Being bilingual ‘protects brain’

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Being fluent in two languages may help to keep the brain sharper for longer, a study suggests. Researchers from York University in Canada carried out tests on 104 people between the ages of 30 and 88. They found that those who were fluent in two languages rather than just one were sharper mentally. Writing in the journal of Psychology and Ageing, they said being bilingual may protect against mental decline in old age. Previous studies have shown that keeping the brain active can protect against senile dementia.

Education in general can bestow benefits on cognitive function in later life Professor Clive Ballard, Alzheimer’s Society Research has shown that people who play musical instruments, dance or read regularly may be less likely to develop the condition. Other activities like doing crosswords or playing board games may also help.

Language skills

This latest study appears to back up the theory that language skills also have a protective effect. Dr Ellen Bialystok and colleagues at York University assessed the cognitive skills of all those involved in the study using a variety of widely recognised tests. They tested their vocabulary skills, their non-verbal reasoning ability and their reaction time. Half of the volunteers came from Canada and spoke only English. The other half came from India and were fluent in both English and Tamil. The volunteers had similar backgrounds in the sense that they were all educated to degree level and were all middle class.

The researchers found that the people who were fluent in English and Tamil responded faster than those who were fluent in just English. This applied to all age groups. The researchers also found that the bilingual volunteers were much less likely to suffer from the mental decline associated with old age. “The bilinguals were more efficient at all ages tested and showed a slower rate of decline for some processes with aging,” they said. “It appears…that bilingualism helps to offset age-related losses.”

The UK’s Alzheimer’s Society welcomed the study. “These findings, that early development of second language may improve a specific aspect of cognitive function in later life, are very interesting,” said Professor Clive Ballard, its director of research. “It is a possibility that the acquisition of a second language in early childhood may influence the process of the development of neuronal circuits.

“However, the results of this particular study need to be interpreted cautiously as they were comparing groups of individual of different nationalities, educated in different systems. “It is also well recognised that education in general can bestow benefits on cognitive function in later life.”

 

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ARTICLE: Does High Teacher Pay = High Achievement? A Study Says No!

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A new, in-depth report takes a look at how states spend education money and finds that the most cost-effective ways of increasing student achievement are by reducing pupil-teacher ratios, providing more prekindergarten programs, and providing teachers with discretionary classroom resources — not by raising teacher pay.For states that want more bangs for their education buck, a recently released report advises, raising teachers’ salaries generally isn’t the most cost-effective way of raising student achievement. The authors speculate that the traditional compensation system rewards both high- and low-quality teachers.

According to the study, spending money on lowering pupil-teacher ratios in the lower grades, providing widely available prekindergarten programs, and providing teachers with discretionary resources for the classroom are better uses of education dollars, particularly in states with disproportionately high numbers of minority and disadvantaged children. The 271-page study, Improving Student Achievement: What NAEP Test Scores Tell Us, based its findings on U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests given between 1990 and 1996.

                    SMALL CLASSES AND PRE-K IMPORTANT

“When we started our study, there was uncertainty whether education reform was actually working,” said David Grissmer, lead researcher of the study and senior management scientist at RAND. RAND, a nonprofit institution headquartered in Santa Monica, California, conducts research and analysis to help improve public policy. “The main message of the report is that public education is reformable and reform efforts have made a difference. We looked at the education investment: Does teacher salary
and experience make a difference, especially for disadvantaged students?”

U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said the report highlights the areas the Clinton administration has focused on to improve education. “The factors that this report point out as making a difference in higher achievement scores — smaller class sizes, early childhood education, and improved teaching resources — are the priorities that this administration and the U.S. Department of Education have been emphasizing for the past eight years,” Riley said in a written statement.

                    MORE FEDERAL SUPPORT NEEDED

Grissmer and his colleagues found that it’s not where the kids live in a state that puts them at a disadvantage but which state the children live in. Grissmer, Ann Flanagan, Jennifer Kawata, and Stephanie Williamson examined the test results of 2,500 fourth- and eighth-grade students from 44 states. More federal funding is needed, Grissmer told Education world. “Some states are limited in what they can spend. Certainly our study would support the expansion of Title I spending,” he said. “This is a federal problem.” Title I is a federally funded program that provides additional funds to schools with low-income students.

