WSU Library News Spring 2009

Here is the WSU Library News from Spring 2009, with live links

Nation's Report Card

The 2008 Long-Term Trend Report Card was released on April 28, 2009. The Nation's Report Card site you can access reports for economics, U.S. History, reading and other curricular areas, watch webcasts and access data tools.

Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2008

NCES has released the report Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2008.A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and NCES, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. Data on crime away from school are also presented to place school crime in the context of crime in the larger society. (Source: IES Newsflash 4/21/2009)

New version of NAEP Data Explorer released!

The new NAEP Data Explorer (NDE) takes advantage of the latest internet technology to present users with a friendlier interface, enhanced analysis selections, and improved reporting options. NDE users will find powerful graphing capabilities, achievement levels as variables or statistics, new Large Central City and National Private jurisdictions, and the option to perform gap analysis on any combination of variables, years, or jurisdictions.

The new NDE will also improve the way in which the user is able to interact with the reports he has created, customizing them and exporting them beyond the NDE application into a variety of formats, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PDF, and HTML. (IES Newsflash 4/9/2009)

NCES updates the Career/Technical Education (CTE) Statistics

The CTES website includes tables describing career/technical education (CTE) at three levels: 1) secondary/high school CTE, 2) postsecondary/college career education, and 3) adult education for work. These tables are updated periodically to incorporate new CTE-related topics and data from new surveys. In this update, two sets of tables were added to the postsecondary/college career education tables:  1) a set of 21 tables with state-level information on institutional offerings and credentials awarded in CTE, and 2)  a set of 7 tables describing CTE students' enrollment characteristics, for the 12 states that were oversampled in the 2003-04 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. (IES Newsflash 4/8/2009)

NAEP Presentations at the 2009 AERA/NCME Meetings April 12–17, San Diego, California

NCES has a listing of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) related professional development training sessions that will be offered at the AERA conference in San Diego.

2008 Digest of Education Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Digest of Education Statistics, 2008." The Digest's primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest 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. IES Newsflash 3/18/2009

Michigan Online Resources for Educators Debuts!

The Library of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Education and Wayne State University today announced the official launch the Michigan Online Resources for Educators (MORE), a growing Web-based collection of thousands of high-quality, digitally available information resources that are aligned with State of Michigan grade-level and high school content expectations.

MORE contents are culled from well-known education resources like ThinkFinity and include lesson plans, curriculum guides, interactive games and Web sites, career-development guides, parenting information and much more.

Each MORE category includes links to sub-categories that distill the resources down to individual teaching concepts. For example, within the English Language Arts section, users can choose from sub-topics like American Literature, Debate, Expository Writing, Listening Comprehension or Speech, and then dig deeper into lesson plans and creative teaching aids like ABCs of the Writing Process and the Linguistic Lesson Plans Database.

Helping Michigan educators even further, many of the resources available within MORE are already aligned with the State of Michigan’s grade-level content expectations (GLCEs) and high school content expectations (HSCEs), and additional resources are on track for alignment. This alignment is not done by machines but by Michigan educators working in their content areas. Flanagan applauded the efforts that have made MORE a reality.

Seeking to keep educators firmly a part of the GLCE and HSCE alignment process, the MORE partners will hold spring and summer alignment workshops and teacher participation is crucial. Teachers and media specialists interested in being a part of this valuable work should contact Barbara Fardell, manager of educational technology in the Department of Education’s Office of Grants Coordination & School Support, at fardellb@michigan.gov.

State Education Reforms website adds ELL policies

The recent NCES State Education Reforms (SER) website modifications include the addition of a a new table on state policies regarding the teaching of English Language Learners in the "staff qualifications and development" area. To locate these tables on the website, please look for the "Updated!" and "New!" tags next to the table titles. (IES Newsflash Subscription Service [IESWebmaster@ed.gov])

Course Credit Accrual and Dropping Out of High School

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Course Credit Accrual and Dropping Out of High School, by Student Characteristics."

Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, this report examines the number of credits earned by high school students and the relationship between course credit accrual and dropping out. Findings indicate that high school dropouts earned fewer credits than did on-time graduates within each year of high school, and the cumulative course credit accrual gap increased with each subsequent year.

