Education Updates 2

Google Scholar provides citation metrics

2011-11-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Google announced today that they have made citation metrics available to scholars: http://googlescholar.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-scholar-citations-open-to-all.html
According to the announcement, this free service is “a simple way for authors to compute their citation metrics and track them over time...”
This will provide an additional path to track citation impact, and is similar to services provided by Scopus database and Web of Knowledge.

Open Acces mandate from IES, effective FY 2012

2011-11-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

There is now a mandate for any IES funded research publications to be made publicly available in ERIC. This follows similar mandates from NHS.
"Beginning in FY 2012, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) requires its grantees to submit their peer-reviewed research publications to the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). Investigators are to submit the electronic version of their final manuscripts upon acceptance for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The author's final manuscript is defined as the final version accepted for journal publication, and includes all modifications from the peer review process. Posting for public accessibility through ERIC is strongly encouraged as soon as possible but must be within 12 months of the publisher's official date of final publication."

Additional information is here: http://ies.ed.gov/funding/researchaccess.asp

Should we be teaching citation styles??

2011-11-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

I thought a compelling argument to postpone the insistence on utilization of citation styles for writing projects was put forth in this article, "Citation Obsession? Get Over It," by Kurt Schick in today's (Nov. 2, 2011) Chronicle. I have excerpted some key ideas...

"Citation style remains the most arbitrary, formulaic, and prescriptive element of academic writing taught in American high schools and colleges. Now a sacred academic shibboleth, citation persists despite the incredibly high cost-benefit ratio of trying to teach students something they (and we should also) recognize as relatively useless to them as developing writers.
...the uneven quality of information available online makes it more important for writers to know how to evaluate the worth of their sources than how to parse pedantic rules and display their expertise in footnoting.
What I advocate here is not to dispense with teaching students how to use sources but rather to abandon our fixation on the form rather than the function of source attribution.
The intricacies and formalities of citation become useful to scholars only when they publish their work. Until then, they need a bookkeeping system to keep track of where they found things (a system that others might later use to retrace their steps), and some means of attributing their sources and thus establishing the credibility of information for their audiences. More than anything, source attribution enables students—who, by virtue of being students, don't yet know much about a subject—to borrow knowledge and ethos from those who do. It's just about that simple.
Citation contents are virtually the same across styles and disciplines: author's name(s), title(s), publication information....Why, then, could we not simply ask students to include a list of references with the essential information? Why couldn't we wait to infect them with citation fever until they are ready to publish (and then hand them the appropriate style guide...
We could then reinvest time wasted on formatting to teach more-important skills like selecting credible sources, recognizing bias or faulty arguments, paraphrasing and summarizing effectively, and attributing sourced information persuasively and responsibly.
If anything, we should abandon trivial roadblocks so that students can write more often in more classes. Recent research demonstrates how effectively and efficiently writing can improve comprehension of content in any discipline. Writing also enables students to practice analysis, synthesis, and other skills that constitute critical, creative, and even civic thinking. If writing provides one of our best means to enhance learning outcomes across the curriculum, then more writing equals more learning. Why would we design writing assignments with obstacles that discourage students from learning?"

A small bright spot for Nevada in newest NAEP

2011-11-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

An article in today's (Nov. 1, 2011) Education Week notes that, "Nevada registered statistically significant gains in both 8th grade reading and math compared with 2009, in both cases climbing 4 points. The state also saw 2-point gains in 4th grade reading and math, but neither was deemed statistically significant.
Keith W. Rheault, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction, who was invited to comment on this year’s results at a press conference scheduled for this morning, said in prepared remarks that he was pleased to see the gains in his state, especially amid challenging economic times."
Given that the educational news about Nevada is usually so grim, I thought it worth a mention. Recent NAEP data is here: http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

NCSER releases training videos for NLTS2 users...

2011-10-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

The National Center for Special Education Research has released video training modules for the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). The NLTS2 data training modules are intended to be a resource to researchers who would like to use the NLTS2 dataset to conduct research addressing students with disabilities.
Links to all videos are here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/projects/nlts2/training.asp

Blackboard is learning to share...

2011-10-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from an article in today's (Oct. 19, 2011) Chronicle of Higher Ed...
"
Professors who use Blackboard’s software have long been forced to lock their course materials in an area effectively marked, “For Registered Students Only,” while using the system. Today the company announced plans to add a “Share” button that will let professors make those learning materials free and open online.
The move may be the biggest sign yet that the idea of “open educational materials” is going mainstream, nearly 10 years after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology first began giving away lecture notes online. Blackboard made the change after college officials complained that the company’s software, which more than half the colleges in the country use for their online-course materials, was holding them back from trying open-education projects."

New source of school district data

2011-10-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

I will also add this to the Statistics tab of the Education research guide, although at this point, no Nevada data is included.
School Attendance Boundary Information System (SABINS)

Free aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for school attendance areas, or school catchment areas, for selected areas in the United States for the 2009-2010 school year. Includes:

grade-specific school attendance areas for thousands of school districts
in the United States
2010 Redistricting data for the school attendance areas
crosswalks linking the school attendance areas to the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data

Developed by the Minnesota Population Center of the
University of Minnesota.

Updated longitudinal data on high school completion/dropouts (1972-2009)

2011-10-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

"This report updates a series of NCES reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. The report includes national and regional population estimates for the percentage of students who dropped out of high school between 2008 and 2009, the percentage of young people who were dropouts in 2009, and the percentage of young people who were not in high school and had some form of high school credential in 2009. Data are presented by a number of characteristics including race/ethnicity, sex, and age. Annual data for these population estimates are provided for the 1972-2009 period. Information about the high school class of 2009 is also presented in the form on on-time graduation rates from public high schools."
For the class of 2008-09, Nevada still leads the way with the lowest state averaged freshman graduation rates (AFGR) for public school students at 56.3% -- nearly 6% below the next worst performer, Mississippi.

