Category: Research

Research

New research offers recommendations on how to boost literacy rates among older students

The old adage, “students learn to read, then read to learn,” focuses on ensuring that students achieve literacy proficiency by third grade, at which point, the curriculum becomes more difficult and their reading skills are put to use to learn the material. However, since the pandemic, fewer students are proficient readers even into their middle and high school years, where teachers are not prepared to equip students with the basics. The Advanced Education Research & Development Fund (AERDF), a national nonprofit organization, recently released a report that provides research-backed recommendations for supporting older readers.

Research finds transitionary periods are particularly difficult for foster youth

More than 30 percent of California’s approximately 30,000 school-aged youth in foster care regularly experience some of the highest rates of chronic absence and exclusionary discipline. A new brief from Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) details how changes in foster youth classification status impacted attendance and discipline rates in four of California’s CORE school districts — a group of several of the state’s larger school districts that test improvement theories at the school and district levels to provide the infrastructure for multi-district collaborations.

Lessons in community school implementation from West Kern County

A February report from the Learning Policy Institute studies the community school initiative in West Kern County to measure its impact on rural communities. While rural schools have advantages like close-knit communities, students and families also face challenges related to academic achievement, socioeconomic difficulties, administrative […]

California’s educational administrators are becoming more diverse

Although the number of experienced administrators (those with more than two years of service) increased in recent years in California, the overall percentage is on a slow decline, according to a new brief from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools that examined those serving as administrators (primarily superintendents and principals) from the 2019–20 through 2023–24 school years.

New initiative aims to promote civil discourse in classrooms

The results of a survey and study on civil discourse in middle and high schools led to the creation of the Or Initiative, which aims to develop evidence-based tools to help students engage civilly in contentious issues. The initiative focuses on two main principles: build digital skills to obtain a thorough knowledge base about complex and contentious issues, and to enhance civil discourse skills to communicate across different viewpoints with empathy, curiosity and respect.

Report compares trustees’ demographics and beliefs to those of public

With more than 13,000 local educational agencies across the nation, school board members make up the largest group of elected leaders. The report Who’s on Board? School Boards and Political Representation in an Age of Conflict, published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, explores who trustees are and what they believe compared to the communities they serve.

Researchers provide tips and tools to support LEAs in redesigning schools

Throughout the country, education leaders and policymakers are leaning into the concept of redesigning schools from the standardized factory model to one that can enable stronger academic and social-emotional outcomes for every student. Redesigning schools for deeper and more equitable learning requires systemic approaches that […]