News
September 2015

In this edition:

• Spotlight on: Education
• Top stories
• Featured articles
• Events

Join the debate

   

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) argue that school currently starts too early in the morning, leading to students not getting enough sleep—which in turn can cause weight issues, substance abuse, depression, and poor academic performance. Read here.

Michael A. Leeds writes that parents must let their children play because participation in sport leads to better grades as well as a significant decline in both emotional and behavioral problems later in life. Read here.

• Stephan L. Thomsen writes that shortening secondary school duration may increase the skilled workforce in aging societies. Limiting the number of years spent in education can lengthen working lives and enable intergenerational skills transfer. Read more here.
• In her newly published article, Teny M. Shapiro explains that delaying secondary school start times can be a cost-effective policy to improve students’ grades. Research shows that a one-hour delay has the same effect as being in a class with a third fewer students or with a teacher whose performance is one standard deviation higher. A one-hour delay in start time is also associated with a 2.32% increase in test scores. Read more here.
• Scott A. Imberman writes that although linking teacher pay to student performance has become popular, evidence on the effectiveness of this policy is mixed. He finds that financial incentives for teachers can be effective if well designed, but poorly designed incentives yield little benefit. Read more here.