Links to full report is here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012006

Dropout prevention programs in public schools: 2010-11

2011-10-03T14:35:00.000-07:00

A joint report from NCES and IES provides "national data about how public school districts identify students at risk of dropping out, programs used specifically to address the needs of students at risk of dropping out of school, the use of mentors for at-risk students, and efforts to encourage dropouts to return to school."
"The estimates presented in this report are based on a district survey about dropout prevention services and programs offered by the district or by any of the schools in the district during the 2010–11 school year."
The full report is linked here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011037

America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

2011-09-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

The new report fro ChildStats is available here: http://childstats.gov/
This data-rich interagency report (including contributions from NCES) provides information on areas including health, education, economics, demographics and families.

Minority gaps narrow for some grades in latest geography scores

2011-09-29T12:53:00.000-07:00

The Nation's Report Card: Geography 2010 is now available and show somewhat smaller gaps between scores for Hispanics and whites (grade 4) and between Black and white students (grades 4 and 8). Overall, average scores were not significantly changed from 2001 (the last national assessment) for grades 8 and 12.
Links to the newest report are here: http://nationsreportcard.gov/

2010 IDEA National Assessment Implementation Study

2011-09-29T12:17:00.000-07:00

"This congressionally mandated study provides a national picture of state agency implementation of early intervention programs for infants and toddlers (IDEA Part C) and both state and school district implementation of special education programs for preschool- and school-age children (IDEA Part B). "
Links to an executive summary and the final report are here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20114026/

Math & vocabulary performance of children receiving preschool Special Ed

2011-09-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

A Longitudinal View of the Receptive Vocabulary and Math Achievement of Young Children with Disabilities, was released by the National Center for Special Education Research and is available for download at: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20113006/
The report "describe[s] how children who received preschool special education services perform over time on assessments of receptive vocabulary and math skills. It also describes how their receptive vocabulary and math performance vary over time by primary disability category."

2011 Condition of Education (NCES) now available as e-book

2011-09-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Download your own copy of this benchmark annual study which "presents 50 indicators on the status and condition of education... in five main areas: (1) participation in education; (2) learner outcomes; (3) student effort and educational progress; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education; and (5) the contexts of postsecondary education."
Free download available for all e-readers. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011033

Princeton challenges publishers' stranglehold on copyrights

2011-09-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Princeton has now mandated open access for all their faculty scholarship, by prohibiting faculty from signing away copyrights to journal publishers. There is a loophole of course--faculty can request a waiver--but the move is in the right direction to make scholarship more widely available. The story, with links to Princeton's open access policy (adopted Sept. 19, 2011) is here.

Shortage of PhD's in Special Education predicted...

2011-09-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

A note in the Chronicle (Sept. 14, 2011) summarizes this report from the Special Education Faculty Needs Assessment project at Claremont Graduate University, "Assessing Trends in Leadership: Special Education’s Capacity to Produce a Highly Qualified Workforce." They suggest that, "Not enough people are getting Ph.D.’s in special education, which could result in a shortage of qualified special-education faculty members...one-half to two-thirds of special-education faculty will retire within the next five years, which could leave 300 students with disabilities underserved for each missing faculty member."

Learning Styles: A Common Misconception?

2011-08-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

This video by neuroscientist/cognitive psychologist Daniel T. Willingham (U. of Virginia) suggests teachers do NOT need to change what they do to accommodate different learning styles...

Then there was this article from the Dec. 15, 2009 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, "Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students." Quoting Pashler and colleagues, "We were startled to find that there is so much research published on learning styles, but that so little of the research used experimental designs that had the potential to provide decisive evidence." They are not asserting that people don't have preferences, but that those preferences are not the primary driver of how well students learn. In fact, different types of material are more effectively taught in different ways, and the important teaching strategy is to determine that--i.e., "matching style with content"--rather than accommodating multiple student learning styles. Learning styles advocate and researcher Robert Sternberg disagrees with their conclusions, but David Kolb, one of the earliest proponents of learning styles, "says that the paper's bottom line is probably correct: There is no strong evidence that teachers should tailor their instruction to their students' particular learning styles."

All this consideration was prompted by a recent (Aug. 29, 2011) piece on NPR's "Morning Edition." "Think You'e an Auditory or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely" revisits both the Pasher, et al. literature review and the work by Willingham to conclude that the evidence just isn't there.
What do you think and teach about using learning styles in the classroom?

Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119.

APA clarifies its position on providing data to "discovery" tools

2011-08-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

According to Linde Beebe, Senior Director of PsycInfo, in the latest issue of PsycInfo News (Aug. 2011):
"To clarify what appears to be confusing and even misleading information in the marketplace, we wish to make it absolutely clear what APA content is available through discovery services.
APA has not provided any metadata from PsycINFO^® to any service, nor does the organization have any plans to do so at this time. With more than 3.1 million records from as early as 1597, PsycINFO is the only source for literature that covers the breadth and depth of psychology and related disciplines...

Comparing search results for common psychological constructs in PsycINFO with those in discovery services very quickly demonstrates the dramatic difference in what the searches yield. Any claims to the contrary in discovery service sales and marketing communications should be viewed with skepticism.
Researchers and students with no access to PsycINFO will miss a very large percentage of content in almost any area. And they will not have the advantages of the precision PsycINFO offers them in refining their search. The only way to get the content in PsycINFO is through a site license or purchase of a daily pass.
Metadata only for APA's full-text databases PsycARTICLES^®... currently are included in the indexes of four major discovery services:

EBSCO Discovery Service from EBSCO
Primo from Ex Libris
Summon from Serials Solutions [the one being used at UNLV Libraries]
WorldCat Local from OCLC

APA has collaborated with these services to enable our customers to find full text more easily. Our agreements with the services stipulate that users will link from the services to our full text only if they are authorized users of an institution that has a current APA site license agreement...
We have collaborated with discovery services to provide an additional service to our customers for full text. In no way, however, should our collaboration be viewed as a potential replacement for the APA databases themselves."