States with the highest student math scores — North Carolina, Texas, Michigan, Indiana, and Maryland — posted gains nearly twice the national average. High-performing states were compared with low-performing states that were demographically similar. For example, Texas and California are close demographically but had very different test results. Texas outscored California in reading and math by 11 percentage points. The report attributes lower pupil-teacher ratios, more prekindergarten, and better teaching resources as the primary reasons Texas students performed so much better than California students did. The researchers also found that teacher turnover in California probably had a significant effect on student achievement.

State policies involving standards, assessment, and accountability implemented during the late 1980s and early 1990s also made a difference. Students in both Texas and North Carolina showed significant improvement in math, the researchers wrote. The researchers warn policymakers not to take credit for the gains or put blame on current policymakers in states that did not post gains. Achievement results reflect policies and practices from the early 1980s through 1995, they wrote. The researchers also advise that the full effects of reform policies take a long time to be realized and may not be reflected even in these scores. They point out that education researchers and development specialists have not tested policies and practices that could guide policymakers and educators toward more effective practices.

Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers, agrees with the report that Texas is reaping the benefits of investments made many years ago. “We know what works, and we know good schools don’t come on the cheap,” Feldman said in a written statement. “California, which fared poorly in the report, is an example of what happens when you take away investment from public schools,” Feldman added. “California’s public schools once were a source of great pride — before they were starved of resources. Today, the state is finally investing again in sensible, targeted reforms, such as reducing class size in the early grades, and the schools are improving.”

The RAND report advises that policymakers need more research in order to make sound decisions about improving student achievement. “Without a critical mass of high-quality research, policymakers lack the key process required to improve education systematically,” the report stated. “Without good research and development, progress in education or any other area will be slow, uncertain, and inefficient.”

 

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Address by Deputy Prime Minister to Early Childhood Education Council Annual Conference

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This is not the time to give you a post-mortem on the Taranaki-King Country by-election.  That’s already been done by the so called “experts” in the media. We have learned some lessons from the by-election, and we are now focused on the future, with a commitment to continuing to deliver on our promises to the people of New Zealand. Next Thursday will see the delivery of the second Budget of this historic Coalition Government. Obviously no details can be given except it will be a big and exciting Budget – a Budget For The Times, and one geared to take us into the 21st Century.

We will tackle head-on the significant issues facing our society.  Issues like moing from dependence on the State to independence.  The Budget recognises that no-one wants to be permanently dependent on the State. For that reason the Budget will commit more money where it will have the biggest effect – more for Health, more for Education, more for Police and more to support the Coalition Government’s employment strategy.

There is good news for the economy and the business community, which will prove many of our critics wrong once again.  Critics like the Employers Federation which has criticised the Government for lacking vision, leadership and direction. They have claimed we have inhibited business growth, knowing full well that the Government has been actively working on lowering taxes, reforming employment and welfare, reducing compliance costs, reforming ACC and reducing bureaucracy.

The figures in the Budget will show that we have maintained a stable ship in a sea of uncertainty.  We have weathered the Asian storm well and we will prove the forecasters wrong. In short, the Budget will reinforce our message that New Zealand First, and the Coalition Government, is delivering on its promises and that includes early childhood education, but back to that in a minute. First, here’s a few of the things we’ve delivered since we formed the Government back in December 1996.

q    Low inflation.
q    A lower exchange rate to help farmers and exporters.
q    $1.752 billion dollars extra for public health over three years.
q    Free doctor

?s visits and prescriptions for children under six years
old.
q    $1.25 billion dollars extra for education over three years.
q    $55 million extra for early childhood education.
q    Pay parity for primary teachers.
q    Abolition of the superannuation surtax.
q    Removal of income & asset testing for senior citizens.
q    250+ extra police and 250 more to come.
q    Minimum wage increased to $7.00 with second increase to come.
q    Community wage and employment reforms.

