The real problem with cheating

This article by Michael Ruse in the Chronicle (Aug. 23, 2010) talks about why the recent scandal with Harvard's Professor Hauser hurts us all. He says that the particularly painful aspect of Hauser's "scientific misconduct" has to do with "the nature of science. Seventy years ago, the great sociologist Robert K. Merton made a number of points about science, and they seem still to hold today. Above all, he stressed that science is a community activity. Scientists may not always work together, although of course that is now very much the norm, but they do rely on each other, particularly for the ideas and theories that they use in their own research. In turn, they contribute—and want to contribute—to the general pool of knowledge." So unlike the misbehavior that characterizes corporate executives--admittedly bad--instances of academic dishonestly reverberate throughout the community and the shared body of knowledge, in a very pernicious way, or as Ruse notes, "If you fake the ideas or results, and publish them, the poison spreads. We are all now at risk of using phony information, and our own work suffers. The community suffers." Although Ruse talks about "science", the arguments can be reasonably applied to most area of academic endeavor and discourse, I think.  I am particularly susceptible to thinking about these aspects of scholarly communication as I dive into working with students at the beginning of fall term and talk to them about peer-reviewed articles and other supposed indicators of quality and credibility. I now remind them that no system is perfect and they need to keep a bit of healthy scepticism at hand when evaluating any resources.

College rankings--what's important?

Looking at several of the major college ranking bodies (e.g., U.S.News and World Report, Kiplinger, Forbes, Times Higher Education, Washington Monthly) the Chronicle (Aug. 29, 2010)  found few factors that most--or even a few--would agree upon.

19 states planning to implement performance based pre-licensing assessment for teachers

According to Education Week (Aug. 30, 2010), "Education programs across 19 states are piloting a performance-based assessment for teacher-candidates that potentially could serve as a common prelicensing measure for new teachers. Based on a test in use in about 30 education schools in California, the Teacher Performance Assessment includes a “teaching event” requiring teachers to extensively document and submit for review artifacts of their planning, instruction, and ability to assess and respond to student needs...Five of the states taking part in the work—Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington—have committed in legislation to use a performance-based licensing test, and officials have signed memoranda of understanding agreeing to adopt the assessment if it proves to be technically valid and reliable."
Additional states planning on participating include California, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Audiobooks as medicine?

Ran across an intriguing post on audiobooks today...here's an excerpt: "Scientific research on recovery after a stroke showed that audiobooks significantly improved sensory memory and resulted in higher cognitive function. I’d be interested to see this University of Helsinki study replicated with Alzheimer’s patients. The findings mirror much of the research done on the positive impact of audiobooks in literacy development of students." 

Having had a decades long interest in the power of books to heal emotionally, this was an inspiring bit of news about the power of narrative to heal physically. It should be noted that the study referred to in this post also used music to help post-stroke victims. The research cited is: Sarkamo, T. Pihko, E. Kaitinen, S. Forsblom, A., Soinila, S. Mikkonen, M., Autti, T. Silvennoinen, H.M., Kerkkila, J, Laine, M. Peretz, I, Hietanan, M. Tervaniemi, M. "Music and speech listening enhance th recovery of early sensory processing after stroke." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2010 Dec;22(12):2716-27.

A link to the article is here.

New IPEDS data released

Findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2009 data collection,  includes three survey components: institutional characteristics for 2009-10 (e.g.,  degrees offered, type of program, application information, tuition and other costs); the number and type of degrees conferred from July 2008 through June 2009; and 12-month enrollment data for the 2008-09 academic year.
Among other findings:

• An increasingly higher percentage of women are getting higher education degrees (2- and 4-year)
• Tuition has increase across the spectrum of higher education institutions (duh!)

To view the full report please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010161

Mountain West higher ed in the news

Big article in Aug. 22's CHE on the challenges faced by higher ed in the "Mountain West" which includes Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Chancellor Dan Klaich's picture and several quotes from him are prominently featured (see sections on "A time to heal" and "College-completion goals"). The article reports that "States in this region account for four of the five fastest-growing states, in terms of high-school graduates. Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Idaho, in that order, are projected to have the greatest growth in high-school graduates from 2010 to 2020, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education." The budget picture is grim, as mentioned in an earlier post; Nevada is projected to have the biggest budget gap of any state in 2011 (as a percentage of its general-fund budget). according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Check out the new Almanac of Higher Education

The Chronicle's new Almanac is out. Go through the libraries' journal title search so you get access from off campus. Check out Nevada's demographic profile (right hand column).

