Purpose: We examine policy influencers' perceptions of the targets of school-choice policy across five states, exploring how constructions varied for White and racially minoritized families, whether policy actors conceived of the "target" of policy as the child or the parent, and how these racialized constructions varied across different…

Minority underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) perpetuates the income inequality that minorities experience and leads to a lack of diversity in STEM. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study was to examine the effect of student demographics, STEM, science technology, engineering, art, and…

This report describes the results of a REL Southeast study using the Florida Department of Education staffing database to describe the demographic make-up, Florida Educator Certificate coverages, career paths from 2001/02 to 2011/12, and evaluation ratings of Florida's educational leaders (i.e., assistant principals and principals) in the 2011/12…

This 2015 fact book for the Florida College System is divided into the following categories: (1) Student Information, which includes fall, annual, FTE, and program enrollment statistics, as well as credit program completion statistics; (2) Employee Information, which includes statistics regarding employee headcount by occupational activity, and…

Background: One in four preschool-age children in the United States are currently overweight or obese. Previous studies have shown that caregivers of this age group often have difficulty accurately recognizing their child's weight status. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with accurate/inaccurate perception of child body…

Sexual minority youth are known to face increased risk of poor school performance; however, little research has focused on the educational experiences of multiethnic sexual minority youth (MSMY) in particular. Using venue-based sampling approaches, this study surveyed 255 MSMY at 15 urban high schools. The majority of participants identified as…

There are many well-known data sets that can be used to illustrate Simpson's Paradox. The Stand Your Ground data presented here shows Simpson's Paradox. In these data, race plays the key role--and not in the way that some students expect.

This 2014 fact book for the Florida College System is divided into the following categories: (1) Student Information, which includes fall, annual, FTE, and program enrollment statistics, as well as credit program completion statistics; (2) Employee Information, which includes statistics regarding employee headcount by occupational activity, and…

2020 was a historically challenging year that will be remembered for generations to come. There were various challenges that impacted not just the charter school movement but the entire country. This annual report provides a timeline of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools' 15 years of progress, shares charter school facts, and…

This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It is important to note that while AP® Exams are valid measures of students' content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic…

While prior research has documented differences in the distribution of teacher characteristics across schools serving different student populations, few studies have examined how teacher sorting occurs within schools. Comparing teachers who teach in the same grade and school in a given year, the authors find less experienced, minority, and female…

The United States is becoming less globally competitive as other nations move aggressively to educate their populations. To lead the world once again in educational attainment--President Obama's goal by 2020--more Americans will need to enter college. But the biggest challenge isn't college going; it is college completion. Around the country,…

The authors use administrative data from Florida to determine the extent to which prison-based adult basic education (ABE) improves inmate's postrelease labor market outcomes, such as earnings and employment. Using two nonexperimental comparison groups, the authors find evidence that ABE participation is associated with higher postrelease earnings…

Five years of reading comprehension data in Florida Reading First schools were analyzed to address questions regarding student improvement, reduction in the achievement gap, efficacy of site visits to schools making no achievement gains, and effects of student mobility on growth in reading comprehension. Participants were 120,000 students (about…

In 2007, the Kettering Foundation launched a nationwide, two-year research project to learn what people in communities across the nation think about the achievement gap--and what roles they see for themselves in helping young people succeed academically. The community forums, which drew more than 3,200 participants nationwide, spotlighted elements…