To understand how to turn around a failing school quickly, using as few resources as possible, Alex Hill, Liz Mellon, Jules Goddard and Ben Laker studied changes made by 160 UK academies after they were put into remedial measures by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills Read more
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has released a synthesis of research it has funded on mathematics teaching and learning, Synthesis of IES- Funded Research on Mathematics: 2002-2013. This synthesis reviews published papers on IES-supported research from projects awarded between 2002 and 2013. The authors identified 28 specific contributions that Read more
Writing for Education Week, Sarah D. Sparks uncovers the troubling issue of teacher absence: More than 6.5 million students in 2013-14 attended a school where at least half of teachers missed 10 days of school or more, according to the most recent estimate from the U.S. Department of Education. Now, Read more
The What Works Clearinghouse, which identifies studies that provide credible and reliable evidence of intervention effectiveness, gives its highest rating of confidence only to randomized controlled trials (RCTs). But is an RCT the best way to provide useful information to consumers about complex interventions like curricula? In this American Enterprise Read more
Beginning educators who participate in teaching residency programs (TRPs) are more likely to remain in the same school district than teachers trained through other programs, according to research from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). A new report from ED’s National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE) examines Read more
In the late 1970’s, education research was deemed a pseudoscience by many in the field due to a lack of clear data and results that pointed to effective practice. In response, researchers began designing field experiments to test the effectiveness of programs and practices. In recent years, as concern over Read more
Between 2002 and 2013, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) funded over 245 projects focused on social-behavioral competencies or outcomes (e.g., social skills, dropout prevention) through the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). Together, the researchers funded by these groups developed Read more
A recent blog by the Albert Shaker Institute examines the inner workings of what is effective and what is not effective when it comes to teacher collaboration. The blog starts off with an attention-grabbing introduction: You’ve probably attended meetings that were a waste of your time. Perhaps there was no Read more
What do we know about how students learn, and what does that knowledge mean for how we teach? That’s what The Science of Learning, a publication from Deans for Impact, seeks to answer. Deans for Impact is an organization of two dozen Deans of education schools who have committed themselves Read more
A study, published in the journal Education Next, finds that since 2011, 45 states have raised the levels at which students are considered “proficient” on state tests. Thirty-six of the 45 did so within just the last two years. The report is the seventh in a series that examines states’ Read more
One of the main differences between the U.S. education system and the systems that outperform it in student achievement is the amount of time teachers spend in the classroom in front of students versus the time spent in professional development activities. This chart, “Teaching Hours,” shows time spent actually teaching Read more
In a recent post in Education Week, Marc Tucker examines the teacher professional development systems in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, British Columbia, and Shanghai. Professional development looks very different in all these places than it typically does in the United States. It is the main driver of school improvement. Far Read more
Is a principal’s educational experience, professional behavior, or leadership style related to increased student learning? This systematic review of the literature conducted by Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast with support from the Institutes of Education Sciences answers these questions. The research team identified 52 peer-reviewed studies that met the review criteria, Read more
School System 20/20 from Education Resource Strategies presents the first version of School System 20/20 Assessments and Metrics, a detailed set of key questions and metrics used to create the Lawrence case study, and designed to help school systems understand whether their policies, structures, and practices create the conditions for Read more
Don’t Quit on Me: What Young People Who Left School Say about the Power of Relationships examines, from the perspective of young people themselves, the roles that relationships with adults and peers play in decisions about staying in, leaving, and returning to high school. Building on previous studies, including last Read more
Teaching residency programs are a model of teacher preparation in which prospective teachers complete graduate-level coursework alongside a year-long fieldwork experience in the district in which the prospective teacher will be hired. The fieldwork experience allows the prospective teacher to practice the craft of teaching and take on increased teaching Read more