"Google's Book Search a disaster..."

According to Geoffrey Nunberg in the Chronicle  Review today, "the book search's metadata are a train wreck: a mishmash wrapped in a muddle wrapped in a mess." He has lots of good examples of bad dates, classifications, and more.

WWW finds minimal benefits from Lovaas Model of Applied Behavior Analysis

Only two studies met WWW evidence standards fully or with qualifications. They summarize their findings:
"Based on these two studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for the Lovaas Model for children with disabilities to be small for cognitive development, communication/language competencies, social-emotional development and behavior, and functional abilities. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations examined the effectiveness of the Lovaas Model on children with disabilities in the literacy, math competencies, or physical well-being domains." Read the short report and see a tabular presentation of data here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/ece_cd/lovaas_model/

Teacher educators go back to the classroom!

Not just teacher educators, and not permanently, but just to reconnect with the realities of what your students face--so advises a teacher educator from Towson University, Shaun Johnson, in his blog today. He overcame the obstacles of schedules, certifications, etc. by teaching a summer term in a charter school. Some excerpts:  "First, and this will be my strongest opinion of all: Teacher educators and education professors are not worth their salt if they do not return to the classroom with some regularity during their tenure. I plan to do so every summer that I can....So, I stand by my new rule: if you’re going to tell young people how to teach, then do it yourself. The opportunities are out there...I think I’m a much better professor and a much better teacher as a result. All I needed was a little jolt to both my intellectual and professional identities to give me new purchase on the teaching of teachers....Now that I had a brief return to elementary teaching this summer, I challenge both education professors and those in other disciplines to do the same."
What are your thoughts on this??

Clark County SD in the news

An article in the New York Times, "Given Money, Schools Wait on Rehiring Teachers," quoted Jeff Weiler, chief financial officer for Clark County schools, "“We’re a little wary about hiring people if we only have money for a year, but we know that’s the intent of this bill.” The article goes on to suggest the stimulus monies may not have the desired effect because of this collective financial caution among school administrators. Teachers unions, are of course, pushing for the money to be used to rehire laid off teachers and reduce class size.

Breathing and Pedagogy

I loved this simple idea in the ProfHacker blog today about using a minute of focused breathing to enhance the classroom experience. Here's an excerpt...
"So, inspired by recent research in the neurosciences about how the brain responds to even very simple breath practice, I decided to introduce one minute of conscious breathing into the beginning of each class meeting....I typically teach in the afternoon and my students are primarily working adults who commute to campus. By the time they arrive in my classroom, many of my students have either already attended two or three other classes, worked six or more hours at a job, or taken care of children and family responsibilities. Add to that an automobile commute of sometimes as much as 90 minutes each way, parking shortages at peak hours, and always-on cellphones, and you get a group of tired, wired, and often distracted students.
More often than I'd like, I myself arrive in class having just come out of a committee meeting, another class, or from rushing to make copies of a last-minute handout. Sometimes I'm tired and distracted too. Taking 60 seconds helps all of us set that stuff aside and fully arrive in the classroom and in the present moment. "
Read the full blog post here: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/BreathingPedagogy/26230/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Summer reading turns around summer slide

According to this article in Tennessee Today, "University of Tennessee, Knoxville, faculty members Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen have completed a three-year study showing a significantly higher level of reading achievement in students who received books for summer reading at home...
According to the professors’ research, the summer reading setback is the primary reason for the reading achievement gap between children who have access to reading materials at home and those who do not. Students who do not have books at home miss out on opportunities to read...'What we know is that children who do not read in the summer lose two to three months of reading development while kids who do read tend to gain a month of reading proficiency,' Allington said. 'This creates a three to four month gap every year. Every two or three years the kids who don’t read in the summer fall a year behind the kids who do.'...The researchers’ study found that summer reading is just as effective, if not more so, as summer school. 'We found our intervention was less expensive and less extensive than either providing summer school or engaging in comprehensive school reform,' Allington said. ... 'Spending roughly $40 to $50 a year on free books for each child began to alleviate the achievement gap that occurs in the summer.'” This was a multi-year study, where students in first and second grade were allowed to choose the books they took home.

