BCTF Information Services—Research & Reports

Heinrich Mintrop and Gail L. Sunderman
Why High Stakes Accountability Sounds Good But Doesn't Work - And Why We Keep on Doing It Anyway 
Los Angeles, CA: The Civil Rights Project (UCLA), April 2009, 33 pages

Researchers found that NCLB is not working for a number of reasons including,

1. it has not improved student achievement;
2. high numbers of schools are being mislabeled as 'failing' - far beyond the capability of states to effectively intervene; and
3. the NCLB law does not connect meaningfully with educators who must implement it. Teachers don't see the accountability goals as realistic and they believe the sanctions are misguided and counterproductive.

Overall, researchers of this project found that NCLB is doing significant damage to the education system.

Hugh Mackenzie
Roots of the Crisis: Growing Inequality Sowed the Seeds for an Economic Meltdown 
2009 Sefton Memorial Lecture (University of Toronto), March 12, 2009

On the economic crisis, Mackenzie says, "In short, the conservative ideas that got us into this mess -- ideas that created the steady drift towards greater inequality, that celebrated greed and excess and denigrated hard work and moderation, that celebrated the deterioration in the bargaining power of employees relative to their employers, that ripped up the regulations that restricted corporate behaviour, that conned us into a trade-off of public services for tax cuts that mostly benefited a small minority at the top of the income and wealth scale – have been exposed for the servants of privilege that they are."

See also Exposed: Revealing Truths About Canada's Recession by CCPA Senior Economist Armine Yalnizyan. The study examines Canada's previous 13 economic downturns and discovers two troubling signs: no other recession since the Great Depression has come on this strong; and Canadians face greater vulnerability than at any time since the 1940s because of low savings, high household debt and a weakened social safety net.

The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Past, Present, and Future
New York: MetLife, 2009

This very thorough and comprehensive survey of U.S. teachers finds that a majority of teachers (62%) are very satisfied with their careers. However areas of concern among educators include teacher recruitment and retention, student dropout rates, standardized tests, parental support, poverty and poor nutrition. Today, less than half the teachers surveyed were in favour of standardized tests compared to 61% in 1984.

Sean F. Reardon and Others
Effects of the California High School Exit Exam on Student Persistence, Achievement, and Graduation 
Los Angeles, CA: UCLA, April 21, 2009 (Full Report - 64 pages; Executive Summary - 5 pages; or Press Release)

The study finds that the California High School Exit Exam has lowered the graduation rates of 'at-risk' students of colour and of girls by 15-20 percentage points.

Furthermore, the study found that the exam policy had no positive student achievement effects overall.

Donald J. Hernandez, Nancy A. Denton, and Suzanne Macartney.
Children in Immigrant Families: The U.S. and 50 States: Economic Need Beyond the Official Poverty Measure 
Child Trends & the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, University at Albany, SUNY: Research Brief Series, April 2009.

This research brief reports that nearly one-half of children in immigrant families live in poverty when basic living and child care costs are taken into account.

Debra Piotrowski and James Hoot
Bullying and Violence in Schools: What Teachers Should Know and Do 
ACEI (Association for Childhood Education International) International Focus Issue 2008

This article recently won a distinguished achievement award from the Association of Educational Publishers. It provides up-to-date knowledge, research, classroom techniques, and training information for teachers dealing with bullying.

Practical suggestions and models of anti-bullying programs make this a very useful article.

Council of Ministers of Education, Canada
Press Release: CMEC Launches Literacy Forum Legacy
April 15, 2009

The legacy materials which can be accessed at www.Forum2008.cmec.ca cover literacy resources from early learning throughout the school years into adulthood.

Of particular interest are the forum presentations, including the one by Dr. Avis Glaze, Results without Rancour or Ranking.

Anne Motte and Saul Schwartz
Are Student Employment and Academic Success Linked?
Millennium Research Note #9
Montreal: Millennium Scholarships, April 2009; 15 pages

Although this study is about university students, the trends likely to apply to high schools students as well. The study found that "working among post-secondary students has increased to historically high levels and is harming the academic success of some students."

Nicholas D. Kristof
How to Raise our I.Q.
New York Times, April 15, 2009

Kristof discusses a new book on the topic of I.Q. by Richard Nisbett, as well as research on this same subject by University of Virginia professor Eric Turkheimer. Both the book and the study point to variability in I.Q. related to the degree of wealth or poverty in households.

Nisbett not only shows us how I.Q. can be improved, but he also addresses the issues of poverty and inequality in America.  

Turkheimer notes that "when poor children are adopted into upper-middle-class households, their IQ's rise by 12 to 18 points," leading him to declare, "Bad environments suppress children's I.Q.s."

