Making education a true engine for human and social development requires evidence-based instructional strategies and systems for students, families, and teachers. AIR integrates the science of what works with the equally complex science of implementing what works on a global scale.
Our nation’s lowest performing schools have traditionally struggled to offer students the instruction and supports they deeply need. The first phase of the federal School Improvement Grant Program targeted the goal of turning around these schools and improving learning for students. This report examines the first year of SIG implementation ...
The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has an ongoing commitment to improve support provided to all schools, with an emphasis on the lowest performing schools. This report summarizes findings from AIR’s qualitative analyses of turnaround practices that appear challenging for low-performing high schools, as well as promising practices ...
With the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program underwent three major shifts; by increasing the level of funding, better targeting these funds to the persistently lowest-achieving schools, and requiring that schools adopt specific intervention models, the revamped SIG program ...
The death of George Floyd, along with racial inequities exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic, pushed racial justice issues to the forefront of our conversations in 2020. Sarah Caverly and David Osher discuss the effects on education, using the Austin Independent School District as an example of how a school ...
Among the benefits of going to college are higher employment rates, higher earnings, and healthier lifestyles. Yet many young people who enroll in college don’t make it to graduation day. In a RISE webinar, Rachel Dinkes and Audrey Peek highlighted key findings and implications from Organization for Economic Cooperation and ...
The initiatives to enhance adult learning program accountability and assessment systems of the following states are described in this paper: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Oregon, Texas, Washington, West Virginia.
In April 2010, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted regulations to formalize the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s approach to engaging with all schools to improve student performance. AIR conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of how some of the lowest-performing schools use School Redesign Grants (SRGs) ...
Career and technical education (CTE) is a critical strategy for preparing youth and adults for careers and addressing the skills gap—a disparity between the skills job-seekers offer and the skills that employers need. Nationwide, AIR is supporting organizations large and small to strengthen CTE through rigorous research, evaluation, and technical ...
AIR researchers work with schools’, districts’, and states’ own data to identify the indicators that signal students’ readiness for key educational milestones. Starting with indicators drawn from the literature, AIR experts perform appropriate statistical analysis using state-, district-, or school-level data to identify which indicators accurately predict which students are ...