Here are the reports, briefs, and infographics from the past year that our website visitors found most insightful and informative.
1-Deeper Learning
AIR's most-read work in 2014 was several studies around deeper learning, the need for students to develop deeper content knowledge and an ability to apply their knowledge and skills in ...
Postsecondary competency-based education (CBE) is receiving considerable attention from advocates, colleges, and policymakers as a way to help more students complete high-quality postsecondary credentials in less time and at a lower cost—but we're just beginning to build rigorous evidence to understand whether CBE programs are fulfilling those value propositions. ...
Of all the talks that parents should have with their children, a frank conversation about college costs and debt should be the least uncomfortable. In this blog post, Donna Desrochers discusses the importance of talking with teenagers about real college costs and the real life consequences of one of the ...
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives states the authority and flexibility to turn around their lowest performing schools. In this blog post, Allison Gandhi asks if states can succeed where federal policy requirements have run into walls, using the success of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone initiative as an example. ...
Colleges and universities are relying heavily on contingent faculty to increase flexibility and reduce costs. These resources explore this trend to determine where contingent faculty are most often hired and savings actually result in lower overall costs.
As ESEA turns 50 this month, the time is ripe to rethink whether the “E” in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is the best place to start. In this blog post, Susan Muenchow discusses the robust research that reveals students are most successful when they get a good jumpstart ...
Researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and funders are increasingly aware of the powerful potential for summertime experiences and the need to design, implement, and continuously improve summertime experiences for all.
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 ...
In this blog post, David Manzeske discusses his research on principal observation and contends that peer evaluators and principals need careful training in advance and a system to check or calibrate their results as they rate teachers through classroom observations.
The bachelor’s degree is America’s most commonly granted postsecondary degree—and most people equate it with a college education. Yet the associate’s degree is often a far more efficient route into good jobs than the longer, more expensive bachelor’s degree path. In this blog post, Mark Schneider shares recent data that ...