National achievement data released this month included an unexpected bright spot.
A study published by Education Researcher shows that current and former English Language Learners in grades four and eight have made impressive gains in math and reading over the last 15 years, improving at a rate that was two to three times faster than their monolingual peers.
Continue reading Study Shows Impressive Academic Gains Among English Language Learners
Could shifting school schedules help teens succeed?
Pediatrician Aaron E. Carroll thinks so. In a blog published by New York Times in 2016, the doctor cites research showing that later start times are linked to higher rates of attendance and achievement among high school students.
Teenagers need about nine to 10 hours of sleep a night, Carroll writes. But, in many cases, extracurricular activities and homework — combined with an early school start time — make it difficult for teens to catch enough zzz’s.
Continue reading Pediatrician: Later School Start Times Could Boost Achievement
Have low-income students been effectively shut out of public four-year institutions of higher education?
A new report by the National College Access Network (NCAN) examines this question and the results aren’t pretty.
Only 25 percent of residential public four-year institutions meet NCAN’s measure of affordability, data show.
Yale University’s most popular course ever may be one of the best indicators of the mental health of incoming and current college students.
Psyc 157, “Psychology and the Good Life,” a twice-weekly lecture that tries to teach students how to live happier lives, enrolled nearly a quarter of the entire student body this semester. It is reportedly the most popular course in Yale’s 316-year-long history.
The course is led by psychology professor Laurie Santos who speculates that the college admission process and the high-pressure campus environment it fosters are behind the class’s popularity. In high school, she said, students had to deprioritize happiness to gain admission to school, leading them to adopt unhealthy and harmful life habits that culminate in “the mental health crises we’re seeing at places like Yale.”
Continue reading Popularity of Happiness Course Shines a Spotlight on Student Mental Health
Editor’s Note: National Teacher Appreciation Day was celebrated on Tuesday, May 8. National Teacher Appreciation Week runs through Friday, May 11.
We hear about all the great teachers in the counseling office. The one who set the times tables to the tune of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” ensuring kids will remember them forever, even if it will take a while to get to eight times nine. Mr. Jones, the history teacher who dressed up like Benjamin Franklin for an entire week and never once broke character. The 10th grade English teacher who finally explained “i after e” in a way that made sense. When you put that much thought into a lesson, it makes for memorable teaching.
Of course, that’s not the only way teachers become memorable. The teacher who said just the right words at just the right time to the bully who had incredible art talent, making the student more comfortable with who they really were, and less of a bully. The teacher who wore the cut-rate perfume a special needs student gave her at Christmas, every time that student had a spelling test—the same perfume she’d wear when attending that student’s graduation from medical school. The teacher who shows up at the Saturday soccer league and cheers loudly for all her students on the sidelines, even though her students are spread throughout both teams, and it’s 40 degrees out.
Over a third of college students aren’t getting enough to eat, according to a survey of more than 43,000 students at 66 US colleges and universities.
The data was collected by the Wisconsin HOPE lab. And while researchers say the survey wasn’t designed to be representative of colleges nationwide, it is believed to be the best national estimate available — and it raises important questions about college access and success.
Continue reading Campus Hunger: 36% of College Students Don’t Get Enough to Eat
In an effort to combat stereotypes and poverty, one Arizona college has come up with a creative way to engage its largely first-generation student population.
Sixty-six percent of Arizona Western College’s nearly 8,000 undergrads identify as first-gen students. And according to recent data from the Community College Benchmark Project, 22 percent of Arizona Western’s students have annual family incomes of less than $20,000. The median family income for the school is $34,200.
Continue reading Arizona College Celebrates First-Gen Students
Tuition-free college? It sounds too good to be true, but for some transfer students in Wisconsin and Oregon, it will soon be a reality.
Continue reading Colleges Create Tuition-Free Pathways for Transfer Students
Could applying to college soon be a graduation requirement? Maybe in New Mexico.
A new statewide bill would require public school juniors to apply to at least one two- or four-year college, according to the Associated Press.
Continue reading New Mexico May Become First State to Require Students Apply to College
Single moms are among the fastest growing populations on college campuses, but the group’s graduation rates don’t reflect this positive trend.
There are about 2.1 million single moms in college, according to a recent report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Single moms now comprise more than 11 percent of college students, up from 7.8 percent in 1999.
However, only 28 percent of single moms who entered college between 2003 and 2009 completed their degree or certificate program within six years. Compare this to 40 percent of married mothers or 57 percent of women in college without children.
Continue reading Report: More Single Moms Pursuing Higher Ed