Condition of Education 2008

The National Center for Education Statistics has released The Condition of Education 2008, a congressionally mandated report that provides an annual portrait of education in the United States

• This year, public school enrollment is expected to approach about 50 million students. Total public school enrollment is projected to set new records each year from 2008 to 2017, at which time it is expected to reach 54.1 million.
• Minority students make up 43 percent of the public school enrollment overall.
• In 2005–06, about a third of Black students and a third of Hispanic students attended high-poverty schools compared with 4 percent of White students.
• Average reading scores of 4th- and 8th-graders were higher in 2007 than in 1992.
• Average mathematics scores increased 27 points for 4th-graders and 19 points for 8th-graders between 1990 and 2007.
• Among public high school students in the class of 2005, about three-fourths graduated on time.
  

IES Newsflash 5/29/2008

Report to the Community on the Education for the 21st Century High School Redesign Initiative: 2002-2007 and Beyond

Sacremento City Unified School District and LEED (Linking Education and Economic Development) have partnered since 2001 to transform the City's six high schools into 42 distinct, theme-based choices to reflect the community’s workforce needs and economic objectives. Their redesign report highlights the redesign accomplishments, lessons learned, ongoing challenges and ways in which the community can help support the district, high schools and students.

Reading First Suffers Another Blow: Interim Report shows "no significant effect"

"The beleaguered Reading First program is likely to receive another round of scrutiny, as the U.S. Department of Education released an interim report on Thursday saying that the federally supported program has had no significant effect on students' reading-comprehension skills." Reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, May 5, 2008

Still a Nation at Risk?

From Newsweek Magazine, 4/24/2008
"This weekend marks 25 years since the publication of the U.S. Department of Education's explosive report "A Nation at Risk." Its powerful indictment of American education launched the largest education-reform movement in the nation's history, paving the way for strategies as different as charter schools and the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. But even after a vast political and financial investment spanning two and a half decades, we're far from achieving the report's ambitious aims. "

Graduation Rate Watch: Making Minority Student Success a Priority

"Some colleges have found ways to improve the graduation rates of black students, and others should adopt their methods, a new report" states a new report from Education Sector. Announcement from Chronicle of Higher Education, 4/24/2008.

Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2004-05

"This annual report provides basic information from the Common Core of Data about the nation's largest public school districts in the 2004-05 school year. The data include such characteristics as the numbers of students and teachers, number of high school completers and the averaged freshman graduation rate, and revenues and expenditures." NCES Newsflash, 4/1/2008

2007 Digest of Education Statistics released

From NCES, a "compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest of Education Statistics contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons." NCES Newsflash announcement, 3/25/08

Graduation Rates Map

A graduate rates map from edweek.org, searchable by district or city. This is also now available in the Statistics section of the WSULS Education Subject Guide.

New databases available through EbscoHOST

The WSU Library System now provides access to the following databases through EbscoHOST. You can search databases individually by going directly to the appropriate database page under Articles & Databases, or go directly to the EbscoHOST gateway to search mulitple databases simultaneously.

New databases available are:

• Family Studies Abstracts
• Race Relations Abstracts
• Urban Studies Abstracts
• Public Administration Abstracts
• Abstracts in Social Gerontology

These databases include access to journal articles in publications such as: Journal of Social Issues, Ethnic & Racial Studies, Urban Affairs Review, Urban Education, Public Money & Management, Journal of Ageing and Social Policy and International Psychogeriatrics.

Use the Sign in to my EbscoHOST link to create your own account in any of the EbscoHOST databases, and you can save searches, create search alerts, save search results, and more.

Journal of Educational Technology Systems

The WSU Library System now has the Journal of Educational Technology Systems available online back to Volume 1, 1972.

2007 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well are American Students Learning?