That is a great record of achievements that would NOT have happened without New Zealand First, and we are going to build on these things in the Budget. Now back to early childhood education.  This is an area which we are committed to developing because our young children are our greatest resource. We intend to give our children a running start in life, by nurturing their education and health in the early years, as these are critical to their long-term success. Research shows quality education in the early years impacts on a child’s success at school, at university, in the work force and in society. As the late American clergyman Hosea Ballou (1771-1852) once said, “Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken within the hearing of little children tends towards the formation of character.”

It’s important that we lay down the right foundation for our children to build on.  It’s no good building a house on sand. That is why we have committed $872 million to early childhood education over three years, $55 million more than in the previous three years.  And that’s why we have introduced free doctors visits for children under six. Healthy bodies have, in turn, a healthy regard to the rigours of learning.

We know the formative years of a child’s life are vital to their future success. Take a walk through Paremoremo Prison and you will see what happens to children whose health and education needs are neglected.  You’ll find most prisoners share the common problems of hearing deficiency and illiteracy.

As a boy growing up in a country village in the far North I remember seeing other children at school with yellow gunk weeping from their ears because of untreated infections.  That is the kind of problem we are addressing now through our policies on health and early childhood education giving our children a running start in life. Some of the money we got for education will be used to buy more resources for special education for under sixes, and some will be used to develop new education centres and the teaching skills needed to run them properly, which is the type of work that most of you here are involved in.

Earlier this week New Zealand First MP and Associate Education Minister Brian Donnelly launched the Early Childhood Development Strategic Plan, which has the slogan “Right From The Start.” One of the main goals of that plan is to ensure a high level of quality in early childhood education and parenting. This will be achieved through various programmes such as “The Strengthening Families Strategy” which aims to break inter-generational cycles of poverty within families.

By co-ordinating better access to Health, Welfare and Education services, we can alleviate some pressure on families and help them to create a positive environment for their children. Strong families will result in less unemployment, less crime and a more cohesive society. The Awhina Matua parent education programme is another initiative aimed at promoting stronger families and parent involvement in educating children. Under this programme, a project worker works with families who have no access to early childhood education services by setting up parent groups and introducing them to mutual support networks  such as the local iwi, marae groups, the Maori Women?s Welfare League, early childhood services, community health workers and schools.

Awhina Matua is carried out in communities and brings together parents of similar backgrounds and needs.  When the group being helped becomes self-sustaining the project worker withdraws. The Code of Social Responsibility is another Government initiative aimed at strengthening our families. The Code is about addressing the cycle of poverty and abuse that affects many New Zealand families. We can no longer turn away from child abuse and crimes against children, in some spineless hand wringing disavowal of the facts. That’s why we have devised a Code that challenges us to face up to these realities and to promote the values that this country was founded on. Values like fairness and freedom to pursue a better life for ourselves and our children.

That’s what the code is about families with limited incomes aspiring for the same things for their children that all parents do regardless of race and socio-economic status. That is not only the basics like clothing on their backs, food on the table and a roof over their heads, but also a good education, future prosperity and personal happiness. We all want those things for our children and we freely acknowledge that for some families those things come easier than others.  Greater personal and financial sacrifice are demanded by some families to make these dreams a reality for their children.

Another initiative we have begun is the Family Start Service.  This initiative is one of the single most important initiatives undertaken so far by the Coalition Government. Under this programme Health, Education and Welfare agencies work together, sharing expertise and networks for the benefit of individual families. The Early Childhood Development Unit is also involved in the programme to ensure a focus on the well being of the child. Government has also turned its attention to increasing the participation rates of under represented groups such as Maori and Pacific Islanders in early childhood education.

