A December 2015 AIR study finds that Transitional Kindergarten, the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for young five-year-olds in California, appears to improve children’s school readiness in critical areas of academic learning and development. Researchers Karen Manship and Heather Quick explain how and suggest next steps. ...
For more than four decades, the National Assessment of Educational Progress has provided the best available information about the academic achievement and educational progress of the nation’s students. The influence of the Common Core State Standards on instruction suggest the need to examine the alignment between the content covered by ...
In response to the Great Recession, the U.S. Congress passed, and President Barack Obama signed into law, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Education received a total of $100 billion, including $7 billion for two of the Obama administration’s signature grant programs: Race to the Top (RTT) and ...
The coronavirus pandemic has affected how we live, work, and thrive—and reminded us of the vast inequities that persist in our culture. Research and evidence can be a path forward through these uncertain times and help us improve the lives of individuals, communities, and society. Here are some highlights of ...
Susan Therriault is an education researcher whose work straddles equity, K-12 school improvement, and policy. In this Q&A, she describes her career and her work with the COVID-19 Equity in Education project.
The Say Yes to Education (SYTE) foundation has developed an education improvement model that incorporates curriculum, instruction, socioemotional, and health supports into a coherent approach, and SYTE has been engaged in scaling implementation to the community level. The SYTE initiative in Syracuse, New York is a unique venture in the ...
AIR’s state and local evaluation projects marshal a broad range of expertise and resources to support state education agencies and district offices as they decide whether to retain, revise, or end a policy or program. The projects address challenges in district and school reform, educator quality, special education, school financing, ...
State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Many states are just beginning to consider whether to modify existing science standards, adapt standards being used in other states, or develop new ones. This document is intended to guide state boards of education through ...
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.
Principal observation tools are used to accurately evaluate principal performance by helping principal supervisors and coaches improve instructional leadership. This piece describes how using the right tools is helping principals in the U.S. Virgin Islands develop such evidence-based coaching and performance evaluations. ...