College graduation rates for African Americans and Latinos don't need to lag

Two new reports from Education Trust find that there are ways to close the historically large gaps between college graduation rates for minority groups compared to those of white students. Institutions of similar student body make-up have been able to close or even reverse the gaps through consistent utilization of "transition programs for at-risk students and 'early warning' systems that alert officials to struggling students," according to this overview of the two reports in today's (Aug. 10) Inside Higher Ed.

WWC review of "Accelerated Reader" effectiveness

 This brief summary from IES is remarkable for at least a couple of reasons. First, of 318 studies reviewed, only two met their evidence standards (one with reservations)! Second, this is such a widely used program and yet they found "no discernible effects"... Hmmm

"The Accelerated Reader™ guided reading intervention uses reading practice and computerized quizzes to supplement regular K–12 reading instruction. The WWC reviewed 318 studies on Accelerated Reader™. One study, a randomized controlled trial, meets WWC evidence standards. A second study, a quasi-experimental design, meets WWC evidence standards with reservations. The two studies include 2,877 students in grades 4 to 8 in Oregon and Texas. Based on these studies, the WWC found the Accelerated Reader™ to have no discernible effects on reading fluency or comprehension for adolescent learners. Read the full WWC report now at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/accel_read/"

Will college enrollments now drop?

This blog posting caught my eye because I read this week that our fall enrollment at UNLV is currently around 22,000--a decrease that flies in the face of conventional wisdom that recessions lead to higher enrollments. The blogger (a community college dean) wonders if this is a trend. Their Admissions department called people who had applied, but then hadn't registered. They were told that money was the issue.

HIgher ed finance and the upcoming gubernatorial elections

Citing the most recent (2009) "State Higher Education Finance" report, Inside Higher Ed  ( Aug. 5) provides an overview of economic projections and the issues that face higher ed financially in the next few years. They also review some of the promises made by gubernatorial candidates about protecting higher ed even though jobs--not education--is the major election issue right now. Nevada is mentioned briefly as focusing on eliminating duplicate programs.

Study finds EARLY absenteeism significantly affects academic performance

Children with chronic absenteeism in kindergarten show deficits in reading and math performance throughout their school career. A study sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, "Present, Engaged, and Accounted For," found that a pattern of absence in kindergarten significantly lowered reading and math scores in first and still in fifth grade. Additionally, these patterns are strong predictors of later dropping out of school--even better predictors than test performance. The decrements were especially significant for children who missed more than 10% of classes and according to the report, 10% of kindergarten and first grade students miss a month of school a year. Strategies to address this often overlooked problem are offered. See also the Attendance Counts website which has some great videos on projects to reduce absenteeism.

Readicide

I just read a review of the book Readicide, which talk about how schools are unwittingly discouraging students from meaningful reading...this has been my contention for several years, ever since I suggested some young adult books to my sister who was, at the time, a reading resource teacher for 7th and 8th graders. 'Oh no' she replied, 'we get in trouble if we use anything not in the prescribed package...' or words to that effect. I.e., some curriculum publisher determined what was read, regardless of individual interests or needs. Bah!
Link to a book preview is here. There's also an interview with the author, Kelly Gallagher, here. The book should be on the shelves in the CML library pretty in a few weeks.

Updated public school data (2008-2009)

NCES has released the 2008-09 school year data from the State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The accompanying First Look presents national and state level data on student enrollment by grade and by race/ethnicity within grade, the numbers of teachers and other education staff, and several student/staff ratios for the school year.


To view the full First Look report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010347

Access to publically funded research

In her Library Babel Fish blog post this morning, Barbara Fister points out the many disingenuous--actually self-serving and downright dishonest--remarks made in support of the current scholarly publishing system. She concludes, "I find these logic-defying arguments based on faulty reasoning, misrepresentation of how the process works, and appeals to anxiety about foreigners even more angering than the fact that in 2009 Elsevier made a billion dollars in profits with a tidy 35% profit margin. Wasn't that the very same year that saw enormous hardship in higher education, with layoffs, rising tuition, and libraries scrambling to manage huge budget cuts? What a weird coincidence.
But don't worry about it. There is no crisis. You whiners have plenty of access to information. All you have to do is buy it."