Browsing by Author "Gdula, Julie"

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    Examining the Impact of Later High School Start Times on the Health and Academic Performance of High School Students: A Multi-Site Study
    (2014-02) Wahlstrom, Kyla; Dretzke, Beverly; Gordon, Molly; Peterson, Kristin; Edwards, Katherine; Gdula, Julie
    The results from this three-year research study, conducted with over 9,000 students in eight public high schools in three states, reveal that high schools that start at 8:30 AM or later allow for more than 60% of students to obtain at least eight hours of sleep per school night. Teens getting less than eight hours of sleep reported significantly higher depression symptoms, greater use of caffeine, and are at greater risk for making poor choices for substance use. Academic performance outcomes, including grades earned in core subject areas of math, English, science and social studies, plus performance on state and national achievement tests, attendance rates and reduced tardiness show significantly positive improvement with the later start times of 8:35 AM or later. Finally, the number of car crashes for teen drivers from 16 to 18 years of age was significantly reduced by 70% when a school shifted start times from 7:35 AM to 8:55 AM.
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    Minnesota Science Teachers Education Project (MnSTEP)
    (Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, 2010-06) Michlin, Michael; Kalke, Nan; Gdula, Julie
    The Minnesota Science Teachers Education Project (MnSTEP) was a series of rigorous, content-focused, summer science institutes offered regionally throughout Minnesota for K-12 teachers of science. Institutes were provided in biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, and scientific inquiry – addressing the Minnesota Science Standards in each area – with at least one K-5 and one 6-12 institute offered in each of five regions each summer. MnSTEP completed the third and final year of summer institutes and school year follow-up for Minnesota K-12 science teachers, including licensure programs in both high school physics and chemistry. Over three years, MnSTEP delivered 47 standardsbased science content institutes involving 914 teachers, who then taught more than 85,000 students. This report presents information on performance outcomes for year three of the project including results of pre- and post-assessment data for the year two cohort of teacher participants in the summer 2008 institutes. We presented an evaluation of the year one cohort in the 2008 MnSTEP Evaluation Report. We provide performance outcomes for the year one cohort in this report as a supplement to the 2008 report and for comparison purposes to the year two cohort.
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    Review of Literature on Grade Configuration and School Transitions
    (Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, 2011-03) Gordon, Molly; Peterson, Kristin; Gdula, Julie; Klingbeil, Dave
    Beginning with the junior high school movement in the 1920s and continuing through the middle school movement in the 1960s, educational researchers have investigated the impact of school transitions and different grade configurations on a variety of student outcomes. In this report, we review the most salient empirical research to date on how school transitions and different grade configurations impact student achievement and behavior, as well as student psychological and social-emotional outcomes.