News
- February 21, 2014
- February 18, 2014
- February 13, 2014
In the 15 years since voters essentially banned bilingual education in state schools, teaching English learners to read, write and do arithmetic first in their native language has nearly disappeared from California classrooms.
Since Proposition 227 overwhelmingly passed in June 1998, it's been all about learning English, first and foremost - but not in San Francisco. Nearly 30 percent of the city's 17,000 English learners are in bilingual education programs, compared with 5 percent on average statewide, according to the most recent data available.
- February 11, 2014
- February 09, 2014
Yet these scholarly groups consistently find distinct and lasting gains for poor children, as I discovered in
tracking of 14,162 youngsters nationwide with Stanford University economist Susanna Loeb. The minuscule gains experienced by middle-class children largely fade out by fifth grade, according to a second longitudinal study overseen by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Still, gains for poor children persist with greater strength when they attend high-quality preschools and then enter comparatively robust elementary schools.Politicians such as de Blasio ignore these consistent findings when arguing, as he did last year, that subsidized pre-K should be “for everyone, doesn’t matter if you’re wealthy, doesn’t matter if you’re poor, doesn’t matter what color you are.” But empirically, a child’s home environment sharply conditions the efficacy of preschool. - February 06, 2014
“To be honest, I don’t find this study particularly convincing, and I say that as someone who is quite sympathetic to the idea that there are technological solutions to the plagiarism problem that are readily available and affordable and worth studying further,” said Dee, who is also a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Dee described the report as containing “suggestive, descriptive evidence,” not “convincing causal evidence” that Turnitin was primarily responsible for the drop in unoriginal writing. - February 05, 2014
- February 04, 2014
- February 04, 2014
District policymakers often argue that rules in teacher contracts and collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), that limit their ability to transfer teachers to different schools unless the teacher initiates the move, handcuff them in achieving the right mix of teachers across the district. In many districts in California, for example, CBAs prevent districts from involuntarily transferring teachers except when schools lose teaching positions, and even then, seniority often governs which teachers can be moved. Could loosening those restrictions benefit students? On the one hand, maybe so.
- January 29, 2014
- January 24, 2014
The researchers, Benjamin Master, Susanna Loeb and James Wyckoff, looked at 700,000 students in New York City in third through eighth grade over the course of eight school years (from 2003-04 to 2011-12). Their research initially confirmed the lasting impact of good English language arts or math teachers within their subjects. These teachers not only produce higher than expected test scores during the year that they are teaching the students, but their students go on to score better in that subject in subsequent years. Specifically, one-fifth of a teacher’s value added to achievement persists into the subsequent year.
- January 24, 2014
President John Hennessy introduced the topic of online education by outlining Stanford's three goals in that arena: Use online technology to improve the learning experience for Stanford students; use online technology to extend the university's "reach" so that Stanford students can take courses they need as part of their requirements while studying overseas; use online technology as a tool to help others in the education community within the United States and globally.
- January 23, 2014
- January 14, 2014
Congratulation to Sean Reardon, professor of education and (by courtesy) sociology at Stanford University, on being elected to membership in the National Academy of Education for his valuable contributions to educational research and policy development.
The National Academy of Education (NAEd) advances the highest quality education research and its use in policy formation and practice. Founded in 1965, the NAEd consists of U.S. members and foreign associates who are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship related to education. Since its establishment, NAEd has undertaken research studies that address pressing issues in education and that typically include both NAEd members and other scholars with an expertise in a particular area of inquiry. In addition, members are deeply engaged in NAEd’s professional development fellowship programs focused on the rigorous preparation of the next generation of scholars.
- January 08, 2014
The 2014 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings were released this week and record number of CEPA faculty scores high marks on the list. Of the 200 education scholars ranked, 12 CEPA affiliate faculty and faculty made the list: Eric Hanushek (4), Caroline Hoxby (11), Martin Carnoy (13), Michael W. Kirst (30), Sean Reardon (36), Susanna Loeb (75), Rob Reich (75), Thomas Dee (77), Mitchell Stevens (104), Edward H. Haertel (132), Eric Bettinger (142), Michelle Reininger (200)
- January 08, 2014
A terrific new study by Jason Grissom, Susanna Loeb, and Ben Master shed light on the role of instructional leadership. It’s the method that sets this study apart. Instead of simply asking principals “how important is instructional leadership to you?” or having them complete time diaries, researchers actually followed 100 principals around for a full school day, recording what they did.
