Category: Educational Administration and Leadership

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Educational Administration and Leadership Kindergarten Language Development Primary School Education Programme Evaluation Secondary School Education

Using teaching assistants to improve language skills and reading

Two evaluations from the Education Endowment Foundation in England have found that two interventions using paraprofessional teaching assistants (TAs) have positive effects.

REACH is a targeted reading support program designed to improve the reading accuracy and comprehension of students with reading difficulties in middle school. It is delivered by specially trained TAs. The evaluation tested two interventions – one based on the original Reading Intervention developed by the University of York, and the other with supplementary material on language comprehension. The evaluation was carried out in 21 schools around Leeds, with 202 students (70 and 69 receiving each intervention; 63 control). Results showed that:

  • There was a positive effect on reading skills for both the Reading Intervention (E.S.= +0.33) and the Reading Intervention with additional material on language comprehension (E.S.= +0.51).
  • The evaluations did not provide evidence that the interventions improved reading comprehension in particular, as opposed to other skills such as word recognition.

The Nuffield Early Language Intervention is designed to improve the spoken language ability of children during the transition between preschool and primary school. It is targeted to children with poor language skills, who received 20 or 30 weeks of sessions focused on listening, narrative, and vocabulary skills. The intervention is delivered by TAs and preschool staff. The evaluation was carried out in 34 preschools in Yorkshire and the South-East, with 350 children participating (114 received the 30-week treatment, 121 the 20-week treatment, and 115 in the control group). The results of this study were as follows:

  • Both interventions had a positive effect on language skills (E.S.= +0.27 for the 30-week and E.S.= +0.16 for the 20-week).
  • However, there was no reliable evidence that it had a positive effect on children’s word-literacy skills.

These findings indicated that some programmes could be effectively carried out by teacher assistants, which might lower the cost.

Source (Open access):

Sibieta, L. (2016). REACH : Evaluation report and executive summary. London: Education Endowment Foundation.

Sibieta, L., Kotecha, M., & Skipp, A. (2016). Nuffield Early Language Intervention : Evaluation report and executive summary. London: Education Endowment Foundation.… Read the rest

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Educational Administration and Leadership Kindergarten Language Development Primary School Education Secondary School Education

What does good professional development for teaching language look like?

Research published in AERA Open examines the features needed for effective teacher professional development (PD) aimed at preparing teachers to support their students in mastering language expectations across the curriculum.

Eva Kalinowski and colleagues conducted a systematic review of studies of PD programs, published between 2002 and 2015, which aimed to support teachers to improve their students’ academic language ability in different subject areas. Of the 38 studies they reviewed, all but one were carried out in the US. Eighteen studies used quantitative data only, three used a mainly qualitative approach, and 17 used mixed methods.

Although the researchers were unable to conclude which elements actually influenced the effectiveness of the programs analyzed, they found that all of the studies were effective to some extent, and shared many characteristics considered to be important in successful teacher PD across different subject areas. The forms of PD likely to show some effect for teachers and students in this area were:

  • long-term intensive programs that included multiple learning opportunities aimed at elaborating and practicing newly learned knowledge and strategies
  • provided practical assistance
  • enabled and encouraged teachers to work together
  • considered teachers’ needs as well as students’ learning processes and languages spoken at home

The authors suggested PD is a way that policymakers could influence and worth investing in.

Source (Open Access): Kalinowski, E., Gronostaj, A., & Vock, M. (2019). Effective professional development for teachers to foster students’ academic language proficiency across the curriculum: A systematic review. AERA Open, 5(1), doi:10.1177/2332858419828691… Read the rest

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Achievement Educational Administration and Leadership Kindergarten Primary School Education

Does school entry age matter?

In the UK, children usually start elementary school in the academic year in which they turn five. However, because entry rules vary across local districts, some schools may defer entry for children born later in the year until the second or third term.

A new study by the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM) at University College London looks at what impact an earlier versus later entry into Reception has on students’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills up until age 11 (their final year of primary school).

Christian Dustmann and Thomas Cornelissen analyzed information on more than 400,000 children born in 2000-01 who attend state schools in England and whose records are included in the National Pupil Database. This was combined with information on more than 7,000 children born in 2000-01 who took part in the Millennium Cohort study.

The researchers found that

  • Receiving an extra month of schooling before age five increases test scores in language and numeracy at ages five and seven by about 6-11%.
  • But by age 11, the effects on test scores have largely disappeared.
  • For boys from low socioeconomic backgrounds, the benefits of an earlier school entry are even greater. An additional term of schooling before age five reduces the achievement gap between boys from low and high socioeconomic backgrounds at age seven by 60-80%.

