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Research & Statistics
Use the filter below to focus on a particular area of interest.
Advanced Placement
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Advanced placement and college performance
A survey of 18,000 college students enrolled in introductory biology, chemistry, and physics found little evidence that high school Advanced Placement (AP) courses significantly boost college perfo...
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Advanced placement and failing scores
A USA Today analysis found that the number of students who took AP tests hit a record high last year, but the percentage of students that fail the exams is rising as well. In 2009, 41.5% of student...
Assessment in Early Childhood Education
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Teachers as assessors
To help young children learn, assessment must be a part of the regular classroom program, in which teachers who know the children are the primary assessors. Standardized, multiple- choice achieveme...
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Scoring higher with early childhood education
Research presented at a 1996 national Head Start conference demonstrated that children attending developmentally appropriate K-2 classes scored higher in reading and math than those who attended cl...
Cheating
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Cheating statistics
According to a survey of 24,000 high school students in grades 9-12, 95 percent of students say they've cheated during the course of their education, ranging from letting somebody copy their ho...
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Cheating tied to boring tasks
Cheating is more common when students experience the academic tasks they've been given as boring, irrelevant or overwhelming.
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Cheating and grades
When students perceive that the ultimate goal of learning is to get good grades, they are more likely to see cheating as an acceptable, justifiable behavior.
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Cheating and college-bound kids
According to research by the Josephson Institute, cheating is higher among college-bound kids than any other group.
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Cheating in the 1940s vs. today
During the 1940's, 20% of college students admitted to cheating in high school; today between 75 and 98 percent of college students surveyed report having cheated in high school.
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The pressure to cheat
Students interviewed by CNN report that they see cheating as the only way to maintain good grades. One student asserted, "We students know that the fact is we are almost completely judged on o...
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Reasons for cheating
When students have an extrinsic reason for performing, the internal motivation to learn is diminished. Research shows that there is increased motivation to cheat in middle school because of the emp...
Suicide
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Depression more than doubles from 1995 to 2002
The number of 7 to 17 year olds who visited the doctor for depression more than doubled from 1995 to 2002, when 3.22 million children were treated.
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Depression rates
One in three American children suffers from depression.
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Rates of sadness and depression
Over 25% of adolescents have felt sad or depressed every day for 2 or more weeks at least once during a year's time.
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Gender differences in depression rates
Before puberty, boys and girls are equally likely to develop depressive disorders.
By age 15, however, girls are twice as likely as boys to have experienced a major depressive episode.
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Depression rates and economic class
Girls from suburban, wealthier communities are three times as likely to suffer from depression as compared with other adolescent girls.
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Students who consider suicide
A nationwide survey of youth in grades 9-12 in public and private schools in the United States (U.S.) found that 15% of students reported seriously considering suicide, 11% reported creating a plan...
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Rising suicide rates
In 2003, after a decade of declining rates, the suicide rate, among young teenage girls rose 76 percent and for girls ages 15-19, the rate increased by 32 percent
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Surgeon General report
In the United States, a young person commits suicide every two hours.
Disengagement
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Words to describe school
In a national survey, students were asked to use 3 words to describe how they felt in school. The word most often used by students was "bored" followed by "tired"
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Burn Out
Our test and achievement driven education system contributes to higher dropout rates and rates of burn-out.
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Rates of Boredom
Teens reported being bored 27% of the time that they are in class and disengaged 75% of the time.
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Rates of Disengagement
Research shows that playful learning leads to better academic success than does a skills-and-drills approach, but this isn't happening in many of our school: Teens reported being bored 27% of the t...
Homework
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Effects of homework
A 2006 synthesis of research on the effects of homework found no correlation between amount of time spent on homework and achievement for elementary school students, a moderate correlation in middl...
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International Comparisons
An international comparison by two Penn State professors concluded that junior high students who scored highest in math tests tended to come from countries where teachers assign relatively little h...
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Amount of Homework
The amount of homework assigned to kids from 6 to 9 almost tripled between 1981 and 1997. Assigned homework increased from about 44 minutes a week to more than 2 hours a week. Homework for kids age...
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Reading for Pleasure
A 2006 national Scholastic/Yankelovich study found that reading for pleasure declines sharply after age eight. The number one reason: too much homework.
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Research About Homework
Most teacher education programs do not cover research about homework. Consequently most teachers are unaware of the research-based critique of the way homework is used in the majority of schools in...
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Inability to Keep Up
The more important that homework becomes in school, the more a child can fall behind. Etta Kralovec, the director of teacher education at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, and autho...
No Child Left Behind
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Elimination of Music and Art
Seventy one percent of the country's school districts have reduced or eliminated music, art, social studies and/or science to make time for reading and math.
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Results of No Child Left Behind
Three years after NCLB was instituted: Reading scores among fourth graders remained flat, with 31% of the nation's children at or above proficient in 2002, 2003, and 2005. The share of eighth-g...
