Here are 10 of the most popular 2020 Proof Points columns.  

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on my weekly stories about education data and research. Happy New Year and I'll be back again on Jan. 4, 2020 with a follow-up story to the first item on the “key points”  list below.

Study: Boosting soft skills is better than raising test scores 

A Chicago study makes the case that high schools that build social-emotional skills, such as the ability to resolve conflicts and the motivation to work hard, are getting even better results for students than schools that only boost test scores. The schools that develop soft skills produced students with higher grades, fewer absences and fewer disciplinary problems and arrests in high school. Students who attended these high schools were more likely to graduate and attend college. 

Why so few students transfer from community colleges to four-year universities 

A survey of 800 California community college students reveals why some students managed to transfer to a four-year university and others didn’t. Red tape can stymie the brightest students who have otherwise fulfilled academic requirements. 

How the last recession affected higher education. Will history repeat? 

A well-intended effort to invest in education after the 2008 recession left many Americans in debt without degrees. Policymakers underfunded public colleges and universities as they steered people toward them.

A study on teaching critical thinking in science 

In a study of middle school science classrooms, researchers found that it’s not effective to start the school year with weeks of lessons on the scientific method, which many teachers do.  Instead, the successful teaching of scientific thinking starts with a content-rich lesson where students learn to ask the right questions and evaluate evidence while they are processing information on dolphins, molecules or another specific science topic.  

Four things you need to know about the new reading wars 

Evidence backs phonics instruction in early elementary years along with engaging social studies and science classes so that students can build their background knowledge to comprehend complicated texts as they get older.   

Student teachers fail test about how kids learn, nonprofit finds 

An assessment of students at six teacher training schools found that teacher candidates “possess a shallow understanding” of basic principles of learning science and struggled to make instructional decisions that are consistent with the research evidence of how students learn. 

A decade of research on the rich-poor divide in education 

Many studies show growing funding inequities and increased poverty in U.S. schools. 

Another way to quantify inequality inside colleges 

Black students have much lower graduation rates than white students attending the same colleges in an Urban Institute study of higher education institutions in two states, Virginia and Connecticut. Graduation gaps persist even when Black students and white students have the same family income, high school grades and SAT scores. 

The science of talking in class 

Teachers commonly tell students to “turn and talk” to a classmate as a way to reinforce a lesson. But a meta-analysis of peer-to-peer interaction found that the strongest learning gains came when adults gave clear instructions for what to do during conversations, such as “arrive at a consensus” or “make sure you understand your partner’s perspective.” Simply telling students to “work together” or “discuss”  often didn’t generate learning improvements for students in the studies. 

Takeaways from research on tutoring to address coronavirus learning loss 

Individual tutoring is one of the most effective ways to help struggling learners catch up, but research points to frequent sessions. But it’s expensive and there are debates on who should do the tutoring, how tutors should be trained and how scripted the curriculum should be. According to one calculation, a school year’s worth of tutoring might make up five months of learning loss, still not enough to completely wipe out expected coronavirus learning losses for some children. 

• Researchers found that it’s not effective to start middle school science courses with weeks of lessons on the scientific method. It’s easier to develop critical thinking skills while digging into a lesson.  

• Students need more explicit instructions than “turn and talk” to a classmate. 

• In addition to phonics instruction, students need lots of background knowledge to become good readers.