I often write about research studies from various fields and how they can be applied to the classroom. I write individual posts about ones that I think are especially significant, and will continue to do so. However, so many studies are published that it’s hard to keep up. So I’ve started writing a “round-up” of some of them each week or every other week as a regular feature.
You can see all my “Best” lists related to education research here.
Here are some new useful studies (and related resources):
This excerpt comes from Edutopia’s “Research is In” email. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to just link to it (even though I suggested they allow their email to be read in a browser). I’m adding this info to The Best Ideas For Helping Students Connect Lessons To Their Interests & The World and to Best Posts On “Motivating” Students:
Scientific fields like astronomy and zoology inspire wonder and draw inquisitive young dreamers to these disciplines.
But when many of these aspiring scientists enter college, they lose their nerve and choose a different path—not because classes are too difficult, but because “the material can feel disconnected from the goals that brought them there in the first place,” a new study reveals.
Building on previous studies, researchers set out to see if simple writing exercises could keep college students interested in STEM degrees. Roughly 2,500 students taking an introductory chemistry course—notorious for driving students out of science—were split into 2 groups. One wrote short essays linking course material to personal goals and societal benefits, while the other simply summarized previous lessons.
Years later, students who connected class material to purpose were 4 percentage points more likely to graduate with a STEM degree than their peers. For Black, Latino, and some other underrepresented students, that number jumped by 14 points, to 69%.
Students often gravitate toward science because they want “intellectually stimulating jobs” that address big problems like climate change, the researchers explain. Simple activities that infuse purpose into academic work—talking to mentors or writing out goals, for example—have a long track record of keeping students focused and engaged.
Does screen use lead to socioemotional problems in children, or do socioemotional problems prompt children to engage in more screen time? Both, concludes a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies, and both effects are small (open) psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202…
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— Dan Willingham (@dtwuva.bsky.social) June 10, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Believe it or not, some people, particularly those who opposed teachers getting tenure, claimed that after the first few years teachers stopped improving. Ridiculous, I know! Research debunked that dumb idea a few years ago, and now a new study debunks it further.
Research Bite #28: Teaching to the test: Unraveling the consequences for student motivation is from Tips For Teachers.
Here are some recent useful posts and articles on educational policy issues (You might also be interested in seeing all my “Best” lists related to education policy here):
“When you change the language and the verbiage of things,” said one therapy facilitator, “it makes it more accessible to students to respond to.”
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— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) December 6, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Education Department workers targeted in layoffs are returning to tackle civil rights backlog apnews.com/article/educ…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Accommodation Nation is from The Atlantic.
Instead of being angry at schools, perhaps parents should reflect on the kind of relationship they have with their kids
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 10:10 AM
As “Operation Midway Blitz” spreads fear, some school safety workers — and students — are staying home.
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— Chalkbeat (@chalkbeat.org) December 8, 2025 at 3:11 AM
How Florida lost track of 30,000 students, a ‘cautionary tale’ for vouchers www.washingtonpost.com/education/20…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 4:59 AM
Why Districts Set Up Immigration-Related Protocols is from Ed Week. I’m adding it to The Best Resources To Support Schools, Teachers, Students & Families In The Face Of Trump’s Deportation Threats.
There’s a new nostalgia for No Child Left Behind gripping parts of the education world .
I took a deep dive into the research to see whether it’s really true that NCLB-style school accountability drove learning gains. Answer: yes—with several asterisks
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/would-more…
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— Matt Barnum (@mattbarnum.bsky.social) December 3, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Also lots of commentary about this article in my timeline. I’d be interested in hearing what people think Albright could have done differently to stave off enrollment declines and massive budget deficits.
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— Jon Becker (@jonbecker.bsky.social) December 9, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Happening now: Texas leaders announcing a rollout of a statewide program to put TPUSA chapters in high schools and colleges across the state. Gov. Abbott adds that schools that stand in the way should be reported to the Texas Education Agency.
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— Robert Downen (@robertdownen.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I’m adding this post to Best Posts On Students Evaluating Classes (And Teachers):
Evaluation time! Don’t forget to use @bschmidt.bsky.social’s amazing tool to help your students see that these mechanisms of surveillance are fundamentally discriminatory and, as evidence of teaching quality, effectively useless!
shorturl.at/To24L
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— Nathan K. Hensley (@nathankhensley.bsky.social) December 9, 2024 at 8:33 AM
Millions of borrowers in Biden’s SAVE plan would start paying under new settlement is from NPR.
‘Bring it on!’: growing support in England for four-day week in schools is from The Guardian.
Observing University Professors Teach is from Larry Cuban.
