Sobre, tecnología, Comprensión lectora y matemática

Technology access alone does not equal increased achievement Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research have published a new working paper that explores how important access to a home computer is to the educational achievement of children. They found no effects, either positive or negative, on a range of outcomes. The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial with 1,123 students aged 11-16 without home computers from 15 schools across California in the largest ever experiment involving the provision of free home computers. Half of the students were randomly selected to receive free computers, while the other half served as the control group. The goal of the study was to evaluate the effects of home computers alone, so no training or other assistance was provided to the students who received the free computers.  At the end of the school year, data from the schools was used to measure the impact of the home computers on numerous educational outcomes. Findings showed that, although computer ownership and use increased substantially, there were no effects on grades, test scores, credits earned, attendance, or disciplinary actions in the experimental group. Robert Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, discussed a similar topic in a March blog post about Sugata Mitra's "hole in the wall" experiment, in which Dr. Mitra made a computer freely available to children in a Delhi slum. In his post, Slavin says, "If access to computers were decisive, middle-class children, at least, would be gaining rapidly. Admittedly, the technology itself keeps getting better and faster and easier to use, but from thirty years of experience in the developed world, it seems unlikely that access alone will lead children to become wise and capable."

Never too late to help struggling readers From around the middle of elementary school, there is less emphasis on learning to read, and this has serious consequences for children who have not yet mastered the skill. A new article in Review of Educational Research analyzes the evidence on "extensive reading interventions" for students aged 10 to 18 with reading difficulties. These are long-term interventions (in this case 75 or more sessions), often developed as part of school-wide models for teaching literacy to younger students. The authors conducted a systematic review of research from 1995 to 2011, with 19 studies meeting their inclusion criteria. Mean effect sizes ranged from 0.10 to 0.16 for comprehension, word reading, word reading fluency, reading fluency, and spelling outcomes. No significant differences in student outcomes were noted in terms of instructional group size, relative number of hours of intervention, or year level of intervention. They conclude that accelerating reading growth in later years may be more challenging than in the earliest, but that it isn't too late to help struggling readers.

It's good to talk  Syntax is an important aspect of children's early literacy development, according to the authors of a new article published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly. However, the rate at which children develop syntax reflects, at least in part, their care-giving environment. This study looks at patterns of child-teacher talk within preschool classrooms, an important developmental context for young children and particularly those from low socio-economic households.  The research found that the children's use of complex syntax appeared to be influenced by the teachers' use of complex syntax, but also vice versa. Children's use of complex or simple syntax increased the likelihood that teachers would mirror their syntactic level. The authors suggest this work, based on data from a larger study, is a step towards addressing issues that may have direct, translatable implications for early education practice and intervention efforts. One of the authors, Laura Justice, has also contributed an article to the latest issue of Better: Evidence-based Education. It describes the evaluation of a project to train teachers to provide advanced language models to help prevent later reading difficulties.

What works in math? The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) has released two new research reports on math programs: Saxon Math and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics. Saxon Math, a core curriculum for students in grades K-5 that uses an incremental approach for instruction and assessment, was found to have potentially positive effects on mathematics achievement for elementary school students. This finding is based on two studies of Saxon Math that meet the WWC evidence standards. Potentially positive effects means: "In the two studies that reported findings, the estimated impact of the intervention on outcomes in the mathematics achievement domain was positive and statistically significant in one study and indeterminate in one study." Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics is a core mathematics curriculum for students in prekindergarten through grade 6 that aims to improve students' understanding of key math concepts through problem-solving instruction, hands-on activities, and math problems that involve reading and writing. The program was found to have mixed effects on mathematics achievement for elementary school students based on three studies that meet WWC evidence standards. Mixed effects means: "In the three studies that reported findings, the estimated impact of the intervention on outcomes in the mathematics achievement domain was negative and statistically significant in one study and indeterminate in two studies."

