Equity in Education

For low-income and minority students, education is the key to success and upward mobility. But evidence has shown in past decades that education has not been acting as the Great Equalizer. AIR's work covers a broad range of equity issues in education, through initiatives including the Equity Project, the Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research Speaker Series, and the Center for Education Equity (CEE) at the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC), one of four regional equity assistance centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Led by MAEC in partnership with AIR and WestEd, CEE promotes equal educational opportunities and addresses problems in public schools caused by segregation and inequities.

Latest Work

3 Jan 2019
Q & A

Meet the Expert: Deborah Moroney

Dr. Deborah Moroney specializes in bridging research and practice, having worked as a staff member for out-of-school programs early in her career. She’s written practitioner and organizational guides; co-authored the fourth edition of “Beyond the Bell®, A Toolkit for Creating High-Quality Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs,” a seminal afterschool resource; and co-edited Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students.
29 Nov 2018
Q & A

A Quick Word With: Courtney Tanenbaum

AIR Principal Researcher Courtney Tanenbaum describes the unique opportunities and challenges associated with The Title III Native American and Alaska Native Children in School (NAM) Program, which she and her colleagues evaluated.
29 Nov 2018
ESSA

ESSA │ Equity in Education

Educational equity is achieved when all students receive the resources, opportunities, skills, and knowledge they need to succeed in our democratic society. ESSA gives policymakers and educators the ability to leverage resources with the backing of the law to close opportunity gaps and improve learning outcomes for all students. Pinpointing the root cause of inequity is a complex matter and AIR has the knowledge and experience to help.
Image of Jameela Conway-Turner
9 Nov 2018
Video

Long Story Short: Why Is Social and Emotional Learning Important for Equity in Education?

In this video, AIR researcher Jameela Conway-Turner discusses how social and emotional learning can improve student outcomes and how districts and schools can use it in their equity initiatives to support all students.
Young children arm in arm
5 Sep 2018
Spotlight

Building Safe, Engaging, and Equitable Schools

There are no quick fixes or easy solutions to respond to the tragedies that have occurred in schools across the country—but there are evidence-based ways to change school environments so that students and teachers feel safer.
Image: Boy in wheelchair at desk
10 Jul 2018
Report

Fulfilling the Promise of IDEA

In the 40+ years since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was enacted, the law has changed the landscape for students with disabilities. This report is the result of a working meeting of special education experts and stakeholders held to consider the challenges and opportunities for strengthening special education services and improving student outcomes.
Image of smiling young Native American boy in tunnel
29 Jun 2018
Report

Study of the Native American and Alaska Native Children in School Program: FY 2011 and FY 2013 Cohorts

The Native American and Alaska Native Children in School discretionary grants program aims to reduce the persistent achievement gap between Native American and Alaska Native youth and their peers in reading and English language arts and college readiness in reading. This qualitative study examined the types of activities grantees funded, and the perceived benefits, challenges, and lessons learned that they experienced in implementing these activities.
1 Jun 2018
ESSA

ESSA │Accountability

Accountability systems measure the performance and quality of schools and use these results to drive improvements in low-performing schools and report on the annual progress of all schools. The centers that AIR operates can harness the knowledge and experience of our staff to address this kind of request for assistance.
22 May 2018
Brief

The Summer After Kindergarten: Children’s Experiences by Socioeconomic Characteristics

This Statistics in Brief analyzes student's participation in summer activities compared by two socioeconomic characteristics - household poverty status and parents' highest level of education. Data for socioeconomic characteristics was gathered from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 while data related to summer activity participation was collected from interviews with parents or guardians in the fall of 2011.
14 May 2018 | 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Event

From ESSA Plans to Implementation: A Look at Fifty State Plans and Opportunities to Advance Effective School Improvement

Are you still wondering what is in state ESSA plans? Or what might change in schools as a result? AIR and EducationCounsel met to discuss the trends across ESSA plans and what must come next to significantly improve outcomes for students among lowest-performing schools.
1 Apr 2018
Report

Study of Title I Schoolwide and Targeted Assistance Programs: Final Report

The schoolwide program and the targeted assistance program are two approaches related to the ideas established in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that focused on funding being provided to assist low-achieving students in high-poverty schools. This study compares services and resources provided by each approach and the ways these approaches go about allocating their resources.
Image of boy in shirt and tie in a classroom
9 Feb 2018
Video

The Black-White Achievement Gap: A Look at School Composition

The Black-White achievement gap has been studied extensively, but its relationship to school composition has generally not been examined. Sami Kitmitto discusses AIR’s research on the relationship between achievement gaps among Black and White students and the demographic makeup of schools.
26 Apr 2017
Brief

