Reading List
Valuable Contributions from Other Organizations
Paraeducators: Growth, Diversity and a Dearth of Professional Supports
Amid discussions on how to diversify the teaching workforce, policymakers are looking toward paraeducators: teachers’ aides…
“When Anything Can Happen”: Adversity and Postsecondary Decisions
When high school students decide their plans for postsecondary education, their backgrounds often influence the…
The Lingering Educational Legacy of Redlining
The United States has a long history of racially discriminatory policies and practices. Among them…
The Inequitable Effects of Teacher Layoffs
Widespread teacher layoffs, like those resulting from the Great Recession, have several negative repercussions that…
Racial Disparities in Elementary School Discipline Practices
The effects of racial disparities in school disciplinary practices has been an increasingly prominent issue…
Coaching Student-Teachers to Improve Classroom Performance
New K-12 instructors often learn teaching methods by trial and error, receiving little…
Why Don’t Elite Colleges Expand Their Enrollments?
Over the past 50 years, U.S. college enrollment has doubled while enrollment at elite colleges…
The Impact of Instruction Time, School Calendar on Academic Performance
The time that students spend learning is considered essential to improving academic results, leading to…
The Pandemic and the Demand for Public Schools, Homeschooling, and Private Schools
It goes without saying that the Covid-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the normal functioning of U.S.
The Long Run Impacts of Mexican-American School Desegregation
School segregation has had a long history in the United States, not only for Black…
Who Wants to Reopen Schools in a Pandemic?
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans have developed diverse opinions on the validity…
What We Teach About Race and Gender
Research suggests that improving representation of different races, genders and age groups in…
Do Online Courses Improve College Completion Rates?
Though many colleges and universities began offering virtual courses because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than…
The Short- and Long-term Benefits of School-based Mentoring
School districts have used mentoring programs to help students develop a stronger connection to…
The Covid-19 Pandemic Disrupted Both School Bullying and Cyberbullying
Bullying, and the rise of cyberbullying in the past several years, has substantially…
Can Teacher Evaluation Systems Produce High-Quality Feedback?
In the past decade, many districts and schools have turned to teacher evaluations…
Essay Content is Strongly Related to Household Income and SAT Scores
While there is a wealth of research connecting students’ household income to their…
The Kids on the Bus: The Consequences of School Reassignments
Despite the landmark Brown V. Board of Education ruling nearly seven decades ago, schools remain…
Does State Takeover of School Districts Affect Student Achievement?
Researchers define a state “takeover” as assuming control of a school district and…
The Long-Term Effects of Universal Preschool in Boston
High-quality early childhood programs may be interventions that improve economic outcomes and reduce socioeconomic disparities.
Pollution’s Troubling Consequences in the Classroom
Research has demonstrated that lead and other pollutant exposure can cause serious damage to children’s…
State Guidance for High-Impact Tutoring
The recent passage of the American Rescue Plan is providing K-12 public…
Minority Student and Teaching Assistant Interactions in STEM
Only 11 percent of college faculty identify as Black, Latino, or Native American,…
Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Performance of U.S. Born Students
How does exposure to immigrants affect the educational outcomes of U.S.-born students? Researchers David Figlio,…
Racial Diversity and Measuring Merit: Evidence from Boston
Across the country, selective public schools have come under scrutiny for the lack…
Teacher Unions: Heroes, Villains or Something in Between?
Since the U.S. Supreme Court case Janus vs. AFSCME in 2018, public school…
School Resource Officers, Discipline and the Feeling of Safety
In the past six months districts across the country, including Minneapolis, Portland, Denver…
Is Engaging Online Learning Possible?
The unprecedented disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has required educators to find new ways…
Turning Skills and Knowledge into Academic Achievement
Student motivation is essential to school success, but so is academic efficiency, the ability…
The Effects of School Reopenings on Covid-19 Hospitalizations
With rising Covid-19 hospitalizations across the country, schools are grappling with whether to reopen for…
To What Extent Does In-Person Schooling Contribute to the Spread of Covid-19?
