Eye on Research

This weekly Eye on Research feature focuses on education-related scholarship. The section is supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.

Scholars in a city-based consortium are studying practices that are helping students stay on track academically at all grade levels. Updated: January 7, 2009

Imagine the research possibilities if every student in the country carried a “virtual backpack” stuffed with statistics on his or her entire educational history. December 5, 2008

A congressionally requested study of the federal research-review agency cheers federal officials but leaves critics unsatisfied. Updated: December 2, 2008

Noted Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner is leading a team studying the social and ethical norms of young people on the Web. November 14, 2008

A fellowship program funds studies designed to cater more to educators’ real-world concerns than to the expectations of academia. November 6, 2008

The use of rating scales as a way to encourage child-care centers and preschools to improve their programs continues to grow in popularity across the states, even as researchers say states need to do more to share what they find and to demonstrate whether rating systems improve learning. October 28, 2008

Policymakers need to turn the nation’s school finance systems on their head by connecting education dollars to student-achievement goals and outcomes, according to a study released today. October 27, 2008

Checklist of questions helps test creators avoid needless confusion for students with disabilities. October 20, 2008

New research finds that many countries consistently produce a higher percentage of girls with elite math skills than the United States does, which it attributes to a tendency in American society to discourage girls from pursuing those studies. October 17, 2008

For years, academically gifted children were thought to fit neatly into a category. But developmental psychologists are learning that people who are gifted are not categorized quite so neatly. October 14, 2008

Making brain research on such topics as executive function digestible to educators in the field is a central goal of a cross-disciplinary project underway in Baltimore. October 7, 2008

A 15-year research project found that students in career academies were no more likely to attend college than those in traditional high schools, but they earned more money by their mid-20s. Updated: October 3, 2008

New analysis joins a small but growing body of research on absenteeism in the early grades. September 30, 2008

Amid shrinking budgets and staff limitations, education departments say they can’t meet the technical requirements for helping struggling schools under the federal law, a study finds. Updated: September 23, 2008

To tap into the large pool of potential teachers outside the field, policymakers should rethink the training and recruitment of midcareer professionals and address pay and working conditions, a new report suggests. September 10, 2008

A new study concludes that while teachers appear to be adjusting how they do their jobs, principals and district leaders are not necessarily in control of those instructional changes. September 8, 2008

A consortium of seven universities received a grant to establish a research group that will search for successful methods for educating a group of students that some experts see as long overlooked. September 2, 2008

Many students who leave school do return, but schools face disincentives for welcoming them back, a new study suggests. Updated: September 4, 2008

The Schott Foundation pledges to step up advocacy efforts to close the gap. August 5, 2008

Hundreds of education researchers across the country are getting the gift of time to pursue research and hone methodological skills, through fellowships aimed at nurturing young talent in the field. July 28, 2008

Advocates for researchers and statisticians are at odds with federal education officials and their advisers over the best way to shield the National Center for Education Statistics from political interference. June 16, 2008

Educators, parents, and communities should make a more concerted effort to help rudderless youths find a clear direction and purpose as they enter adulthood, suggests a new book. June 9, 2008

As Reading First nears the six-year mark, no clear empirical picture has emerged of how well the federal program is doing nationally to bring struggling readers to proficiency. June 3, 2008

Yale University researchers are pilot-testing an assessment for identifying gifted and talented children that taps intellectual skills other than those captured by traditional intelligence tests. May 20, 2008

Preliminary findings suggest that in three states where voters decided to replace bilingual education with structured English immersion may be producing less-than-stellar results. Updated: May 30, 2008

The statistician who pioneered the use of “value added” research techniques is disputing a critique of his approach that was published recently in a prominent academic journal. Updated: July 17, 2008

As value-added research designs gain in popularity and undergo increasing scrutiny, experts are beginning to wave cautionary flags about how best to make use of them in education. Updated: May 6, 2008

The California Dropout Research Project was created in part to help determine how many students quit school before they graduate. April 28, 2008

A project at Stanford University works with local communities to collect data from multiple child-serving agencies to inform policy and program decisions. April 22, 2008

Grassroots organizing efforts are driving a boost in parent involvement, more-equitable distribution of funding, and better academic achievement, according to researchers from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Updated: April 16, 2008

The Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education specializes in calculating and comparing the long- and short-term costs—and probable payoffs—of different educational strategies that promise to improve students’ lives. April 8, 2008

The U.S. Department of Education is reviewing a less stringent set of rules for maintaining federal security and protecting the privacy of people who take part in federally subsidized research. March 28, 2008

A new volume of research papers makes the case that innovations aimed at giving families more say in where their children go to school can be whatever their architects make of them. Updated: July 17, 2008

New research suggests that having to hire substitutes affects more than just a district’s finances. March 18, 2008

Training in the arts might contribute to improving the general thinking skills of children and adults, a study concludes. March 7, 2008

Observers are trying to divine what the upcoming political shifts in Washington might mean for the U.S. Department of Education’s effort to make education an “evidence based” field. March 4, 2008

Smaller classes may help some students, but not all, research shows. Updated: March 6, 2008

According to a new survey, 77 percent of students and more than 80 percent of teachers and parents say homework is important or very important. February 15, 2008

Experts are beginning to contend that the case is growing stronger for physical activity's link to improved brain function. February 12, 2008

An ambitious project run by two universities is the largest, most comprehensive and representative study to date of children’s development in rural America. February 5, 2008

In an era when the U.S. Supreme Court is putting sharp limits on race-conscious student-assignment policies, the guidance from an upcoming book is bound to draw detractors. January 29, 2008

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will soon have a new president with a strong national reputation as a precollegiate education researcher. January 18, 2008

Research from a recent wave of K-8 conversions suggests that determining what kind of grade configurations are best for students is still a complicated and unsettled matter. January 15, 2008

Few studies have examined whether culture-based instruction affects the achievement of language-minority students, despite its popularity with many educators. January 8, 2008

A forthcoming research review analyzes school-based programs designed to foster children’s social and emotional skills. December 18, 2007

While it may sound like a given that added learning time can translate to better test scores, research suggests that whether it does remains an open question. December 11, 2007

Implicit in some of the coverage was the hopeful idea that many children eventually grow out of the disorder. But that’s not exactly true. December 3, 2007

Students who regularly attend top-notch after-school programs end up academically far ahead of peers who spend more out-of-school time in unsupervised activities, a study found. November 27, 2007

The Brookings Institution has unveiled a volume of studies on the potential effects of the federal law’s various provisions on this vulnerable population of students. November 8, 2007

Students from low-income households could constitute more than half of K-12 enrollment in public schools nationally within 10 years, a report contends. November 2, 2007

January 8, 2009 |All RSS feeds All RSS feeds
Most Popular Stories

Recommended

no data

Commented

no data

Advertisement

New! Free Content on edweek.org

More free content is now available on edweek.org than ever before. Get free access to news, chats, blogs, newsletters, and much more.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Sponsored Advertiser Links

EW Archive