So, just a reminder that, although Summon will find lots of material, it doesn't search everything!

Digital Etiquette policies in the classroom

2011-08-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

You've all run into problems I'm guessing with students inappropriately using technology in the classroom so I thought you might be interested in this short discussion and sample policy in today's "Chronicle." I especially liked this suggestion from the "Comments" that followed the article,

"After hearing a few students walking across campus engaged in a bitter analysis of a professor who banned laptops, I now ask my students, each semester, to devise their own policy on classroom etiquette (including: cell phones, laptops, eating, talking while others are talking, responding to those with whom they disagree, lateness--mine or theirs). This works much better than imposing rules, for students discover that other students are in the majority very disapproving of classroom incivilities. For example, students dislike the smell and crackling of food, the spilling of drinks, the distractions of laptop screens tuned to non-class materials, and the rude, distracting behavior of students and teachers who arrive late for class. Peer consensus is always far more powerful and persuasive than a teacher's impositions and, to my surprise, students are always more conservative than I would be."

Information Literacy Standards for Teacher Education published

2011-08-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) published Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000, which were subsequently incorporated into many accrediting bodies' benchmarks. Since that time, work has been underway to develop discipline specific standards, and those for teacher education have just been published. "The Information Literacy Standards for Teacher Education provides a bridge between the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000) and the application of the information literacy standards in teacher education contexts" (Cook & Cooper, 2006).
According to the committee that drafted and revised the standards,
"The main purposes of the Information Literacy Standards for Teacher Education are to:

Guide teacher education faculty and instruction librarians in developing information literacy instruction for teacher education students.
Enable the evaluation and assessment of such instruction and curricula through benchmarking outcomes.

Secondarily, the Standards aim to communicate to teacher education students expectations for information literacy knowledge and skills they need to develop and apply in their academic work and pre-service teaching. The Standards also aim to lead teacher education students to consider how they might integrate information literacy into their future curriculum, instruction, and assessment activities once a member of the teaching profession." (http://crln.acrl.org/content/72/7/420.full)

Cook, D. & Cooper, N. (Eds.) (2006). Teaching information literacy to social sciences students and practitioners: A casebook of applications. Chicago: ACRL.

What students don't know...

2011-08-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

You may already have seen this article in today's Inside Higher Ed, which reminds me of several things:

We (faculty & librarians) assume our students know more about researching than they actually do.
Most students have no idea what librarians do or how they can help with research based projects.
Faculty teaching classes are the key to bridging the gap in terms of helping students find their way to librarians and library resources.

ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) is a multi-institution, ethnographic study of student research behavior, conducted in collaboration with anthropology faculty. Researchers "were surprised by the extent to which students appeared to lack even some of the most basic information literacy skills that we assumed they would have mastered in high school.”
Hopefully, as the new term starts, we can work together to help your students become better critical consumers and users of information.

ERIC database updates

2011-08-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

While at the national library conference this summer, I attended a session on the ERIC database and thought I would share some bits of interesting data:

There are over 1.4 million records including 892 thousand journal records, of which 336 thousand are full-text.
They index 1063 journals comprehensively (i.e., cover to cover) and an additional 100+ titles are indexed selctively
They are collaborating with ProQuest (vendor) to provide links to the full text of dissertations and they are adding ERIC indexing terms to the records. This is huge as dissertation indexing (and hence searching) has been very primitive in the past.
They add 4 thousand new records to the database every month.
The updates appear daily in the government's web site (eric.ed.gov) and monthly in the other vendors' versions (e.g., Ebsco)

New primary source collection for U.S. History

2011-05-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

photo © 2008 Marion Doss | more info (via: Wylio)
A designated endowment has allowed the UNLV Libraries to purchase a new collection of primary sources on the American West which social studies/ history teachers may enjoy using. Here is a brief description of the contents:
"Primary sources, mainly from 1830-1939, digitized from the Everett D. Graff Collection of Western Americana at the Newberry Library, Chicago. Includes over 300 manuscripts, ranging from the original manuscript journal and papers of James Audubon and a twelve page letter of General Custer to the logbook of a cattle trail driver and the Hinman papers describing the overland trail to California and the Gold Rush; rare or unique ephemeral material including advertisements, claim certificates, cheques, photos, wanted notices and news-sheets; 120 zoomable maps and rare printed works like city directories, pamphlets and leaflets."

Available to UNLV students, faculty and staff only from the "A - Z database list" under "American West"
http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/databases/index.html

The new version of RefWorks is here

2011-05-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Still optional to use either the new or old interface, but it will be mandatory come July to switch over, so start your transition early. Same functionality of the old version, but some improved navigation is provided through layout and enhanced use of icons. As usual, I recommend going through the tutorials to familiarize yourself with the basic functions:
http://www.refworks-cos.com/refworks/tutorials/basic.html
There is also an overview of the new layout available here:
http://www.refworks-cos.com/refworks/rwpreview/RefWorks_New_UI_demo.htm

Once you've gone through these, I guarantee you'll be up and running!

Nation's Report Card: Civics 2010

2011-05-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

"This report presents results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2010 civics assessment. National results for representative samples of students at grades 4, 8, and 12 are reported as average scale scores and as a percentage of students performing at or above three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Scores are also reported at selected percentiles, showing changes in the performance of lower-, middle-, and higher-performing students. Results for student demographic groups defined by various background characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, and students’ eligibility for free or reduced-price school lunch) are included, as well as sample assessment questions with examples of student responses. Results from the 2010 assessment are compared to those from two previous assessments in 1998 and 2006."
Full report is linked here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011466

On remediation and writing in higher ed

2011-04-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

This thoughtful piece by Mike Rose (UCLA) discusses why it is so important to continue providing access to education for all and suggests we need to break out of disciplinary and methodological silos to do it effectively. As you may or may not have noticed, I frequently include posts about reading and writing in this ostensibly education oriented blog, precisely because I see being able to read and write as so essential to success in higher (or K-12 or continuing) education. My friend and writing instructor extraordinaire, Sara Jameson, wrote her thesis on Mike Rose so I always pay particular attention to what he has to say. Here are a couple of excerpts from this piece:
"...some of the problems with college remediation as it is typically executed. It is built on a set of assumptions about language and cognition that have long ago been proven inadequate, like the belief that focusing on isolated grammar exercises will help students write better prose. The work students are doing isn’t connected to the writing they are required to do in their other courses, academic or vocational.... Most of us are trained and live our professional lives in disciplinary silos. Let me give you one example of how mind-boggling, and I think harmful, this intellectual isolation can become. In all the articles I’ve read on remediation in higher education journals, not one cites the 40 years’ worth of work on basic writing produced by teachers and researchers of writing. There is even a Journal of Basic Writing that emerged out of the experiments with open admission at CUNY in the 1970s. Not a mention of any of it. Zip."

