Most education reporters from time to time will tread into the world of education research, whether to gauge charter school achievement, the impact of teacher quality, or the effects of a reading program, among myriad possibilities. But making sense of the research, with its often-impenetrable prose, dizzying figures, and mathematical formulas,…

In the mid-1990s, a pair of Canadian researchers videotaping children on playgrounds made a simple observation that helped shift experts' views about bullying: When children bullied other children, they rarely did it alone. Research now suggests that bullies, their victims, bystanders, parents, teachers, and other adults in the building are all…

This article reports that two University of Pennsylvania researchers are questioning a basic tenet of national efforts to enhance U.S. economic competitiveness: the idea that colleges and universities are producing too few mathematics and science teachers to meet the demand in the nation's classrooms. Richard M. Ingersoll, a professor of education…

Data available from a handful of states suggest that only about half of beginning principals remain in the same job five years later, and that many leave the principalship altogether when they go. Whether this apparent churn in the principal's office signals a problem, progress, or business as usual seems to be a matter for debate, though. Among…

Once fuel for mass book burnings, comic books are gaining a foothold in the nation's schools, with teachers seeing them as a learning tool and scholars viewing them as a promising subject for educational research. Evidence of the rising credibility of Spiderman, Batman, and Archie came last month when Fordham University's graduate school of…

The author reports findings from a federal study of 77 middle schools which suggest that even intensive, state-of-the-art efforts to boost teachers' skills on the job may not lead to significant gains in student achievement right away. The "Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study," which was released in April, is the second…

In comments on the proposed federal guidelines for stimulus funds, some researchers say there's no evidence for the policies touted. Among education researchers, one complaint about the U.S. Department of Education under former President George W. Bush was that it relentlessly promoted "scientific research in education," while at the…

Findings released this week from three years of studies by neuroscientists and psychologists at seven universities help amplify scientists' understanding of how training in the arts might contribute to improving the general thinking skills of children and adults. The idea that the arts, and music in particular, could make children smarter in other…

A growing number of foundations, entrepreneurs, national education groups, and public officials have called in recent months for a stepped-up emphasis on generating findings, programs, and products that practitioners find useful and that will help revolutionize the way America does school. If it takes hold, the new focus represents a break from…

With political change coming soon to the nation's capital, policymakers and national groups are trying to divine what the shifts might mean for the U.S. Department of Education's long-running, and sometimes controversial, campaign to transform education into an "evidence based" field. The movement to promote more scientifically rigorous…

When President Barack Obama unveiled his plans this summer for a $12 billion federal investment in the nation's community colleges, he said he wanted the initiative to yield an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020. Research suggests that reaching that goal may be a tall order. Community colleges have abysmal graduation rates:…

A team of researchers said in a provocative new study that the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards ought to take into account student-learning gains in deciding which teachers are skilled enough to merit receiving its advanced teaching credential. Created in 1987, the board has conferred its credential on nearly 64,000 teachers, and…

This article reports that a quiet debate is unfolding over proposals to tinker with No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB) definition of what constitutes "scientifically based research" in education while other ideas for revamping it are taking center stage. Sprinkled through the federal education statute more than 100 times, the references…

In the 1980s, school districts dabbled with programs that offered teachers cash inducements, such as bonuses or raises, for doing their jobs well. But those merit-pay programs were mostly short-lived, hotly debated, and understudied. Even after all this time, no one knows definitively whether children learn more when teachers are paid extra for…

College and university programs that prepare the nation's education researchers suffer from mission muddle, a lack of common and rigorous standards, and inadequate resources, asserts a hard-hitting report set for release. The report is all the more damning because it comes from one of the field's own, Arthur E. Levine, who stepped down in 2005…