States have traditionally limited public expenditures for preschool programs to children from low-income families or those with disabilities. The Packard Foundation awarded collaborative grants to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and AIR to estimate the cost of a preschool program that would be accessible to all four-year-olds in California. ...
AIR’s most recent study of school funding in New Hampshire, a collaboration with the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, exemplifies how conventional and novel research methods can provide states with a deep understanding of the impact of school funding on student success. ...
This spotlight takes a look at the history of Title I, how the program has changed over time, and how it affects children, schools, families and education policy. Experts weigh in on the program's past and future in interviews, briefs, and blogs.
The annual Condition of Education 2018 provides new insight into the costs and availability of child care options. Spotlight author Jijun Zhang, AIR senior psychometrician and statistician, recently discussed the findings with Susan Muenchow, AIR principal researcher in early learning and care.
Despite uncertainty about the start of the 2020-2021 school year, one thing is clear: Learning will take multiple forms and things will likely change as the school year progresses. AIR researchers created this resource for families and caregivers to help foster positive conditions for learning at home. ...
Knowing that the current context is dramatically different than previous school years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that students’ access to learning from home varies, how should schools grade student performance? This brief from the California Collaborative on District Reform explores some of the policy options California districts and ...
AIR’s early childhood cost and finance team informs state decisions about the true cost of high-quality early care and education, the systems that support it, and revenue sources that can fund it. Our work has focused on childcare subsidies, different preschool models, and support for birth-to-five children with special needs. ...
In this blog post, Jane Coggshall explains that inequitable access is not just the result of neglect or funding disparities, but the result of a series of systemic failures, from how we prepare teachers to work in high-need schools to how we design teachers’ jobs.