To be or not to be? Librarians as faculty?

2011-04-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here at UNLV, Librarians are indeed tenure-track, with similar [albeit discipline-specific] expectations for performance and evaluation in job, service, and scholarship. This isn't true everywhere and this article, "Faculty No Longer," from today's (4/21/11) edition of Inside Higher Ed describes the recent decision by a community college system to change the status of librarians to professional staff in order to save money. This is followed by discussion about why academic librarians are generally considered to be faculty.

Tips for improving student presentations

2011-04-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

ProfHacker offers a simple set of guidelines in today's (4/20/11) post for avoiding DBP (death by powerpoint):
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/challenging-the-presentation-paradigm-with-the-115-rule/32691?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Start with the Pecha Kucha formula: maximum 20 slides at 20 seconds per slide
Spur creativity and mastery of the material by superimposing the 1:1:5 rule...

"In addition to the time constraint of the Pecha Kucha, your presentation must also follow the 1/1/5 rule. That is, you must have at least one image per slide, you can use each exact image only once, and you should add no more than five words per slide. "

Professor Sample says these guidelines have improved student presentations overall, although nothing is foolproof :-).

New enrollment figures for elementary/secondary schools

2011-04-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

Some highlights from the new NCES report on the 2009-2010 year.

• About 49 million students attended 98,817 operating public elementary/secondary schools in the 2009–10 school year.

• Almost 1.6 million students were enrolled in 4,952 charter schools in 2009-10.

• Across all active regular public schools with students, the pupil/teacher ratio in 2009-10 was 16.1. Pupil/teacher ratio ranged from 10.9 in Vermont to 23.4 in Utah. [ Nevada's overall ratio was 19.4]

Full report is available here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011345

WWC comparison of elementary math programs

2011-04-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

photo © 2011 Caroline (via: Wylio)
"The study examined the relative effectiveness of four early elementary school math curricula: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space; Math Expressions; Saxon Math; and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics.
The study analyzed data on more than 8,000 first- and second-grade students in 110 schools in 12 districts in 10 states....

more info
For first graders, the authors found no statistically significant differences in student math achievement among the curricula after adjusting results for multiple curricula comparisons within the same analysis.

For second graders, one difference was statistically significant after taking multiple curricula comparisons into account. Second-grade students attending Saxon Math schools scored 0.17 standard deviations higher than students attending Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics schools, roughly equivalent to moving a student from the 50th to the 57th percentile in math achievement."
Additional information about the programs studied is here:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=170

Helping students learn to read journal articles

2011-04-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

This article from Inside Higher Ed offers some excellent guidance is offered for how we can help students learn to read good sources...
http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/instant_mentor/essay_on_teaching_students_to_read_journal_articles

Students are writing but don't have anything to say...?

2011-04-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Two researchers reporting at the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication said that students “...are not selecting authoritative, meaningful sources and not reading them carefully. They are not, in a word, engaging.” 164 student research papers (with 1,832 research citations) produced in first-year composition classes were analyzed. Institutions in 12 states from diverse regions of the country, including community colleges and four-year public universities, private colleges and universities, and religiously affiliated and Ivy league institutions were represented.
"Only 9 percent of the citations were categorized as summary [ as opposed to quotes, paraphrasing or patchwriting]. 'That's the stunning part, I think: 91 percent are citations to material that isn't composing,' said Jamieson. 'They don't digest the ideas in the material cited and put it in their own words.' "
Read a fuller report of their findings in today's (April 11) Inside Higher Ed.

REL Study Examines Student Bullying and Victimization in Grades 3–8

2011-04-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

photo © 2008 Eddie~S | more info (via: Wylio)
The study examined aggression, victimization, and approval of aggression among elementary and middle grades students in two Oregon counties. Data for the study were collected in 2005 through surveys; participation was voluntary. Students reported on beliefs about aggression, how frequently they were the victims or the perpetrators of either overt aggression (verbal and physically aggressive behavior intended to threaten or physically harm another student) or relational aggression (behaviors intended to harm another student’s relationships with others). Iincludes detailed summaries of students’ responses to specific questions about victimization and bullying.

Click here http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=248 to view this new release by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.

Schott Foundation's 2009 report on Opportunity to Learn

2011-03-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

The most recent report from the Schott Foundation, Lost Opportunity: A 50 State Report on the Opportunity to Learn in America , "employs a state-by-state comparison of academic proficiency as illustrated by the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency on the eighth-grade National Assessment of Educational Progress reading exam and access to high-performing schools as measured by the Opportunity to Learn Index (OTLI)." Unfortunately, Nevada falls into the lowest category (with 8 other states and the District of Columbia) that " provide neither a moderately proficient school system nor equitable access to the systems' best schools or resources." (from the web site: http://www.otlstatereport.org/national/summary/intro#staterankings)

Collaborative editing

2011-03-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Some of you may already use Google Docs to collaborate on creating and editing presentations, documents, spreadsheets, etc. Now you can do that without ever leaving your MS Office application. Google Cloud Connect lets you work in MS Office software and then share your edits to Google Docs. See this article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. Or view the application site directly at: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect

New issue of IES newsletter available

2011-03-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

IES activities are reported through their newsletter. Several of these may be of interest...