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, schools have grappled with how, and…
The Impact of School Desegregation on White Attitudes and Politics
Advocates of school integration have long suggested that desegregation can improve the racial…
Promoting Parental Involvement in Schools
Parent engagement has long been touted as a component of student success. In…
The Effects of State Investment in Higher Education
With state budget cuts likely in the wake of the pandemic, it’s important to consider…
Marginal Effects of Merit Aid for Low-income Students
Despite the investment that colleges and universities make in financial aid, there is…
The Negative Consequences of the Shift to Online Learning
When community college courses moved on line amid the pandemic, did the shift affect student…
Best and Brightest? The Impact of Student Visa Restrictions
Recent immigration policy changes to student visas, have left American universities wondering as to what…
Improving Low-Performing Schools: What Works
In the past 20 years, educators have witnessed a series of reform initiatives to turn around…
Sustaining a Sense of Success: The Importance of Teacher Working Conditions
With teachers suddenly thrust into remote learning last spring, what impact did that…
Taking It to the Limit: Effects of Increased Student Loan Availability
The nation’s colleges students have an increasing reliance on student loans, with 69 percent…
Long Run Changes After Affirmative Action Bans in Public Universities
When several states banned affirmative action in higher education admissions, they pledged to use…
Racial Bias and the Black-White Test Score Gap
Despite growing evidence of connections between racial bias and racial disparities in academic outcomes, far less…
The Effects of Police Violence on Inner-City Students
What effect does police violence have on the psychological and educational well-being of inner-city high…
The Effects of School Racial Diversity on Political Identity
As videos of horrific police brutality and overt acts of racism spread across…
Projecting the Potential Impacts of Covid-19 on Academic Achievement
Covid-19 has resulted in school closures around the country. But how has this impacted students’…
Teachers Are People Too: Examining Racial Bias
Teachers work in a profession that serves many children of color, which means they must have…
Developing Ambitious Math Instruction Through Web-Based Coaching
Beyond the professional development workshops school districts traditionally offer, many districts are moving to one-on-one…
Winners and Losers? The Effect of Gaining and Losing Access to Selective Colleges
Does attending a selective college actually have an effect on the educational outcomes…
Unequal Pay for Equal Work? The Gender Gap for Principals
Does the wage gap among men and women extend to school principals? A new…
Bias in the Air: Teachers’ Implicit Racial Attitudes
Implicit bias involves prejudicial behaviors or judgments that take place outside of conscious awareness. Subsequently,…
My Brother’s Keeper? The Impact of Targeted Supports
Introduced in 2014 by the Obama Administration, My Brother’s Keeper is a public-private partnership that…
What Influences Teacher Retention?
Attracting and retaining quality teachers is essential to improving student achievement. But what factors…
Inequality in Black and White
We know that differences in family income and parental education levels are linked to achievement…
Teacher Effects on Achievement and Height: A Cautionary Tale
With the availability of data increasing, value-added measures (VAMs) have been designed to identify a…
The Promise of Community Schools for Improving Student Success
Recognizing that many disadvantaged students need more support than schools can offer, several districts are…
Can Technology Transform Teacher-Parent Communication?
Communication between teachers and families is crucial to student success. With the advancement of technology,…
Teacher Evaluation and Retention: What the Research Shows
Research has identified teacher effectiveness as the most important driver of student achievement. That makes…
Let Them Eat Lunch: The Impact of Universal Free Meals
The National School Lunch Program is the second largest food and nutrition assistance program in…
Opportunity Lost: Net Price & Equity at Flagship Universities
The definition of public flagship universities differ by state, but they typically refer to the…
The Upgrade Rule: Navigating Students to Better Schools
School closures occur for various reasons such as declining enrollment, facilities issues or poor performance.
What Happens When Nudges Don’t Work?
“Nudges” are low-cost, low-touch interventions that encourage, but not require, people to take a particular…
English Learner Labeling and Teacher Perceptions
Research has demonstrated that being classified as an English Learner (EL) affects student outcomes and experiences…
The Impact of Charter Schools on Special Ed & ELL Students
Students who qualify for special education or English language learning services often lose those designations…
The Impacts of Principal Turnover
Principal turnover rates in this country have risen to a staggering 18 percent—higher than the…
Engaging Teachers: Measuring the Impact of Teachers on Attendance
Most research on teacher effectiveness looks at student achievement, specifically test score gains. Yet, teachers’…
Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Program
Society has an interest in the positive and productive rehabilitation of former inmates. An important…
Place Matters: A Closer Look at Education Deserts
About two in every three undergraduates at both two and four-year institutions go to school…
Can Successful Charter Schools Replicate?
