New research is again highlighting the wide variation in states’ student performance standards and overly optimistic reports of student proficiency. Alicia Garcia argues that, going forward, states must adopt evidence-based methods of standard setting that prepare students to compete in the global marketplace. ...
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 ...
Parents, teachers, schools, districts, states, and especially students all want schools that prepare graduates to thrive in the 21st century. In this blog post, Anne Mishkind asks what it means to be "college and career ready."
Both the House and Senate revisions of the Elementary and Secondary School Act are moving toward giving states far more responsibility for setting student achievement standards than did the last ESEA reauthorization—the 2001 No Child Left Behind. As Congress wrestles with a final version of the bill, it would do ...
The simple act of not attending school consistently increases the likelihood that children will be unable to read well by grade 3, fail classes in middle school, and drop out of high school. Standing in the way of truly addressing chronic absence are three harmful myths.
Every year, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics releases an annual report, America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. AIR subject matter experts have identified some interesting findings from several indicators in the 2019 report’s education domain and explain why they matter. ...
At 21, many foster youth “age out” of financial benefits and supports from the child welfare system—before they even finish college. Given the challenges they face, it’s not surprising that only 3 to 10 percent of them earn undergraduate degrees compared with 34 percent of young adults who weren’t in ...
Today, success isn’t just about what you know. It’s also about how quickly you can grasp and apply new knowledge. That’s the theory behind “deeper learning,” a broad term encompassing the goals of an increasing number of U.S. schools and school systems. In a series of reports, researchers at AIR ...
Given persistent failure rates and mounting student debt, how prepared students are to enter and succeed in college is suddenly everyone’s business. According to Mark Schneider, in this blog post, ACT data shows many students ready to leave for college are not ready academically in at least one area. ...
Competency-based education (CBE) sets the bar high for all students—but offers personalized support and allows each student to move at his or her own pace. In this blog post, Wendy Surr, an author of AIR’s new study examining CBE policies and practices for ninth graders in 18 high schools in ...