High schools bullying is up, attendance down as ICE raids sow ‘climate of distress,’ study says www.latimes.com/california/s…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 9, 2025 at 6:05 AM
A fight over restoring Confederate names on schools heads to trial www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 9, 2025 at 5:58 AM
Peer-reviewing Linda McMahon 👇
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— Jon Becker (@jonbecker.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Can We Agree Kids Don’t Need Doritos at School? www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/o…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 8, 2025 at 4:24 PM
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Four day school weeks are featured prominently in my upcoming book about bad ideas in education because they are one of the absolute worst ideas in education.
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— Morgan Polikoff (@mpolikoff.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 10:10 AM
1) Raw cruelty to kids. Brutal.
2) With birth rates down, pandemic recovery dollars gone, conservatives funding private school choice w/public $s, et al, and now THIS…schools are facing enormous downwards pressure on their budgets.
www.k12dive.com/news/distric…
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— Conor P. Williams (@conorpwilliams.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 10:16 AM
“A for-profit virtual education company accused of defrauding investors and other harms is set to run a new school at an immigration prison in Texas, according to job advertisements.”
What a sentence/lede.
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— Jon Becker (@jonbecker.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 11:56 AM
According to a new court filing, the Trump administration has a six-page list of banned words that Head Start locations are forbidden from using when describing their programs.
Among the censored words: “disability,” “race,” “women,” “trauma,” “Gulf of Mexico.” Short thread with the full list. 🧵
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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Resisting ICE in Many Cities — From Charlotte to New Orleans to Minneapolis — Means Keeping Kids in School is from The 74.
Minnesota schools back families as Trump’s anti-immigrant comments stoke new fears is from MPR News.
Districts report enrollment drops amid heightened immigration enforcement is from K-12 Dive.
What the internet backlash over remedial math at UC San Diego misses is by Matt Barnum.
Education Department recalls fired attorneys amid civil rights complaint backlog is from NPR.
Why a record number of students applied for federal financial aid this year is from NPR.
Um, how about asking them what they think and acting on their responses? ——School Leaders Struggle With Teacher Buy-in. What to Do About That www.edweek.org/leadership/o…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Lecturer Sanctioned Over MAGA White Supremacy Lesson Is Back in Class www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/u…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Head Start centers told to avoid ‘disability,’ ‘women’ and more in funding requests www.npr.org/2025/12/11/n…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
I’m a strong supporter of last-in, first-out policies AND think that all tchr contracts should have the kind of exceptions for teachers of color negotiated here —-Trump Admin. Accuses Minneapolis Schools of Racism in Protecting Minority Teachers www.edweek.org/leadership/t…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Why St. Hope Public Schools lost 70% of its teaching staff in one year
Read more at: www.sacbee.com/news/local/e… www.sacbee.com/news/local/e…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Really?———Austria Bans Head Scarves in Schools for Girls Under 14 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/w…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Efforts to require Asian American history in schools after anti-Asian hate starting to pay off
apnews.com/article/aapi…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Kids Rarely Read Whole Books Anymore. Even in English Class. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u… gift link
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 5:18 AM
This is a terrific and helpfully clear piece about what IQ scores do (and don’t) mean. www.aft.org/ae/winter202…
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— Matt Barnum (@mattbarnum.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Without affirmative action, elite colleges are prioritizing economic diversity in admissions
apnews.com/article/coll…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 11, 2025 at 5:32 AM
The Conservative Overhaul of the University of Texas Is Underway www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/u…
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— Larry Ferlazzo (@larryferlazzo.bsky.social) December 10, 2025 at 8:34 PM
South Korea exam chief quits after complaints English test was too hard is from The Guardian.
Uncertainty and Arrogant Reformers is by Larry Cuban. I’m adding it to The Best Posts Discussing Arrogance & School Reform.
Several companies have recently brought out tools for providing simultaneous translation (see THE BEST RESOURCES TO HELP ELL STUDENTS WITH SIMULTANEOUS TRANSLATION IN THE CLASSROOM) and, today, Google joined the crowd.
They announced that they’re rolling out this capability to the Google Translate app on Pixel phones and doing the same next year on IOS.
The same announcement highlighted improvements in their “practice” feature but, as I said earlier, it still has a ways to go to better Duolingo.
But the simultaneous translation feature appears pretty impressive. It’s also very timely because, with the drop in ELL Newcomer enrollment, it’s a safe bet that more Newcomers will be parachuted into regular content classes with little or no support. This new simultaneous tool, or other new ones, will come in handy to both teachers and students alike.
Even though these translation developments are coming faster than I had expected, I still think most ELL classes above low Intermediate need to be restructured to emphasize speaking and listening (see Does Advanced Tech Mean That Secondary ELL Classes Should Be Radically Restructured?). Students are still going to be very motivated to develop oral skills, and there are many other reasons and advantages to developing multilingual skills (see The Best Resources For Learning The Advantages To Being Bilingual).
