, or practices—that have shown to be effective specifically for these students. The WWC will evaluate research on curricula and instructional strategies that are intended to improve achievement for students with learning disabilities in grades K–12 and provide educators with insight on these important questions:

• Which interventions improve achievement in reading, writing, math, science, or social studies? Which promote student progress?
• Are some interventions especially effective for certain subgroups of students with learning disabilities—students of different ages, for example, or students with particular learning disabilities, students of specific racial/ethnic groups, or English language learners?"

Those least likely to go benefit most from college

A "Quick Take" in today's Inside Higher Ed alerted me to this study due to be published in the April issue of American Sociological Review. You can see a pre-print here.
"The economic value of a college degree is nearly twice as high for women from disadvantaged backgrounds as for women from privileged backgrounds, the study says. For disadvantaged men, a college education is worth three times more than is the case for privileged college-goers." (from Inside Higher Ed). There are undoubtedly confounding factors, the authors suggest, such as high motivation levels among those who overcome the hurdles presented when "college is not a culturally expected outcome" (Brand & Xie, 2010, p. 32)

Something a little lighter--a book review!

See the book review below from Choice Reviews Online that convinced me to order this book for our collection at CML...
Wartenberg, Thomas E. Big ideas for little kids: teaching philosophy through children's literature. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. 150p
Wartenberg (philosophy, Mount Holyoke) presents a one-volume introduction to doing philosophy for pre-college students. He draws on the methods Gareth Matthews pioneered in such works as Philosophy and the Young Child (1980) and his own work with elementary and middle school students, giving readers an explanation of why one ought to do philosophy with children as well as how to do so. The first two parts of the book will be quite informative for those new to the movement, but little new ground is covered for those who have traveled this path themselves. The real star of the book is the eight chapters of part 3 that display how to use picture books (and one chapter book) to engage in real philosophical discussions on topics from concept formation (Bernard Wiseman's Morris the Moose, 1991) to justice (Leo Lionni's Frederick, 1967). Those unfamiliar with philosophy will love the brief introduction to the disciplines of philosophy; philosophers will find the use of children's literature a refreshing starting point. While intended for educators new to pre-college philosophy, this book nicely encapsulates for philosophers one method of doing such work. Far preferable to Marietta McCarty's Little Big Minds (2006). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. -- R. E. Kraft, York College of Pennsylvania