Issues of Education

Ability to Estimate Tied to Innate Mathmatics Ability

As published in the September 7 issue of Nature, Johns Hopkins researcher, Justin Halberda has found that the ability to estimate approximate quantities, which is an "evolutionary ancient [ability] and cannot be taught", "closely parallels achievement scores [in math] from kindergarten through sixth grade." Previous studies found that the ability to ...

Improving Executive Function in Young Children

Before age 2, babies are a bundle of uncontrolled energy and impulsivity. One reason for this is that the prefrontal cortex is still developing with the density of neural connections in a two year olds' prefrontal cortex is higher than adults and the levels of neurotransmitters, the minds chemical messengers ...

Charter School Research Finds That Black Students Showing “Strong Gains”

A new brief, "The Color of Success: Black Student Achievement in Public Charter Schools," released by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, provides "encouraging news about public charter schools' effectiveness in helping raise the academic achievement of Black students who too frequently have been poorly served by traditional public ...

Executive Function: How Does It Affect Education

Researchers are recently finding that the "ability to inhibit distracting thoughts and stay focused may be a fundamental cognitive skill...this and closely related skills may be more important than traditional IQ in predicting a child's school performance." This Executive Function or EF, comprises of "effortful control, and cognitive focus, working ...

School Problems in First Grade Lead to Depression in Middle School

According to researchers in Baltimore, "black first-graders – especially girls – who are already performing poorly in school are at risk of being depressed by the time they reach junior high, according to an analysis of hundreds of African-American students in Baltimore." This study was released in the July issue of ...

Gifted 12 year old Facing College Crisis

Colin Carlson, a 12 year old, has been trying to figure out where he'll be attending college in the fall. Yes, instead of being worried about video games and summer camp he's stressing which college will accept him. He earned his high school diploma from Stanford University Online High School ...

Courts Declare California Homeschoolers to be Legal

Homeschooling families in California are breathing a sigh of relief as the appeals court rules that homeschooling is legal even without a teaching credential. Earlier rulings by lower court had brought about concerns that the way the law was written (homeschooling isn't explicitly mentioned as a choice) would allow ...

Gap Years

USA Today has an article on the increasing use of a gap year for high school graduates. A gap year occurs when a high school graduate takes a year off before entering college. Frequently, the students will travel or do volunteer or service work. Gap years have been used for ...

2007 Maryland School Achieves 100% Proficiency in State Testing

One school in Ocean City, Maryland has achieved what many think is improbable: 100% proficiency in reading and math proficiency as mandated by No Child Left Behind, although they've done it seven years early. In 2007, "184 students in the third and fourth grades at Ocean City Elementary School passed ...

Children’s Diet Not Main Cause of ADHD

A review carried out at the University of Wales, Swansea and published in the May issue of the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition reports that food is not a major cause of hyperactivity in children. "Genetics, brain function and parental actions such as smoking may be just ...