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December 12, 2018
Do students benefit from longer school days? Regression discontinuity evidence from Florida’s additional hour of literacy instruction: This research examines the impact of longer school days on student achievement. The amount of time available for instruction has a role to play in student learning. Insufficient instruction would appear to have an effect on learning, but the current knowledge-base on this topics is insufficient. This study attempts to fill in gaps in the evidence-base on this topic. The results indicate significant positive effects of additional literacy instruction on student reading achievement. Although this study finds positive outcomes for additional reading instruction, it is important to note that for achieving maximum results it is important to pair evidence-based reading instruction practices with the additional instruction time in order to achieve maximum results.
Citation:Figlio, D., Holden, K. L., & Ozek, U. (2018). Do students benefit from longer school days? Regression discontinuity evidence from Florida’s additional hour of literacy instruction. Economics of Education Review, 67, 171-183.
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272775718303662
December 6, 2018
The Learning Styles Educational Neuromyth: Lack of Agreement Between Teachers’ Judgments, Self-Assessment, and Students’ Intelligence. The issue of learning styles (LS) have been overwhelmingly embraced by teachers and the public for over forty years. International surveys of teachers have shown more than 90% believe that grouping students into categories, like auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learners, or concrete versus abstract learners will enhance student achievement. This study examined the hypothesis that teachers’ and students’ assessment of preferred LS correspond. The study found no relationship between pupils’ self-assessment and teachers’ assessment. Teachers’ and students’ answers didn’t match up. The study suggests that teachers cannot assess the LS of their students accurately. This is important because if teachers cannot accurately identify which style is preferred, they cannot assign the appropriate curriculum to each student. For a thorough summary on research on this topic the article by Daniel Willingham, “Does Tailoring Instruction to Learning Styles Help Student Learn?” offers arguments for and against LS. At this time the preponderance of evidence finds learning styles to have no basis in fact, despite the very strong and persistent preference teachers and the public have for the concept.
Citation:Papadatou-Pastou, M., Gritzali, M., & Barrable, A. (2018). The Learning Styles Educational Neuromyth: Lack of Agreement Between Teachers’ Judgments, Self-Assessment, and Students’ Intelligence. Front. Educ. 3:105. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00105
Link: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2018.00105/full
December 5, 2018
Accountability policies and teacher decision making: Barriers to the use of data to improve practice. Underlying many accountability policies is the assumption that standardized test data and other common sources of data will be used to make decisions that will result in changes to instructional practices. This study examines longitudinal from nine high schools nominated as leading practitioners of Continuous Improvement (CI) practices. The researchers compared continuous improvement best practices to teachers actual use of data in making decisions. The study found teachers to be receptive, but also found that significant obstacles were interfering with the effective use of data that resulted in changes in instruction. The analysis showed cultural values and practices inconsistent with accountability policies and continuous improvement practices impede implementation. The researchers identify barriers to use of testing and other data that help to account for the less than successful results. Given the current understanding of the importance on implementation science in the effective application of any new practice, these findings are not a surprise. As our colleague, Ronnie Detrich, is quoted as saying, “Implementation is where great ideas go to die”.
Citation: Ingram, D., Louis, K. S., & Schroeder, R. G. (2004). Accountability policies and teacher decision making: Barriers to the use of data to improve practice. Teachers College Record, 106(6), 1258-1287.
Link: Accountability policies and teacher decision making: Barriers to the use of data to improve practice
December 5, 2018
A Review of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports as a Framework for Reducing Disciplinary Exclusions. Schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) is implemented in more than 23,000 schools. Several reviews have examined the impact of SWPBIS, including a meta-analysis of single-case design research. However, to date, there has not been a randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reviews on the effects of SWPBIS implementation to reduce disciplinary exclusion, including office discipline referrals and suspensions. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic meta-analysis of RCTs on SWPBIS. Ninety schools, including both elementary and high schools, met criteria to be included in this study. A statistically significant large treatment effect (g = −.86) was found for reducing school suspension. No treatment effect was found for office discipline referrals.
Citation: Gage, N.A., Whitford, D.K. and Katsiyannis, A., 2018. A review of schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports as a framework for reducing disciplinary exclusions. The Journal of Special Education, p.0022466918767847.
Link: Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports as a Framework for Reducing Disciplinary Exclusions
December 4, 2018
Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 Through 8. This practice guide provides five recommendations for improving students’ mathematical problem solving in grades 4 through 8. The manual is geared toward teachers, math coaches, other educators, and curriculum developers who want to improve the mathematical problem solving of students.
Strong evidence
- Assist students in monitoring and reflecting on the problem-solving process.
- Teach students how to use visual representations.
Moderate evidence
- Expose students to multiple problem-solving strategies.
- Help students recognize and articulate mathematical concepts and notation.
Minimal evidence
- Prepare problems and use them in whole-class instruction.
Citation: Clearinghouse, W. W. Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 Through 8. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Science (IES) NCEE 2012-4055.
Link: What Works Clearinghouse Mathematics Practice Guide
November 28, 2018
Seven Trends: The Transformation of the Teaching Force—Updated October 2018
Teachers play a crucial role in education, make up one of the largest workforces in the country, and require significant resources to support. As a result, tracking trends and changes in the demographic characteristics becomes critically important as education systems allocate existing resources and plan for the future. This study examines the most recent data from staffing surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as well as those going back to 1987. Its concludes that over the last three decades the teaching force has become: 1) larger, 2) grayer, 3) greener, 4) more female, 5) more diverse by race-ethnicity, 6) consistent in academic ability, and 7) unstable. It also calls for more research as to the reasons for these trends and their implications and consequences.