Scaling social programs has proven to be a challenge in many policy areas, including education.
School Climate and the Impact of Neighborhood Crime on Test Scores
Research tells us that violent crime in a student’s neighborhood can contribute to weaker academic…
Principal Pipelines for Improving Schools
A concerted effort to hire, train and mentor strong principals led to significant increases in test…
The Effects of New Orleans School Reforms on Discipline
One criticism of New Orleans’ shift to a state-run school school district in the wake…
Reinvigorating the Charter School Pipeline
The rapid growth of the charter school sector has slowed over recent years, as the…
A Fair Chance: Simple Steps to Strengthen and Diversify the Teacher Workforce
Recognizing that half of U.S. elementary school teachers fail their state licensing exams on their…
Using State Policy to Create Healthy Schools
State education policies are often key determinants of how schools manage their resources and focus…
Danger on the Way to School: Crime, Public Transit, and Absenteeism
As schools and districts search for ways to reduce chronic student absenteeism, a new…
Untangling the Evidence on Preschool Effectiveness
Developmental gaps often start when children are infants and will continue to grow through school…
A Progressive Manifesto on Social-Emotional Learning
The Every Student Succeeds Act invited states to place more emphasis on non-academic factors in…
Can Bonuses for Teachers Influence Student Success?
Research tells us that high-quality teachers are crucial to student achievement. Research shows us that…
The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers
As racial gaps in educational attainment persist, research is demonstrating an effective factor in narrowing…
Fiscal and Education Spillovers from Charter School Expansion
With an increase in the number of charter schools in the…
Motivation and Engagement in Student Assignments
High achieving students who thrive in their learning environments are students who are interested and…
From Tinkering to Going “Rogue”: How Principals Use Agency When Enacting New Teacher Evaluation Systems
School principals play a prominent role in teacher evaluation today, as they did even before…
College Persistence, Graduation, and 9th Grade in Chicago
There are various approaches to measuring the journey students make through the K-12 system, to…
Reaching A Postsecondary Attainment Goal: A Multistate Overview
Evidence shows that earning a college degree or postsecondary credential is critical for maintaining a…
Making a Difference: 6 Places Where Teacher Evaluation Systems are Getting Results
Teacher evaluations are not the end-all in improving student outcomes, but with careful implementation and…
Rethinking the Structure of Teacher Retirement Benefits
Many school districts face serious budgetary challenges tied to increasing costs of funding teacher pensions…
The Effects of Universal Preschool on Washington, D.C.
Public preschool has many important benefits, including providing some parents the opportunity to re-enter the…
The Promise of Free College (And Its Potential Pitfalls)
In 2011, The Degree Project was launched in Milwaukee Public Schools, offering students at 18 randomly selected…
Grade Inflation in High Schools
Grade inflation occurs when course grades given by teachers do not align with the…
Do Students Benefit from Longer School Days?
Extending the school day has been one of many policies implemented in several states in…
Leaving School Early
Teacher turnover has historically been measured one time a year, but in reality, it happens…
Head Start And Public School Spending
Research has shown that early investments in education have lasting effects. But these effects are…
Does Attendance in Private Schools Predict Student Outcomes at 15?
Enrollment in private schools, often through vouchers, has been part of an effort to improve…
How Bonuses Affect Teacher Staffing and Student Achievement
In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education established requirements for states to create plans for…
Stronger Mentors Produce Stronger Teachers
A period of practice teaching under the tutelage of an experienced teacher has been a…
School Closings in Chicago: Experiences and Outcomes
In May 2013, the Chicago Board of Education voted to close forty-nine elementary schools and…
How Does School Accountability Affect Teachers?
