A program that uses music, drama and dance to teach young students basic math concepts has demonstrated a significant positive effect equivalent to one to two months of learning, according to a new brief from AIR. The brief builds on the results of a randomized-controlled trial of Wolf Trap’s Early ...
When afterschool programs have positive relationships with school-day personnel, families, community members, and between and among program staff and students, these programs are more likely to thrive. This brief explores how afterschool practitioners can build strong relationships that benefit all stakeholders and improve program quality. ...
A new guide using strict scientific criteria to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of 22 widely adopted comprehensive elementary school reform models rates 15 as “limited” to “moderately strong” in demonstrating positive effects on student achievement.
The Texas School Ready! (TSR!) Project consists of communities in which independent districts, Head Start agencies, and child care providers agree to collaborate as partners in providing high-quality instruction to 3- and 4-year-old, income-eligible, at-risk children to promote their readiness for school. AIR was one of three organizations that conducted ...
Exclusionary school discipline policies once instituted to prevent serious infractions have crept into discipline practices for minor issues. Youth who participated in a roundtable on the subject contend that it limits opportunities to learn and compromises academic achievement; is applied disproportionately and subjectively; and deprives students of the ...
The First 5 LA Family Literacy Initiative is a comprehensive program to promote language and literacy development, parenting knowledge and skills, and economic self-sufficiency among low-income families in Los Angeles County. Findings from the eight-year evaluation of this Family Literacy Initiative have shown significant growth in language and literacy skills ...
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.
In this brief, AIR researchers offer a potential pathway to understanding how learning and development happen in quality afterschool and summer programs. This pathway emphasizes three key competencies—relationship skills, a sense of agency, and identity development—that research suggests can facilitate learning and development in other areas. ...
A project directed by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in Egypt, and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has opened the country's largest school complex, a facility benefiting 4,600 students.
In 2003, First 5 California approved $100 million to establish the Power of Preschool (PoP) Demonstration Program to expand access but also to provide financial incentives to improve the quality of preschool. This brief addresses what lessons can be learned from the PoP demonstration projects to help inform the development ...