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Better Data Seen as Vital to Improving Nation's Schools

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)

Study Calls for Tightly Tying School Funding to Strategic Goals

A six-year investigation yields a call for remaking a system that researchers see as disconnected from student-learning priorities. (December 2, 2008)

Institute of Education Sciences' Board Calls Agency's Past 5 Years a Success

A congressionally mandated report says the Institute of Education Sciences has improved the quality of federally financed education studies. (November 25, 2008)

'What Works' Process for Assessing Studies Called Valid

A congressionally requested study of the federal research-review agency cheers federal officials but leaves critics unsatisfied. (November 21, 2008)

No Effect on Comprehension Seen From 'Reading First'

The $6 billion spent on the program has helped students with basic decoding but not with understanding, a major study finds. (November 19, 2008)

Project Probes Digital Media's Effect on Ethics

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

Program Lets Urban Districts Call Shots on Research

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

Analysis Tracks Teachers’ Use of Discretionary Leave Time

Like other professionals, teachers appear to be dipping into their sick time in order to run errands, do holiday shopping, or extend a weekend, a new analysis suggests. (November 3, 2008)

Intensive Induction Shows Little Impact

A new study of two programs found they did not noticeably change teachers’ instructional practices, boost rates of teacher retention, or improve student-achievement outcomes, after a year of implementation. (October 30, 2008)

Preschool Rating Systems Need Fine-Tuning, Study Says

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)

Overhaul School Finance Systems, Researchers Urge

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)

Study Will Size Up Doctoral Programs for Education Researchers

Two national education groups are launching a first-time effort to assess—and possibly even rank—the hundreds of doctoral programs that prepare education researchers. (October 24, 2008)

U.S. Urban Students Middling vs. Foreign Peers

Six out of 11 U.S. city school systems performed at or above the average for developed nations in 4th grade math, according to an analysis linking national and international test results. Only two of the 11 districts beat out the 8th grade average. (October 22, 2008)

Researchers Piloting 'Accessible' Guidelines

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

American Culture Seen to Thwart Girls' Math Development

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)

'Gifted' Label Said to Miss Dynamic Nature of Talent

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)

Top U.S. Education Research Officials to Step Down

The chiefs of the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics led the push to make school research a more evidence-based field. (October 10, 2008)