High Tech, Low Standards: High School in the Age of Distraction
A new national survey finds that school-issued devices, AI misuse, and grade inflation are undermining learning and leaving many students feeling unprepared for the future.
Think Again: Is grade retention bad for kids?
This brief challenges the long-held notion that grade retention is “bad for kids.”
A Generation at Risk: A Call to Action
The signatories of A Generation at Risk—a diverse group of leaders from left, right, and center—seek bold action to quickly and dramatically improve the learning opportunities for today’s students, while we simultaneously begin putting in place the building blocks of a more responsive system that will help future generations of students address the challenges of the world to come.
Excellence Gaps by Race and Socioeconomic Status
This study uses NAEP data on eighth graders over the last two decades to trace the performance of America’s highest-achieving students by both race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Think Again: Is education funding in America still unequal?
This brief challenges the notion that economically disadvantaged students receive less funding than other students, with implications for equalizing classroom resources and optimizing other social policies.
Building a Wider, More Diverse Pipeline of Advanced Learners
Thirty-six recommendations for how districts, charter networks, and states can build a continuum of advanced learning opportunities, customized to individual students’ needs and abilities, that spans the K–12 spectrum.
Charter Schools and English Learners in the Lone Star State
This study uses nearly two decades of student-level data to explore how charter school enrollment is related to Texas English learners’ achievement, attainment, and earnings.
Think Again: Do charter schools drain resources from traditional public schools?
Opponents of public charter schools claim that they drain resources from traditional public schools. This brief argues that this assertion misses lesser-known realities and ignores obvious truths.
Think Again: Do College Admissions Exams Drive Higher Education Inequities?
The SAT and ACT hold a controversial place in American education. This brief challenges the notion that college admissions exams drive inequities in college admissions and higher education attainment, as well as worsen broader social disparities.
The Power of Expectations in District and Charter Schools
This study examines the role that high expectations should play in our nation’s academic recovery and how they operate in the traditional public, charter, and private school sectors.
For-Profit Charter Schools: An evaluation of their spending and outcomes
For-profit charter schools” are non-profit organizations that contract out some services to a for-profit organization—meaning the schools themselves are not for-profit. This study explores whether such contracting affects school quality.
How Attaining Industry-Recognized Credentials in High School Shapes Education and Employment Outcomes
Using data from more than one million students who graduated from public high schools in Texas from 2017 to 2019, this first-of-its-kind study examines how IRCs completed in high school affect college enrollment and workforce outcomes.
Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP
How do we see whether achievement gaps between groups of students are widening or narrowing? How can we tell whether eighth graders in Missouri do better or worse in math than their peers in Michigan and Maine? We wouldn’t know these things or much else about K–12 achievement in America without a little-known but vital test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a.k.a. “NAEP” or the “Nation’s Report Card.” Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP, authored by veteran education participant/analyst Chester E. Finn, Jr., examines the history of NAEP, the issues and challenges that it faces today, and ways to strengthen and modernize it for the future.