2011 NAEP Science data available: 8th grade

Data from the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) find that our nation’s eighth-grade students have made gains in science since 2009. The Nation’s Report Card: Science 2011 presents results for the nation, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Department of Defense Schools.

Key findings from The Nation’s Report Card: Science 2011 include:

• In 2011, a higher percentage of students performed at or above the Basic and Proficient achievement levels than in 2009.

• The achievement gap between Black and White students narrowed between 2009 and 2011, with average scores since 2009 rising by 1 point for White students and by 3 points for Black students.

• The achievement gap between Hispanic and White students also narrowed between 2009 and 2011, with average scores since 2009 rising by 1 point for White students and by 5 points for Hispanic students.

• Public school students in 16 states and jurisdictions have made gains since 2009.

• No state scored lower in 2011 than in 2009.

• Public school students in 28 states scored higher than their peers in the nation; students in 15 states and the District of Columbia scored lower than their peers nationally.

The Nation’s Report Card is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

To view the full science report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012465

Number & types of public school agencies

Two more sets of data from the 2010-11 Common Core... (NCES)

Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Local Education Agencies From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2010-11, presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary local education agencies in the United States and the territories in the 2010-11 school year. Findings include:

• There were 17,911 operating local education agencies in the 2010-11 school year, and among those agencies, 13,592 were regular school districts.

• Twenty-six of the 13,592 active regular school districts enrolled 100,000 or more students.

• Approximately 953,000 students were enrolled in the 2,359 independent charter agencies, districts in which all schools were charter schools."

To view the full First Look report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012326

Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2010–11, presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary schools in the United States and the territories in the 2010-11 school year. Findings include:

• There were 98,817 operating public elementary/secondary schools in the 2010-11 school year. Of those schools, 88,929 were regular schools.

• By 2010-2011, charter schools had been established in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Charter schools enrolled about 1.8 million students.

• Across all regular public schools that had membership, the overall pupil/teacher ratio in 2010–11 was 15.7.

The Common Core of Data and this report are products of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences.

To view the full First Look report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012325


 

New data on school enrollment & staff counts

Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff Counts from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2010–11, presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary state-level data in the United States and the territories in the 2010-11 school year. Findings include:

• Public elementary and secondary schools enrolled 49.5 million students.

• Public elementary and secondary schools and local education agencies employed a total of 6.2 million full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff.

• The student/teacher ratio (i.e., the number of students for every teacher FTE) in public schools is 16.0.

The Common Core of Data and this report are products of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences.

To view the full First Look report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012327

Summer training from NCER

On August 13-17, the National Center for Education Research, in conjunction with the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, will host a summer research training institute workshop on the use of within-study comparison designs to compare causal effects from an experiment with those from a quasi-experiment that share the same treatment group comparisons. The workshop will be held at Northwestern University and the application deadline for this workshop is May 14, 2012. For more information about the institute and registration click here:


http://ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/conferences/?id=981&cid=5

New data on Latino/a college completion

From this morning's (4/11/12) Inside Higher Ed...
Excelencia in Education on Tuesday released data showing Latino college completion rates, by state. "The state-level data on Latino college completion show that today’s investment, or lack thereof, in Latino academic preparation and degree attainment can have a compounding effect on state populations, economies, and communities in the near future,” said Deborah Santiago, the organization's co-founder and vice president for policy and research.

State level and summary reports are available for download here: http://www.edexcelencia.org/eaf/50states

Peer instruction works!

An article in today's (April 11, 2012) Chronicle reports on a study testing whether or not peer instruction is actually helping students learn vs. just pressuring those less sure of themselves into conforming. An excerpt:
"The questions were given in pairs of “isomorphic” questions, having different contexts and “cover stories” but assessing the same core concepts. First, a question was asked using the usual vote-discuss-revote model. Then the second, isomorphic question was asked with only individual voting taking place.
If the peer discussion was merely creating an environment of peer pressure to vote the same as the knowledgeable students, then what you’d expect is that the percentage of students answering correctly would be relatively low on the first vote on Question 1, then high on the revote, then back to low again on Question 2. But that’s not what the study found! On the first vote, an average of about 50% of students were voting correctly. On the revote of the first question, that average went up to just shy of 70%. On the first vote of the second question — testing the same concept but in a new context — the percent voting correctly was above 70%."
The study cited is: M. K. Smith, W. B. Wood, W. K. Adams, C. Wieman, J. K. Knight, N. Guild, and T. T. Su. Why Peer Discussion Improves Student Performance on In-Class Concept Questions.
Science 2 January 2009: 323 (5910), 122-124. [DOI:10.1126/science.1165919]

