Susan Muenchow and Christopher Ruhm discuss how a paid parental leave policy could promote a more stable foundation for children and families in the U.S.—without breaking the bank. Longer leave gives mothers more time to heal physically, encourages breastfeeding, and promotes parent-baby attachment. ...
Social and emotional skills undergird student success—and mold better citizens. Results from the Collaborating Districts Initiative suggest that even modest investments can pay off for individuals, schools, and society. In this policy brief, Kimberly Kendziora and Nick Yoder share the results of the evaluation and offer policy six recommendations for ...
Child welfare systems in the United States are intended to ensure that children are safe, cared for within stable and loving forever families, and able to thrive in childhood and beyond. This work is both complex and critical, and these systems face a number of ongoing challenges. This blog provides ...
More than 45 million Americans live in rural areas. Rural residents often encounter barriers to healthcare, including provider shortages or traveling long distances. AIR leverages expertise in data analysis, technical assistance, human-centered design and stakeholder engagement to understand and help solve the healthcare challenges facing rural communities. ...
This spotlight takes a look at the history of Title I, how the program has changed over time, and how it affects children, schools, families and education policy. Experts weigh in on the program's past and future in interviews, briefs, and blogs.
Contributing and working alongside Native Nations, AIR has a deep commitment to engaging communities, fostering shared vision and values, building capacity, and developing strategic alliances to achieve sustainable systems change in Indian Country.
Every year, City Year recruits a diverse group of Student Success Coaches, ages 18-25, to deliver its holistic Whole School Whole Child (WSWC) model. Juliette Berg and David Osher discuss AIR's five-year evaluation of the model's challenges and opportunities.
Your state has successfully designed a set of quality standards for the afterschool field, and practitioners are now using the standards across the state to improve their program practices. But are you really done? As the field advances, you may need to adapt the standards or add new components for ...
In 2005 AIR partnered with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to identify the core indicators that schools must actively manage to support student success, and develop an instrument to assess these indicators. Based on consensus from a meeting of national experts and district staff, and refined through a series of 22 ...
During the past 20 years, the afterschool field has been held accountable in varying ways—first, on the ability to provide safe places for young people to spend time while their parents work; then, on success in helping to improve participants’ academic achievement as a supplement to the school day. This ...