Complete report The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) recognizes that a key lever to turning around low-performing schools is the quality of instruction. DESE uses Teachstone’s Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) tool to assess the schoolwide quality of teacher and student interactions in three domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and ins
Racial affirmative action policies are widespread in college admissions. Yet, evidence on their effects before college is limited. Using four data sets, we study a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reinstated affirmative action in three states. Using nationwide SAT data for difference-in-differences and synthetic control analyses, this study separately identifies the aggregate effects of affirmative
Grade 3 students who watch more than two hours of TV daily or spend more than one hour a day on a computer experience a decline in academic results two years later, a new study has found. The research led by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and published in PLOS ONE , found heavy TV use at 8 to 9 years of age impacted on reading, equivalent to a loss of four months in learning by
This brief utilizes data from the U.S. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study of 2011 (TIMSS) to investigate the extent to which teacher reports of content coverage in eighth grade algebra classes vary according to school racial/ethnic composition. The analytic sample is comprised of eighth grade algebra classrooms in 111 schools across the country, with 9 schools that are predomin
Students’ level of academic skills at school entry are a strong predictor of later academic success, and focusing on improving these skills during the preschool years has been a priority during the past 10 years. Evidence from two prior nationally representative studies indicated that incoming kindergarteners’ math and literacy skills were higher in 2010 than 1998, but no national studies have ex
White adults make up the largest percentage of U.S. adults with low levels of numeracy, according to the most recent results of a survey on adult skills. The National Center for Education Statistics released a new Data Point report today , September 1, 2020, entitled . This Data Point summarizes what data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) show about
Educator decisionmakers in Colorado, Missouri, and South Dakota share concerns about the mobility and attrition of school and district leaders and an interest in better understanding the factors that contribute to these phenomena. A new report from REL Central examines data from 2015/16 to 2018/19 and provides information about the percentages of school and district leaders who remained in a lead
The public narrative surrounding efforts to improve low-performing K-12 schools in the U.S. has been notably gloomy. Observers argue that either nothing works or we don’t know what works. At the same time, the federal government is asking localities to implement evidence-based interventions. But what is known empirically about whether school improvement works, how long it takes, which policies ar
Adolescents, particularly early adolescents, are vulnerable to stress created by negative peer interactions. Stress, in turn, can lead to increased mental health problems and reduced academic engagement, in addition to negative
