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Public release date: 26-Jun-2013
Share ] Contact: Mike Addelman
michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk
44-016-127-50790
University of Manchester
Exaggeration, exaggeration, exaggeration: parties over-egg claims on education
Both major political parties have overstated their claims and counter-claims on education, according to an independent review of Labour's record in office.
The report, led by Professor Anthony Heath from The University of Manchester, says governments mostly fail to introduce policies which can be rigorously evaluated.
The report, published this month in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, praises Labour 's policy on further education and Education Maintenance Allowance.
The Blair and Brown administrations he says, also presided over narrowing inequalities of educational achievement for secondary school students.
And it accepts that New Labour acted on its promises to prioritize education: education spending as a percentage of GDP, grew from 4.5% in 1996/7 to 6.2 per cent in 2010/11.
However, the report draws no firm conclusion on the key areas of educational standards and university tuition fees.
And it is also unclear, it adds, if the narrowing inequalities were down to autonomous developments in society, the continuation of previous education policies not reversed by Labour, or new initiatives.
Only a 2008 evaluation of the 'literacy hour' and a 2004 evaluation of EMAs, which convincingly show positive results, were robust, it says.
The reports co-authors include Dr Alice Sullivan from Institute of Education, University of London, Dr Vikki Boliver, Durham University and Dr Anna Zimdars, King's College London.
Professor Heath, Professor of Sociology at the Institute for Social Change in the School of Social Sciences, received a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list this month.
He said: "New Labour has claimed that its 13 years in power have boosted standards, which is hotly challenged by the Conservatives.
"But the biggest story is how both sides over-claim about their respective successes and failures and the poor quality and lack of decent statistical data.
"But it does seem that on balance, there was little change over time in British levels of educational attainment relative to those in other countries
"We would not rule out, however, the possibility that absolute standards did rise modestly."
He added: "Despite the resources devoted to policy evaluations by the New Labour government, which declared a belief in 'evidence-driven policy', much of evidence is disappointingly uninformative
"The problem with official evaluations is that they range from researchers drawing appropriately tentative conclusions in the face of difficult methodological issues, to essentially puff-pieces for government policies.
"The changes in the definitions, and the incentives for schools to play the system, mean that little confidence can be placed on official pronouncements about the magnitude of any increase in standards.
"We are also inclined to be skeptical about the effectiveness of measures continued from previous Conservative governments such as testing, league tables, and parental choice.
"There is no independent evidence that these have done anything to drive up standards."
###
NOTES FOR EDITORS
'Education under New Labour, 19972010', published in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, is available on request.
Professor Anthony Heath is available for comment
Authors were:
Professor Anthony Heath, University of Manchester (Principle, Investigator)
Dr Alice Sullivan, Institute of Education, University of London
Dr Vikki Boliver, Durham University
Dr Anna Zimdars, King's College London
For media enquiries contact:
Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 26-Jun-2013 Share ] Contact: Mike Addelman
michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk
44-016-127-50790
University of Manchester
Exaggeration, exaggeration, exaggeration: parties over-egg claims on education
Both major political parties have overstated their claims and counter-claims on education, according to an independent review of Labour's record in office.
The report, led by Professor Anthony Heath from The University of Manchester, says governments mostly fail to introduce policies which can be rigorously evaluated.
The report, published this month in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, praises Labour 's policy on further education and Education Maintenance Allowance.
The Blair and Brown administrations he says, also presided over narrowing inequalities of educational achievement for secondary school students.
And it accepts that New Labour acted on its promises to prioritize education: education spending as a percentage of GDP, grew from 4.5% in 1996/7 to 6.2 per cent in 2010/11.
However, the report draws no firm conclusion on the key areas of educational standards and university tuition fees.
And it is also unclear, it adds, if the narrowing inequalities were down to autonomous developments in society, the continuation of previous education policies not reversed by Labour, or new initiatives.
Only a 2008 evaluation of the 'literacy hour' and a 2004 evaluation of EMAs, which convincingly show positive results, were robust, it says.
The reports co-authors include Dr Alice Sullivan from Institute of Education, University of London, Dr Vikki Boliver, Durham University and Dr Anna Zimdars, King's College London.
Professor Heath, Professor of Sociology at the Institute for Social Change in the School of Social Sciences, received a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list this month.
He said: "New Labour has claimed that its 13 years in power have boosted standards, which is hotly challenged by the Conservatives.
"But the biggest story is how both sides over-claim about their respective successes and failures and the poor quality and lack of decent statistical data.
"But it does seem that on balance, there was little change over time in British levels of educational attainment relative to those in other countries
"We would not rule out, however, the possibility that absolute standards did rise modestly."
