STUDY ALERT: High-Stakes Testing: Does It Increase Achievement?
TITLE: High-Stakes Testing: Does It Increase Achievement?
AUTHOR: Sharon L. Nichols
ABSTRACT
I review the literature on the impact on student achievement of high-stakes testing. Its popularity as a mechanism for holding educators accountable has triggered studies to examine whether its promise to increase student learning has been fulfilled. The review concludes there is no consistent evidence to suggest high-stakes testing leads to increases in student learning*. Read More
STUDY ALERT: Intelligence: New Findings and Theoretical Developments
This is an important update to Ulric Neisser et al.’s seminal 1996 article Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. Read More
Must One Risk Madness to Achieve Genius?
“There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.” — Salvador Dali Must one risk getting lost in the sea of madness in order to reach the lone island of genius? While not necessarily mad, creative minds are often chaotic, untethered and unhinged. These thought processes enable a creative person […]
Introducing “STUDY ALERT”: Fluid insight moderates the relationship between psychoticism and crystallized intelligence
Truth is: I’ve become increasingly agitated by most science reporting of psychological studies. Somewhere along the way, something usually gets misrepresented. Maybe it’s the sensational title. Maybe it’s the misquoting. Maybe it’s a misunderstanding of what a correlation means or what constitutes a large or meaningful effect size or the equating of a gene with […]
Who Is Currently Identified as Gifted in the United States?
Today, lots of different definitions of giftedness exist. This wasn’t always the case. Prior to 1972, practically every school used one criterion and one criterion only to identify giftedness: an IQ cut-off of 130. This criterion was heavily influenced by the pioneering work of Lewis Terman, who equated high IQ with genius. Read More
The Will and Ways of Hope
Talent, skill, ability—whatever you want to call it—will not get you there. Sure, it helps. But a wealth of psychological research over the past few decades show loud and clear that it’s the psychological vehicles that really get you there. You can have the best engine in the world, but if you can’t be bothered […]
The Origins of Positive-Constructive Daydreaming
[This article was written by Scott Barry Kaufman and Jerome L. Singer] Once accused of being absent-minded, the founder of American Psychology, William James, quipped that he was really just present-minded to his own thoughts. William James didn’t just live in his own head, but he also studied the phenomenon, coining the term “stream of […]
Confidence Matters Just as Much as Ability
A bulk of research shows that when people are put in situations where they are expected to fail, their performance does plummet. They turn into different people. Their head literally shuts down, and they end up confirming the expectations. When they’re expected to win, their performance shoots back up. Same person, difference expectations. In recent […]
The Dark Side of Creativity
Creativity is great. In the words of the philosopher Elliot Samuel Paul, “Creativity pervades human life. It is the mark of individuality. The vehicle of self-expression. The engine of progress in every human endeavor.” Still, this doesn’t mean creativity is always ethical. Creativity comes from humans, and humans are complex. Creative people are the most […]
