An Educational Myth – Instruction Tailored to Students Learning Styles Leads to Success

A new study offers further evidence against the "learning styles" theory-the idea that students can process information best when teachers tailor instruction to students' strengths. The present study looked at whether self-assessment and teacher assessment agreed in the identification of preferred LS in primary school-aged pupils. Results showed that there was no correlation between the two. Findings, moreover, suggest that the teachers do not see intellectual ability as a proxy for a particular learning style. This was the first study to investigate these questions and one of the few studies within the LS literature to employ a sample of primary school students. It adds to the growing body of critical literature about the use of LS in educational settings.

Papadatou-Pastou, M., Gritzali, M., & Barrable, A. (2018) The learning styles educational neuromyth: Lack of agreement between teachers' judgments, self-assessment, and students' intelligence. Front. Educ., 3(105). http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00105

Need for soft skills report

Schools should assess students on both "academic knowledge" and "nonacademic skills"—like teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity—parents and educators said in a new survey.
But they offered widely varying views on exactly what those skills should be.Strategies like social-emotional learning; social, emotional, and academic development; and an overall broader focus on "educating the whole child" have drawn a growing interest among educators and parents. But many schools have resisted assessing students' growth in these areas. That's in part because many researchers have said measures of social-emotional and "soft skills" are not sophisticated enough to adequately track progress over time.And, as the poll results show, schools may struggle to narrow down what soft skills to emphasize and, eventually, to measure.
NWEA. (2018). Assessing soft skills: Are we preparing students for successful futures?  Washington, DC: Gallup.
https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2018/08/NWEA_Gallup-Report_August-2018.pdf

Quality Counts 2018 Report

Education Week’s annual state-by-state assessment of public education paints a portrait of middling performance overall with patches of high achievement, along with perennial struggles to improve on the part of states mired at the bottom. Common traits of top school systems included: robust economic environments, high test scores and graduate rates, relatively high spending on schools, strong foundations in early childhood, widespread post-secondary participation. 

States need to take bold steps to create a more conducive climate for school improvement.

Quality Counts. (2018). Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/quality-counts-2018-state-grades/index.html?cmp=eml-eb-summer-sr-06262018&M=58530142&U=1673093

Teacher Assessment Impact Study

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s multi-million-dollar, multi-year effort aimed at making teachers more effective largely fell short of its goal to increase student achievement—including among low-income and minority students, a new study found. This conclusion to an expensive chapter of teacher-evaluation reform shows the difficulty of making sweeping, lasting changes to teacher performance. The school sites agreed to design new teacher-evaluation systems that incorporated classroom-observation rubrics and a measure of growth in student achievement. They also agreed to offer individualized professional development based on teachers’ evaluation results, and to revamp recruitment, hiring, and placement. Schools also implemented new career pathways for effective teachers and awarded teachers with bonuses for good performance. The results also demonstrate the challenges of getting schools and teachers to embrace big changes, especially when state and local policies are in flux.
Stecher, B. (2018). Improving teaching effectiveness. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. 

Writing Taught in Canadian Classes

This article reports the results of interview research examining writing instruction and assessment practices in Grades 4-8 classrooms in Canada. Researchers found that participating teachers scheduled daily time for writing, either in language arts classes or through integrating writing throughout the curriculum. Teachers assigned creative writing most frequently and did not speak about writing for learning. Students talked to each other while writing and engaged in peer editing. Much of teachers' feedback to students on their writing was verbal.

Peterson, S. S., McClay, J. K., & Main, K. (2010). Teaching writing in Canadian middle grades classrooms: A national study. Middle Grades Research Journal, 5(2), 77-90. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ901785

Effect of LearningMedia on Student Learning

According to a study by PBS Learning Media, key findings include:

·       Across subject areas, student performance on content assessments showed significant improvement, increasing by eight percentage points.

·       On average, students outperformed national assessment norms by 10 percentage points.

·       Students also outperformed state assessment norms, by an average of 11 percentage points.

·       More than half of students also showed an increase in the frequency with which they engaged in critical thinking practices.

In addition, teachers who participated in the study overwhelmingly reported that PBS LearningMedia made positive contributions to their classroom practices, with many saying they are more likely to integrate digital media into their lessons.

New research shows PBS LearningMedia’s impact on student achievement: PBS’ unique learning portal leverages public media content for significant gains with students. New York: PBS LearningMedia. http://interactive.wxxi.org/files/research_pbs_learningmedia_new_york_6.12.15.pdf