The authors suggested their findings contributed to the debate over optimal school starting age.

Source (Open Access): Cornelissen, T., & Dustmann, C. (2019). Early School Exposure, Test Scores, and Noncognitive Outcomes. Working Paper, Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration, University College London… Read the rest

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Educational Administration and Leadership Primary School Education Secondary School Education Social and Motivational Outcomes

Ethnic minority pupils disproportionately identified with special educational needs

Pupils from ethnic minority groups are over-represented for some types of special educational needs (SEN) and under-represented for other types compared to white British pupils, according to new research led by Steve Strand and Ariel Lindorff at the University of Oxford.

Using data from the England National Pupil Database from 2005–2016, the report looks at all children age five to 16 in England who have been identified with different types of SEN. As well as identifying ethnic disproportionality, the report also considered whether socio-economic factors, such as poverty and neighbourhood deprivation, or children’s early attainment, had any impact on pupils being identified as having SEN.

The key findings of the report suggest:

  • Black Caribbean and mixed white and black Caribbean pupils are twice as likely to be identified with social, emotional and mental health needs as white British pupils.
  • Asian pupils are half as likely to be identified with autistic spectrum disorders as white British pupils.
  • Indian and Chinese pupils are half as likely to be identified with moderate learning difficulties as white British pupils.

While similar research has been done in the US, it is the first time a study with this detail has been conducted in the UK.

Source: Strand, S., & Lindorff, A. (2019.). Ethnic disproportionality in the identification of Special Educational Needs (SEN) in England: Extent, causes and consequences. Oxford: University of Oxford. … Read the rest

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Educational Administration and Leadership Primary School Education Secondary School Education

Neuromyths in education

Possessing greater general knowledge about the brain does not appear to protect teachers from believing in “neuromyths” – misconceptions about neuroscience research in education. 

A study reported in Frontiers in Psychology found that teachers who are interested in the application of neuroscience findings in the classroom find it difficult to distinguish pseudoscience from scientific facts. They tested 242 primary and secondary school teachers in the UK and the Netherlands with an interest in the neuroscience of learning, using an online survey containing 32 statements about the brain and its influence on learning, of which 15 were neuromyths.

Results showed that

  • On average, teachers believed 49 percent of the neuromyths, particularly myths related to commercialized education programs.
  • One of the most commonly believed myths was “Individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (e.g., auditory, visual, kinesthetic),” which was believed by over 80 percent of teachers in the study.

Although loosely based on scientific fact, these neuromyths may have adverse effects on educational practice, and the study concludes that there is a need for enhanced interdisciplinary communication to reduce such misunderstandings in the future and establish a successful collaboration between neuroscience and education.

Source (Open Access): Dekker, S., Lee, N. C., Howard-Jones, P., & Jolles, J. (2012). Neuromyths in education: Prevalence and predictors of misconceptions among teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00429… Read the rest

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Educational Administration and Leadership Primary School Education Social and Motivational Outcomes

Teachers and students don’t always agree on learning styles

A study published in Frontiers in Education investigates whether there is an association between students’ self-reported preferred learning styles and teachers’ evaluation of each student’s learning style, and whether teachers’ assessments are informed by their students’ intellectual ability.

The term “learning styles” is used to account for differences in the way that individuals learn, and the idea that students learn better if teachers can tailor their teaching to a student’s preferred style of learning, often described as either visual, auditory, or kinesthetic.

In the study conducted by Marietta Papadatou-Pastou and colleagues, 199 fifth and sixth grade students from five schools in Athens, Greece, chose which was their preferred learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). They also completed a short IQ test (the Raven’s matrices). Their teachers were asked to identify each of their student’s preferred learning style. Each student’s learning style was judged by one teacher. It was found that:

  • There was no significant correlation between the teachers’ judgements of their students’ preferred learning styles and the students’ own assessment.
  • There was also no association between the teachers’ judgments of their students’ learning style and the students’ intellectual ability, suggesting that the teachers were not using intellectual ability as a proxy for learning style.

The authors suggested that identifying learning style could be a hit-and-miss process, in which the assessments made by teachers and students did not always agree.

Source (Open Access): Papadatou-Pastou, M., Gritzali, M., & Barrable, A. (2018). The learning styles educational neuromyth: lack of agreement between teachers’ judgments, self-assessment, and students’ intelligence. Frontiers in Education, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00105… Read the rest