When schools receive low grades on accountability systems, you would expect them to experience an…
Heat and Learning: The Ultimate School Climate Issue
Air conditioning can be an expensive investment in school infrastructure and is often bypassed for…
College Credit in High School: Doing the Math on Costs
The last five years have seen a surge in state policy efforts designed to enable…
Diverse-by-Design Charter Schools
In a new study titled Diverse-by-Design Charter Schools, Halley Potter and Kimberly Quick of…
Ending Teacher Shortages with Network Mapping
The shortage of teachers in science and mathematics is a complex problem, involving many underlying…
The Impact of Democracy Prep on Civic Participation
Amid the nationwide focus on standardized test scores and graduation rates, Democracy Prep’s network of…
Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
Recognizing the broad use of chronic absenteeism as an accountability metric for schools, researchers at…
Are There Hidden Costs Associated with Conducting Layoffs?
If teachers are laid off or threatened with a reduction-in-force (RIF), does it affect their…
Leveling the Playing Field for High School Choice
Open enrollment systems offer students an opportunity to choose a public high school best suited…
Accelerating Community College Graduation Rates
There’s compelling evidence that community college graduation rates can be improved through supporting students…
Leveraging Text Messages to Mitigate Chronic Absenteeism
Chronic student absenteeism tends to be higher in Kindergarten than other primary school grades,…
How Relationships and Context Shape Learning
In a new article in the journal Applied Developmental Science…
How Children Learn and Develop in Context
A frequent criticism of the world of academic research is the tendency for critical findings…
Features of New Orleans Charter Schools Associated with Achievement Growth
The unique nature of the charter school landscape in New Orleans created an…
Evaluation of the Teacher Incentive Fund
Congress created the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) in 2006 as a means of supporting performance-based…
Social and Emotional Learning Interventions Under ESSA
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), emphasizes evidence-based interventions while giving states and districts…
Successful Leaders for Successful Schools
With an increased emphasis on developing talented school leaders, what are states doing to build…
The State Education Agency in the Era of ESSA and Trump
In the past two years, state education agencies have seen a sudden boost in their…
Investing in Teacher Leadership in New Mexico
Education officials are increasingly recognizing the value of teacher leadership, tapping the educators who can bring…
How a Loss of Trust in School Discipline Affects Racial and Ethnic Minority Students
A student’s lack of trust that school discipline will be administered fairly can contribute to…
The Lasting Impact of Tulsa’s Pre-K Program
In recent years, the debate over the efficacy of state-funded pre-kindergarten programs has shifted from…
Student Performance and Teacher Prep: Traditional vs. Alternative
In recent years, increasing numbers of school teachers have come to the profession through alternative…
Is it In the Contract? Variations in Collective Bargaining Agreements
Despite a good deal of rhetoric lumping together all collective bargaining agreements with teachers, these contracts…
The Power of Fully Supporting Community College Students
Community college graduation rates are abysmal, with barely 20 percent of first-time, full-timers obtaining an…
Developing Community Schools at Scale
A Community Schools initiative in New York City is succeeding in delivering additional services…
Supporting Social, Emotional and Academic Development
This compilation of research from a panel of 28 scientists demonstrates what parents have always known—the…
Portraits of Change: Reducing Chronic Absence
More than 7 million students nationwide are considered chronically absent, missing three or more weeks…
The Impact of the Great Recession on Student Achievement: Evidence from Population Data
The Great Recession that started in late 2007 shook the country’s economy, leading to reductions in…
How Teachers Impact Social-Emotional Skills
We’ve heard it scores of times by now: Teachers are the most important school-based factor…
Revisiting The Widget Effect: Teacher Evaluation Reforms and the Distribution of Teacher Effectiveness
In 2009, the New Teacher Project’s The Widget Effect documented the failure of U.S. public…
The Consequences of Educational Voucher Reform in Chile
In 2008, the Chilean government remade its 27-year-old universal school voucher program to introduce more…
For the Common Good: The Spillover Effects of Charter Schools on Public School Students in New York City
Do students in charter schools achieve at higher levels than their otherwise similar peers attending…
Paying the Best Teachers to Teach More Students
On top of many policymakers’ wish lists is increased teacher pay. Particular attention also has…
The Equity Problem in Teachers’ Pensions
Research has shown that teachers and salaries are inequitably distributed within school districts, but the…
Quantifying the Life-Cycle Benefits of a Prototypical Early Childhood Program
Researchers have been looking at outcomes from early education programs since the 1970s. Some of…
Connecting the Steps: State Strategies to Ease the Transition from Pre-K to Kindergarten