Last year, the Early Childhood Development Unit established 16 playgroups for Maori in the Waikato and further playgroups were established for Arabic, Ethiopian and Korean ethic groups. Many of you here today will be interested in the Government’s commitment to continuous improvement and quality staff in early childhood education. We are reviewing the licensing points system for early childhood services. Currently the system is very complex and difficult to work. We are getting rid of some of the anomalies to make requirements for qualifications fairer.  Once the points system has been sorted out, we can move on to looking at ways to make those regimes better as well. Then there is PAFT, Parents as First Teachers, which is co-ordinated by the Early Childhood Education Unit.

PAFT is based on the belief that parents are their children?s first and most important teachers.  The programme helps parents to participate more effectively in their children?s educational development. These are just some of the many initiatives the Government is pursuing to nurture our children and these initiatives reflect the need to balance the objectives of access and quality in early childhood education. While we have provided the money and the platform for future development for early childhood education, we rely heavily on the commitment of professionals like you. It’s important that you as owners, managers and teachers in childhood education centres, do not underestimate the importance of your work in shaping the hearts and minds of future generations. In the words of William A. Ward: “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher
inspires.”

 

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State-by-State Comparison

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A review of compulsory attendance laws across the nation shows that requiring young children to attend school may be largely unnecessary. Only nine states require attendance of 5 year olds, and seven of those nine allow exemptions for parents to withhold their children from school until age 6. The other 41 states allow parents to wait until their children are 6, 7, or even 8 years old before beginning formal education.13

During the 2001 legislative session, nine states attempted to lower the school entrance age. Five of these bills would have lowered the age of entrance to 5. The District of Columbia even contemplated a bill which would have required a child to be enrolled in some type of school setting if the child turns 3 on or before December 31. Thus, even some 2 year olds would be subject to DC’s compulsory attendance law.

In any case, testimony in the 1998 Connecticut hearings estimated that only 3-9% of the state’s eligible children were kept out of kindergarten by their parents.14 It seems unnecessary for a state to spend so much time and money compelling attendance on what arguably may only be 3% of the state’s 5 and 6 year olds.

This is especially true when considered in the light of the results from recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests administered to school children in all 50 states. Scores of children from states that have low compulsory attendance ages (5-6) did not score any higher than children from the other states, and in some subjects their average was actually lower.15 The NAEP scores demonstrate that no real academic results have come from a lowered compulsory age, and therefore the higher cost of early education is not justified.

 

 

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Research

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Speaking as an adoptive parent, I have asked particular teachers and my kids schools, to be sensitive to some issues regarding my children as adoptees.  As an example my oldest son has no baby photos or any other photo or item from his childhood prior to age approx. 10.  We don’t know what age 5 of our kids were when they learned to walk, lost their first teeth, and learned to speak.  There are big gaps or no information whatsoever regarding their babyhood and infancy.  I have asked teachers to bear this in mind so we do not again face situations where one of my kids may be the only child in the class who is unable to bring in a baby photo when the class is studying child development, or is unable to complete an assignment on biology and heredity as he cannot trace hair and eye colour through his family.  As their teachers were aware and sensitive to some of these things, they altered assignments so that my kids did not need to feel different to their peers.

Adoption in the United States is on the risenational estimates indicate that 1 million children live with adoptive parents (Stolley, 1993). As the number of adopted children in classrooms continues to rise each year, early childhood programs must begin to educate teachers about adoption issues. Adoption awareness will help teachers support young children who are trying to understand, and adjust to, their adoptive status.

Celebrating individuality, fostering self-esteem, and developing self-confidence in the world beyond the family are socioemotional goals that receive top priority in high-quality early childhood programs. Multicultural materials are provided in many classrooms, and activities are planned to heighten childrens awareness and sensitivity to all families (Derman-Sparks, 1989). Amidst the attention given to recognizing the value and uniqueness of each family represented in an early childhood class, teachers will want to consider the special needs of children who have been adopted. Careful curriculum planning combined with adoption awareness, genuine concern, and sensitivity will insure a positive early education experience for these children. This Digest provides suggestions for teachers who may have children in their classroom who were adopted.

