Over the past three decades, charter schools have become the most popular form of school choice, especially in urban school districts. Using data from Florida, this study investigates the degree to which differences in teacher quality explain the effectiveness of charter schools.
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 ...
A recent high-profile study of sharply rising mortality rates for some Americans brought to light the hazards of chronic stress. Principal researcher Kathryn Paez explores why the health of middle-aged white women in particular is suffering.
In this blog post, Mark Schneider explores the issues currently up for discussion before the Senate Health Education and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the impact on higher education.
College success and career readiness have become major goals of education reform. Toward this end, Indiana policymakers have undertaken multiple efforts to prepare students for college. This study supports those efforts by describing the early college success of Indiana students, identifying measures in the state longitudinal data system that predict ...
In 2020, AIR was contracted to conduct a descriptive study of SeriousFun camps, which aim to help children who are living with serious illnesses develop confidence, resilience, and social skills and try new things.
This CALDER Center paper examines the value of strategically assigning disproportionately larger classes to the strongest teachers in order to optimize student learning in the face of differential teacher effectiveness. The rationale is straightforward: Larger classes for the best teachers benefit the pupils who are reassigned to them; they also ...
How can state education agencies identify and apply effective practices to achieve their goals? Education research can point to beneficial practices, but finding relevant research can be a difficult and time-consuming process. The Midwest Comprehensive Center partnered with the Minnesota Department of Education leadership to help state education staff understand ...
Despite a widely held belief that U.S. students do well in mathematics in grade school but decline precipitously in high school, a new study comparing the math skills of students in industrialized nations finds that U.S. students in 4th and 8th grade perform consistently below most of their peers around ...
A national review of community colleges and their graduates' financial return on investment finds that California and Texas have the most institutions with graduates in the top tier of wage earners. Thirty states have some community colleges whose graduates' median net lifetime earnings trail those of the ...