Screen time not harmful for academic skills of preschoolers

Despite the fears of parents, screen time doesn’t appear to have overwhelmingly negative impacts on preschoolers’ development, new research suggests. The study of kids from low-income and minority homes found that the quantity of time in front of the TV, smartphones and tablets was not related to children’s gains in language, literacy and math skills.

The AVID college prep program leads to lower substance use, better health behaviors among high school students, UCLA-led research suggests

New UCLA-led research finds that a college preparatory program for youth experiencing educational inequities that operates in about 13% of U.S public high schools has a positive effect on students’ social networks, psycho-social outcomes, and health behaviors.  The findings, published Dec. 16 in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics, suggests that the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program, aimed at increasing educational opportunities for under-represented and economically disadvantaged students, also significantly reduces substance use.

When seeing is believing

Being able to vividly imagine graduating college predicts grade point average and whether a student continues in a STEM or business degree program, according to a longitudinal study from Arizona State University. The study also found sex differences between how men and women visualized their post-graduation goals: Men increased the level of detail, but women remained stagnant. These findings could have implications for why women are underrepresented in STEM and business careers.

U.S. schools receive a C in whole child development in reimagined Nation’s Report Card

If the Nation’s Report Card, an annual report formerly known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), was reimagined to include physical and emotional health in addition to academics, the United States would receive a C average, says University at Buffalo educational policy expert Jaekyung Lee.

Research Video News Brief: Projecting the Potential Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement

A study published today in Educational Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association, provides preliminary projections of the impact of COVID-19-related school closures in spring 2020 on student learning. The study authors found that compared to a typical year, students likely did not gain as much academically during the truncated 2019–20 school year and likely lost more of those gains due to extended time out of school.