Select Curriculum Activities and Materials That Represent Diverse Families Teachers can help young children develop an awareness of and appreciation for the many kinds of family structures in todays society. Because adoptive families are becoming more prevalent, it would be appropriate to represent them in class discussions and activities. Specifically in cases of transracial and international adoptions, teachers can strive to provide curriculum materials and experiences that “celebrate diversity, complexity, and the interrelatedness of cultures” (Wardle, 1990, p. 46) by including images of families whose
members do not necessarily share similar physical or other characteristics.

The overall emphasis can be placed on the “belongingness” definition of a family, rather than on the circumstances surrounding a particular childs birth. Children might enjoy compiling photographs to make books about their individual families, or they may be interested in cutting pictures from magazines to make a family collage or bulletin board. Either activity could be used as an introduction or summary for thematic experiences planned to help children understand the many kinds of families and ways families are formed.

Teachers can be sensitive to adopted childrens feelings in the selection and planning of family-themed activities. “Family related assignments stimulate thought about who we are and where we come from, bring our feelings about our families to the surface, help us to look at our families from a different perspective, and make our families more visible to others” (Edwards & Sodhi, 1992, p. 13). For children who have been adopted, this reflection may result in confusion, raise questions that cannot be answered, and underline differences between these children and their peers. For example, a teachers request for newborn photographs needed as part of a bulletin board display would be inappropriate, and perhaps disheartening, for a child who was adopted at the age of 2 years.

Reconsider “Adopt-a” Projects The phrase “adopt-a” is frequently used to preface the name given to specific projects within classrooms, schools, or communities. It is difficult for adoptive parents to explain adoption to their child when his class is involved in an adopt-a-whale or an adopt-a-road program. The obvious reason for the phrase being problematic is the manner in which it devalues the concept of adoption and adoptive parenthood; in the above examples, adoption is considered a temporary commitment dependent upon annual monetary renewal or trash removal. “Adopt-a” programs may result in “adopt-a-confusion” (Johnson, n.d.). Because young children are not abstract thinkers, they may struggle with the task of sorting out the differences between adoption of people and adoption of animals or other objects. Teachers do not need to eliminate these types of commercial projects or sponsorships, but they might want to consider a more appropriate name.

Listen Carefully to Childrens Questions
Childrens questions can help teachers gain an accurate understanding of what the child wants to know. If a childs question deals with the concept of origin, the teacher should not assume that the child is asking about adoption; the child who asks “Where did I come from?” may simply be looking for an answer to give his friend who has said “I was born in Chicago.” In such cases, an appropriate response to the childs question might be “What do you mean?” This response gives the child an opportunity to clarify his question and identify exactly what information is needed as an answer. Similarly, a question such as “Do I have two mommies?” could be given a reflective response such as “Is that what you think?you have two mommies?” This type of response opens the door for dialogue that may give the teacher insight into the childs evolving understanding of adoption.

Preschoolers and kindergarteners who were adopted as infants or toddlers rarely display any adoption-related adjustment problems; they have little understanding of reproduction and, therefore, cannot really understand what adoption means (Smith, 1993). Through sensitive discussions and simple, honest explanations, however, teachers can help children understand that (a) every baby grows inside a womans body, and (b) after a baby is born, he may live with the woman who gave birth to him, or he may live with other parents (Melina, 1989a). Emphasis should be placed on helping children develop an understanding of adoption as a way families are formed and an inclusive concept of “family” that refers to people who care about each other independent of their biological parentage.

Avoid Bias toward Adopted Children
Some adoptive parents are reluctant to share information about their childs origin with classroom teachers; they are concerned that teachers may not understand the confidential nature of the information and may treat their child differently from other children in the classroom who have not been adopted. They may further believe that teachers may start looking for problems because the child is part of a nontraditional family (Melina, 1989b). Teachers, like many other people, may react to societal stigmas and stereotypes of adoptedness that paint a less than accurate portrait of an adopted child.

