Unlike transitional bilingual programs that mainly seek to prepare English learners for general education classrooms, dual language programs aim to develop students’ literacy and content area knowledge in both English and a partner language, such as Spanish or Chinese. In this blog post, Andrea Boyle and Lisa Tabaku discuss their ...
A large body of research supports the idea that Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawai'ian students thrive in instructional environments that honor their unique cultural and linguistic heritages. In this blog post, Erin Haynes says the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) promises unprecedented opportunities and funding for incorporating our ...
On April 30, some of the top scholars in educational equity met in Georgetown for a research roundtable, in which they discussed issues in need of address by AIR’s Equity Project. This blog post summarizes the five core ideas the group outlined as a starting point for the project.
The tragic school shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, school initiated discussion over how to prevent future violent events. While there is no magic answer to reducing violence in our schools and communities, AIR’s David Osher and Sandra Williamson discuss evidence-based actions.
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.
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."
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 ...
There is a growing evidence base on the effectiveness of selective alternative certification programs like Teach for America and TNTP. In this blog post, Hans Bos and Dean Gerdeman draw on a recent AIR report to examine how teachers who receive credentials through TNTP’s alternative certification program compare to their ...
AIR recently analyzed 45 teacher evaluation rubrics to see if they aligned with the messages teachers are receiving about improving instruction to support students in achieving higher and deeper standards. Spoiler-alert: as many teachers likely already know—they don’t align and they are often too generic to provide useful guidance for ...
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 ...