Zero tolerance policies were born out of fear and even desperation. After the 1999 school shootings in Colorado, some educators and public figures adopted a tough law-and-order stance; but, instead of deterrence, we got a discipline regime of mass suspensions. In this blog post, AIR's Peter Cookson argues that zero ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Recent research shows that while the overall achievement gap between African-American and white males is narrowing, the rate of progress is glacial. In this blog post, Peter Cookson discusses the President's "My Brother's Keeper" initiative and what needs to be done to make it a success.
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 ...
Our Education Policy Center's Up for Vote blog series explores much needed Congressional action to reauthorize the framework legislation for federal education policy. Our recommendations reflect years of research and direct work with states and districts to improve schooling.
For years, the job of drawing high quality teachers to struggling schools has relied mostly on incentives: money, prestige or better professional development. In this blog post, Kelly Hallberg and Glenance Green describe another option: teacher residency programs, which provide a reliable pipeline of high-quality teachers committed to hard-to-staff schools ...
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."