Generally, teachers make a conscious effort to treat all children equally. Specifically, they should maintain consistent academic and behavioral expectations that are independent of a childs adoptive status. Teachers may especially want to examine the degree of leniency used in situations involving an adopted child, because research suggests that teachers are more lenient with a preschool child who has been adopted (Kessler, 1987).

Consider Using Bibliotherapy
Although a number of books for young children deal with the topic of traditional adoption, not all of these stories portray the same process. Teachers need to carefully select adoption books that not only relate a contemporary story but also parallel a particular childs adoption history. For example, The Chosen Baby (Wasson, 1977) describes a couple who easily adopts a baby boy, and later a baby girl, through the services of an adoption agency. Although this delightful story is classic in its charming explanation of the
adoption process, it does not describe the means by which many, if not most, adoptive families are formed today. However, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to find books that do fit a particular childs adoptive situation; a published book about a single woman adopting an infant through a notice in the newspaper would be a rare find indeed. In this and similar less common situations, making a book or a scrapbook might be suggested as a way for parents to relate their childs adoption story. In fact, the best storybook to use in talking to a child about adoption is one made by the adoptive parents themselvesa loving, sensitive, factual description of their child and their adoption experience just the way it really happened (Melina, 1989b).

Conclusion
The familial landscape of our nation is ever changing. No longer can early educators assume that all children in the same classroom share a common traditional family structure. “The reality is that children living in non-traditional families now represent the majority in the classroom. Their undeniable presence challenges our traditional definition of family and demands that we create a more sensitive and inclusive environment that supports children regardless of their family configuration”

 

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JOB OPENING – RESEARCH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN VERMONT

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

JOB DESCRIPTION

Title:  Research Assistant Professor – Early Childhood Special Education. The University Affiliated Program of Vermont, University of Vermont

Qualifications: Background in early childhood special education.Three years work experience with young children with disabilities and their families in inclusive early childhood settings.  Focus upon community-based, integrated service delivery to families of children birth through five.  Experience teaching graduate courses, superving students, working with public school administrators and teachers and related community service agencies, particularly experience providing training and consultation, is highly desirable.  Ph.D. preferred.

Responsibilities: Teaching graduate courses, supervising student teachers, advising students, collaborating with the Childcare Division of the Agency of Social and Rehabilitative Services, coordinating off-campus training activities and other grant related activities.  To work with other project staff as part of the Early Childhood Team in the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of model practices in early childhood special education/early intervention.  Responsibilities to these projects will include the development, validation, and dissemination of model instruments, materials, and guidelines; provide training and technical assistance to early childhood programs and related agency personnel; collecting and analyzing evaluation data; and disseminating project findings through written and oral presentations.

 

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High Costs and Low Results Incurred by Early Education Programs

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Expanding the number of children required to attend school increases state education costs and thereby may mean an increase in taxes. Such an instant expansion of the student population requires the hiring of more teachers, more truant officers, and more administrative staff. While the change in some school districts may be negligible, the change to the combined school districts of a state would produce a significant impact on state revenues.

When a lowering of compulsory attendance age was considered in Alabama in 1991, the Alabama Legislative Fiscal Offices estimated the cost of the change to be at least $4.7 million per year.10 In 1998, when Connecticut considered lowering its compulsory attendance age, a state department of education representative testified that one town (Enfield, CT) would require 13 new classrooms while another (Meridian, CT) would need 20 additional classrooms.11

Also consider Head Start, a federal program that began providing services in 1965 with an enrollment of 561,000 children and a budget of just over $96 million. By 2000, the enrollment had only grown to 860,000 children, but the budget had increased dramatically, costing taxpayers over $5 billion dollars. That is a 5,108% growth rate in spending with only a 53% increase in enrollment.

The most important goal of any education program is that children be educated. Studies of Head Start, however, demonstrate that early education produces no apparent academic benefits. In its early years, extensive studies were undertaken to prove Head Start worked. But the opposite turned out to be true. In 1969, the Westinghouse Learning Corporation found no difference in the behavior and educational achievement between Head Start and other underclass children.

