This e-newsletter offers research summaries on important topics and the best research available.

 

 

Turning Around Low-Achieving Schools
Finding effective methods to turn around low-achieving schools should be a topic of great interest to principals, since the U.S. Department of Education’s current models for turning around schools using federal stimulus money require that the school’s principal lose his or her job. A report by the American Institutes for Research argues that the Focused Instruction Process (FIP), developed by the Chicago-based nonprofit organization Strategic Learning Initiatives, is an effective and cost-efficient way of turning around low-achieving schools. The report indicates that the FIP method helped students in several chronically low-achieving Chicago schools make drastic gains in test scores and reading proficiency. The FIP model is based on four main components: shared leadership, targeted professional development, parent engagement, and continuous improvement.

 

Student Test Scores and Nations’ Gross Domestic Product
A report from the Programme for International Student Assessment finds a direct correlation between countries’ student test scores and their economic output. The High Cost of Low Educational Performance uses economic modeling to relate students’ performance on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other testing instruments to economic productivity. The report also concludes that if all 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) raised their average PISA scores by 25 points by 2020, the countries’ aggregate gross domestic product could grow by $115 trillion. In 2006, the United States scored below OECD averages on PISA’s science and math literacy tests, which measure 15-year-olds’ ability to apply knowledge in these areas to real-world problems. The study estimates that the United States could increase its gross domestic product by $41 trillion over 80 years by improving average PISA scores by 25 points.

 

 

Dealing With the Economic Downturn
“One Year Later: How the Economic Downturn Continues to Impact School Districts” is the sixth in a series of studies conducted by the American Association of School Administrators examining how school districts across the country have been affected by the recession. Based on a survey of 875 school administrators, the report finds that money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has failed to prevent school districts from making budget cuts. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they have had to eliminate personnel positions, and the number of districts that have increased class sizes and cut bus transportation routes has increased since the 2008-2009 school year.

 

Paying for Assessments After NCLB
A report by the Government Accountability Office shows that although the U.S Department of Education has provided states with $400 million a year to fund the academic assessments required by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, 48 of 49 reporting states have had to increase the amount of expenditures they put toward such assessments. According to the report, titled “No Child Left Behind Act: Enhancements in the Department of Education’s Review Process Could Improve State Academic Assessments,” the cost of the assessments has even influenced decisions about what type of assessments (multiple choice versus essay questions) are used and the content that appears on the assessments. 
 

---

Copyright © National Association of Elementary School Principals. No part of the articles in NAESP magazines, newsletters, or Web site may be reproduced in any medium without the permission of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. For more information, view NAESP's reprint policy.

 

Links to Web sites other than the NAESP Web site do not constitute endorsement by NAESP for any of their contents.