For my year-end post, I’m highlighting the 10 most popular Education By The Numbers stories of 2015. They’re listed in the order of the number of times readers viewed them on our website, The Hechinger Report.
Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on my weekly stories about education data and research. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you in 2016. If you would like to receive an email notification when the column comes out each week, please click here and fill out the form.
1. Should we stop making kids memorize times tables? (February 9, 2015)
Stanford professor criticizes New York state’s interpretation of Common Core math standards
2. Lower test scores for students who use computers often in school, 31-country study finds (September 21, 2015)
In top-performing nations, teachers, not students, use technology
3. Mining online data on struggling readers who catch up (November 16, 2015)
A tiny difference in daily reading habits is associated with giant improvements
4. Academic expectations around the country, in two maps (August 17, 2015)
26 states were three or more grade levels behind the 8th-grade standards of New York, a Common Core state with the highest expectations
5. Growth mindset guru Carol Dweck says teachers and parents often use her research incorrectly (November 23, 2015)
Praise strategies and results, not effort alone, she says
6. Many community college grads continue to out-earn B.A. holders a decade after graduation (May 25, 2015)
The average salary in Texas for a mechanical engineering certificate is $116,000
7. The gap between rich and poor schools grew 44 percent over a decade (April 6, 2015)
Growing money gap across 30 states
8. Debunking one myth about U.S. teachers (January 26, 2015)
Untrue that almost half of U.S. teachers were bottom SAT scorers
9. Education myth: American students are over-tested (December 7, 2015)
Among OECD nations, the U.S. administers fewer standardized tests and even fewer other assessments
10. Underestimating the true cost of college (June 1, 2015)
Financial aid awards can be compromised by flawed student surveys of cost of living
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