Given growing disparities in college enrollment by household income, policymakers and researchers often are interested in understanding whether policies expand access for low-income students. This brief highlights the limitations of a commonly available measure of low-income status—whether students receive a federal Pell grant—and compares it to new data on enrollment by income quintile to evalua
While numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between exclusionary discipline and negative student outcomes, this relationship is likely confounded by other factors related to the underlying misbehavior or risk of disciplinary referral. Using 10 years of student-level demographic, achievement, and disciplinary data from all K–12 public schools in Arkansas, this study finds that exclusion
Complete Report The United States has boosted attainment rates over the past decade, with the share of young adults with at least an associate degree increasing by 20 percent, resulting in an additional 5 million more individuals earning a college degree. Rural areas tend to have low overall attainment, whereas urban areas tend to have the largest racial attainment gaps. But these gains in postse
Students think it is instructors' responsibility to ensure they don't surf the web in class, according to a new study. In a recent mixed-method study, researchers from the University of Waterloo surveyed 478 undergraduates and 36 instructors on their perception of technology use in class. The survey found that nine per cent of students thought course materials that could be seen on other students
As the journalism industry rapidly evolves, what are professors in the field telling students about their job prospects? A new study from Rice University and Rutgers University finds educators are encouraging aspiring journalists to look for work outside the news business. "Professionalizing Contingency: How Journalism Schools Adapt to Deprofessionalization," will appear in an upcoming edition of
In 2016, among children ages 5 and younger in at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement, 25 percent received only relative care, 12 percent received only nonrelative care, 42 percent received only center-based care, and 20 percent received multiple types of care. The National Center for Education Statistics released new web tables today , June 26, entitled The Costs of Childcare: Results F
Highlights • Girls perform better than boys on performance-based ICT literacy assessments. • Gender differences are larger in primary schools than in secondary schools. • The overall effect size is robust across several analysis conditions. • No evidence of publication bias could be found. • Overall, the gender differences in ICT literacy are significant but small. Abstract The study of gender di
Increased educational attainment during childhood is associated with a reduction in heart disease and improvements in several cardiovascular risk factors in adulthood, according to a study published June 25 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Rita Hamad of the University of California San Francisco, United States and colleagues. As noted by the authors, the findings suggest that policies
American Educational Research Association Main Findings: Universal college admission testing in the state of Virginia could increase the number of high school graduates with test scores competitive for admission at universities in the state by as much as 40 percent--and at the most selective institutions, nearly 20 percent--with larger increases for low-income students. In addition, policies that
A shortage of high school physics teachers has led to teachers with little-to-no physics training taking over physics classrooms, causing additional stress and job dissatisfaction for those teachers--and a difficult learning experience for their students. But new research indicates that focused physics professional development for teachers--even those who have no prior physics training--can lead
There were more than 32,000 private schools in the United States in the fall of 2017, serving nearly 5 million students, according to a new report released today (June 25, 2019). The National Center for Education Statistics released a new First Look report entitled Characteristics of Private Schools in the United States: Results From the 2017–18 Private School Universe Survey. T his report examin
Although several studies have reported Advanced Placement (AP) growth, little attention has been paid to school- and classroom-level strategies that encourage students to enroll into AP courses and complete AP exams. This study focused on determining goals emphasized, and strategies used, by science and math teachers ( N = 143). Results indicated teachers believe the greatest value of AP is in pr
Meeting the intellectual needs of high-ability students does not end upon graduation from high school. However, limited attention is paid to the important topic of postsecondary advanced learning in the research literature. This systematic review identified 52 empirical studies published during the past 15 years. Results suggest various cognitive and psychosocial factors influence achievement amo
High school students who take music courses score significantly better on math, science and English exams than their non-musical peers, according to a new study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology . School administrators needing to trim budgets often look first to music courses, because the general belief is that students who devote time to music rather than math, science and Engli
If the nation’s top 200 colleges only admitted students with the highest SAT scores, 53% of incoming students would be replaced, resulting in a student body slightly more affluent and less racially diverse. SAT-OnlyAdmission: How Would It Change College Campuses? examines how implementing a test-only admissions policy at the most selective US colleges would alter the demographics and credentials
A recent study from REL Midwest evaluates the extent to which rural Iowa teachers use technology and how they perceive school support for technology use in instruction. In particular, the study looks to determine the extent to which teachers have integrated technology to develop the 21 st century skills emphasized by the Iowa Core Standards: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical
The Advanced Placement (AP) program has undergone two major reforms in recent decades: the first aimed at increasing access and the second at increasing relevance. Both initiatives are partially designed to increase the number of high school students from low-income backgrounds who have access to college-level coursework. Yet critics argue that schools in less-resourced communities are unable to
Prior to the racial integration of schools in the southern United States, predominantly African American schools were staffed almost exclusively by African American teachers as well, and teaching constituted an extraordinarily large share of professional employment among southern blacks. The large-scale desegregation of southern schools occurring after passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act represe
Also see Marijuana and Teens The development of neural circuits in youth, at a particularly important time in their lives, can be heavily influenced by external factors--specifically the frequent and regular use of cannabis. A new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ( JAACAP ) , published by Elsevier, reports that alterations in cognitive control--an ens
U.S. school districts used an average of 703 different edtech products every month in the 2018-19 school year , according to the latest findings from EdTech Top 40 research , conducted across 1,000 schools around the country and covering more than 1 million teachers and students. This data represents a 28% increase from the 2017-18 school year , a dramatic rise that likely reflects the expanded n
Complete report Teachers’ impact on student long - run success is only partially explained by their contributions to students’ short - run academic performance . This study explored a second dimension of teacher effectiveness by creating measures of teachers’ contributions to student class - attendance . The researchers find systematic variation in teacher effectiveness at reducing unexcused clas
In 2009, the Lumina Foundation launched an initiative to increase “the proportion of Americans with high quality degrees, certificates, and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.” [1] This goal was based on workforce projections from the Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce, and related efforts have been supported by numerous grant-making organizations – including the Bill & Melind
Format File Size Notes PDF file 3.3 MB » Research Questions What summer programs serving K–12 students in the U.S. education system have been recently evaluated? What summer programs have yielded evidence that meets
