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Research WednesdayTHE FAMILY DYNAMIC: A Journey Into the Mystery of Sibling Success, by Susan Dominus
In this provocative new book (2025), THE FAMILY DYNAMIC: A Journey Into the Mystery of Sibling Success, by Susan Dominus, the author examines the families of exceptional siblings, from those who excelled in medicine, chess, politics, and other fields.
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Research Wednesday
Student Engagement
Student engagement is a hot topic with many teachers despairing that students display an alarming degree of disinterest and disengagement in school. More than 130 studies in this meta-analysis revealed that engagement and academic achievement are very related.
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Research Wednesday
Take Care when Implementing the Science of Reading.
Take Care when Implementing the Science of Reading.
The science of reading has taken the nation by storm, with more than half the state legislatures mandating adopting a curriculum based on the science of reading.
In this April 29, 2025, article in Education Week, Scott Gaynor, the head of an independent school, suggests caution in several areas.
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Research Wednesday
Math Education
While the Thomas Fordham Foundation has been critical of me, especially about my writing on grading policies, I always try to learn from them, and this week was an especially good report on math education. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (Matt Giani, Ph.D., Franchesca Lyra, Adam Tyner, Ph.D.) studied the impact on students who took calculus or statistics.
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Research Wednesday
Fearless Leadership
Here is a quick excerpt from my new book, Fearless Leadership, that might be useful in your discussions with school and district leaders. It has to do with how leaders and governing board members can deal with public participation in board meetings:
We follow the principle to first seek to understand, and then seek to be understood.
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Research Wednesday
The Continued Impact of Chronic Absenteeism
The continued impact of chronic absenteeism:
A terrific report (January 16, 2025) from researchers at Johns Hopkins demonstrates that the lingering effects of school closures during the pandemic remain years after schools reopened. Chronic absenteeism overwhelms faculty and staff, and the negative effects are not only on those students who fail to come to school, but also on students who attend school.
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Research Wednesday
Professional Development
I have attempted to separate these updates from politics, but this week’s news went over the line. The Administration is asking the Supreme Court to approve the Administration’s decision to cancel professional development for teachers that has already been approved by Congress.
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Research Wednesday
Empathy
I am always humbled when I read thoughtful researchers who disagree with me. Yale Professor Paul Bloom writes in his controversial book “Against Empathy” that the pendulum has swung too far from overly demanding parents (see his “Tiger Mom” colleague also at Yale) to the snowplow parents of today.
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Research Wednesday
Reading Requires Real Books
This week’s evidence focuses on the fact that real reading requires real books, and it’s not too late to stop the madness of technology substitutes. The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results are miserable – and we can’t just blame it all on COVID and TikTok. Students spend 8 hours a day on screens, and some schools are succumbing to the siren song of letting tech substitute for reading literacy.
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Research Wednesday
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
This week’s evidence comes from the recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores, often called the “Nation’s Report Card.” Cuts in the US Department of Education, especially in research, may make this the last NAEP report we’ll see for a while. Therefore, it is worth taking a hard look at the data.
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Research Wednesday
E-reader Libraries as Intervention
Today’s research update has surprising (at least to me) findings. It’s from The Johns Hopkins University’s “Best Evidence in Brief” series and always features a variety of US and international research. This study of 1,000 11 to 12-year-old low-income students found that when they had access to e-readers at home (their home access to books was very limited), the students selected their own books and received recommendations from teachers. The
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Research Wednesday
Social Sciences Under Attack
This week’s evidence discusses how the social sciences – including educational psychology, economics, political science, and many other fields students need – are under attack. This is not a new development, but the enthusiasm for diminishing scientific inquiry of all sorts has accelerated with the recent election results.
Research Wednesday
Dr. Douglas Reeves and colleagues regularly publish on relevant topics for busy educators. Whether it is a book, article, or blog, each contain facts and practical next steps for practitioners. As with all our resources, please share with colleagues and communities.