McREL has teamed with Solution Tree to provide educators with the tools and professional development they need to ensure their students are successful. From summer professional development opportunities at McREL to our new book, District Leadership That Works: Striking the Right Balance, this partnership brings you cutting-edge research findings and applications from McREL.

Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces high-level leaders to a top-down power mechanism called “defined autonomy,” a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools.

McREL is working to improve our understanding of the needs and challenges facing school districts in the area of assessment, and we need your help.

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A new report published in Psychological Science finds that gesturing not only helps people recall information, but also can help them create new ideas. By adding appropriate gestures to their lectures, teachers were able to significantly improve student achievement on mathematical problems involving new concepts.

New research from the University of Illinois finds that public school students outperform private school students on standardized mathematics tests. The primary factors affecting this performance gap are the availability of certified mathematics teachers and more modern mathematics curriculum available in public schools.

A new report from the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance finds that early elementary (K–2) students using either Math Expressions or Saxon Math curricula outperformed those using Investigations in Number, Data, and Space or Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics.

New research published in Pediatrics finds that play and down time play an important role in student achievement. The study analyzed the links between recess and classroom behavior in 8- and 9-year-old children. Classroom behavior improved for those who had at least 15 minutes of recess every day. A separate study from Harvard researchers links physical fitness with academic performance.

Recent studies have shown that "clickers"—wireless instant-response system—can help students learn. But teachers are finding that they benefit from the devices as well. With instant feedback on which concepts students are struggling with, teachers can make changes to their instruction as needed.

A new study from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. finds that students who have teachers certified through alternative-training programs perform as well as those certified through traditional programs. The study also found no correlation between teacher effectiveness and the amount of coursework that teachers received in either certification route.

More Americans today believe that college is essential to success than they did in 2000. But at the same time, more than two thirds of all Americans surveyed now believe that those who are qualified for college have the opportunity to attend, compared to fewer than half in 2000.

A study of 5,000 students who replaced the traditional lecture-hall introductory psychology course with an online version performed 12 percent better than their peers. The online course was particularly successful for low-income students, minorities, and those with low grades or ACT scores.

The Mini-Digest of Education Statistics is a pocket-sized compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from kindergarten through graduate school. The statistical highlights are excerpts from the Digest of Education Statistics, 2008 (Not yet released).

A new report from The Brookings Institution suggests that idealogical bias in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test makes it a poor standard to use for developing benchmarks for students in the United States. It also cautions that enrolling all 8th-grade students in Algebra may do more harm than good until we can ensure that all students are prepared in advance. The final section of the report finds that big city schools are closing the gap with suburban and rural districts.

This report compares late graduates with GED recipients, high school dropouts, and on-time graduates. The study found, unsurprisingly, that on-time graduates experienced greater success in academics, work, civic life, and even health. But late graduates also out-performed GED recipients and high school dropouts significantly in each of these areas.

This report reviews the research on professional learning and describes the availability of opportunities in the United States and other countries. The report finds that professional development for teachers is linked to student achievement; effective professional development is intensive, ongoing, and connected to practice; 9 out of 10 U.S. teachers experience professional learning based on short-term conferences or workshops; and that teachers feel that much of the professional development available is not useful to them.

This study evaluated the use of distance education in rural districts. The study found that the majority of rural districts use distance education to supplement the courses they offer students. The majority of districts interviewed for the study were very satisfied with their distance education programs, and expressed that connectivity was not a major issue with distance education.

In the 21st century, people write as never before—in print, online, in e-mail, and in text messages. NCTE views this as a new era of literacy and calls for a new model of the writing curriculum for K–graduate school, where writing is viewed as a subject of study rather than a process.

A new report from WCER paints a dismal picture of our higher education system. According to the report, less than 60 percent of students now entering 4-year institutions earn bachelor’s degrees. Barely ¼ of community college students complete either associate’s or bachelor’s degrees within 6 years of college entry. Students from economically disadvantaged families are even less likely to realize their college ambitions. Only 40 percent of beginning college students from low-income families complete a 2- or 4-year degree within 6 years, compared with 62 percent of high-income students. The report calls for the federal government to support states and public colleges and universities as they work to help more college students complete their education.

The Dominion Foundation is accepting applications for grants of up to $10,000 to encourage the development of new K–12 programs to strengthen mathematics and science education through the study of energy or the environment.

Application deadline: May 1, 2009

Olympus High School offers online high school courses to home-schooled children, allowing them to benefit from the structure and support of a traditional school. The accredited online high school uses content standards established by McREL.

McREL and the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) have released the first of two instructional modules from the NanoLeap into New Science project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

McREL's best-selling book, Classroom Instruction that Works (ASCD, 2001), is one of the most widely used professional development manuals in education today.

In a recent blog post, ASCD asks readers how they would rewrite Classroom Instruction that Works today. The post also invites readers to share their own blog posts or Web sites related to Classroom Instruction that Works.