It was one of those academic findings that shouldn't be surprising, but is.
A recent SRI International study measured the effect of online math learning on Rocketship students' academic growth, finding that students with 20 percent more online instruction time learned an additional 20 percent in math skills.
Increasingly, academics are finding that garbage -- the previously ignored contents of wastebaskets and Dumpsters -- holds vital clues to consumer culture.
But when it came to actual course offerings, especially in fields like political science, religion and Middle Eastern studies, few academics are finding that decisions can be made so easily.
But with research budgets squeezed all across Europe, academics are frequently finding that governments, which once may have simply turned over funds for scholars to dispose of as they saw fit, are increasingly tempted to dictate the objects, if not the outcomes, of the research they fund.
The "effective schools" movement, which sprang from Edmonds's research, emphasized the importance of strong leadership and an unambiguous focus on academic achievement -- findings that were not, at bottom, incompatible with Coleman's.
I still have a great deal to contribute to the scientific community, but I'm finding that academic science defines too rigidly how success is attained and quantified.
For example, Finn et al. (1991) administered a questionnaire to teachers, finding that academic behaviors that reflect effort and initiative are positively correlated with end of year achievement test scores (r = 0.40 to 0.59), while inattentive behavior is negatively correlated with achievement (r = −0.52 to −0.34).
This is also in concordance with our finding that academic results in medical school do not correlate with migration preferences.
Other work unifies these ideas with the finding that academic work outside of courses was an important factor for women of color in STEM with respect to developing science identities and persistence in the science disciplines (Espinosa, 2011).
