Tara Parker-Pope reports on a study which examines the benefits of allowing students to choose their own books for summer reading. Researcher Anne McGill-Franzen noted ”If those books get them into reading, that has great repercussions for making them smarter….Teachers and middle-class parents undervalue kids’ preferences, but I think we need to give up being so uptight about children’s choices in books.”
Posts Tagged ‘Academics’
Any book is a summer must-read for kids
Monday, August 9th, 2010Six ways to raise a smart kid
Monday, July 12th, 2010Lynn O’Shaughnessy, contributor to moneywatch.com, reports on a new study that finds “a strong correlation between the number of books a family owns and a child’s academic track record.” O’Shaughnessy also reports on a study by Freakonomists Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, who determined six factors for a child’s success in school.
The six positive factors for a child’s success in school are:
- The child has educated parents.
- The parents have high socioeconomic status.
- The parents are involved in the PTA.
- The mother was at least 30 at the time of her first child’s birth.
- The parents speak English at home.
- The child has many books at home.
Unable to write clear, cogent sentences
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Kara Miller, professor of English at Babson College and contributor to the Boston Globe, writes on the inability of college students to write clear, cogent sentences and its costly implication for the digital age.
Newsweek’s high school ranking
Monday, August 3rd, 2009In a web exclusive, Newsweek has published a controversial high school ranking of the top 1500 high schools in the US. ”Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2008 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured this way.”
Interest in AP courses grows
Monday, April 6th, 2009The Journal Times’ David Steinkraus reports on the increasing interest in AP courses and the value of a more rigorous course load.
“A study recently produced by the College Board shows that students who take AP courses do better in college, and those who take both the courses and the exam do even better. The College Board also produces the AP tests — so there is a question about its own study — but that study fits into a pattern of other work and the experiences of local school and college staff.”
College students expect A’s and B’s
Monday, March 30th, 2009This New York Times article reports that students have come to expect good grades at the college level and their professors are responding to this sense of entitlement with growing frustration.
The 4 R’s?
Thursday, February 26th, 2009The New York Times reports on research which ”suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.”
Strategies for math tests
Friday, December 19th, 2008StudentHacks.org offers some strategies for math tests, including:
- Estimate first
- Write down memorized formulas on your test
- Answer the easy questions first
- …and eight other tips
Reading, Writing, and Boys
Friday, November 21st, 2008Peg Tyre recounts how boys thrive in reading and writing when given the right educational environment:
“[I]f you use phonics you can actually improve the achievement of all kids and buck the national trend by keeping boys from falling behind girls in reading. For example, in the U.K. they have begun to use an amped-up phonics program that involves manipulating refrigerator magnet letters on a magnet board, which has shown to be successful for boys. Secondly, you can sustain these achievements by getting more boy-friendly reading material in the classroom–humor, non-fiction, action, Captain Underpants, Sports Illustrated.
“You can also help boys become better writers by opening up the parameters of what is an acceptable topic to write about. Many boys don’t tend to spin out narratives in their heads about relationships. Often, they are oriented around plot and action.”
The benefits of being busy
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008The Washington Post reports that busy students aren’t stressed out–they’re thriving!
“Two studies based on data about how children spend their days show that only a minority are heavily scheduled and that organized activities are linked to positive outcomes in school, emotional development, family life and behavior.
“The children most at risk have no activities at all, the studies showed.”