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."
Student agency, or the ability to manage one’s learning, can have significant effects on academic achievement as students take an active role in seeking and internalizing new knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify the instructional practices that may be useful for the development of different aspects of ...
Given persistent failure rates and mounting student debt, how prepared students are to enter and succeed in college is suddenly everyone’s business. According to Mark Schneider, in this blog post, ACT data shows many students ready to leave for college are not ready academically in at least one area. ...
In his final State of the Union address, President Obama said, “We live in a time of extraordinary change… and whether we like it or not, the pace of this change will only accelerate.” In this blog post, AIR’s Peter Cookson says the key to dealing with this change is ...
At 21, many foster youth “age out” of financial benefits and supports from the child welfare system—before they even finish college. Given the challenges they face, it’s not surprising that only 3 to 10 percent of them earn undergraduate degrees compared with 34 percent of young adults who weren’t in ...
A series of state-specific websites, grounded in work conducted by AIR, will offer students a new way to plan for life after high school. Its interactive features show the potential return on investment for a wide array of higher education choices. The “Launch My Career” website will help students identify ...
There is growing interest across the country in dual enrollment programs, which allow students to earn a high school diploma and college credits at the same time. A body of research from AIR confirms that one type of dual enrollment program—Early College High Schools—has a positive, lasting impact on postsecondary ...
Rural school districts, educators, and students have different experiences than their urban and suburban counterparts. The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) are designed to help fill this gap. These labs, which are funded by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, serve as research alliances that examine ...
Despite being the nation's largest racial/ethnic minority, Hispanics are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)—both in college and the workplace. This REL Southwest report reviews the research to identify K–12 factors that predict students' postsecondary STEM success, particularly for Hispanic students. ...
Governors are called upon to lead and improve their states' education systems, addressing a number of diverse and changing issues. In this open letter, AIR's Angela Minnici, director of the Education Policy Center and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, sets out seven action steps for 2015 to help ...