Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

improving the effectiveness of schoolsAbstractThis paper provides a review of research on the Transcendental Meditationprogram with middle and secondary school students, emphasizing the mainoutcomes of school effectiveness programs—academic achievement and graduationrates. A model was provided to organize the research findings and toshow possible relationships among the various factors. Central to the model isthe contribution of increased integrated brain functioning and higher EEGcoherence through practice of the Transcendental Meditation program. Otherstudent outcomes include improvements in the areas of cognitive functioning,student affect and social and emotional learning competencies, and studentbehavior. In addition, the Transcendental Meditation program’s economicbenefit to society, based on increased graduation rates, is presented.IntroductionThe Current State of EducationOver the past few decades, state, national, and international standardizedtest scores have indicated a subpar level of academicachievement across U.S. public schools contributing to low levelsof student high school graduation rates (Battin-Pearson, Newcomb,Abbott, Hill, et al., 2000; Kaplan, Peck, & Kaplan, 1997). Amongdeveloped countries, the U.S. ranks eighteenth in high school graduationrates (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development,2007). The most recent data from Diplomas Count 2010 showsthat only 69 percent of the students in 2007 graduated from our nation’sschools. At its peak in 1969, the national graduation rate was 77 percent.Further a racial and ethnic gap exists, with only 46 percent of AfricanAmerican, 44 percent of Latino, and 49 percent of Native Americanstudents earning a diploma (Heckman & LaFontaine, 2007).Since the No Child Left Behind Act, public schools in every statehave attempted reform measures to try to improve the quality of educationand the graduation rates. Reform has featured an increasedemphasis on accountability through standardized assessment of studentacademic achievement across grade levels (Torres, 2004). Even withthis renewed attention from politicians and educators to improve public297