Sixteen years later, the CRS Synthesis Project study, commissioned by HHS, came to the same conclusion. Although children showed “immediate gains,” by the second grade “there are no educationally meaningful differences.”12

 

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Group to Label Video Games That Teach

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

*Associated Press/AP Online        

        DALLAS – Does “The Sims” video game accurately depict human psychology? Does a train simulator like “Railroad Tycoon” broach some basic engineering ideas? A group of educators, developers and game publishers believe they might. The consortium, calling itself The Education Arcade, is launching a “games for learning” seal of approval to help consumers identify titles that teach more than hand-eye coordination.
        The labels are to be announced Monday to kick off the   Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles and should begin appearing this fall. Members of the consortium include MIT’s Comparative Media   Studies program, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education and LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., an educational toy maker.”What we hope is something that looks like the Good   Housekeeping seal of approval,” said Alex Chisholm, LeapFrog’s director of content. Beyond labels, the group hopes to persuade game companies to   make more educational games. It could be a tough sell, though, in an industry that favors low-risk, high-profit sequels built on established franchises.
        “Learning multiplication tables on an Xbox hasn’t  exactly happened,” American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy said. “People would rather shoot people, punch somebody or throw a football than learn math.”
        Top titles often take millions of dollars and years to produce, and putting that amount of effort into an educational game is simply too risky, said Warren Spector, studio director of game company Ion Storm in Austin. “In the same way that documentaries don’t really compete with fiction films, I don’t ever expect to see educational games succeed at the financial level expected of a commercial entertainment game,” Spector said. He said educational games will be harder to find and won’t be as well produced.
        So-called “edutainment” titles, which blend fun with learning, account for a sliver of the $10 billion North American video game business. U.S. educational PC software sales have plunged to $191 million last year, from $340 million in 2001, according to The NPD Group, a market research firm.
        LeapFrog, long seen as a success story with its line of   handheld educational game devices, has stumbled lately, posting first quarter losses of $11.8 million on sales of $72 million. Many edutainment products simply have been squeezed out of   store shelves to make room for better-selling shooters and sports titles, said Deborah Forte, president of Scholastic Entertainment in New York. In fact, many companies have gone to great lengths to make educational programs more like recess and less like a final exam. THQ Inc. of Calabasas Hills, Calif., spent several years and   millions of dollars converting a realistic Army training program called “Full Spectrum Warrior” into a commercial video game.
        When it debuts this summer, players will still learn the   intricacies of urban warfare, but only as a side effect of winning, THQ chief executive Brian Farrell said. “We’re in the business of entertaining our   consumers,” he said. “That’s a very separate market, I think. They’re two different kinds of experiences and they’ll stay that way for the foreseeable future.” Such sentiment isn’t stopping MIT and Colonial Williamsburg from collaborating on an online role-playing game, “Revolution,” in which players experience the American Revolution in a three-dimensional virtual world. They hope to license it to a game company this summer.
        “Games can be both entertaining and educational,”   said Henry Jenkins, head of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program and co-director of The Education Arcade. “The challenge is to get companies to realize there is some good in the ‘L’ word” – for learning. For now, The Education Arcade is tweaking the labeling   guidelines. Issues include whether labels should have detailed information about age-appropriateness or simply specify topics the game addresses, like math or reading.
        There’s a risk that overlabeling could confuse consumers.   Already, game boxes are littered with sales information,   hardware requirements and ratings information from the nonprofit Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Similar to those for movies, the software ratings consider   violence, language and other factors. Ratings range from “EC” for early childhood to “AO” for risque, adult-only content. The ratings board has advised The Education Arcade and supports “more information for parents in any format,” said its president, Patricia Vance.
       Andrew Bub, a stay-at-home father of two who created the video game Web site gamerdad.com, said labels would be nice but only go so far. Rather, he said, parents need to stay involved with their children’s gaming habits. “My belief is you should play games with kids rather than just hysterically assume they’re going to be bad for them,” he said.
        Not all parents believe video games need to be educational.Monica Martin, a mother of two in Frisco, Texas, said the  time her 6-year-old son, Alex, spends playing “Pokemon Coliseum” is all about having fun. “He goes to school for seven hours. He just wants to go   home and play,” Martin said. “I clean houses for a living, and let me tell you, the last thing I want to do when I get home is clean some more.”

