Consciousness-Based Education - Maharishi University of ...

improving the effectiveness of schoolsAcademic AchievementA recent study by Nidich et al. (2011) showed increased academicachievement in urban public middle school students practicing theTranscendental Meditation program compared to controls. A total of189 students in the study (125 meditating and 64 non-meditating controls)who were below proficiency level at baseline in English and math,were included in the study. The students were evaluated for change inacademic achievement, using the California Standards Tests (CST).All students were included who had academic achievement scores forboth baseline (prior year) and post test (current year). Ninety-seven percentwere racial and ethnic minority students with about 75% of thestudents classified as Title 1. The Transcendental Meditation programwas practiced at school twice a day as part of the school’s Quiet Timeprogram for three months prior to post testing.Results indicated significant improvement for those students practicingthe Transcendental Meditation technique compared to controlson English scale scores, math scale scores, and composite scores. Therewas also a significant difference found in the percentage of studentswho showed a gain of at least one performance level in math and English.For the meditating students 40.7% of the students gained at leastone performance level in math compared to 15.0% of the non-meditatingcontrol students. For English, 36.8% of the meditating studentsexhibited a gain of at least one performance level compared to 17.2% ofthe non-meditating students. Results on a matched-control subgroup,matched on GPA, yielded similar results.309