Gene V. Glass
The Realities of K-12 Virtual Education
Boulder: University of Arizona, April 2009; 18 pages

Well-known education researcher Gene Glass notes that virtual education is becoming increasingly widespread in public education. In this policy brief he discusses concerns about the benefits of full-time schools as well as issues of cost, accreditation, evaluation and the increased commercialization of schooling.

Vaughan Byrnes
Getting a Feel for the Market: The Use of Privatized School Management in Philadelphia
American Journal of Education 115 (May 2009); 19 pages

This recent study from John Hopkins University evaluates the impact of privatization of education services in the Philadelphia area. The sample consists of 89 middle schools and covers 10 years.

Researchers found that by 2006, "the achievement growth rate of schools run by educational management organizations (EMOs) had fallen significantly below the growth rate of district-run schools in both reading and mathematics, whereas, in 2002, immediately prior to privatization, those schools later run by EMOs had achieved growth rates significantly higher than the rest of the district in reading and statistically equivalent in mathematics."

Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Media Release: (School and Class) Size Matters, Finds ATL Survey
London: ATL, April 2009

This UK survey found that 96% of education staff feel there should be a maximum number of pupils for primary and secondary classes. 80% of teachers surveyed said that the numbers of students in their class affects their own stress levels.

OECD
Factbook 2009: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics
Geneva: OECD, April 2009

The 2009 OECD Factbook includes more than 160 major indicators. This year's focus in on inequality with coverage of such topics as equity of access to health and education; differences in economic performance between regions; and the extent to which government benefits and taxes reduce poverty.

Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Press Release: Self-harming and Eating Disorders on Increase Among Stressed-Out Children
London: ATL, March 2009; 4 pages

Almost three-quarters of teachers surveyed (73%), said that children are under more pressure now than a decade earlier, citing testing and family break-ups as causes for most of the distress. In fact, 89% of teachers listed testing and exams as major contributors to children's stress, while 68% listed family break-up.

McCreary Centre Society
Media Release
Vancouver, March 2009; 3 pages

Note: Since the entire report is 6mb (64 pages), I have just included a link to the media release.

In this 4th BC adolescent health survey, the good news is that tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use are down among teens. Rates of suicide attempts are also down.

The bad news is rates of physical abuse are up, and rates of sexual abuse have not declined.

View full-text

Hugh MacKenzie and Richard Shillington
Canada's Quiet Bargain: The Benefits of Public Spending
Toronto: CCPA, April 2009; 40 pages

In a report that touts the benefits of public spending, CCPA researchers point out that "middle-income Canadian families enjoy public services worth about $41,000 - or 63% of their income."

MacKenzie warns that while tax cuts are made to sound like free money, we're actually better off with the services our taxes fund rather than tax cuts.

On a similar theme, from the U.S.,  Knowledge@Wharton quotes former deputy assistant Treasury secretary Kent Smetters as saying "most Americans should not be worrying about having to pay higher taxes."

Smetters reasoning however is far more pessimistic. He claims that the present value shortfall of Medicare and the U.S. social security system combined is between 80 and 120 trillion dollars. To provide a sense of the magnitude of this number, Smetters says if you were to take the total value of all non-perishables in the U.S. including land, houses, cars, etc. it would amount to about 50 trillion dollars.

Canadian Council on Learning
A Barrier to Learning: Mental Health Disorders Among Canadian Youth
Lessons in Learning, April 15, 2009

This research brief from the Council looks primarily at depression among youth - its prevalence and impact on education.

William J. Mathis
NCLB’s Ultimate Restructuring Alternatives: Do they Improve the Quality of Education?
Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC)
April 2009; 28 pages

This policy brief reviews the research on school restructuring that has occurred as a result of a school not having met adequate yearly progress targets in accordance with NCLB, and furthermore, provides some recommendations in the form of alternatives to forced restructuring.

Schools deemed in need of improvement are currently forced to turn operations over to the state or to a private company; reopen as a charter school; or restructure by replacing some or all of the teachers and other school staff.

U.S. Department of Education
Education Options in the States: State Programs That Provide Financial Assistance for Attendance at Private Elementary or Secondary Schools
Washington, February 2009; 50 pages

An increasing number of state programs now provide financial support in the forms of scholarships, tuition assistance, tax credits, and tax deductions, for children to attend private schools.

At the end of 2008, 24 such programs were in place in 14 states and the District of Columbia, compared with 22 programs in 13 states and the District from the previous year, and 7 programs from 7 states in 1997.

Dawn C. Wallin and Others
Rural Education: A Review of Provincial and Territorial Initiatives 2009
March 27, 2009

In addition to documenting the range of initiatives Manitoba has undertaken to address challenges faced by rural schools, this report also provides a survey of rural school initiatives implemented by Canadian ministries of education in the areas of teaching and learning, infrastructure, educational finance and inter-jurisdictional collaboration.