International Comparison: Math & Science Achievement for US 4th and 8th Grade Students

This report from the National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences summarizes the performance of U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade students on the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), comparing their scores with their peers internationally as well as documenting changes in mathematics and science achievement since 1995. The report also describes additional details about trends in the achievement of students within the United States, by sex, racial/ethnic background, and the poverty level of the schools they attend.

TIMSS is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), an international organization of national research institutions and governmental research agencies. The United States participate in all four TIMSS administrations: 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. (IES Newsflash 12/9/2008)

Purdy Library Reference Area Redesign

To create a more comfortable environment for our library users, we will be installing new furniture in the computer and reference area on the first floor of Purdy Library.This installation will begin December 18 and will last through the holiday break. Library users will not have access to this area during that time. However, the stacks will be open to users and reference services will be available. We apologize for any inconvenience and encourage patrons to visit the Undergraduate Library or the Science & Engineering Library during the upgrade.

Click this link to see a simulation of the redesigned Purdy Reference area. The first 50 seconds of this video is the Purdy side of the library.

Public School Enrollment report issued by IES

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2006-07."

This report presents 2006-07 school year information at the national and state level on student enrollment by grade and by race/ethnicity within grade, the numbers of teachers and other education staff, and several student/staff ratios.
From IES Newsflash service, 11/24/2008

From Education Week: "Study to Size Up Doctoral Programs"

"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.

The field of education produces an estimated 1,800 doctorates a year, according to the American Educational Research Association, which is overseeing the three-year study with the National Academy of Education, known as NEAD. Such programs, however, have come under scrutiny in recent years, with scholars and policymakers complaining that they suffer from uneven quality and “mission muddle.” Education Week, October 29, 2008

WSU Students, Faculty and Staff can access the Oct 29, 2008 issue of Education Week via the ProQuest Research Library database:

Student Victimization in US Schools--New Report from NCES

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Student Victimization in U.S. Schools Results From the 2005 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey."

This report provides estimates of student victimization as defined by the 2005 School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the 2005 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). This report incorporates findings from student respondents ages 12-18 in grades 6-12 that were interviewed during the 2005 school year.

It shows that student victims of crime are more likely to report conditions of an unfavorable school climate, security measures at school, and exhibit fear and avoidance behaviors. Additional topics covered in this report include the prevalence and type of student victimization at school and selected characteristics of victims, including their demographic characteristics and school type; and victim and nonvictim reports of the presence of gangs and weapons and the availability of drugs.
Posting from IES Newsflash 10/21/2008

RAND Research Brief: Florida's Middle School Reading Coaches: What Do They Do? Are They Effective?

This research brief reports the results of a study examining the implementation and effectiveness of a middle school reading coach program in Florida. "Reading coaches in Florida middle schools have helped teachers and administrators build their knowledge and skills, and have had a positive influence on students' motivation to read, but their impact on achievement is mixed, a report on the little-studied topic says." (Education Week, 9/17/2008)

Projections of Education Statistics to 2017 NCES Report Released

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Projections of Education Statistics to 2017."

This publication provides projections for key education statistics. It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred 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 2017. 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 2017. In addition, the report includes a methodology section describing models and assumptions used to develop national and state-level projections.

To view, download and print the report as a PDF file, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008078
(From IES Newsflash Subscription Service announcement 9/17/2008)

Reading First Heads for Extinction

From Education Week, July 15, 2008: House and Senate panels decided to eliminate its funding in the fiscal 2009 budget. The Ed Money Watch blog weighs in on this decision.

Policy Archive--Education

PolicyArchive is digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research. Through the PolicyArchive, you can access summaries and full texts, videos, reports, briefs, and multimedia material of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research. PolicyArchive is supported by the non-profit Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) in partnership with the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) University Library and major U.S. charitable foundations.

NCES Report Released: Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the U.S. 2005-06

The National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the report "Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2005-06 (NCES 2008-339)."

"This annual report provides basic information from the Common Core of Data about the nation's largest public school districts in the 2005-06 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. Findings include: In 2005-06, these 100 largest districts enrolled 23 percent of all public school students and employed 22 percent of all public school teachers. The districts produced 20 percent of all high school completers (both diploma and other completion credential recipients) in 2004-05. Across the districts, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 69.5 percent. Three states -- California, Florida, and Texas -- accounted for almost half of the 100 largest public school districts. Current per-pupil expenditures in fiscal year 2003 ranged from a low of $5,104 in the Puerto Rico School District to a high of $18,878 in the District of Columbia Public School District." IES Newsflash