Lessons from innovators: eMints This blog post, based on an interview between the Forum for Youth Investment and eMINTS leadership, focuses on what the eMINTS National Center has learned about scaling a technology intervention in the sometimes low-tech environment of schools. eMINTS, an Investing in Innovation (i3) grantee,  provides professional development for K-12 educators using interactive group sessions and in-classroom coaching/mentoring to help teachers integrate technology into their teaching. Their i3 validation grant focuses on expanding an intensive professional development model for teachers in rural middle schools. Lessons learned include:  Plan for success. Thinking about scale and sustainability starts long before a funding stream is coming to an end. Expand with fidelity and flexibility. "It is critical to identify which parts of the program must be held constant from one implementation to the next in order to maintain quality, while also maintaining flexibility to adapt successfully to each new context," says Christie Terry, eMINTS associate director. Make the case for value early and often. Many initiatives with sound evidence and great materials bump up against shrinking school budgets. Be high tech and high touch. Educators need personal attention to succeed in trying and implementing a new program - even when they are high tech.

A closer look at math and science programs yields mixed results

A closer look at math and science programs yields mixed results New reports from the What Works Clearinghouse review the research on three programs designed to improve student achievement in math and science: Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies, Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor, and Great Explorations in Math and Science (GEMS) The Real Reasons for Seasons. Findings were as follows: Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies, a peer-tutoring program for grades K-6 that aims to improve student proficiency in math and other disciplines, was found to have no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for elementary school students. Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor, a secondary math curricula that offers textbooks and interactive software to provide individualized, self-paced instruction based on student needs, was found to have mixed effects on mathematics achievement for high school students. GEMS The Real Reasons for Seasons, a curriculum unit for grades 6-8 that focuses on the connections between the Sun and the Earth to teach students the scientific concepts behind the seasons, was found to havepotentially negative effects on general science achievement for middle school students.

Simple ways to improve learning A new article published by the Association for Psychological Science argues that educational outcomes can be improved by helping students to better regulate their own learning. The authors discuss ten techniques that might help them to do this. The techniques were selected on the grounds that they should be relatively easy to implement, and the article itself gives a clear review of each technique. The authors gave two techniques an overall high rating. The first of these was "practice testing," which is usually self-testing outside the classroom. The second was "distributed practice," essentially the opposite of "cramming," where study activities are spread over a single session or across multiple sessions. Some of the techniques with low- or moderate-utility ratings also showed promise, but there was insufficient evidence for a higher rating. The authors looked at all of the available evidence for each technique, and considered generalizability, issues for implementation, and an overall assessment of its utility - low, moderate, or high.

Moving to a "better" zip code isn't the answer A randomized experiment has explored whether or not where you live has an effect on life chances. Between 1994 and 1998, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Moving to Opportunity (MTO) for Fair Housing program recruited more than 4,600 families with children living in severely distressed public housing projects in five cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City). Some MTO families were offered the opportunity to use a housing voucher to move into private-market housing in wealthier neighborhoods, while the others were not. New research, led by researchers from the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research, outlines the long-term (10-15 years) impact of the MTO program on children who were approximately 11 years old or younger at baseline. They discovered few detectable effects on achievement, education, employment, and a range of other health and risky behavior outcomes. However, there were some encouraging effects on mental health, primarily for girls and young women.

What makes children stressed?  A new research report from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre in the UK looks at family "stressors" and the impact on children's outcomes. The authors look at whether particular life events are especially detrimental, whether they have an impact across different outcomes (educational, social, etc.), and whether the effects of early childhood events persist into adolescence. They also look at the association between family factors and outcomes. The findings of the report are broad, especially as different family factors can be associated with different types of outcomes. Key findings include that extreme stressful events, such as homelessness, victimization, or abuse, can have long-term effects on children's outcomes. Some stressful events have an impact on children's emotional and social well-being but not their educational outcomes, and so their negative impacts may therefore be harder to pick up. The authors point out that in order to target interventions, it is important to understand which family circumstances are significant for child well-being at different ages, and how that varies across outcomes.

New tools for talking about education data The Data Quality Campaign has created a suite of ten tools for communicating messages about education data. Their goal is to help education stakeholders confront communication challenges and effectively communicate the value of data to meeting education goals. Resources include: Myths about Data Use Data Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality The Power of State Data: Message Map

Reading by third grade: Thinking beyond retention In his latest blog post, Robert Slavin, director of the Center for Research and Reform in Education, discusses reading-by-third-grade polices. He says, "If schools use the reading-by-third-grade movement as an opportunity to use proven practices throughout the primary grades, they can reap substantial savings by avoiding unnecessary retentions, and most importantly, they can make a life-changing difference for all of their students." Read the full post on Huff Post Education.