"Published by the Brown Center on American Education at the Brookings Institution, this report asks the question: "How well are American students learning?" Released in December 2007, this most recent edition of the report examines the latest test score data on math and reaching achievement. The report also offers analyses of enrollment patterns in private and public schools as well as an international comparison of national math scores. Tom Loveless, the director of the Brown Center, authored the report and it covers a great deal of ground and provides in-depth analysis of these topics. Visitors should also note that the Brookings site also contains a press release, a presentation by Loveless and video clips from the launch event for the report." Source: unknown blog posting

Projections of Education Statistics to 2016

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has just released the report "Projections of Education Statistics to 2016".

"This publication provides projections for key education statistics. It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment, earned degrees conferred, and current-fund expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2016. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2016. In addition, the report includes a methodology section describing models and assumptions used to develop national and state-level projections." (From NCES)

ERIC Thesaurus Update

Since the ERIC restructuring, several descriptors have been added, recinded or changed (and in some cases, recinded and added back). Here is a list of ERIC Thesaurus changes as of Spring 2007.

Doing What Works--New Dept. of Education Clearinghouse

A new US Dept. of Education website called Doing What Works launched on Nov. 2. It is focused on translating research-based practice (as exemplified in the Dept's What Works Clearinghouse) into tools that can be used by teachers to support and improve classroom instruction. The first topic focused on in the Doing What Works site is resources for K-5 English Language Learners. The What Works Clearinghouse and Doing What Works are linked to the WSU Education subject guide under the heading Internet Resources - Government & International Agency Resources

New Report on Sex Education released

A growing number of sex education programs that support both abstinence
and the use of contraception for sexually active teens have now shown positive effects in delaying first intercourse, improving contraceptive use, and preventing pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease among teens, according to a new report released today by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The Report is titled Emerging Answers 2007: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy and
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and is authored by researcher Douglas Kirby, Ph.D., claims to be "the most comprehensive review to date of evaluation research that answers the question, what programs work to prevent teen pregnancy and STDs." 115 programs were evaluated for the report.

New Joint Commission On Math And Science Education

Carnegie Corporation Of New York And Institute For Advanced Study recently announced the establishment of a Joint Commission On Math And Science Education Commission. The commission's members include Prominent Educators, Business Leaders, Current and Former Governors, and Academics. The group plans to assess the current state of teaching in science and mathematics at colleges and elementary and secondary schools, and to identify and analyze successes and failures.

Cambridge Journals Online at WSU

WSU now has access to several Cambridge Journals online. Explore our titles by connecting to Cambridge Journals Online . Once you get to the Cambridge Journals Online site, select Subscribed To under Browse Journals on the left side of the screen. There are several titles of interest to the College of Education, including Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Language Teaching, Ageing & Society.

Strategic Education Research Partnership

"The mission of the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP) is to build a coherent, “use-inspired” program of research and development focused on the problems of classroom practice, and school and district management. To carry out its mission, SERP will establish partnerships with a set of school districts that agree to serve as “field sites:” places where ongoing collaborations between practitioners, researchers, and developers can support sustained investigations of approaches to improving student outcomes." (SERP website) Current field sites include Boston, Illinois and San Francisco.

"Inspired by a series of reports from the National Research Council from 2001 to 2003, the nonprofit partnership was created as a vehicle to improve educational research through studies aimed at solving practical problems." Education Week, 10/10/2007

Henry Ford Academies connects with FMC Fund and Gates Foundation

"The Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Company Fund, and the Seattle-based Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have invested a combined $11.5 million to start a national network of community-based high schools and to open community-based high schools in urban communities in the Midwest. The Henry Ford Learning Institute, which was founded in 2003 in partnership with Ford Motor Company, will use the $8.5 million portion of Ford Motor Company’s contribution to start a national network of schools, while the $3 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will support the launch of five Henry Ford Academies in Midwest urban communities. The high schools funded by this combined investment will follow the model of the original Henry Ford Academy, a charter high school founded in 1997 in Dearborn, Mich." From Education Week 10/10/2007

National Center for Education Research "Best Practice" Guides

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) recently published two practice guides in education. These guides are intended to sythesize the best available evidence and expertise on timely topics in education.

The two new guides are:
Encouraging Girls in Math and Science
Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning