RESEARCH HEADLINES
College
Degree Worth Extra $23,000/year
Boston Globe
According to new data from the Census
Bureau, the average gap in earnings between adults with bachelor's
degrees and those with high school diplomas is $23,000 a year.
College graduates made an average of $51,554 in 2004, the most
recent figures available, compared with $28,645 for adults
with a high school diploma. High school dropouts earned an
average of $19,169 and those with advanced college degrees
made an average of $78,093.
Scientists Say Video
Games Can Reshape Education
Seattle Times
The Federation of American Scientists has
declared that video games can redefine education. Capping a year
of study, the group called for federal research into how the addictive
pizzazz of video games can be converted into serious learning tools
for schools. The theory is that games teach skills that employers
want: analytical thinking, team building, multitasking and problem
solving under duress. Unlike humans, the games never lose patience.
And there's already an audience: More than 45 million homes have
video-game consoles.
Study Says Ed Schools in Poor Shape
Washington Post
A growing number of educators say ed schools
fail to give teachers enough background in their subject matter,
fail to prepare them for the difficulties of urban schools and
fail to recruit the best students. Arthur Levine, former president
of Columbia University's Teachers College, surveyed administrators
with firsthand knowledge of these problems: principals. Only two
of every five principals surveyed said ed schools were preparing
teachers very well or moderately well to get new curriculum and
performance standards into the classroom. Only one-third said their
teachers were very or moderately well prepared for maintaining
classroom order. Only one-fifth said their teachers were that well
prepared to work with parents.
RESOURCES & EVENTS
Web Pages for All
Regional Educational Laboratories
Institute of Education Sciences
All 10 Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs),
including the REL Central, housed at McREL, have websites
that present information on their organization and their activities.
Learn about the individual regional needs that each is facing. Get
information on their current and upcoming projects.
Join
a McREL
Research Study
McREL is seeking Colorado districts to participate
in a study of Rick Stiggins’ Classroom Assessment for Student
Learning program. The study offers teachers in Colorado districts the
opportunity to participate, free of charge, in a unique professional
development program. Click here to
learn more.
McREL Summer
Institutes
In June 2007, McREL will provide a series
of intensive, weeklong Summer
Institutes that will provide educators
with proven, practical strategies for raising student achievement.
The institutes focus on three of the 11 elements of schooling that
McREL research, as reported in What Works in Schools, demonstrates
can have a positive effect on student achievement:
- Creating a Guaranteed & Viable Curriculum
- Designing Effective Classroom Curricula
- Enhancing Students' Background Knowledge
McREL IN THE NEWS
Synthesis
Finds District Leadership-Learning Link
Education Week
Education Week reported on McREL’s
study of district leadership and student results. The article reports, “the
paper could shape policy discussions on the development of district
leaders” and notes that a “McREL meta-analysis on school
leadership, for example, has informed the training and evaluation
of principals in a number of states.”
School
administrators join leadership group
Springfield (Missouri) News Leader
Twenty-five Missouri school administrators
have joined the Leadership Legacy Consortium, sponsored by the
Missouri Association of School Administrators. The consortium focuses
on the Balanced
Leadership Framework from McREL.
WHAT'S NEW FROM McREL
McREL study affirms link between superintendent leadership and student achievement
A new McREL research report finds that superintendents positively influence student achievement, especially when they keep their districts focused on teaching and learning. Using a sophisticated research technique called a meta-analysis, McREL combined data from separate studies into a single sample, creating what McREL believes to be the largest-ever examination of research on district leadership. The study produced three key findings.
Finding 1: District-level leadership matters
The McREL research team, led by McREL President and CEO Tim
Waters and McREL Senior Fellow Robert J. Marzano, found a statistically
significant relationship (a positive correlation of .24) between district
leadership and student achievement.
Finding 2: Effective
superintendents focus their efforts on creating goal-oriented
districts
McREL researchers also identified five district-level
leadership responsibilities that have a statistically significant
correlation with average student academic achievement. All five
of these responsibilities relate to setting and keeping districts
focused on teaching and learning goals.
Finding 3
Superintendent tenure is positively correlated with student achievement
McREL found two studies that looked specifically at the
correlations between superintendent tenure and student achievement.
The weighted average correlation in these two studies was a statistically
significant .19, which suggests that length of superintendent tenure
in a district positively correlates to student achievement. These
positive effects appear to manifest themselves as early as two years
into a superintendent's tenure.
REPORT ROUNDUP
Yes
We Can: Telling Truths and Dispelling Myths About Race & Education
in America
Education Trust
A new Education Trust report examines the
educational practices and policies that have raised academic
achievement for low-income and minority students, and offers
compelling evidence that children of color excel in school when
given the right teaching, right classes and right support. The
report rejects the myth that low academic achievement is inevitable
among children of color and students from low-income families
and provides examples of high-minority and high-poverty schools
where children perform at high levels.
New Reports
from the What Works Clearinghouse
What Works Clearinghouse
In October, the What
Works Clearinghouse, a federally funded clearinghouse of scientifically
based research on education programs, released six new evaluation
reports on the following programs:
- Instructional Conversations & Literature Logs
- Saxon
Elementary School Math
- Vocabulary Improvement Program for English Language Learners & Their Classmates
- Caring School Community (CSC)
- Dialogic Reading
- The Expert Mathematician
CONTACT US
Mid-continent
Research for Education & Learning
4601 DTC Blvd., Suite 500
Denver, CO 80237
303.337.0990
www.mcrel.org
info@mcrel.org