Poetry for STEM curricula and common core standards

April is National Poetry Month and Booklist (April 2012) offers lots of ideas for utilizing poetry to support and enhance lesson plans.
Poetry to support STEM curricula:
Bug Off!Creepy, Crawly Poems . By Jane Yolen. Illus. by Jason Stemple. 2012. 32p. Boyds Mills/Wordsong, $16.95 (9781590788622) 811. Gr. 1–5.
Incredible Inventions. Ed. by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Illus. by Julia Sarcone-Roach. 2009. 32p. Greenwillow, $17.99 (9780060872458). 811. Gr. 1–5.
A Leaf Can Be . . . By Laura Purdie Salas. Illus. by Violeta Dabija. 2012. 32p. Millbrook, $17.95 (9780761362036). K–Gr. 3.
One Big Rain:Poems for Rainy Days . Ed. by Rita Gray. Illus. by Ryan O’Rourke. 2010. 32p. Charlesbridge, $9.95 (9781570917165). 811.008. Gr. 2–4.
Steady Hands: Poems about Work. By Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. Illus. by Megan Halsey. 2009. 48p. Clarion, $16 (9780618903511). 811. Gr. 4–7.
Step Inside! A Look inside Animal Homes. By Catherine Ham. 2012. 32p. illus. EarlyLight, $14.95 (9780983201427). 591.56. K–Gr. 3.
Track That Scat! By Lisa Morlock. Illus. by Carrie Anne Bradshaw. 2012. 32p. Sleeping Bear, $15.95 (9781585365364). 591.479. Gr. 1–4.
Water Sings Blue:Ocean Poems . By Kate Coombs. Illus. by Meilo So. 2012. 32p. Chronicle, $16.99 (9780811872843). 811.6. Gr. 2–6.
What’s Looking at You, Kid? By J. Patrick Lewis. Illus. by Renee Graef. 2012. 32p. Sleeping Bear, $14.95 (9781585367931). PreS–K.
UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings. By Douglas Florian. Illus. by the author. 2012. 32p. Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, $16.99 (9781442426528). 811. Gr. 2–5. 
Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature. By Nicola Davies. Illus. by Mark Hearld. 2012. 108p. Candlewick, $19.99 (9780763655495). 808.81. PreS–Gr. 2.
Out of This World: Poems and Facts about Space. By Amy E. Sklansky. Illus. by Stacey Schuett. 2012. 40p. Knopf, $17.99 (9780375864599); lib. ed., $20.99 (9780375964596). 811. Gr. 3–5. Swirl by Swirl. By Joyce Sidman. Illus. by Beth Krommes. 2011. 32p. Houghton, $16.99 (9780547315836). PreS–Gr. 3
A Mirror to Nature:Poems about Reflection . By Jane Yolen. Illus. by Jason Stemple. 2009. 31p. Boyds Mills/Wordsong, $17.95 (9781590786246). Gr. 2–5. 
Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: Math Puzzlers in Classic Poems. By J. Patrick Lewis. Illus. by Michael Slack. 2012. 40p. Harcourt, $16.99 (9780547513386). 811. Gr. 3–5.



Poetry to facilitate teaching Core Curriculum: (RL.1.4—RL.6.4)
RL.1.4. Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
In the Wild. By David Elliott. Illus. by Holly Meade. 2010. 32p. Candlewick, $16.99 (9780763644970). PreS–Gr. 2.

Peaceful Pieces: Poems and Quilts about Peace. By Anna Grossnickle Hines. Illus. by the author. 2011. 32p. Holt, $16.99 (9780805089967). Gr. 2–5.
Swirl by Swirl. By Joyce Sidman. Illus. by Beth Krommes. 2011. 32p. Houghton, $16.99 (9780547315836). PreS–Gr. 3.

RL.4.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology.
Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. By Joyce Sidman. Illus. by Rick Allen. 2010. 32p. Houghton, $16.99 (9780547152288). 811. Gr. 3–6.

A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing, and Shout. Ed. by Paul B. Janeczko. Illus. by Chris Raschka. 2009. 61p. Candlewick, $17.99 (9780763606633). 811. Gr. 4–7.

A Mirror to Nature:Poems about Reflection . By Jane Yolen. Illus. by Jason Stemple. 2009. 31p. Boyds Mills/Wordsong, $17.95 (9781590786246). Gr. 2–5.


RL.6.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
Lemonadeand Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word . By Bob Raczka. Illus. by Nancy Doniger. 2011. 48p. Roaring Brook, $16.99 (9781596435414). 811. Gr. 2–5.
Under the Mambo Moon. By Julia Durango. Illus. by Fabricio VandenBroeck. 2011. 48p. Charlesbridge, $12.95 (9781570917233). 811. Gr. 3–5.

Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World. By Marilyn Nelson. Illus. by Jerry Pinkney. 2009. 80p. Dial, $21.99 (9780803731875). 811. Gr. 5–8.
 

Oldest EdD program in the country to close

As reported in today's (Mar. 29) Inside Higher Ed, the Harvard Graduate School of Education will be "eliminating the Ed.D. and replacing it with a Ph.D. program. The university's decision will close the first American Ed.D., a program Harvard has offered for 90 years..." GSE Dean Yoshikawa offers this rationale, "This will produce what we think is the first truly universitywide Ph.D. in education, with the primary purpose being to better link the intellectual resources in the university to produce leaders in the field of education."

Jill Perry, co-director of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, comments that, "Harvard’s move was a validation of the need to differentiate between the two kinds of doctoral degrees and re-emphasize the role and purpose of each. She said the Carnegie project was doing just that, and had worked with more than 50 schools of education to create frameworks for Ed.D. programs, or professional practice doctorates. The goal, she said, was to equate such a degree with other professional degree programs rather than with a Ph.D."

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/29/country%E2%80%99s-oldest-edd-program-will-close-down#.T3SD443fFY8.email#ixzz1qWTMDvmj

The "scoop" on peer-reviewed journal status in ERIC

As many of you know from my teaching sessions in your classes, I have in the past advised caution when using this search limiter (peer reviewed) in ERIC because it was assigned primarily to more recent records. Here is a clear explanation of how they assign the "peer reviewed" designator and the efforts underway to apply this retrospectively to earlier records.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"ERIC is in the process of adding the peer-review status to journal records indexed between 1966
and 2003 to enhance the collection for the research community. To date, more than 30,000 records have been updated with the peer-review status. Updates will continue to be processed throughout the year.

To meet the challenges associated with obtaining peer-review data, we are using a model for information gathering that incorporates current industry practices while increasing precision to the extent possible. During this process, on a title by title basis, the ERIC team:

• Reviews a title in Ulrich’s – if the title is identified as refereed, we accept the Ulrich’s designation; if the field is blank, we then
• Check The Serials Directory – if the title is identified as peer-reviewed, we accept the designation; if the field is blank, we then
• Check the publisher’s Web site – if we determine that the journal is  peer reviewed, not just reviewed by an editor, we accept the identification; we also note the start of the peer-review process for a journal, if available, and apply this information to the ERIC records.
• If we still cannot determine the peer-reviewed status, or if we determine that the journal is not peer reviewed, the field is left blank.
• If we find that the only review performed was by a journal editor, ERIC does not designate the title as peer reviewed.

ERIC does not include historical data about when a journal became peer reviewed in the ERIC record or in the journal list. It can be very difficult to determine the peer-review start date for journals. After
holding discussions with Ulrich’s, a cross section of publishers, and Library Committee advisors, we concluded that historical data is not consistently reliable or available.  However, if we are able to determine the date when peer review began, the ERIC team applies the status across the appropriate date range of records. If we are not able to determine the peer-review start date, we apply the status determined for the journal to all published records, a practice used by other information providers.

I hope this is helpful in explaining how ERIC handles the assignment of peer-review status to journal records. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions at ericfeedback@csc.com."

How many of these emerging technologies do you know about??

I have to admit, I had only heard of 1 of them. This report in the Chronicle's "Wired Campus" highlights
" some of the buzzworthy tools, ideas, and trends at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive ...

