McRel Rural E-News, December 2007

1. Experts: State putting too much reliance on FCAT South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
A new report from the University of Nebraska's Buros Center for Testing recommends that Florida put less weight on results from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) as a measure of school, student, and teacher performance. Instead, the report recommends that Florida calculate average proficiency rates over a three-year period to get a more accurate picture of overall student achievement.

2. Study links drop in test scores to a decline in time spent reading The New York Times
A new report from the National Endowment for the Arts links the steady decline in the time young people spend reading with worsening test scores in reading, as well as other subjects. The trend holds true for both young and old, and overall reading and writing proficiency in the country has been declining, much to the dismay of employers.

3. Gesturing helps grade school children solve math problems Science Daily
Researchers from the University of Chicago have found that teaching children to gesture can help them learn new problem-solving strategies that can be applied to mathematics lessons. When children were instructed to move their hands when explaining their solutions to a mathematical problem, they were four times as likely to express correct problem-solving techniques than students who were not instructed to gesture.

4. Bad behavior does not doom pupils, studies say The New York Times
Two new research studies may have a significant impact on the way parents, teachers, administrators, and psychologists view and react to children with behavior problems. In one study, researchers found that children identified in early grades as "troubled" performed just as well academically in later years as their untroubled peers. Another study revealed that attention deficit disorder is merely the result of a delay in brain development, and not a sign of a significant mental flaw.

5. U.S. testing poised to be scaled back Education Week (Subscription required)
National Assessment of Educational Progress officials warn that, without increased federal funding, national assessments in several subjects may have to be eliminated. Subjects such as economics, foreign language, geography, and world history could be eliminated all together. Other subjects, such as civics, U.S. history, writing, and even mathematics and reading, might need to be scaled back.

6. Study of state's teachers looks at what best helps students advance Seattle Post Intelligencer
In a new state report, researchers from Washington have found that teacher experience has a more significant impact on student performance than advanced degrees. Researchers suggest that focusing teacher pay increases on longevity will return better results than increases for earning an advanced degree.

7. MSU study says U.S. math teachers poorly prepared Detroit Free Press
A new report from Michigan State University blames poor teacher-preparation programs for the poor performance of mathematics students in at least five countries. The authors suggest teacher-preparation programs should focus more on how to teach than on mathematical knowledge.

8. Teacher qualifications improve in the past decade USA Today
The Educational Testing Service reports that beginning teachers today have higher academic qualifications than beginning teachers 10 years ago. Increasing pressure from both national and local levels have led to an increase in opportunities and lured more qualified prospective teachers into the industry.

9. In gaps at school, weighing family life The New York Times A new study from the Educational Testing Service, titled The Family: America�s Smallest School, raises concerns that student achievement is tied too heavily to schools and ignores the impact of difficult home and family life. Researchers analyzed single-parent families, frequent absences from school, parental involvement in reading, and television habits�four factors which the researchers contend schools cannot control. Surprisingly, the researchers found that about 66 percent of the variation in student achievement could be tied to those factors.

A new international study from the Brookings Institution suggests that increasing daily mathematics lessons by just 10 minutes can have a substantially positive impact on overall mathematics achievement.

Many students diagnosed with reading disorders are mistakenly being placed into remedial programs, according to a new report from the National-Louis University and the University of Maryland. Many of the oral exams used to place students into remedial programs fail to distinguish between reading disorders and other disorders.

New research shows that teaching children good penmanship also teaches them how to learn and how to express themselves. A new study from Vanderbilt University finds students with good penmanship are more likely to succeed academically.

The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) is offering two professional learning opportunities in educational technology, open to all educators in California. The Technology Leadership Collaborative, which includes nine days of training and 15 hours of collaborative online follow-up, targets all aspiring and new school or district technology coordinators and is designed to provide leadership development in the use of educational technology to improve student learning. Also, LACOE invites all school- and district-level leaders in California to participate in McREL�s Balanced Leadership for Technology Institute. This eight-day institute, held in four sessions over the course of six months, synthesizes McREL�s popular Balanced Leadership program with educational technology leadership practices and integrates our new ASCD publication, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works.

McREL is currently seeking K-12 educators in the Colorado front range area to participate in a one-hour interview about their impressions of our Web site. Qualified participants will be paid $120 in cash at the end of the interview.

McREL consultant Jane Hill is offering K�12 mainstream teachers a two-day workshop based on her book, Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners, on January 17�18 and July 15�16 at McREL�s office in Denver. Become familiar with language acquisition theories and stages, learn how to integrate language objectives with content objectives, and learn ELL applications for nine categories of research-based strategies for increasing student achievement.

McREL invites school leaders to its office in Denver for a two-day Power Walkthrough Software and Training workshop January 31�February 1. Learn how to turn brief classroom observations into �power walkthroughs� by using Palm or Windows Mobile hand-held devices loaded with McREL software based on our popular manual, Classroom Instruction that Works. Participants learn to gauge the use of effective instructional strategies, the level of student engagement, the use of technology, and other factors shown to influence student learning. For more information or to register, contact Lisa Maxfield by e-mail, or at 303.632.5561.

This hands-on, interactive workshop shows teachers how to combine the three elements of content, understanding, and environment into high-quality science lessons that not only engage students, but also help them learn challenging science content. Participants reflect on high-quality lesson planning and learn how DESL�s three-part framework develops high-quality science lessons. For more information or to register, contact Mary Cullen by e-mail, or at 303.632.5547.

McREL and the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning are pleased to announce the 4th annual PEAK (Practices that Engage and Attract Kids) Afterschool Event�coming to Kansas City, Mo., and Denver, Colo. in 2008!

Come to McREL's offices for five, two-day workshops delivered over a 15-month period to help instructional leaders get their schools focused on proven, practical strategies for improving ELL achievement. For more information, contact Jane Hill by e-mail, or at 303.632.5529.

This week-long, intensive professional development experience provides hands-on, research-based guidance to help teachers design and deliver more effective science lessons. Learn how to identify the most important content for students to learn, develop their understanding of challenging science concepts, and create a learning environment that supports scientific discourse and higher order thinking. For more information or to register, contact Mary Cullen by e-mail, or at 303.632.5547.

McREL IN THE NEWS

21. RE-1 Valley administrators attend �Power Walkthrough� training McREL, December 1

Principals of Sterling's RE-1 Valley School District received Power Walkthrough software and training from McREL last week. McREL's Power Walkthrough system allows administrators to collect and analyze data about teacher practices in short, three- to five-minute observations.

22. Executive Power! How administrative unions impact the way colleagues work together
District Administration, December

A recent article in the December issue of District Administration quotes McREL's president and CEO, Dr. Tim Waters, in a debate about the value of administrative unions to protect school administrators. Waters pointed out that McREL's research findings on the positive impact of superintendent tenure, reported in School District Leadership that Works, could also be extended to other administrative roles, such as principals and assistant principals.

23. McREL Consultant helps bring space exploration to rural schools The Hays Daily News (Hays, Kan.), November 14

McREL's Jacinta Behne helped NASA bring information about the space agency's Genesis mission to rural schools in a two-day lecture tour in Hays, Kansas.

24. Cheryl Schroeder Finley brings school improvement, assessment expertise to McREL
McREL, November 12

Cheryl Schroeder Finley, formerly of the Wyoming Department of Education, has joined McREL as a principal consultant.

REPORT ROUNDUP

25. Making mid-course corrections: school restructuring in Maryland Center on Education Policy

According to this report, only 16 percent of Maryland schools undergoing federally-mandated restructuring have shown any signs of improvement, and those schools have only shown minor improvements. Now, the state is changing its strategy to find the right mixture of school improvement strategies to try to find a solution that actually improves student achievement in struggling schools.

26. Numbers and rates of public high school dropouts: School year 2004-05 National Center for Education Statistics

This report provides information on the dropout rates for grades 9�12 nationwide. The dropout rate has remained at a relatively stable 4 percent between 2002-2005.

27. Outcomes linked to high-quality afterschool programs: Longitudinal findings from the study of promising afterschool programs Policy Study Associates, Inc.

Economically disadvantaged and minority students who participate in quality afterschool programs show gains of as much as 20 percentile points in mathematics, and exhibit fewer behavioral problems, according to research from the University of California, Irvine, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Policy Studies Associates, Inc.

28. Highlights from PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15-year-old students in science and mathematics literacy in an international context National Center for Education Statistics

This report summarizes the performance of U.S. students on the international Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). U.S. students performed below the international average on the science and mathematics assessments.

29. The reading literacy of U.S. fourth-grade students in an international context results from the 2001 and 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)
National Center for Education Statistics

This report provides a detailed look at the performance of U.S. students on the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Students are compared with their peers internationally, and with U.S. students who took the test in 2001. U.S. students fall right in the middle of the international community, and the results have not changed significantly since the 2001 assessment.

NEW FROM McREL

30. Asking the right questions: Teachers' questions can build students' English language skills Journal of Staff Development

Written by McREL Lead Consultants Jane Hill and Kathleen Flynn, co-authors of Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners, this article in the winter edition of the Journal of Staff Development focuses on how the questions that teachers ask during class can build language proficiency when matched to individual learners� developmental levels. In order to develop questioning skills, the writers recommend that teachers use specific strategies and participate in an action research project. (Available online until Jan. 1.)

31. Study finds pre-school program improves children�s cognitive control Science

A curriculum for preschoolers developed by McREL Principal Consultant Elena Bodrova and educational psychologist Deborah J. Leong of Metropolitan State College in Denver improves key cognitive functions and self-control among at-risk students, according to a new study released by a group of American and Canadian researchers, which appears in the November issue of Science magazine. The Tools of the Mind (Tools) curriculum focuses on children�s �executive functions� such as resisting distraction, thinking before speaking, and mentally holding and using information. Among 147 five-year-olds in an urban, low-income school district, those who received the Tools curriculum scored significantly better on computerized tests of cognitive skills than children who received the district�s balanced literacy curriculum.

32. Supporting high-quality math learning�after school ASCD Express

This ASCD Express article, by McREL Senior Director Danette Parsley and Senior Consultant Heather Martindill, highlights six types of high-quality after-school mathematics practices that increase student achievement and improve attitudes toward math. McREL, in cooperation with the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning, also identified nine principles that practitioners should keep in mind when designing after-school math programs.

33. Providing a direction for learning: Setting language objectives for English-language learners Language

This article, which appears in the November issue of Language magazine and is written by McREL consultants Kathleen Flynn, Jane Hill and Cynthia Bjork, explains how mainstream teachers can help English-language learners progress, in both language acquisition and content knowledge, by incorporating language objectives into content area lessons.

34. The McREL Store

Purchasing McREL-published products just got easier with our safe, secure, and convenient online shopping cart. Visit the new McREL Store to see a list of products available for online purchase.