The news includes articles about:

• A cooperative agreement with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching that involves the use of 90-day research cycles

• A 3-D project designed to enhance the social competencies of youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Research findings from the National Center for Research on School Choice

• A new website application for accessing public and private school data

• Upcoming training opportunities

Click here to read the newsletter, http://ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/newsletters/

Projections of Education Statistics to 2019

2011-03-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

New report out from NCES that covers "statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2019. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2019."
I will also put a link to this source in the Education subject guide on the "Statistics and Demographics" page. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011017

New reporting for teacher prep programs proposed for 2012

2011-03-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

Here is an historical summary of legislative reporting requirements (federal) as provided in Education Week (March 8, 2011).

Federal Requirements

1998 Amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965
• Traditional teacher-preparation programs create report cards on enrollments in traditional teacher education programs and the passing rate of candidates on teacher-certification or -licensing tests.
• States create report cards ranking teacher-preparation programs based on the passing rates on those assessments, as well as those in state-approved alternative-certification programs. They also identify low-performing and “at risk” programs.
Higher Education Opportunity and Access Act of 2008
In addition to previous requirements, the law requires:
• Reporting on alternative-certification programs both inside and outside higher education programs.
• Preparation programs to report on the average scaled scores, as well as passing rates, on all licensing tests, broken out by the stage at which candidates take the tests.
• Preparation programs to report on admissions, the number of candidates by field, demographics of program participants, the number of faculty supervising clinical experiences, and programming on technology instruction and working with special populations.
• Preparation programs to set and report on goals for increasing the number of teachers prepared in shortage fields.

Fiscal 2012 Proposals
• Would eliminate some reporting requirements.
• Preparation programs would be expected to report on three outcome measures:

Achievement growth of students taught by program graduates;
Graduate job-placement and retention rates; and
Graduate and employer satisfaction

• Would end the TEACH grant program and replace it with the Presidential Teaching Fellows program.

Shared curricula recommended to address new Common Core Standards

2011-03-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

A diverse group of signatories representing all levels of education, both sides of the political spectrum and business are promoting the developing of "lean" curriculum guidelines to help link the new common core standards to teaching. “To be clear, by ‘curriculum,’ we mean a coherent, sequential set of guidelines in the core academic disciplines, specifying the content knowledge and skills that all students are expected to learn, over time, in a thoughtful progression across the grades,” the document says. “We do not mean performance standards, textbook offerings, daily lesson plans, or rigid pedagogical prescriptions.” The full text of the statement along with the names/affiliations of the signatories are available here:
http://www.ashankerinst.org/curriculum.html

Exciting news from TED

2011-03-03T17:27:00.000-08:00

Those of you who are fans of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talks will be pleased to hear they are focusing on education, according to this news item in the Chronicle (Mar. 2, 2011)

"Long Beach, Calif.—The leaders of the annual TED conference, known for featuring short, carefully prepared talks on big ideas about technology and society, hope to apply their approach to education.
This week they announced TED-Ed, which will provide a hand-picked set of free online educational talks (expected to be even shorter than the conference talks), many submitted by educators themselves but enhanced by TED officials. An online forum, the Ted-Ed Brain Trust, will encourage discussion of how to reform teaching using the videos and other technology.
The system is not up yet, but the online forum is scheduled to open as early as next week, says Logan Smalley, whose title is TED-Ed catalyst. The videos will be added in the coming months, he says.
The project will also create an updated listing of the more than 900 existing TED talks, arranging them by categories that align more neatly to academic disciplines."

Elementary-Secondary Information System (ELSi) from NCES

2011-02-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

"ELSi is comprised of three separate tools, which allow users to quickly view public and private school data, view commonly requested tables and create custom tables and charts using data from the Common Core of Data (CCD) and Private School Survey (PSS). ELSi utilizes frequently requested variables and tables—it’s a fast, easy way to obtain basic statistical data on U.S. schools. ELSi gives the user the ability to create customized tables by choosing row variables, column variables and filters to refine the data."

To view this new tool, visit: http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/

HS academic performance of student with hearing impairments

2011-02-15T07:34:00.000-08:00

photo © 2010 woodley wonderworks | more info (via: Wylio)
"A gap exists between the academic achievement of youth with hearing impairments and their peers in the general population in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies, according to a new release by The National Center for Special Education Research. Facts from NLTS2: The Secondary School Experiences and Academic Performance of Students With Hearing Impairments uses data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 dataset to provide a national picture of the secondary school experiences and academic achievement of students with hearing impairments who received special education services.

The outcomes cover several key areas, including students’ experiences in general education academic courses and non-vocational special education courses, accommodations, supports, services provided to students, and academic achievement. In addition to the findings for the overall group, this fact sheet provides findings by parent-reported levels of hearing impairments. "

The report is available here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20113003/

Visualizing Data with Gapminder

2011-02-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

This remarkable website, Gapminder, developed in Sweden allows you to visualize data "some 500 indicators (relating to health, income, education, energy, the environment, technology, and more.)" from such standard sources as the United Nations, World Bank, and OECD. Watch this 4 minute video to get a sense of what it can do. http://www.gapminder.org/videos/200-years-that-changed-the-world-bbc/
There is definitely a learning curve (here is a page with a 2.5 minute tutorial to get started) but it's a rich resource for teaching and presenting the possibilities of data.

Does accountability reduce quality in scholarship?