• Big data and data visualization: Visual.ly, Splunk, Show
• Intimate social networking: Highlight, GroupMe, Wendr, GonnaBe, Banjo, Sonar
• Hacktivism: Code for America, hackathons, self-hacking
• Curation: Brain Pickings, Percolate, FeedMagnet
• Retro technology: analog tele-phonographer, Please Shoot Yourself, Motorblade
• 3D printing: MakerBot, RepRat
• Journalism and publishing: Storify (read previous ProfHacker posts), The Atavist, Rhizome, Wowio

New IPEDS data available

Data on --financial aid, retention and graduation rates, etc. for higher ed. "...findings include:

• In fall 2010, Title IV institutions enrolled 19 million undergraduate and 3 million graduate students. Of the 19 million undergraduates, 56 percent were enrolled in 4-year institutions, 42 percent in 2-year institutions, and 2 percent in less-than-2-year institutions.
• Approximately 58 percent of full-time, first-time students attending 4-year institutions in 2004 who were seeking a bachelor’s or equivalent degree completed a bachelor’s or equivalent degree within 6 years at the institution where they began their studies.
• Overall, first-time undergraduate student 1-year retention rates were higher for full-time students (72 percent) than for part-time students (44 percent)."

To view the full report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012280

IES invites applicants for grant program

Thought this particular grant opportunity might be of interest to some CoE faculty:
"IES has established the Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research grant program (CFDA 84.305H) with the goal of seeking funding partnerships composed of research institutions and State or local education agencies. For the FY 2013 competition, these partnerships will identify an education issue with important implications for improving student achievement that is of high priority for the education agency, carry out initial data analyses regarding the education issue, and develop a plan for further research on the issue culminating in an application to one of the Institute’s research grant programs. For more information on application guidelines, see the IES funding opportunities page: http://ies.ed.gov/funding/"

10 Ways to Improve Student Research

When you ready to revise or create syllabi for upcoming courses, check out this newly created resource.
Based on the data from a large national survey of undergraduate research behavior, the guide offer tips to help you to help your students succeed with research based projects : http://guides.library.unlv.edu/improve_research

NCES post-secondary education data available

To improve postsecondary education data users’ access to data, NCES has released the College and Career Tables Library as part of DataLab – NCES’s postsecondary education data tool suite, which includes PowerStats and QuickStats.

The Tables Library lets you
• Browse 5,000+ tables from NCES’s postsecondary publications
• Search for tables by keywords; narrow search results by data source and publication year; and browse for tables by topic using explore topics

The tables also include link back to the original publications and you can download the files used to create the tables within PowerStats (for those based on datasets that are within PowerStats).

To access the Tables Library, please visit http://nces.ed.gov/datalab.

Diane Ravitch gives Arne Duncan an "F"

This recent article in the NYRBlog (Mar 7, 2012), "Flunking Arne Duncan" provides her rationale for giving the following grades:

Report Card: Arne Duncan

Fidelity to the Constitution: F
Doing what’s right for children: F
Doing what’s right for public education: F
Respecting the limits of federalism: F
Doing what’s right for teachers: F
Doing what’s right for education: F

(Image from ABC News)

IES grant funding competitions announced for FY 2013

IES has released FY2013 funding announcements for grant competitions in education research, special education research, and research training. The competitions are:

• Education Research Grants (84.305A);
• Special Education Research Grants (84.324A);
• Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences (84.305B);
• Research Training Program in Special Education: Early Career Development and Mentoring (84.324B);
• Statistical and Research Methodology in Education (84.305D);
• Accelerating the Academic Achievement of Students with Learning Disabilities Research Initiative (84.324D); and
• Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs and Policies (84.305E).

The Request for Applications for each competition is available at:
http://ies.ed.gov/funding/.

Great news about the ERIC database!

From the Communications team at ERIC...
"The ERIC team is pleased to announce that, in response to librarian requests, we are adding the peer-reviewed status to records indexed in ERIC from 1966-2003 to bring the backfile in line with currently indexed records. To determine whether a journal title is peer-reviewed, ERIC staff librarians are consulting three sources: Ulrichsweb, The Serials Directory, and publisher-provided information. The peer-review information gathered from these sources is being updated in the digital library on a journal by journal basis. Enhanced records have already begun to appear on the ERIC Web site at www.eric.ed.gov. Vendors will receive the changes on a monthly basis.
We expect that the updates to the ERIC backfile, consisting of more than
680,000 journal records, will be completed within this calendar year.
For more information, visit the ERIC Web site and see the new policy on the Peer-Reviewed Designation.  If you have comments or questions, please feel free to contact us at ericfeedback@csc.com."

