Education News: April 25, 2008

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending April 25, 2008.

Study Suggests Math Teachers Scrap Balls and Slices
(Source:  The New York Times, 4/25/08):  Researchers at Ohio State University have found that the use of concrete examples when teaching abstract math concepts may obscure rather than clarify the underlying math.  Such examples, which run the gamut from dividing apple slices amongst friends to determining when and where two trains will meet, are common in math instruction, but their usefulness had not previously been studied.  In the Ohio State study, one group of students was taught math concepts abstractly and another was taught with examples; then the two groups had to apply the concepts in a new activity.  The group with the abstract instruction performed far better.

Studies: SAT Writing Portion Good Predictor of Grades
(Source:  USA Today, 4/25/08):  According to a new report from the College Board, the writing portion of the SAT test predicts the academic success of college freshmen better than the test’s math or verbal sections.  A study on the same topic by the University of California arrived at similar conclusions.  The writing portion of the SAT was instituted in 2005, but many colleges still do not require applicants to submit these scores.

For Many California Ninth Graders, It’s Shape Up or More PE
(Source:  The Sacramento Bee, 4/24/08):  Many California school districts are trying a new approach to encouraging young people to maintain active, healthy lifestyles.  Ninth graders in these districts will have to take physical fitness tests in six areas – overall flexibility, upper body strength and endurance, trunk strength and flexibility, abdominal strength and endurance, aerobic capacity, and body fat measurements.  Students who fail in two or more areas will have to take another year of physical education class and will continue having to do so until they pass in five of the six areas.

For Children, a Better Beginning
(Source:  The Washington Post, 4/24/08):  A new study tracking 25 markers of childhood well-being from 1994 to 2006 has yielded encouraging results.  The study, which was performed by a Duke University demographer, looked at a range of factors, including lead paint exposure, math and reading scores, vaccination rates, death rates, and many others.  Overall, it calculated a ten-percent increase in the well-being of children today versus those in 1994.

New Plan to Lessen Dropout Crisis
(Source:  The Chicago Tribune, 4/22/08):  The U.S. Department of Education has announced that, going forward, schools will be required to ensure that poor and minority students achieve the same graduation rates as white and more affluent students.  Schools that fail to do so will face the same sanctions that result from falling short of other No Child Left Behind goals.  According to some estimates, as many as 50 percent of minority students do not graduate from high school

Technology Puts More Pupils in the Mainstream
(Source:  The Boston Globe, 4/21/08):  Schools are increasingly finding ways to use technology to integrate students with various disabilities into mainstream classes.  The trend comes as a result of No Child Left Behind, the renewal of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and technological advances.  Classroom technology is now helping students with blindness, dyslexia, mental retardation, autism, and other disabilities learn alongside their non-disabled classmates.