2011-01-31T13:26:00.000-08:00

This provocative article by Simon Head in the New York Review of Books (Jan. 13, 2011) suggests at least some of the consequences when numbers of publications are linked to state (in this case Britain) financial support for university research...
"Some of the most telling testimony on the damage to British scholarship inflicted by the HEFCE/RAE regime has come not from an academic but from Richard Baggaley, the European publishing director of Princeton University Press...Writing in the Times Higher Education Supplement in May 2007, Baggaley deplored what he saw as “a trend towards short-termism and narrowness of focus in British academe.”¹² In the natural and social sciences this took the form of “intense individual and team pressure to publish journal articles,” with the writing of books strongly discouraged, and especially the writing of what he calls “big idea books” that may define their disciplines. Baggaley attributes this bias against books directly to the distorting effects of the RAE. Journal articles are congenial to the RAE because they can be safely completed and peer-reviewed in good time for the RAE deadline. If they are in a prestigious journal, that is the kind of peer approval that will impress the RAE panelists.
The pressure to be published in the top journals, Baggaley wrote, also "increases a tendency to play to what the journal likes, to not threaten the status quo in the discipline, to be risk-averse and less innovative, to concentrate on small incremental steps and to avoid big-picture interdisciplinary work."
In the humanities the RAE bias also works in favor of the 180–200-page monograph, hyperspecialized, cautious and incremental in its findings, with few prospects for sale as a bound book but again with a good chance of being completed and peer-reviewed in time for the RAE deadline."

Gloomy results persist in science performance

2011-01-25T09:45:00.000-08:00

An article in today's edition of EdWeek reports on the continuing dismal performance of K-12 students in science, this time according to the NAEP results. Only 20 percent of 12th graders scored as "proficient" in science, lower than the proficient percentages for 8th graders ( 30% ) or 4th graders ( 34% ). These results confirm the mediocre science and math performance documented by the PISA results at the end of last year. Even more disturbing are the huge discrepancies in performance based on race/ethnicity and SES. Per the article in EdWeek, "At the 4th grade, for example, 47 percent of white students scored proficient or above, compared with 11 percent of African-American and 14 percent of Hispanic students. Meanwhile, only 15 percent of 4th graders eligible for a free lunch and 25 percent for a reduced-price lunch scored proficient or higher on the exam, compared with 48 percent of 8th graders ineligible for either."
Large percentages of students at all levels don't even reach basic levels in science, "The figure was highest at the 12th grade, where 40 percent were below basic, compared with 37 percent of 8th graders and 28 percent of 4th graders." And very few perform at high levels on the NAEP, "Only 1 percent of 4th and 12th graders earned an advanced score, and 2 percent at the 8th grade." Links to the 2009 report are here: http://nationsreportcard.gov/science_2009/

US News will start ranking teacher prep programs

2011-01-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

Couple of articles describing U.S. News & World Report's intentions to start a survey of 1,000 teacher prep programs, utilizing the National Council on Teacher Quality methodology.

From PR Newswire:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-news--world-report-and-national-council-on-teacher-quality-launch-comprehensive-review-of-nations-teacher-preparation-programs-114163659.html

From Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/19/qt#248429

Measuring student engagement: K-12

2011-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

A new report from REL Southeast: "Measuring Student Engagement in Upper Elementary through High School: A Description of 21 Instruments, presents the results of a literature review of available instruments for measuring student engagement (behavioral, emotional and cognitive) in upper elementary through high school. The study describes 21 instruments that include student self-reports, teacher reports, and observation measures.
The report summarizes what is measured, instrument purposes and uses, and available technical information. In addition, instrument abstracts describe the main features of each instrument, including the developer, population, method, background, administration, constructs measured, scoring and reporting, reliability and validity, and use. References are listed for each instrument. The report is descriptive and is not intended to assess the quality of each instrument or identify strengths or weaknesses."

To view this report, see http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=268

Summer Research Training: Single-Case Design

2011-01-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

This announcement from IES~

The National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) at the Institute of Education Sciences announces its 2011 Summer Research Training Institute on Single-Case Intervention Research Design and Analysis. The Training Institute is intended to increase the national capacity of education researchers to conduct single-case intervention studies that have scientifically credible methodology and analyses.

When:
June 27th to July 1st, 2011
Where:
University of Wisconsin-Madison; Madison, WI
All applications must be received no later than Friday, March 11, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. EST. For more information about the Training Institute, including the application procedures, please visit: http://ies.ed.gov/whatsnew/conferences/?id=772

HS Transcript data

2010-12-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Not sure if this data set will help with anyone's current and/or future research, but thought I would make the link available.
"The NAEP Data Explorer for the High School Transcript Study database now provides more information on the coursetaking patterns of high school graduates. Users can access the data and create statistical tables and charts on the types of courses students take, credits earned, grade point averages, the relationship between coursetaking patterns and achievement on NAEP assessments, and performance on other assessments."
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/hstsdata/

A wealth of data: Create your own tables!

2010-12-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

"The International Data Explorer (IDE) has been updated to include data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007. The TIMSS IDE allows users to create statistical tables and charts based on data for the United States and 57 other jurisdictions. Results include mathematics and science achievement of fourth and eighth-grade students; responses to student questionnaires about their background, attitudes, and school experiences; responses to a teacher questionnaire about instructional practices, resources, and background and training; and responses to a school questionnaire about school characteristics and resources.

The TIMSS IDE can be accessed at
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/ide/

Data from earlier administrations of TIMSS in 1995, 1999, and 2003 will be added in the future, allowing users to examine trends in student performance across a large number of countries and other education jurisdictions."

PISA 2009 results from NCES

2010-12-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

photo © 2005 Tahbepet | more info (via: Wylio)
(with small apology for the visual joke ;-) Whether or not you think such international comparisons are valid, they are part of the education conversation, so keep up to date with the newest release.

"PISA, or the Program for International Student Assessment, is designed to assess what students have learned – both inside and outside of school – as they near the end of compulsory schooling, and how well they apply that knowledge in real-world contexts. Some 69 percent of the U.S. students sampled for PISA are tenth-graders. PISA is coordinated by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization made up of 34 mostly industrialized member countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, Korea, and the United Kingdom. Some non-OECD member countries, such as Brazil, as well as non-national education systems like Shanghai and Dubai, also participated in the administration of PISA 2009.