The Income Share Agreement Landscape: 2017 and Beyond

This final brief in a series about ISAs explores the current state of the income share agreement market and highlights opportunities and threats to expansion.
1 Mar 2017
Report

Postsecondary Education Expectations and Attainment of Rural and Nonrural Students

Prior research shows that rural students’ education expectations and aspirations, as well as their postsecondary enrollment and persistence rates, tend to be lower than those of nonrural students. This study aims to support policymakers and other stakeholders in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest states by informing policy recommendations for improving postsecondary attainment among rural students in the region.
1 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │Access to Quality Educators

Every student deserves teachers and leaders who can help them achieve their potential. Yet research consistently shows that many students, particularly those from low-income families or rural backgrounds, those with special needs, English learners, and other disadvantaged subgroups, lack access to excellent educators. AIR has a strong reputation for supporting practitioners and stakeholders in education to develop and implement plans to improve equitable access to excellent educators.
1 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │Low-Performing Schools

Efforts to improve conditions and outcomes in the lowest-performing schools and districts remain a high priority for policymakers and for AIR.

8 Nov 2016 | 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Event

Strengthening School Partnerships with Native Families and Communities (Webinar)

On November 8, 2016, join the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest and Pacific for a free webinar on research-based resources to help educators strengthen Native family and community engagement in student learning.
Project

National Poverty Study

In the U.S. and many other countries, there’s a well-developed infrastructure for counting the number of people in poverty. The National Poverty Study seeks to move beyond that to answer questions regarding the changing conditions of poverty, how those conditions differ across places and “poverty types,” and how those in poverty respond to these differing conditions.
16 Sep 2016
Brief

How Loan-Averse Young Adults View Income Share Agreements

This brief, the fourth in a series about ISAs, addresses evidence that suggests loan aversion may be especially prevalent among underserved and underrepresented students. The brief concludes that ISAs could provide an alternative to student loans—in particular, for loan-averse individuals whose views of student debt are determined primarily by negative experiences with debt among family and friends, thereby removing one key barrier to college-going for this population.
14 Sep 2016
Brief

Equality and Quality in U.S. Education: Systemic Problems, Systemic Solutions

This paper enters the debate about how U.S. schools might address long-standing disparities in educational and economic opportunities while improving the educational outcomes for all students. The aim is to spark fruitful discussion among educators, policymakers, and researchers.
Female technical student at whiteboard
14 Sep 2016
Report

STEM 2026: A Vision for Innovation in STEM Education

A strong science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education is becoming increasingly recognized as a key driver of opportunity. In a series of discussion-based workshops, 30 experts and thought leaders were invited to exchange ideas and develop recommendations for the future of STEM education.
Project

Maximizing Student Agency: Implementing and Measuring Student-Centered Learning Practices

The purpose of this study was to identify the instructional practices that may be useful for the development of different aspects of student agency (i.e., self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, and persistence) and determine whether these instructional practices are equally helpful for different subgroups of students.
26 May 2016
Report

Ready to Lead: Designing Residencies for Better Principal Preparation

With so much attention focused on the importance of teachers, the significant role that principals play advancing instructional improvement, educational equity, and success for all students is frequently overlooked. Principal residency is one innovative approach to improving principal preparation that has shown promise for ensuring new principals are ready to lead.
Image of Peter Cookson
9 May 2016
Blog Post

Can We Stop Treating the NAEP as a Rorschach Test?

NAEP results are Rorschach Tests for policy wonks—a golden chance for free-association policy speculation. Small fluctuations in average scores on NAEP give rise to big explanations. Forget the quibbling over tiny differences in test scores; it’s time to rebuild schools on evidence-based, comprehensive policies that have been shown to work in the real world for all students. In this blog post, Peter Cookson says to fix inequities we need to get over our policy taste for quick fixes and silver bullets.
Image of Peter Cookson
25 Feb 2016
Blog Post

Making ESSA Work One Principal at a Time

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) puts each state in the driver’s seat for making its own K-12 policy. In this blog post, Peter Cookson discusses what this means for educational equity.
9 Jan 2016
Podcast

EdCast: Speaking of Equity #1 - A Better Education Workforce

In this podcast, Peter Cookson talks with Education Policy Center and Center on Great Teachers and Leaders Director Angela Minnici about the importance of providing all students with access to effective teachers and school leaders. The GTL Center is currently working closely with states to design and implement State Plans to Ensure Equitable Access, including identifying the root causes of inequitable access to effective educators in each state’s context.
Image of Peter Cookson
1 Jul 2015
Blog Post

An Education Bill of Rights: Is Arne Duncan Onto Something?

