The Ethiopian government has made a firm commitment to supporting early childhood development and school readiness support nationally. However, the creation of (Grade 0) kindergarten classes in all primary schools cannot be achieved overnight. UNICEF Ethiopia received a challenge grant to test the effectiveness of two accelerated school readiness programs ...
Incorporating work-based learning into the curriculum as part of a career and technical education program may improve students’ readiness for college and careers. This study will provide the first causal evidence on the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of Virtual Enterprises, a year-long course in which students run a virtual firm. ...
AIR evaluates early care and education programs and policies at the federal, state and local level. AIR evaluations help identify best practices and lead to recommendations for improving program quality and outcomes, with an eye toward system-wide implementation.
In a new brief cowritten by AIR’s Center on Great Teachers and Leaders and the Center for Economic Evaluation, experts provide insights on how emerging pathways into the profession (e.g., Grow-Your-Own, teacher residency models, RTAPs) can be evaluated to determine their overall effectiveness and associated costs. ...
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 ...
AIR has worked with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) to create an Apprenticeship Career Pathways Framework and related resources to provide important support to expand Registered Apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and other work-based learning models as central strategies in the state’s education and workforce development efforts. ...
The Ohio Department of Education wanted to assess the quality of the literacy instruction received by students in state-funded early learning and preschool programs and to provide teachers with information to improve their practice. AIR conducted more than 1,400 observations of early learning environments across the state using the Early ...
AIR's Center for Early Learning Systems offers practical tools, resources, and methodologies to assist with planning, implementing, and evaluating preschool and other school readiness programs.
For approximately 15 years, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program has supported activities and services that offer students in high-poverty communities across the nation the opportunity to participate in programs designed to improve their academic enrichment and promote positive youth development. In Texas, there are close to ...
The Stretch to Kindergarten program is a six-week school readiness program that serves children with limited prior preschool experience during the summer prior to their kindergarten entry. AIR continued an evaluation of the Stretch to Kindergarten program in Mountain View, California in 2012, the program’s fourth year. ...