April, 2007 
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April, 2007 |
Study: Second, third-generation Hispanics get farther in school A new study conducted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha reveals that nearly 74 percent of the state's first-generation Hispanic immigrants do not have a high school diploma, compared to 26 percent of second-generation and 19 percent of third-generation Hispanics. Finding math hard? Blame your right parietal lobe Scientists are moving toward a better understanding of what causes dyscalculia (difficulties in mathematics), which affects around 5% of the population. Using magnetic stimulation of the right parietal lobe, scientists were able to temporarily induce dyscalculia in subjects who normally performed well in mathematics. By isolating the portion of the brain responsible for dyscalulia, scientists will be able to uncover methods of diagnosing and treating the disorder.
Final PEAK Afterschool event in St. Paul, MN
National Educational Computing Conference (NECC)
Summer Professional Development North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation launches Ribbon of Hope mini-grants program The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation is launching a new Ribbon of Hope mini-grants program. Over the next three years, the Foundation will award mini-grants of $25,000 to North Carolina community-based nonprofit organizations to support local programs in health, science, and education. McREL is collaborating with the Foundation to collect and manage mini-grant applications and evaluate the program.
McREL is expanding We have added several new staff members to our dedicated team of professionals recently:
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Meet the needs of emergent readers: Bert and Ernie to the Rescue! In this online article, posted on the PBS Teachers Web site (www.pbs.org/teachers), McREL Senior Consultant Elizabeth Ross Hubbell describes how teachers can use free, online resources to give students multiple exposures to and practice with concepts—a strategy shown to have a positive influence on student achievement. Faces of Addiction educationally enhanced® DVD McREL, Scope Seven, and Deep Ellum Pictures have teamed up to create a teacher guide, interactive lessons, and other classroom materials to accompany the award-winning documentary TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction. The educationally enhanced materials capitalize on the teachable moments in the film, which chronicles the story of Rick Kirkham, a national correspondent for Inside Edition, and his intense personal struggle with substance abuse. Power Walkthrough™ seminar This two-day seminar from McREL's Educational Technology team shows administrators how to gather longitudinal data in classrooms using a series of highly effective and efficient 3- to 5-minute visits. The seminar helps school leaders turn their regular classroom observations into Power Walkthroughs by using hand-held devices loaded with McREL software based on Classroom Instruction that Works.
Million Dollar Babies: Why Infants Can't be Hardwired for Success In the past decade, the belief that providing advanced learning opportunities to infants and toddlers will increase their chances for success has spawned a new multi-billion dollar industry. This report, however, finds no evidence that exposing newborns and toddlers to classical music, foreign-language classes, or other intellectual stimulants will make children any smarter. Likewise, there is no evidence that, once past the third year of development, the opportunity to enhance a child's mental development has ended. Key State Education Policies on PK-12 Education: 2006 This report examines key education policies of all 50 states affecting elementary and secondary education policy. State-by-state information on content standards, curriculum, teacher assessment, and administrator licensure are also included in the report. Impacts of Four Abstinence Education Programs A report on the effects of abstinence education programs found that the programs had no effect on students' sexual abstinence. The report also found that youth who completed these programs were no more likely to have unprotected sex, which critics of abstinence education feared.
Mid-continent Research for Education & Learning |
Research Headlines 
