Report on the world's best-performing school systems

A record for this report, "How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top," examining 25 school systems, has been added to the UNLV Libraries catalog or is available here:
http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf
They found 3 things that matter most: (1) getting the right people to become teachers, (2) developing them into effective instructors, and (3) ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child. Success is not strictly related to cost; for example, Singapore is among the top performers and yet spends less on primary education than 27 of the 30 OECD countries.

Searching for better researchers

Today's (Sept. 29) Inside Higher Ed had this article, "Searching for better research habits," describing a couple of presentations at the recent Ithaka Sustainable Scholarship Conference.  I couldn't agree more with those interviewed that we need to be teaching students concepts of research, not just how to use the tools. Google's Daniel M. Russell, a senior research scientist for search quality, said, "One of the things we have to do is not teach the little twiddlybits about search...Technical knowledge of... search interface ... becomes obsolete, because the interfaces are constantly changing. So I don’t want to teach them algorithms...I don’t want to teach them what’s in the index and all that stuff...I do want to teach them what’s possible.” In other words: If students do not know what is out there to find, they cannot search for it effectively.

The benefits of summer reading on reading achievement scores

This is an addendum to an earlier post about improvements in reading achievement scores for elementary children who received free summer reading materials. The study has been reviewed by the WWC and found to meet evidence standards and to demonstrate significantly positive effects. "The study analyzed data on about 1,300 students from 17 high-poverty elementary schools in two large districts in Florida. Student-level reading achievement was measured by the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, the state-mandated reading assessment. The study compared reading scores of students randomly assigned to receive summer reading books with those of students who did not receive them. Scores were compared at the end of the third summer, at which time most students were in 4th or 5th grade....The study found that students who received three consecutive years of free, self-selected summer reading books had statistically significantly higher reading test scores than students who did not receive summer reading books. The reported effect size of 0.14 is interpreted by the WWC as roughly equivalent to moving a student from the 50th percentile to the 56th percentile of reading achievement."

The Quick Review of this grant funded study is here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=158
The study was initially presented at 2007's AERA:
Allington, R. L., McGill-Franzen, A. M., Camilli, G., Williams, L., Graff, J., Zeig, J., et al. (2007). Ameliorating summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged elementary students. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago.
And is forthcoming in the journal, Reading Psychology.

Top 100 Universities for Federal R & D Expenditures

2009 data on institutions receiving/spending the most federal research dollars:
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Top-100-Institutions-in/124626/
And no, UNLV is not in the list. The accompanying article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed discusses the large increases in corporate funding of research at universities.

IES publishes practice guide on Improving Reading Comprehension: K -3

A new guide from the Institute for Education Sciences is now available: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/readingcomp_pg_092810.pdf
 An addendum (9/30/10): Here is a summary from the introduction: "....presents a set of evidence-based practices that teachers and other educators can use to successfully teach reading comprehension
to young readers." A record for this report has also been added to the UNLV Libraries catalog.

New Table of Contents alerting service

I am posting here the full text of Choice Reviews Online's evaluation of a new cross-publisher TOC service:
"Journal TOCs, from the Institute for Computer Based Learning, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland.

http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/index.php

[Visited Jul'10] Journal TOCs makes viewing tables of contents from scholarly journals easy. One of many projects from Heriot-Watt's Institute for Computer Based Learning, this resource features the table of contents (TOCs) for over 14,000 journals from more than 500 publishers, with more being added continuously. JournalTOCs features TOCs from publishers such as Elsevier, SAGE, Oxford University Press, Wiley, Springer-Verlag, and the American Psychological Association. Users may search by journal title/ISSN, or look for articles via keywords. Alternatively, browsing by Publishers or by Subjects is available. Subjects range from Ceramics, Glass and Pottery to Library and Information Sciences. Not all scholarly titles in a particular field are included. Some 70 titles are listed in the library category, e.g., Library Hi Tech News, D-Lib Magazine, Community and Junior College Libraries, and Journal of Religious & Theological Information. Others, such as Journal of Academic Librarianship, College & Research Libraries, and Portal, are not included. In a quick comparison of results from a literature review using ABI/INFORM (CH, Sep'06, 44-0039), this reviewer found less than one-fourth of the ABI/INFORM journal titles listed in JournalTOCs. Granted, ABI/INFORM has many non-scholarly titles, but missing were refereed titles, as identified by Ulrich's (CH, Feb'03, 40-3121) such as The Journal of Information Systems Education and EDUCAUSE Review. Additional publishers are being included in JournalTOCs at a surprisingly fast rate, which will make this resource very valuable indeed. The developers have added many handy features including an application programming interface (API) to allow users to embed journal TOC functionality within a Web page. Additionally, MyTOCs, an RSS feed, and RefWorks software features are available, along with a project blog, at http://www.journaltocs.hw.ac.uk/API/blog/. This practical, significant Web site will soon be an indispensable tool for students, faculty, and researchers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general audience. -- K. Condic, Oakland University"

UNLV Writing Workshops this fall

Take advantage of these 50-minute workshops offered by the Writing Center. Topics include "Writing Research Papers" and "Mastering APA Style."