In this blog post, Peter Cookson says it's time to address the idea of educational rights, asserting that the arc of justice needs to bend in the direction of a universal, free public school system where excellence is distributed not by zip code, skin color, or socio-economic status but as a right for all children.
12 Jun 2015
Blog Post

Want a Faster, Cheaper Way to Get a College Degree? Start in High School

On the traditional school path, Step 1 is graduating from high school, Step 2 is going to college, and Step 3 is earning a credential or degree; but overall, only about 59 percent of high school graduates who make it to Step 2 finish Step 3, earning a degree or credential within six years. In this blog post, AIR senior researcher Clarisse Haxton describes the Early College model, which allows students to combine Steps 1 and 2 and enroll in college courses and earn college credits while still in high school.
1 Jun 2015
Toolkit

Equitable Access Supports: Implementation Playbook and Equitable Access Toolkit

To help education leaders ensure that all students receive equitable access to excellent educators, the U.S. Department of Education has launched the Excellent Educators for All initiative, which requires each state, alongside stakeholders, to create and implement a State Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators. To support states as they develop and implement these high-quality plans, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders has created the Implementation Playbook and the Equitable Access Toolkit.
18 May 2015 | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Event

Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research: Do You Need a Bachelor’s to Join the Middle Class?

Traditionally, the bachelor's degree has been seen as the doorway to the middle class for most Americans, but is this still the case? In an economic environment increasingly defined by new technologies and global market places--does it make sense to spend four years in college getting a liberal arts degree? Mark Schneider, Vice President and Institute Fellow at the American Institutes for Research, and Anthony Carnevale, Professor and Director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, will tackle these questions and more in a lively exchange.
Image of Peter Cookson
14 May 2015
Blog Post

Place Matters: So Do Schools and Teachers

If place heavily impacts social mobility, could strengthening schools be the key to overcoming the effects of growing up in a poor neighborhood? Peter Cookson, AIR principal researcher, explores this question in a blog post for the Education Policy Center.
18 Feb 2015 | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Event

Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research: Richard Murnane

For low-income and minority students, education is the key to success and upward mobility. But evidence has shown in past decades that education has not been acting as the Great Equalizer. The Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research speaker series brings to light the most promising research illuminating the educational pathways to upward mobility. The series features some of the nation’s top scholars who are uncovering innovative and insightful evidence about what inhibits and enhances mobility.
30 Jan 2015
Longform Essay

Opening the Doors to Opportunity for All: Setting a Research Agenda for the Future

In 2014, the Equity Project at AIR hosted its first Research Roundtable. There, some of the nation’s top educational researchers drafted a research agenda addressing some of the long-term challenges facing American public schools educating students from low-income and minority families. Leaving micro-reforms to others, we asked tough questions that researchers could answer for those working to make public education as the gateway to opportunity for all.
5 Nov 2014 | 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Event

Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research: Isabel V. Sawhill

For low-income and minority students, education is the key to success and upward mobility. But evidence has shown in past decades that education has not been acting as the Great Equalizer. The Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research speaker series brings to light the most promising research illuminating the educational pathways to upward mobility. The series features some of the nation’s top scholars who are uncovering innovative and insightful evidence about what inhibits and enhances mobility.
Jane Coggshall
6 Oct 2014
Blog Post

Time to Reboot Educator Equity Plans

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.
15 Sep 2014
Spotlight

Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research Speaker Series

For low-income and minority students, education is the key to success and upward mobility. But in the past several decades, evidence shows that education has not been acting as the Great Equalizer. The Breakthroughs in Education and Social Mobility Research speaker series is dedicated to bringing to light the most promising research illuminating the educational pathways to upward mobility. The series features some of the nation’s top scholars who are uncovering innovative and insightful evidence about what inhibits mobility and what enhances mobility.
Project

The Equity Project

Educational opportunity is a cherished part of the American story of upward mobility and social justice. The Equity Project at AIR is committed to building an inclusive and vibrant future through education.
15 Apr 2014
Video

Equity Project Research Roundtable

On April 30, 2014, AIR in Washington, D.C., hosted 28 top scholars in educational equity for the first Equity Research Roundtable.

30 Jan 2014
Blog Post

The Long War on Poverty Will Be Won With Vision and Grit

In his 1964 State of the Union Address, President Johnson launched the War on Poverty, beginning with these words: “I will be brief, for our time is necessarily short and our agenda is already long.” In this blog post, Peter Cookson argues that progress has been made, and that technology, a new spirit of commitment to greater equality, and deeper research have given us new tools with which to tackle poverty; we need only find the will and a way of working together for the greater good.