Music training boosts language, reading skills
Learning to play a musical instrument or to sing has ripple effects in other areas of academic achievement including language and reading, according to new research in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Benefits of students teaching students
Students who believe that they will have to teach material to others remember more information than students who are told that their learning will be measured by a test, according to new research.
Foundations pushed spread of charters
Four philanthropic foundations worked in concert to orchstrate the large growth in charter school networks, a new study has found.
Elementary school students often ‘off-task’
Elementary school students spend as much as 29 percent of their time “off-task” during the school day. The researchers found that the amount of time varies depending on the type of instructional activity in which students are engaged.
Supportive environments boost teaching
New research finds that teachers who work in supportive professional environments show greater gains in effectiveness than teachers in schools that are less supportive.
Strategies that work in science, math
New research examining the impact of different classroom instructional practices on student achievement in math and science found that learning gains were greatest in math when calculators, computers and other technology were integrated in the class and in science when the student completed a science experiment or project in class.
Good grades predict success in college
New research indicates that a high school grade point average (GPA) based on class work is a strong, reliable predictor of student performance in college.
Aerobic fitness linked to higher test scores
Two new studies indicate that physical education can help to boost academic achievement. Aerobically fit students in two states were more than twice as likely to pass math and reading tests than students who were not aerobically fit.
Not all poor schools are created equal
New York City compares the performance of schools with similar levels of student poverty. But new research says this is a flawed method for comparing schools. A school’s performance is affected less by how many students are poor than by how many face certain risk factors associated with poverty, the study finds.
Stigma from obesity affects achievement
Research showing that obese children perform below normal-weight peers on math and reading assessments has attributed the cause to health issues linked to obesity. But a new study finds that the social stigma suffered by obese children may affect their academic performance. The research published in Child Development found that math achievement among obese children in elementary school varies depending on when the child became obese and whether it has affected the child’s social and emotional functioning.