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Lower Graduation Rates
A study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin found that Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), d...
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Cuts in Other Subjects
A study of the impact of NCLB on elementary schools found that 44% of all districts nationwide have added time for English language arts and/or math, at the expense of social studies, science, art...
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High-Stakes Exams
States that did not have high-stakes graduation exams were more likely to improve average scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) than were states that did have such exams....
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NAEP Score Gaps
NAEP score gaps between low and high-income students did not narrow with No Child Left Behind.
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Graduation Tests
States without graduation tests were more likely than states with such exams to show improvement on or to improve at a faster rate on a variety of tests, including the NAEP, the SAT and the ACT....
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Higher Dropout Rates
High-stakes testing was not associated with improved scores but was associated with higher dropout rates.
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Paying for Test Scores
Independent researchers have found that evaluating and paying teachers for test scores is either damaging or irrelevant to improved learning... Paying for higher test scores results in score inflat...
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RTT Grant Criteria
The (RTT) grant criteria would place an undue reliance on standardized tests that offer, at best, a blurry snapshot of student progress. For English Language Learners (ELLs) in particular, such tes...
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Costs of No Child Left Behind
Under No Child Left Behind, students enrolled in schools judged to be failing are entitled to free tutoring, paid for by taxpayers. The costs total $2.5 billion annually, according to U.S. News and...
Use and Abuse of Drugs
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ADHD Prescription Rates
The number of pre-schoolers being prescribed Ritalin, Adderall and other medications for ADHD has more than doubled in the past decade. Yet the drug is not FDA approved for use in children under th...
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Reasons for Taking ADHD Medications
Youth who take ADHD medications without a prescription report that they use the drugs to help them focus on school work and to lose weight.
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Suburban Youth and Self-Medication
Suburban youth are more likely to report using drugs and alcohol to self-medicate (to decrease feelings of stress and depression) compared to urban youth populations.
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College students
23% of college students have alcohol substance abuse problems.
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Importance of Family Dinners
Children who consistently have dinner with their parents are less likely to smoke, drink or use drugs.
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Uses of Vicodin and OxyContin
Nearly one in ten 12th graders reported non-medical use of Vicodin, and one in twenty reported non-medical use of OxyContin.
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Rising Prescription Drug Use
From between 1998 to 2005 calls related to adolescent abuse of prescription ADHD medication rose 76% (from 330 to 581 per year), which is faster than calls for victims of substance abuse in general...
Tutoring
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Industry size
Tutoring and test preparation is a $4 billion industry
Physical Injuries
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Sports Injuries
Sports injuries are on the rise in U.S. children and teenagers. Each year more than 3.5 million sports-related injuries requiring medical treatment occur in children under age 15. Muscle overuse is...
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Chronic Back Pain
6 out of 10 students, ages 9 to 20, reported chronic back pain related to heavy backpacks. Among students who carried backpacks weighing 15% of their body weight or less, only 2 in 10 reported pain...
Stress
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Stress damages virtually every kind of cognition that exists
Stress damages virtually every kind of cognition that exists, including memory and executive function, motor skills, immune response and ability to sleep. Children are frequent victims of stress be...
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Anxiety in schoolchildren
According to the American Psychological Association (APA), typical schoolchildren today report more anxiety than did child psychiatric patients in the 1950's.
Downtime
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Unstructured Play
Unstructured play and downtime enhances brain development and learning.
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Elimination of Recess
Nearly 40% of school districts have eliminated recess nationally.
Sleep
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Sleep in young children
Children between the ages of five and twelve need 10-11 hours of sleep each night.
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Sleep for teens
Teens need an average of 9.25 hours of sleep each night.
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Sleep deprivation in teens
A majority of adolescents get an average of seven hours of sleep per night, and one-quarter get six hours or less.
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Insufficient Sleep
Insufficient sleep has been shown to cause difficulties in school, including disciplinary problems, sleepiness in class and poor concentration.
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Rates of sleep deprivation
Approximately 80 percent of teens don't get the recommended amount of sleep; at least 15 percent fall asleep in school.
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Impact of sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation impacts cognitive functioning and increases the risk of depression, obesity and suicide.
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Early morning sleepiness in teens
Early morning sleepiness in teens may be due to their circadian rhythms. Students at schools with later start times report less depression, their teachers report that the students are more alert an...
Remediation
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College Freshmen
40 percent of college freshman have to take remedial classes.
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Graduation and Preparation
Of those who enter high school, only about 70 percent will graduate - one of the lowest rates among industrialized nations. As important, however, is the fact that, of those who do receive a diplom...
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College Graduation Rates
While 2.8 million students enroll in some form of higher education each year, most do not proceed straight through to graduation. Only one in five of those who enroll in two-year institutions earn...
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