Faculty helping develop online course on coronavirus science for K-12 schools
Jul 29, 2020
During the COVID-19 outbreak, faculty at Penn State’s Center for Science and the Schools are helping to create a course to help engage middle and high school students in multiple explorations to help them better understand the science behind the pandemic and learn how scientists create new…
Penn State-led project works to help prevent violence in schools
May 12, 2020
Children in remote locations, including children in military families, can face a variety of struggles, including violence in schools and other environments. Penn State researchers developed a new publication that will assist schools in evaluating the violence prevention resources they may be using…
Prenatal substance exposure may impact adolescent attitudes toward gun violence
Apr 14, 2020
The wave of mass shootings across the United States in the last two decades has reignited the discussion of gun violence and the role it plays on childhood development. New research has found that prenatal substance exposure may contribute to positive attitudes toward guns and violence among…
Making School Choice More Equitable in an Era of Rising Inequality by Erica Frankenberg
Mar 11, 2020
By Erica Frankenberg for the Equity Alliance Blog In April 2019, the Education and Labor Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing about the legacy of school integration efforts and the federal government’s role 65 years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision that…
Categorical inequalities between Black and white students are common in US schools—but they don’t have to be
Feb 24, 2020
By Kenneth Shores, Ha Eun Kim, and Mela Still for Brookings The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) reports large, persistent gaps between Black and white students on educational outcomes such as school suspensions, uptake of AP classes, assignment to special education and gifted and talented…
Many US preschoolers remain racially segregated at school
Feb 3, 2020
Young children can benefit greatly from exposure to racial and ethnic diversity during a crucial formative period in their lives, according to a Penn State education professor. However, recent research indicates that a high degree of segregation in American preschools could be hindering students…
Extent of discrimination in discipline of students with disabilities unclear
Jan 30, 2020
Federal legislation and regulation currently require U.S. schools to monitor for whether students with disabilities who are also racial or ethnic minorities are being inappropriately disciplined. Yet a new analysis of existing studies led by Paul Morgan, professor of education in the Department of…
Penn State research informs PA report on school start times
Oct 17, 2019
Later school start times improve educational and health outcomes by giving students more sleep, according to a new reportfrom the Pennsylvania Joint State Commission on School Start Times, released today (Oct. 17). Orfeu Buxton, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State, was asked to serve on…
Shores' research on cuts in school spending leading to learning loss
Sep 30, 2019
SSRI cofunded faculty member Kenneth Shores' research into school spending cuts triggered by the Great Recession being associated with sizable losses in academic achievement for students living in counties most affected by the economic downturn, was published recently in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed…
School district secessions shown to have deepened racial segregation
Sep 4, 2019
Since 2000, school district secessions in the South have increasingly sorted white and black students, and white and Hispanic students, into separate school systems, weakening the potential to improve school integration, according to a new study published today (Sept. 4) in AERA Open, a peer-…
Morgan cited in new federal report on race and school discipline
Jul 23, 2019
Lauren Camera, Education Reporter, U.S. News & World Report Black students with disabilities are disciplined more often than their white peers, pushing them into the school-to-prison pipeline at higher rates, a new report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights shows – just the latest finding…
What school segregation looks like in the US today, in 4 charts
Jul 19, 2019
By Erica Frankenburg, for The Conversation Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a senator from California, has spoken about how she benefited from attending Berkeley’s desegregated schools. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public…
New research details increasing segregation in a transformed school population
May 13, 2019
As the nation prepares to mark the 65th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional, the UCLA Civil Rights Project and the Penn State Center for Education and Civil Rights today (May 10) published new research detailing…
Conference, podcast examine school segregation 65 years after Brown decision
May 6, 2019
In the Brown v. Board of Education decision, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that integrated public education was an important part of a democratic society and the "very foundation of good citizenship." Integrated schools, the court argued, would expose children to new cultures and…
Panlilio authors new book on trauma-informed schools
Apr 16, 2019
The long term effects of child maltreatment on academic achievement is the focus of a new book authored by Carlomagno Panlilio, assistant professor of education and Child Maltreatment Solutions Network faculty member. The book, Trauma-Informed Schools: Integrating Child Maltreatment Prevention,…
Families and schools may play key roles in promoting adolescent self-confidence
Mar 14, 2019
Self-confidence is critical for teens as they prepare for the challenges of adulthood, and both families and schools may together play a vital role in boosting adolescents’ confidence even in the face of difficulties with family, according to researchers. The researchers examined how a variety of…
Keeping kids on task in school may start at home
Feb 1, 2019
The transition to kindergarten can be a challenge for children who have trouble paying attention, and can result in behavioral problems and poor academic achievement. A team led by researchers at Penn State is analyzing task persistence and how parents can influence it in early childhood. Task…
Active-duty service members' children to benefit from new partnership
Jan 31, 2019
Proactively identifying and addressing behavioral threats among students has long been a challenge for many school districts. If teachers, administrators, staff and fellow students can identify and safely report risky behavior, researchers hope that shooting tragedies like those that occurred at…
Children’s race, not disability status, may predict more frequent suspension
Jan 23, 2019
Suspension is one way schools discipline students, but the high number of and disparities in suspensions in the U.S. has sparked controversy and policy debate. New research, led by Paul L. Morgan, Harry and Marion Eberly Fellow, professor of education and demography, and director of Penn State’s…
Depression screening project benefits from Community Engagement Studios
Nov 30, 2018
Penn State College of Medicine’s Dr. Deepa Sekhar will partner with six urban Pennsylvania public high schools and involve more than 9,000 students in research to address the rise of depression and suicide in children. Sekhar’s team is studying use of a school-based screening for clinical…
Kindergarten predicts academic achievement across the primary grades
Nov 19, 2018
Identifying factors that predict academic difficulties during elementary school should help inform efforts to children who may be at risk. New Penn State research suggests that children’s executive functions may be a particularly important risk factor for such difficulties. Preliminary findings…
Penn State researcher receives federal grant to study early learning program
Oct 2, 2018
A Penn State researcher has a major role in a $3.3 million federal grant award to study the impact of MindUp, an early-learning program aimed at improving children's readiness for kindergarten and later grades. MindUp is designed to help children develop social-emotional and self-regulation skills…
Eating iron-fortified grain improves students’ attention, memory
Jul 18, 2018
Adolescent students in a rural school in India who consumed an iron-biofortified version of the grain pearl millet exhibited improved attention and memory compared to those who consumed conventional pearl millet, according to Penn State researchers. The results were published July 17 in the…
Preschool program preps kids for academic success through elementary school
Jun 5, 2018
A program that helps low-income parents prepare their children for school has benefits that extend beyond kindergarten and into third grade, according to Penn State researchers. The researchers found that the preschoolers of parents who participated in the program performed better academically,…
Frankenberg's research featured in The Washington Post
May 11, 2018
Back to the future: A new school district secession movement is gaining steam by Valerie Strauss After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka ruling, declaring as unconstitutional state laws permitting separate public schools for black and white…