The transition from pre-K to kindergarten can be equally difficult for children and their parents,…
Demonstrated Interest: Signaling Behavior in College Admissions
Some four-year colleges extrapolate an applicant’s likelihood to attend the school based on a measure…
Racial and Socioeconomic Gaps in Executive Function Skills in Early Elementary School
As a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Michael Little…
America’s Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences recently published a report in response to a…
How State ESSA Accountability Plans Can Shine a Statistically Sound Light on More Students
As states finalize their ESSA accountability plans, they must determine what size of subgroups to…
From Frenzied to Focused: How School Staffing Models Can Support Principals as Instructional Leaders
How can school systems make principals’ roles more manageable while also ensuring that teachers…
Vouchers in the Crossroads, Heterogeneous Impacts on Student Achievement and Attendance across Private Schools in Indiana
Students using private school vouchers in Indiana’s Choice Scholarship Program performed more poorly in mathematics…
Assessing Principals’ Assessments: Subjective Evaluations of Teacher Effectiveness in Low- and High-Stakes Environments
“The Widget Effect,” a 2009 report published by TNTP, showed that principals’ subjective ratings of…
Learning Mindsets and Skills: An Opportunity for Growth with the Every Student Succeeds Act
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law by President Barack Obama in December…
Labor Market Returns for Graduates of Hispanic-Serving Institutions
Latinos have become the largest minority group in American postsecondary education, a majority of whom attend…
Management and Student Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
This study examines the impact on student achievement of implementing management training for principals in…
A Guide to Unifying Enrollment: The What, Why, and How for Those Considering It
As urban education landscapes grow more complex, families need help making sense of their public…
The 20% Solution: Selective Colleges and Pell Grants
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce released new research which shows that more…
Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in the Context of New Accountability
With the new federal law calling for inclusion of a non-academic metric in state accountability…
How Do Schools Respond to State Policies on Teacher Evaluation?
A new study from the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans at Tulane University…
Pathways to the University Presidency: The Future of Higher Education Leadership
The dynamics of higher education in America today are driving the demand for a new…
Building a New Middle Class in the Knowledge Economy
Amid concerns about the future of the working class, Georgetown University professor Harry J. Holzer argues…
Bridging the District-Charter Divide to Help More Students Succeed
While animosity remains the norm in many communities, a growing number of districts and charter…
The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers
What are the benefits of a diverse teacher workforce? It’s a big question, but a…
Did the New Orleans School Reforms Increase Segregation?
Research shows that all students benefit, socially or academically, from more integrated schools, making this…
Understanding Teacher Retention and Mobility in Washington State
Teacher retention and mobility are part of a larger state and national conversation about trends…
Improving Title II of the Elementary and Secondary School Act
As the Trump administration proposes eliminating all funding for Title II of the federal education…
Reducing Student Absenteeism in the Early Grades by Targeting Parental Beliefs
Attendance in kindergarten and elementary school robustly predicts student outcomes. Despite this well-documented association, there…
Limited Means, Limited Options
Limited Means, Limited Options: College Remains Unaffordable for Many Americans asserts that the college affordability problem…
Health and Academic Achievement
Amid efforts to cut school meal programs and cap Medicaid, the Centers for Disease Control offers…
Don’t Forget Magnet Schools When Thinking About School Choice
With the new administration in Washington, school choice is in the news. Secretary of Education…
What Title I Portability Would Mean for Federal Education Aid
Congressional attempts in the last few years to allow states to divert their Title I…
The Gap Within the Gap
Gaps in educational achievement between high- and low-income children are growing. Researchers…
Motivation Matters: How New Research Can Help Teachers Boost Student Achievement
Three major factors contribute to student motivation: rewards and value, academic mindsets, and school-based relationships,…
School Organizational Contexts, Teacher Turnover, and Student Achievement
Improvements in school leadership led to reductions in teacher turnover, as did increasing…
What Do Test Scores Miss? The Importance of Teacher Effects on Non-Test Score Outcomes
Professor C. Kirabo Jackson finds that using both test-scores and non-test-score measures of…
Does School Reform = Spending Reform?
New Orleans’ publicly funded schools spent 13 percent more a pupil after the post-Katrina…
Rush to Judgment: Teacher Evaluation in Public Education
The task of building better teachers evaluation systems is as difficult as it is important. Many…