NCES’s PISA 2009 report provides international comparisons of average performance in reading literacy and three reading literacy subscales and in mathematics literacy and science literacy; average scores by gender for the United States and other countries, and by student race/ethnicity and school socioeconomic contexts within the United States; the percentages of students reaching PISA proficiency levels, for the United States and the OECD countries on average; and trends in U.S. performance over time."

Links to summary findings, full report and supplemental tables are at:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011004

Longitudinal data on HS graduation & dropout rates

2010-12-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

Nevada still tops the list--of lowest graduation rates (51.3%). Wisconsin must be doing something right since they graduate 89.6% of their students. Data from NCES covers the period 1978-2008 and is also broken down by race/ethnicity, sex and age. Overall, "approximately 3 million 16- through 24-year-olds were not enrolled in high school and had not earned a high school diploma or alternative credential as of October 2008, [representing] 8 percent of the 38 million non-institutionalized, civilian individuals in this age group living in the United States..." Highest dropout rates continue to be among Hispanic Americans while Asian Americans and students of more than one race have the lowest rates. Full report is here:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011012

Ethnicity and reward structure effects on learning

2010-12-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

The greatest benefits on learning for African American students were seen when students in small groups were asked to help each other (communal learning, no reward condition); whereas, the greatest increase in learning for white students (also working in small groups) occurred in response to offers of reward for individual performance. The study met WWC evidence standards:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=136
The original study citation is:
Hurley, E. A., Allen, B. A., & Boykin, A. W. (2009). Culture and the interaction of student ethnicity with reward structure in group learning. Cognition and Instruction, 27(2), 121–146.

Want to increase college enrollment?

2010-12-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

photo © 2010 Kristin Wall | more info (via: Wylio)
A study that looked at both independent adults and dependent students (ages 15 - 30 in low to moderate SES groups) found that providing information about and assistance with completing forms for federal financial aid had positive effects on the numbers of people applying for aid, the numbers receiving aid, and the numbers enrolling in college. For specifics, see http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRId=142

National Center for Public Policy & Higher Ed to close

2010-12-13T08:33:00.000-08:00

A short news item from Inside Higher Ed (Dec. 13, 2010) notes that the higher ed policy body is slated to close next July. An editorial by two board members in the latest issue of the policy center's publication, CrossTalk, discusses the decision

Newest data on college retention and graduation

2010-12-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

photo © 2008 Jackie Bucci | more info (via: Wylio)
Nice summary from Inside Higher Ed today (Dec. 2, 2010) on the graduation rates of the 2003-04 cohort of students entering college. 49% had earned a certificate or degree from a post-secondary institution within 6 years and these rates have not improved since the last cohort (1994-95) was surveyed. The article provides a table comparing data from the two cohorts. This survey looks at retention and graduation from the student rather than the institutional perspective so is able to offer information on the relative completion rates of students who do and don't transfer, as well as comparisons between those who start at community colleges vs. 4-year institutions. Data on different ethnic groups is also provided. A link to the full report from NCES/IES is here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011151

12th grade math and reading scores published

2010-11-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

NAEP has provided national scores for 12th graders in math and reading.
Highlights of the results include:

The overall average reading score for 12th graders was 2 points higher than in 2005, but 4 points lower than in 1992.
There were no significant changes from 1992 to 2009 in the reading score gaps between White and Black students or between White and Hispanic students. In mathematics, the overall average score was 3 points higher in 2009 than in 2005.
There was no significant change from 2005 in the mathematics score gaps between White and Black students or between White and Hispanic students.
The percentage of 12th graders who expect to graduate from college increased from 58 percent in 2005 to 60 percent in 2009.
In the 11 participating states, average reading scores in seven states were higher than the score for the nation, and scores for three states were lower; in mathematics, the average scores for six states were higher than the nation, and scores for three states were lower.

Scores should be viewed with qualifications since large numbers of ESL students and students with disabilities are excluded from reports. Also, states are not required to report 12th grade scores. And then there are all those students who don't make it to 12th grade or take the tests at all. I expect Dr. Loveless will have something to say about the scores at today's Brookings talk (Nov. 18) since he was interviewed by Education Week regarding the new report.

Copyright and copy wrong in the classroom

2010-11-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

A new article reviewed in Wired Campus (Nov. 17--part of CHE) discusses the issues of copyright, especially around the use of social media, for today's students. The authors, one a professor in communications and the other teaching pre-service English teachers, have written up a set of guidelines.
McGrail, E. & McGrail, J.P. (2010). Copying right and copying wrong with Web 2.0 tools in the teacher education and communications classroom. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 10(3). Retrieved from http://www.citejournal.org/vol10/iss3/languagearts/article1.cfm

Lots of new lesson planning sites...

2010-11-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

I've added a lot of new links for lesson planning resources to the Education Guide: http://guides.library.unlv.edu/content.php?pid=9423&sid=61979
The Education Guide is intended to support your teaching and your students, so please suggest additions that you think would be useful.

"Transforming teacher education through clinical practice"-- New report from NCATE

2010-11-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

Released Nov. 16, this new report sponsored by NCATE emphasizes clinical preparation as the key to reforming teacher preparation programs. The entire report is available here.
An article from Inside Higher Ed provides an overview stating in part, "At the report’s core is the assertion that for teachers to be effective, they need educations grounded in immersion and clinical practice. The report calls for more rigorous accountability; strengthening candidate selection and placement; revamping curriculums, incentives and staffing; and identifying what works and supporting continuous improvement. " All of this probably shounds familiar if you went to hear Jane West speak at the Alumni Center a couple of weeks ago.

Advice for writers

2010-11-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Kerry Ann Rockquemore has a regular column on dealing with the tenure-track, but her focus is often on writing. I think her suggestions would also be useful for graduate students working on dissertations, so thought I would post a link to her latest piece. (Inside Higher Ed, Nov. 15, 2010).