He added: "Despite the resources devoted to policy evaluations by the New Labour government, which declared a belief in 'evidence-driven policy', much of evidence is disappointingly uninformative
"The problem with official evaluations is that they range from researchers drawing appropriately tentative conclusions in the face of difficult methodological issues, to essentially puff-pieces for government policies.
"The changes in the definitions, and the incentives for schools to play the system, mean that little confidence can be placed on official pronouncements about the magnitude of any increase in standards.
"We are also inclined to be skeptical about the effectiveness of measures continued from previous Conservative governments such as testing, league tables, and parental choice.
"There is no independent evidence that these have done anything to drive up standards."
###
NOTES FOR EDITORS
'Education under New Labour, 19972010', published in the Oxford Review of Economic Policy, is available on request.
Professor Anthony Heath is available for comment
Authors were:
Professor Anthony Heath, University of Manchester (Principle, Investigator)
Dr Alice Sullivan, Institute of Education, University of London
Dr Vikki Boliver, Durham University
Dr Anna Zimdars, King's College London
For media enquiries contact:
Mike Addelman
Press Officer
Faculty of Humanities
The University of Manchester
0161 275 0790
07717 881567
Michael.addelman@manchester.ac.uk
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/uom-eee062613.php
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) ? When UCLA's baseball players went to the weight room for workouts, there were reminders all around about what their program lacked.
Every other sport at the famed school had at least one national championship recognized on the wall.
"We've got to get our name on that board," Nick Vander Tuig remembers coach John Savage telling his players last fall.
Finally, baseball is represented among the NCAA-record 109 team national championships in Westwood.
The Bruins secured their first title Tuesday night with an 8-0 victory over Mississippi State that completed a two-game sweep in the College World Series finals.
"We believed we were the best team in the country from the get-go," second baseman Cody Regis said. "We had that mindset that we weren't going to stop until July 1. That's what Coach always said: 'Season ends July 1 when the tournament is over. And I think we are here because we believed throughout in the process."
That process focused squarely on pitching and defense. The Bruins were among the best in the nation in both. The offense produced just enough. On Tuesday, though, the offense stole the show.
Eric Filia drove in a career-high five runs for the Bruins, who collected 12 hits and scored their most runs in 18 games, and Vander Tuig limited Mississippi State to five hits in eight innings.
"They had a great year," Savage said of his players, "and it was one of those situations where it was our time."
Adam Plutko, the Bruins' No. 1 starter, was chosen the CWS Most Outstanding Player. He beat LSU in the Bruins' first game and was the winner in Game 1 of the finals. He allowed two runs in 13 innings.
Vander Tuig held off the Bulldogs (51-20) when they threatened in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings to record his fourth win in the NCAA tournament. Vander Tuig (14-4) struck out six and walked one. David Berg pitched the ninth.
Filia produced runs with a sacrifice fly, squeeze bunt and two base hits.
"To beat us like they did today, and to do what they did to our pitching staff, which I think is one of the best in the nation," Bulldogs right fielder Hunter Renfroe said, "we didn't do what we were supposed to do. We didn't put up run support like we should have."
Bulldogs starter Luis Pollorena (6-4) lasted one inning. Jonathan Holder, the closer, came on with one out in the fourth inning and went the rest of the way.
UCLA allowed four runs in five games to set a CWS record for fewest in the metal-bat era that started in 1974.
The Bruins' .227 batting average in the CWS also was the lowest since teams went away from wooden bats. Their 19 runs in five games were the fewest by a champion since the CWS went to eight teams in 1950.
After Arizona's title last year, the Pac-12 has now won two straight and 17 titles overall in baseball ? the most of any conference.
Mississippi State was playing for its first national title in a team sport and was the sixth straight Southeastern Conference team to make it to the finals.
"What we did was knock on the door, and UCLA has knocked on the door before and they knocked down the door, and we didn't do that," Bulldogs coach John Cohen said. "It bothered me we didn't play well the last two days. We played 15 postseason games and didn't play well in two of them."
Vander Tuig, who won his fourth straight postseason start, gave up just one earned run in 21 1-3 innings over his last three outings.
"I think back on all the experience I've had in three years and how it really helped me," Vander Tuig said. "I also think of just how many wins this team has had and the opportunities we've had. It's what has gotten me to where I am, trying to keep things simple, making pitches and letting my defense work."
The Bruins won their first title in their third CWS appearance in four years and fifth all-time. They had made it to the finals in 2010 and were swept by South Carolina. Last year they went 1-2 in Omaha.
This season they finished third in the Pac-12, behind Oregon State and Oregon, and then got hot in the postseason.
They made magic with an offense that started Tuesday 264th out of 296 teams in batting (.247) and 215th in scoring (4.7 runs per game), but was among the national leaders in sacrifices, walks and hit batsmen.
UCLA won three straight at home in the regionals and went on the road to upset No. 5 national seed Cal State Fullerton in a two-game super regional.
