We know that instructional quality exerts a key factor in influencing student achievement. In this blog post, Angela Minnici and Jenni Fipaza argue the need to better leverage teacher expertise to improve outcomes for all students by shifting the focus away from individual teacher performance to the collective performance of ...
Recent data shows that while students from low-income families began 9th grade with high aspirations of going to college, by junior year their expectations decline considerably. In this blog post, Sakiko Ikoma and Markus Broer argue that closing the enrollment gap between low-income students and their more affluent counterparts means ...
The recent release of the 2015 NAEP results by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics have been labeled “historic” by some because math scores at both Grades 4 and 8 and reading at Grade 8 have all declined, the first decline since NAEP's framework was put ...
Revised school leadership standards that outline the most important work and responsibilities of learning-focused leaders in today’s schools are being released, but Cortney Rowland argues those revised standards won’t have impact until they are aligned with state and local policies and practices that help develop the skills and knowledge principals ...
Headlines and political speeches about the student debt crisis are everywhere. In this blog post, Mark Schneider discusses a recent Brookings report in which, he argues, the most important finding relates to who enrolled in colleges after the 2007 recession. Prospective students, he says, need to know their chances of ...
In this blog post, AIR scholar Audrey Peek explores income-share agreements (ISAs), a private form of financial aid that offers cash for college now in return for a percentage of students’ future earnings over a set time. Peek contends ISAs are an innovative way to pay for college that might ...
While a new report concludes that “most teachers do not appear to improve substantially from year to year," Jane Coggshall argues we should not conclude that we should throw out all teacher professional development because it’s a waste of money. What’s needed instead, she says, is a broad set of ...
Years of research show that students from low-income families are more likely to forget previously learned material over the summer than students from wealthier families. Over time, these losses add up, widening the socioeconomic disparity in academic performances. Carol McElvain explains how high quality summer opportunities for low-income students can ...
On July 30, the Teacher Loan Repayment Act was introduced in the Senate and House to consolidate current loan repayment programs and give teachers in high-needs schools between $250 and $400 a month in payments to their lenders. But, asks Ellen Sherratt, does loan forgiveness for teachers really keep the ...
Research findings about teachers and teacher labor markets sometimes seem to defy conventional wisdom. Dan Goldhaber, director of CALDER at the American Institutes for Research and the Center for Education Data & Research at the University of Washington, and Katharine Strunk, associate professor of education and policy at the University ...