Racial disparities in infant health conditions have persisted for decades. However, there is surprisingly limited evidence regarding the long-term consequences of these disparities. Using novel linked administrative data from Texas and the shift to Medicaid Managed Care (MMC), I show that MMC-driven declines in infant health worsened cognitive and…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share detailed results and to more fully describe the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, "Recovery Still Elusive: 2023-24 Student Achievement Highlights Persistent Achievement Gaps and a Long Road Ahead." The authors investigated three main research questions in…

This paper describes some indicators of the Colombian educational system considering the effect of the pandemic and assesses the causal effect of an alternation plan between face-to-face and remote education, conducted in 2020, on the results of an achievement test. Indicators reveal that the pandemic caused a greater demand for education services…

The Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) is a service of the National Student Clearinghouse established in 2017 to empower institutions with more comprehensive data, easier analysis, centralized reporting functions, and interactive visualizations. Since its inception, over 500 colleges and universities have participated in the PDP. The 2022 PDP…

Scholars argue the "racial achievement gap" frame perpetuates deficit mindsets. Previously, we found teachers gave lower priority to racial equity when disparities were framed as "achievement gaps" versus "inequality in educational outcomes." In this brief, we analyze data from two survey experiments using a teacher…

"Excellence gaps" are the disparities in advanced academic performance that exist between student groups. These gaps have important implications for both academic equity and American economic competitiveness, as the most lucrative jobs often go to those who perform at the highest levels. Although considerable work has evaluated how and…

In this paper, we analyze recently collected data that conducts a unique assessment of high school student performance for over two thousand students from five Chinese provinces. Across three domains of scientific intelligence tested, we document heterogeneous gender gaps in academic performance. These differences generally arise due to…

U.S. students have lost significant learning in mathematics and other subjects since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress mathematics scores for students in grades 4 and 8 reflected record declines, with the largest decreases for students experiencing…

These are the appendixes for the report, "Trends and Gaps in Reading Achievement across Kindergarten and Grade 1 in Two Illinois School Districts." This study examined reading achievement data for kindergarten and grade 1 students in two districts in Illinois: District U-46 (Elgin Area Schools) and District 186 (Springfield Public…

Based on a national survey of higher education professionals across campus roles and institutional types, this report examines how undergraduate learning and student success are shaped by an institution's common learning outcomes and commitment to equity, as well as by specific educational experiences and assessment practices. The findings…

In California, Black students have markedly lower academic achievement than their White peers and Black students are also more likely to experience exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions (Cano, 2020, Losen & Martinez, 2020). What can be done to mitigate these racial disparities in schools? In this brief, we investigate whether increasing…

New York City's universal pre-kindergarten program, which increased full-day enrollment from 19,000 to almost 70,000 children, is ambitious in both scale and implementation speed. We provide new evidence on the distribution of pre-K quality in NYC by student race/ethnicity, and investigate the extent to which observed differences are associated…

The COVID-19 pandemic devastated student achievement, with declines rivaling those after Hurricane Katrina. These losses widened achievement gaps between historically marginalized students and their peers. Three years later, achievement remains behind pre-pandemic levels for many students. This paper examines 2022-23 academic recovery efforts…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. Researchers report that at least half of public schools are rural in 12 states (i.e., Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Maine, Alaska, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Mississippi) (Showalter et al., 2019). Providing quality education to all rural students is a…

This Statistics in Brief (SiB) uses data from the 2011 and 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and explores how achievement gaps between high- and low-performing 4th- and 8th-grade students in the U.S. and other education systems have changed over time. Achievement gaps are defined as the differences in scores…