Once the Bruins got to Omaha, they made themselves at home in spacious TD Ameritrade Park. UCLA produced just enough offense to support its superb pitching and defense in bracket play, and again in Game 1 of the finals.
The pitching and defense showed up again in Game 2, and this time so did the offense.
"We've been capable all season long," Savage said. "We have good players. I said that all along. They started to believe, and they used the whole field. Fortunately, we had some hits tonight."
UCLA was up three runs early ? a lead that has been insurmountable for every team in this year's CWS.
The Bruins used a hit batsman, a bunt that produced two Mississippi State errors, and Filia's sacrifice fly to lead 1-0 in the first. It was 3-0 in the third after Brian Carroll scored on a safety squeeze bunt by Filia and Pat Valaika's RBI single.
By the time the Bulldogs were forced to call on Holder, it was pretty much game over.
"As far as Mississippi State goes, they'll be back," Bulldogs shortstop Adam Frazier said. "Coach Cohen is doing the right things, the coaching staff has it going in the right direction. I trust coach Cohen will get it to what it is supposed to be, and I've got a feeling this team will be back in the future."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ucla-finally-adds-baseball-record-title-haul-074540548.html
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2012 file photo made with a multiple exposure, Boston Red Sox's Jon Lester pitches in the third inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Boston. A new study suggests the ability to throw hard and accurately first appeared in a human ancestor 2 million years ago. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? It's a big year for throwing. The greatest closer in baseball history, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees, is retiring. Aroldis Chapman, the overpowering Cincinnati Reds reliever, continues to fire fastballs beyond 100 mph.
And now some scientists say they've figured out when our human ancestors first started throwing with accuracy and fire power, as only people can: Nearly 2 million years ago.
That's what researchers conclude in a study released Wednesday by the journal Nature. There's plenty of skepticism about their conclusion. But the new paper contends that this throwing ability probably helped our ancient ancestor Homo erectus hunt, allowing him to toss weapons ? probably rocks and sharpened wooden spears.
The human throwing ability is unique. Not even a chimp, our closest living relative and a creature noted for strength, can throw nearly as fast as a 12-year-old Little Leaguer, says lead study author Neil Roach of George Washington University.
To find out how humans developed this ability, Roach and co-authors analyzed the throwing motions of 20 collegiate baseball players. Sometimes the players wore braces to mimic the anatomy of human ancestors, to see how anatomical changes affected throwing ability.
The human secret to throwing, the researchers propose, is that when the arm is cocked, it stores energy by stretching tendons, ligaments and muscles crossing the shoulder. It's like pulling back on a slingshot. Releasing that "elastic energy" makes the arm whip forward to make the throw.
That trick, in turn, was made possible by three anatomical changes in human evolution that affected the waist, shoulders and arms, the researchers concluded. And Homo erectus, which appeared about 2 million years ago, is the first ancient relative to combine those three changes, they said.
But others think the throwing ability must have appeared sometime later in human evolution.
Susan Larson, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York who didn't participate in the study, said the paper is the first to claim that elastic energy storage occurs in arms, rather than just in legs. The bouncing gait of a kangaroo is due to that phenomenon, she said, and the human Achilles tendon stores energy to help people walk.
The new analysis offers good evidence that the shoulder is storing elastic energy, even though the shoulder doesn't have the long tendons that do that job in legs, she said. So maybe other tissues can do it too, she said.
But Larson, an expert on evolution of the human shoulder, said she does not think Homo erectus could throw like a modern human. She said she believes its shoulders were too narrow and that the orientation of the shoulder joint on the body would make overhand throwing "more or less impossible."
Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution, said he is "not at all convinced" by the paper's argument about when and why throwing appeared.
The authors did not present any data to counter Larson's published work that indicates the erectus shoulder was ill-suited for throwing, he said.
And it is "a stretch" to say that throwing would give erectus an advantage in hunting, Potts said. Large animals have to be pierced in specific spots for a kill, which would seem to require more accuracy than one could expect erectus to achieve from a distance, he said.
Potts noted that the earliest known spears, which date from about 400,000 years ago, were used for thrusting rather than throwing.
___ Online:
Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature
___
Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter
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Can thinking about what?s important to you improve your problem-solving powers?
Have a look at the following list of values and personal characteristics. If you had to pick just one, which most defines who you are and what matters to you?
Perhaps what matters most to you isn?t there (this isn?t a comprehensive list!), in that case think about what does matter to you most.
In the burgeoning series of experiments which use this type of self-affirmation exercise, participants are then asked to write a paragraph or two on why this characteristic or value is so important to them. Sometimes they also think about a specific time or story that is illustrative.
The effects can be quite useful across a surprisingly large number of domains. It can help boost self-control in the moment and even increase social confidence for two or more months after it?s carried out.