TED launches new educationation channel

This report from the Chronicle today (March 12, 2012)
"The nonprofit group called TED, known for streaming 18-minute video lectures about big ideas, today opened a new YouTube channel designed for teachers and professors, with videos that are even shorter.
The new channel, called TED-Ed, was announced a year ago, but its leaders are only now unveiling the project’s first videos. There are only 11 as of today, but the goal is to add new ones regularly. Within three months from now, a new video could appear each day...
To produce the new videos, the group is connecting content experts with professional animators to create highly illustrated productions. The average length of these videos is about five minutes..
Among the first video topics are “How many universes are there?,” “Why don’t we see evidence of alien life?,” and “How pandemics spread (through history and across the world).”

Modern children's books help families explore diversity

As a diehard advocate of bibliotherapy (the therapeutic use of books), I can't resist passing along this nice article from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/08/living/kid-books/index.html?hpt=hp_bn8

Income level gaps exceed racial ones in educational achievement

This article from today's (3/6/12) Education Week, "Growing Gaps Bring Focus on Poverty's Role in Schooling," had this quote which summarized findings from several studies,
"But upward mobility through the mechanism of a good education, which is a widely held value in this country that cuts across the political spectrum, is in serious jeopardy."
Based on standardized test scores in reading and math from 1960-2007, one expert found that, "The achievement gap between poor children and rich children has grown significantly over the past three decades and is now nearly twice as large as the black-white gap."
A new book, Whither opportunity: Rising inequality, schools, and children's life chances  (currently on order but also available through LINK+), summarizes similar research.

New IES research and training grants awarded

Successful grant applications offer ideas and models for future grant proposals, so am passing this along.
Through the National Center for Education Research, IES recently awarded 26 new research grants under the Education Research Grants Program (CFDA 84.305A). These applications were considered under the June 2011 deadline and total spending for these grants is $49.8 million.
Descriptions and structured abstracts for each new grant are available at:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/projects/12awards.asp

Through the National Center for Special Education Research, IES recently awarded 26 new research grants under the Special Education Research Grants Program (CFDA 84.324A) and two new grants under the Postdoctoral Research Training in Special Education Program (CFDA 84.324B). All applications were considered under the June 2011 deadline and total spending for these grants is $48 million.
Descriptions and structured abstracts for each new grant are available at:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/projects/12awards.asp

Moving to article-level (vs. journal-level) metrics of impact

Article in today's (2/29/12) CHE on "altmetrics", "Tracking Scholarly Influence Beyond the Impact Factor."
The big open access science publisher, PLOS, is leading the way...Some excerpts:
"“A very blunt instrument” is how Peter Binfield of the Public Library of Science describes the impact factor...PLoS works on an open-access model; the impact factor doesn’t reign supreme there as it does at so many subscription-based operations. Instead, the publisher emphasizes a variety of article-level metrics: usage statistics and citations, sure, but also how often an article is blogged about or bookmarked and what readers and media outlets are saying about it. The approach is part of a broader trend toward altmetrics, alternative ways of measuring scholarly influence...“We see this as a powerful thing that demonstrates the power of open access,” Mr. Binfield says. “We really would like to see it adopted much more widely, and for every publisher to provide this kind of data on their articles.”"

Report on performance-based teacher evaluation systems

Thought this might be of interest given the current national push for this type of accountability.

"...An examination of performance-based teacher evaluation systems in five states, was conducted by the 2006-2011 REL Northeast and Islands at Education Development Center, Inc. This study reviewed state education agency websites and publicly available documents for all 50 states to identify states whose performance-based teacher evaluation systems met certain criteria similar to the guidelines set forth in the 2009 Race to the Top grant competition"

The criteria were:

• Was required for practicing general educators.
• Was operational statewide as of the 2010/11 school year.
• Included multiple rating categories.
• Used multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, such as observations, self-assessments, and professional growth plans.
Five states (Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) met these criteria.

Report is linked here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=294

Mega-site for ed tech tools

I ran across this great site with dozens of links to various technology tools, many with potential utility for education settings: http://sdst.libguides.com/content.php?pid=192765&sid=1879620