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Lack of Results in International Early Education Programs

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Early education is a growing concern to many countries around the world. Much of this concern has been centered in Europe, where governments provide care and schooling for children as young as 1. Billions of dollars are spent on these programs, which are designed to give children a head start in their education and socialization. But is there documentable evidence that early education has made a difference in the academic progress of these children?

This question can be answered by a recent study that compared the academic scores of children from many of the industrialized nations of the world. In 2000, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was conducted, which tested children from 32 nations in the areas of reading literacy, mathematics, and science.5 The results showed that children who have to start school at a very young age did not consistently do better than those who can start later. A similar assessment, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), revealed comparable results.6

The country of Finland was a standout in both of these international assessments, ranking near or at the top in all tested subjects. These impressive results were achieved despite the fact that school attendance in Finland is not compulsory until age 7, later than almost any other European country.7

Japan, Korea, and Singapore also had some of the highest scoring students in the PISA and TIMSS assessments, but none of these countries have fully developed early education programs. Japan’s early education is probably the most comprehensive out of the three, and even there, substantial numbers of children do not attend any school before 1st grade. Singapore does not have any publicly funded early education.8

Some of the lower scoring countries in PISA were Sweden and Greece, which both emphasize early education. Sweden has some of the most comprehensive childcare in Europe, with the vast majority of children ages 1-12 having a place in a publicly funded child-care center. Even with this emphasis, however, Sweden ranked among the average countries in the PISA test, and Greece was among the five worst nations in all three subject areas.9

Filed Under: Home Schooling Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Data Tapes Available for the NHES:91 Early Childhood Education and Adult Education Data Files

January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) announces the availability of data tapes and users manuals for the 1991 National Household Education Survey (NHES), the Early Childhood Education (ECE) component and the Adult Education (AE) component.  NHES:91 was a random-digit-dial telephone survey developed by NCES.  The sample for the NHES is drawn from the noninstitutionalized civilian population in households with a telephone in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.  The survey was conducted between late January and early May of 1991.

NHES:91 collected data on 3- to 8-year-old children’s experiences in a wide range of settings, including their homes, childcare arrangements, early education programs, and schools. A survey of participation in adult education among person 16 years of age and older was conducted simultaneously.  Data were collected on the level and characteristics of adult education participation. The files for these two general components of NHES:91 are described below.

Preprimary and Primary Files.  Data from the Early Childhood Education component are divided into two separate data files–the Preprimary File and the Primary File.  The Preprimary File contains responses from completed interviews with the parents of 7,655 children who have not yet enrolled in kindergarten.  The Primary File contains responses from completed interviews with the parents of 6,237 children enrolled in grades 1 and above. Users will be able to merge the Preprimary File with the Primary
File for the purposes of conducting analyses involving all 13,892 children.

Adult and Course Files.  During NHES:91, a sample of adults were questioned about their educational activities over the previous 12-month period.  Data from the Adult Education component are divided into two separate files–the Adult File and the Course File. The Adult File contains responses from each completed AE interview.  There is one record for each completed AE interview; thus, there are 12,568 records in this file.  The Course File contains a record for each part-time course reported by participants in the AE interview (up to four course were allowed).  The file is intended for analyses in which the course, rather than the individual, is the unit of analysis (aggregated course information is also included in the Adult File as part of the record of each adult).  The Adult and Course Files can be merged using a common identifier.

Ordering Information.  The NHES:91 files are available as magnetic tapes.  The ECE Component Files and the AE Component Files are sold separately.  In addition to the raw data files, each tape has SAS system files and SPSSX  and SAS control cards for converting the raw data to SPSSX and SAS formats.  These tapes can be purchased for $175 each, or $250 for both.

 

Filed Under: Adult Education, Early education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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