New COACHE report on best institutions for tenure track faculty

2010-11-15T08:31:00.000-08:00

Harvard's Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education has published the results of their most recent job-satisfaction survey of tenure-track faculty in four-year institutions. They state, "two inescapable conclusions: first, that positive climates and cultures are the sine qua non of pre-tenure faculty retention and success; and second, that climates and cultures—and institutional quality—are defined and defended by tenured faculty in their roles as colleagues, collaborators, mentors and chairs."

This Inside Higher Ed article (Nov. 15, 2010) provides an overview with one summary table. The criteria include clarity of tenure expxectations, climate/culture/collegiality, and "nature of the work" in several areas (research, teaching, etc.). The COACHE site has links to the report and all tables (about half way down on the left under "latest news")

Innovative strategies for teacher prep

2010-11-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

This short piece on MSNBC news discusses the use of virtual classrooms to help prepare teachers. The program was developed at the University of Central Florida and one of our own, Dr. David Grant, is actually one of the stars in this 2 min. 23 sec. video. In addition to the points made about being able to give students classroom experience earlier in their curriculum, I think one of the real advantages is being able to present the developing teachers with specific classroom behaviors and challenges--with the opportunities to get formative feedback on handling them. Putting them in real classrooms, doesn't necessarily offer the chance to deal with particular kinds of situations while they are still in a position to get formative feedback (from education faculty, classmates, etc.). So students would get more practice, with a greater variety of situations/behaviors, earlier in their preparation!

National survey finds college students lack basic research skills

2010-11-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

The newest in a series of studies and reports from Project Information Literacy is summarized in today's (Nov. 10, 2010) Chronicle of Higher Ed. I wanted to highlight just a couple of their findings that I can attest to based on my own years of experience working with student researchers...

"Alison J. Head, a co-principal investigator for the project, said the results suggest that today’s students... [are]basically taking how they learned to research in high school with them to college, since it’s worked for them in the past... findings show that college students approach research as a hunt for the right answer instead of a process of evaluating different arguments and coming up with their own interpretation. 'Not being aware of the diverse resources that exist or the different ways knowledge is created and shared is dangerous.' she said. 'College is a time to find information and learn about multiple arguments, and exploring gets sacrificed if you conduct research in this way.'”

Newest data on 100 largest public school districts (2008-09)

2010-11-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

This annual report provides information from the Common Core of Data about the nation's largest public school districts in the 2008-09 school year. The data include such characteristics as the number of students and teachers, number of high school completers, the averaged freshman graduation rate, and revenues and expenditures. Clark County and Washoe are both included in this group. Clark County still comes in at #6. There were some astounding variations in annual per pupil expenditures, i.e., these ranged from a low of $6,363 in the Granite District, Utah to a high of $23,298 in Boston, Massachusetts.

The full report is found here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011301.pdf

Improving group work in your classes

2010-11-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Good article in today's CHE (Mon., Nov. 8) on using team based learning (TBL) to improve group work in classes (large and small). Included a link to an informative video of TBL used in several classes at UT-Austin. Included interviews with faculty and students, overviews of the key steps to make this process work, etc. http://www.utexas.edu/academic/ctl/teaching/tblvideo.php
There was also a link to a web-site for a community of practitioners, with a growing "case bank" of activities: http://teambasedlearning.apsc.ubc.ca/
If you're already doing a successful TBL activity, submit a poster proposal (Dec. 15 deadline). The national conference will be here in Las Vegas next March: http://tblc.roundtablelive.org/

Teaching the academic essay as conversation

2010-11-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Having myself written a couple of articles about using conversation as a metaphor for the research process, I immediately jumped into this post by Dr. Kelli Marshall where she talks about her students' writing problems as a result of never having been taught that "they need to “enter a conversation,” using what other people say as a springboard for their own ideas/thesis." I couldn't agree more. Even if you're not familiar with the Burkean Parlor metaphor, experienced writers will recognize the need to read widely in order to write well. As Peter Elbow also addressed this conversational nature of academic writing when he said, “this is what we academics do: carry on an unending conversation not just with colleagues but with the dead and unborn” (1995, p. 79).

IES compares effectiveness of 4 early elementary math curricula

2010-11-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Four math curricula, (1) Investigations in Number, Data, and Space, (2) Math Expressions, (3) Saxon Math, and (4) Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics (SFAW), were compared for effectiveness in the 1st and 2nd grades of 110 schools in 12 participating districts in 10 states. A brief overview of the findings and links to the full reports are located here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20114001/

Advice for dissertation writers and the advisors thereof...

2010-11-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Interesting post in today's Chronicle (Nov. 1, 2010) directed primarily to faculty advising students working on dissertations. The suggestions however are useful as well for those actually writing the dissertation, so I encourage both groups to have a look. Here are the major areas addressed:

Create a collaborative environment.
What is your student really interested in?
Steer them away from the beginning.
Perfect is the enemy of done.
A time to read, a time to type.

New study on bullying in high schools

2010-10-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

According to the press release, "... a new study by the Josephson Institute of Ethics (the largest ever undertaken of the attitudes and conduct of high school students), [shows that] half of all high school students (50 percent) admit they bullied someone in the past year, and nearly half (47 percent) say they were bullied, teased, or taunted in a way that seriously upset them in the past year. The study reports the responses from 43,321 high school students. The margin of error is less than 1%." The Internet is cited as a factor in increasing the frequency and severity of bullying.

NCATE and TEAC are now CAEP

2010-10-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

As you may have heard from speaker Jane West yesterday, or via some other news source, the two major accrediting bodies for teacher education programs have now merged into the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. West called this a positive step in creating a unified voice for teacher preparation programs. Here's an excerpt from the new organization's web site:
"October 22, 2010, was a historic day for educator preparation. The NCATE and TEAC governing boards voted to create a single accrediting body for educator preparation. The two organizations will consolidate into one organization, CAEP, within a two-year period. The new organization will offer accreditation options."

Report on the world's best-performing school systems

2010-09-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-28T07:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

"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

2010-09-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

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.

The real problem with cheating

2010-08-31T13:36:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-08-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-08-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

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..."

2010-08-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

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/"