Problem-solving
In a new study, Cresswell et al. (2013) tested whether a simple self-affirmation exercise would have a beneficial effect on problem-solving under stress, particularly for individuals who have been stressed recently.
In their experiment, half the participants did the self-affirmation exercise while the rest performed a similar, but ineffectual exercise.
The results showed that those who had been stressed recently and were self-affirmed before they began the exercise performed better at the problem-solving task. This suggests the self-affirmation exercise could be useful for people under stress who are, for example, taking exams, going to job interviews or under pressure at work.
What?s fascinating about the self-affirmation task is that it doesn?t have to be related to the area in which you?re looking to improve. So thinking about the importance of your family can increase your problem-solving performance, even though the two have little in common.
We don?t know exactly why the self-affirmation exercise works; indeed the researchers tested a couple of options in their study?that perhaps it improves people?s mood or that they engaged more with the task?but they don?t find evidence for either.
Instead they think it more likely that the self-affirmation exercise helps you move your attention more flexibly, which improves memory function.
Whatever the mechanism, this growing body of evidence on the benefits of self-affirmation is encouraging.
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Source: http://ourbetterhealth.org/2013/05/13/perform-better-under-stress-using-self-affirmation/
The sun, it seems, is in overdrive. Late Monday night, the sun unleashed its third major solar flare in 24 hours ? the biggest and most powerful solar storm of the year, so far.
This latest sun storm erupted Monday (May 13) at 9:11 p.m. EDT (0111 GMT) and registered as an X3.2 solar flare, one of the strongest types of flares the sun can release, space weather officials said. It came on the heels of two other recent X-class solar flares on Sunday night and Monday, all of which were sparked by a highly active sunspot on the sun's far left side.
Officials at the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., appeared amazed at the intense activity from the crackling sunspot. [Sun Unleashes Biggest Flares of 2013 (Photos)]
"Clearly an extraordinary active region is making its way fully onto the visible disk," SWPC officials wrote in a morning update today (May 14). "Can it keep up this hectic pace?"
Two of the three recent solar flares have been associated with massive explosions, called coronal mass ejections, which flung super-hot solar material into space at millions of miles per hour. Because the sunspot firing off the flares is not yet facing Earth, the solar eruptions pose no threat to satellites and astronauts in orbit, NASA has said.
"This marks the 3rd X-class flare in 24 hours," officials with NASA's sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory wrote in a statement. "Just like the two before this one also happened over the eastern limb of the sun and is not Earth-directed."
The Solar Dynamics Observatory captured amazing videos of the major solar flares and eruptions.
According to astronomer Tony Phillips of Spaceweather.com, scientists have just given the active sunspot a name: AR1748. It is one of nine active numbered sunspots currently visible on the surface of the sun.
While AR1784 has been spouting off many solar flares in recent days, most of them more moderate, M-class solar flares, the events on Sunday and Monday are taking solar activity to another level.
"These are the strongest flares of the year so far, and they signal a significant increase in solar activity," Phillips wrote in a Spaceweather.com update this morning.
Scientists use a tiered space weather scale to classify solar flare events, with each level representing a tenfold increase in power over the one before. At the bottom of the scale are A and B type solar flares, which have no effect on Earth. Next are C-class solar flares and the stronger, yet still medium-strength, M-class solar flares, which can supercharge Earth's auroras and cause radio blackouts when aimed at Earth.
X-class solar flares are the most powerful types of solar storms. When aimed directly at Earth, these major solar events can pose a danger to astronauts and satellites in space, as well as interfere with radio and GPS navigation signals.
The X3.2 solar flare is the most powerful yet seen this year and the third-strongest sun storm of the current 11-year solar cycle, called Solar Cycle 24. The second strongest was an X5.4 solar flare in 2012, while the largest event was an X6.9 flare in 2011. So far, there have been 18 X-class solar flares in Solar Cycle 24.
The first X-class solar flare of 2013 (the Sunday event) registered as an X1.7 on the flare scale, with the mid-day Monday flare rating as an X2.8, NASA officials said.
Solar activity on the sun rises and falls over the course of its 11-year cycle. The sun is active phase of Solar Cycle 24 as it approaches its peak activity period, called solar maximum, which is expected to occur later this year.
Scientists have been monitoring solar flares and other space weather events since their discovery in 1843. Today, NASA and other space agencies continuously monitor the sun with spacecraft like the Solar Dynamics Observatory to track potentially dangerous space weather events.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalikand Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hyperactive-sun-fires-off-3-major-solar-flares-123138691.html
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Aereo has announced that its streaming TV service will land in Atlanta on June 17th?and it still hopes to be in 22 new cities by the end of the year, too.
Source: http://gizmodo.com/aereo-has-announced-that-its-streaming-tv-service-will-505473161
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