Education - All Reports and Products
-
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Report: Common Assumptions vs. the Evidence: English Language Learners in the United States
The primary purpose of this guide is to discuss some common beliefs about English language learners (ELLs) and compare them with the relevant research literature to address the assumptions that often underlie ELL instruction.
-
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tool: Teaching Soft Skills Through Workplace Simulations in Classroom Settings
This technical guide describes how to teach soft skills, such as teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking, in the classroom setting.
-
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Report: California's K-12 Education During a Fiscal Crisis
This report compares California’s education resources and student outcomes to those of other states and finds that the state’s education system was among the leanest in the nation prior to the recent recession.
-
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Report: Out of the Debate and Into the Schools: Comparing Practices and Strategies in Traditional, Pilot and Charter Schools in the City of Boston
The findings of this study suggest that middle and high school students who attend charter schools significantly outperform their counterparts attending traditional schools, while the differences in student performance between charter and pilot schools were mixed.
-
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Report: Title III Evaluation Briefs
These three evaluation briefs were written during the early stages of the National Evaluation of Title III Implementation, the first in-depth U.S. Department of Education-funded study of Title III since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was reauthorized in 2001.
-
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Report: NIDA Notes: Behavior Game Reduces Later Drug-Related Problems
A recent special issue in the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence highlights findings from three decades of research on the Good Behavior Game and its impact on a variety of long term behavioral and mental health outcomes.
-
Monday, March 1, 2010
Report: Raising Expectations for Mathematics Instruction in California: Algebra and Beyond
This brief draws on dialogue and investigation among the district practitioners, researchers, and policymakers participating in the California Collaborative on District Reform. In this brief we discuss ways in which districts can approach mathematics education given the current fiscal and political context in California.
-
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Report: Changing the Odds: Informing Policy with Research on How Adult Learners Succeed
A policy report from AIR examines the challenges and potential solutions to overcoming the barriers facing low-skilled adult learners who are striving to improve their English proficiency, develop their basic skills, and advance in the workplace.
-
Monday, February 1, 2010
Report: Measuring Principal Performance: How Rigorous Are Publicly Available Principal Performance Assessment Instruments?
School principals are second only to classroom teachers as the most influential school factor in student achievement. For the lowest-performing schools, strong leadership—including setting and maintaining direction—plays a key role in turning around schools’ performance and improving student outcomes. Assessing the performance of principals is essential given the position’s critical role. AIR researchers reviewed eight publicly available formative assessments of principal performance, focusing on the tool’s approach, time requirement, content and construct validity, and reliability.
-
Monday, February 1, 2010
Report: Hiring Quality School Leaders: Challenges and Emerging Practices
Choosing an effective school principal is one of the most significant decisions that a superintendent or school board can make, as new leadership can propel a district forward in meeting its goals. In this issue brief, AIR staff review the research and summarize the challenges facing school superintendents and hiring committees when identifying and selecting candidates. The paper also identifies emerging hiring practices.
-
Friday, January 1, 2010
Report: Integrating Expanded Learning and School Reform Initiatives: Challenges and Strategies
Learning Point Associates and The Collaborative for Building After-School Systems describe six recommendations to better integrate high-quality, expanded learning opportunities in state, district, and school reform initiatives.
-
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Report: The Ohio High School Transformation Initiative: A Study of Financial Sustainability
AIR produced this report about the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative (OHSTI), which aims to address low student achievement and graduation rates, school violence and truancy, and a lack of engagement in Ohio's urban high schools. Established in 2002, OHSTI is supported through the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Ohio Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Education, and local community-based foundations.
-
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Report: Informing Grades 1-6 Mathematics Standards Development: What Can Be Learned From High-Performing Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore
This report examines one approach to internationally benchmarking mathematics standards for grades 1–6 against the composite standards of three high-mathematics-performing Asian countries: Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore.
-
Monday, December 7, 2009
Report: What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on Students with Disabilities
This report found that absences, course failures, course credits and GPA all can be used to accurately predict whether ninth-graders with disabilities will graduate from high school. Identifying these early warning indicators is especially crucial for students with disabilities, who drop out of high school at alarming rates.
-
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Report: Perspectives of District Leaders (Special Series on the Fresno-Long Beach Learning Partnership)
This fourth and final brief in the California Collaborative on District Reform series examines how the Fresno-Long Beach Learning Partnership uses data to inform work across and within the districts. The Partnership is a collaboration that aims to improve student outcomes, accelerate achievement for all students, and close achievement gaps by capitalizing on shared systemic capacity-building across two high-need districts.