A few highlights include: The rate of increase for teachers has far outpaced the rate of increase for students. The student population has grown by 24% over this period of time while the teacher workforce has grown by 65%. The workforce is growing both grayer (retirements have steadily increased) and greener (the modal public school teacher was in their first three years of teaching. It is has an increasing percent of female teachers (76.6%) as well minority teachers (growth in the number of minority teachers was more than three times the growth rate of white teachers). The field still suffers from extremely high turnover, with 44.6 % of new teachers leaving their jobs in less than five years.
Citation: Ingersoll, Richard M.; Merrill, Elizabeth; Stuckey, Daniel; and Collins, Gregory. (2018). Seven Trends: e Transformation of the Teaching Force – Updated October 2018. CPRE Research Reports.
Link: https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1109&context=cpre_researchreports
November 28, 2018
Evaluating the Relationships Between Poverty and School Performance
One of the most critical issues facing K-12 education is the impact that poverty has on school performance. This study first examines school performance using traditional metrics for school poverty levels (percent of student body that qualify for free and reduced lunch: FRL) and school performance (school achievement based on the aggregate test scores of its student body). The results support prior research documenting the negative relationship between the level of poverty in a school and student achievement (the higher the poverty the lower the achievement). However, when replacing the student achievement metric with a student growth metric, the relationship is significantly different.
This NWEA study argues that, while it is important to measure and report a school’s student achievement, it is often a function of the demographics of a school’s population rather than a school’s effectiveness at teaching. Student growth tracks the learning of students regardless of their poverty level and is a more useful tool for comparing individual school performance. Sixty percent of schools with high poverty student populations had above average student growth. And a larger percentage of high poverty schools demonstrated substantial growth than schools from wealthy communities. The dramatic negative relationship between poverty and student achievement was much less evident when looking at student growth, and much more nuanced.
The implications of the study are profound. First, it highlights the need for school performance measures to include student growth in addition to school achievement. Both are critical measures. More importantly, it raises the question: If students make comparable progress during the school year regardless of their poverty level, what accounts for the significant differences in test scores. One study tracked the performance of students by poverty level and their performance on tests administered at the beginning and end of each school year. The data showed a clear pattern. Students of all socio economic groups made comparable progress during the school year. The biggest, and compounding gaps, occurred during the summer months suggesting that poverty’s largest impact occurs outside of school.
Citation:Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2001). Schools, achievement, and inequality: A seasonal perspective. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23, 171–191.
Link: https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2018/10/Evaluating-the-Relationships-Between-Poverty-and-School-Performance.pdf
November 14, 2018
Research Review: The effects of mindfulness‐based interventions on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents – a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials
The purpose of this meta-analysis is to examine the impact of mindfulness training on students. Mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) are an increasingly popular way designed to improve the behavioral, cognitive and mental health outcomes of children. Given its popularity, it is important to examine randomized controlled trials (RCT) on mindfulness. The researchers found a positive 0.19 effect size. Outcome of Mindfulness for Executive Functioning, Attention, Depression, Anxiety/Stress and Negative Behaviors, identified effect sizes (Cohen’s d), ranging from .16 to .30.
Citation:Dunning, D. L., Griffiths, K., Kuyken, W., Crane, C., Foulkes, L., Parker, J., & Dalgleish, T. (2018). Research Review: The effects of mindfulness‐based interventions on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents–a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.12980
November 14, 2018
Tutor Trust: Affordable Primary Tuition: Evaluation report and executive summary November 2018
The purpose of this study is the examination of low-cost interventions to improve the performance of disadvantaged students. The intervention was designed to improve the performance of students by providing small-group tutoring sessions. The selected students who participated in tutoring received 12 hours of additional instruction for 12 weeks. The students were tutored in groups of three by trained university students and recent graduates. Students in the control schools continued with normal teaching. The research found that children who received tutoring progressed more in math compared to children in control schools (effect size = +0.19). Students eligible for free reduced school meals benefited even more with an 0.25 effect size.
Citation:Torgerson, C. J., Bell, K., Coleman, E., Elliott, L., Fairhurst, C., Gascoine, L., Hewitt, C. E., & Torgerson, D. J. (2018). Tutor Trust: Affordable Primary Tuition. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
Link: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Projects/Evaluation_Reports/Tutor_Trust.pdf
November 14, 2018
Do Published Studies Yield larger Effect Sizes than Unpublished Studies in Education and Special Education? A Meta-Review
The purpose of this study is to estimate the extent to which publication bias is present in education and special education journals. Meta-analyses are increasingly used as the basis for making educational decisions. Research suggests that publication bias continues to exist in meta-analyses that are published. The data reveal that 58% of meta-analyses did not test for possible publication bias. This paper shows that published studies were associated with significantly larger effect sizes than unpublished studies (d=0.64). The authors suggest that meta-analyses report effect sizes of published and unpublished separately in order to address issues of publication bias.
Citation:Chow, J. C., & Ekholm, E. (2018). Do Published Studies Yield Larger Effect Sizes than Unpublished Studies in Education and Special Education? A Meta-review.
Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-018-9437-7