From UNLV Today:
Beginning Sept. 27, the Writing Center is offering two weeks of free workshops to UNLV students and staff.
To sign up for workshops, please call the Writing Center at 895-3908, or stop by Central Desert Complex Building 3.

More information can be found here: http://writingcenter.unlv.edu/wkshops/schedule.html

Contact: Jacquie Elkouz
Email: writingcenter@unlv.edu
Phone: 702-895-3908

Phonics based reading program shows potential

"Sound Partners (Vadasy et al., 2004) is a phonics-based tutoring program that provides supplemental reading instruction to elementary school students grades K–3 with below average reading skills. The program is designed specifically for use by tutors with minimal training and experience." According to the WWC's examination of 7 studies that met evidence standards (with or without reservation), "Sound Partners was found to have positive effects on alphabetics, fluency, and comprehension and no discernible effects on general reading achievement on beginning readers." A tabular summary of the results is here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/sound_partners/

Charter Schools: Not better grades, but more satisfied customers

In a well designed study of over 2,100 students in 15 states, children who attended charter schools via lottery selection fare no better than those who were not selected--but their parents were happier. According to the WWC brief, "On average, students admitted to charter middle schools through the lottery scored no differently on math and reading assessments than students not offered admission. These program impacts varied widely across study sites; some had positive outcomes and some had negative outcomes.
The authors also found no significant overall effects on attendance, grade promotion, or student conduct.
When comparing student and parent satisfaction, however, the authors reported consistent statistically significant positive results for students offered a spot in the charter schools." The Quick Report is here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=160

KIPP Middle Schools show positive results

According to this quick review fromt he What Works clearinghouse, charter schools using the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) showed favorable gains in math and reading skills when matched with students in public schools. The brief report is here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=159

WWC reviews adolescent literacy interventions

What Works Clearinghouse reviewed five adolescent literacy intereventions. Summary findings and links to the reports are below:

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID): The WWC reviewed 66 studies that investigated the effects of AVID on adolescent learners. "One study of AVID that falls within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations...AVID was found to have no discernible effects on comprehension for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/avid/

Corrective Reading: A total of 129 studies reviewed by the WWC examined the effects of Corrective Reading on adolescent learners' alphabetics, reading fluency, and comprehension. "One study of Corrective Reading that falls within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards...Corrective Reading was found to have no discernible effects on the alphabetics, reading fluency, and comprehension domains for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/corrective_reading/

Reading Plus®: The WWC reviewed 18 studies..."One study of Reading Plus^® that falls within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations...Reading Plus^® was found to have potentially positive effects on comprehension for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/reading_plus/

Reciprocal teaching: The WWC reviewed 164 studies that investigated the effects of reciprocal teaching on adolescent learners.  "Five studies of reciprocal teaching that fall within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, and one study meets WWC evidence standards with reservations...Reciprocal teaching was found to have mixed effects on comprehension for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/rec_teach/

Book clubs:  The WWC identified 284 studies of book clubs for adolescent learners (1989-2009). All studies either fell outside the Adolescent Literacy review protocol or did not meet WWC evidence standards. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/book_clubs/

WWC Reviews Study Comparing Two Approaches to Teaching Reading for ELL Students

Overall, the study found that a structured English immersion program was superior in teaching reading skills (as compared to a transitional Spanish to English reading program) to predominantly Spanish language youngsters, particularly at the lower grades (K-1). By grade 4, there were still significant differences on some measures, though others had diminished to statistically non-significant levels. The quick review is here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=155#go2
The study reported on is:
Slavin, R. E., Madden, N., Calderon, M., Chamberlain, A., & Hennessy, M. (2010). Reading and language outcomes of a five-year randomized evaluation of transitional bilingual education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University.
The full report is available from Johns Hopkins University's School of Education website: http://www.bestevidence.org/bilingual.htm

Improvements from Adolescent Literacy Programs not Sustained

Over 6,000 9th grade students who were reading at least two-years below grade level were randomly assigned to receive a year of Reading Enhancement  support (Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy and Xtreme Reading programs) or remain in a regular class. Some improvements were seen on standardized reading tests, but 77% of the students were still reading two or more years below grade at the end of the year. Improvements were also seen in general academic performance and credits earned, but these benefits disappeared a year later. The full report is linked here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104021/

U. of Washington a case study of declining state support for higher ed

The more successful they are, the less money they get...at least that seems to be the equation at universities that strive to be the research and education leaders in their state. As a two-time alumna of University of Washington graduate programs, this article in the Chronicle (Aug. 29, 2010) caught my attention. It describes the perverse dynamic that makes success in generating grants the legislative rationale for cutting state funding. Several major research universities now receive a larger proportion of their funding from student tuition than state support monies. Overall, state support for higher education has declined significantly in the last 8 years (see chart in article). One noteworthy observation here is that legislatures have a very short-term view of funding; whereas, universities take decades to build momentum--through good hiring and retention of faculty as well as by gradually building reputation and support for research. The response by universities is to seek more private (read corporate) funding.