As of December, a statistically representative sample of 477 school districts showed that 31 percent were operating fully in remote learning--a larger percentage than at any other point during the fall semester. This brief gives an update from our ongoing review of reopening plans from around the country. We found: (1) Districts take two steps…

Unlike previous years of our "Schooling in America" survey project, our researchers are releasing multiple sets of results in a new, chart-focused format. This report is focused on questions we asked about how comfortable parents are returning their children to K-12 school buildings during the pandemic, which schooling options parents…

This brief gives an update on our nationally representative sample of school district reopening plans. This update comes at a critical time, as a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic once again forces school system leaders to rethink plans to welcome students safely to campuses, and spiking caseloads raise a new round of public health fears for…

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, progressively more complete data have shed light on the tremendous variation in districts' approaches to schooling. Some districts have provided fully remote learning since the outset of the pandemic, some have mostly provided in-person learning, and others have fallen somewhere in between. In this report,…

The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. These polls have served to provide insight on how parents and the general public feel about the highly decentralized K-12 public education system in New Orleans. Over time, we have monitored views on a wide range of topics, including school…

Elementary and secondary school teachers in 38 schools responded to a questionnaire asking them to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with 21 statements of educational beliefs. These statements concerned teacher control and discipline, basic subjects and skills emphasis, concern for students, and student participation. Six…

Data from observations of 129 elementary, 362 junior, and 525 high school classes were analyzed to raise questions about classroom environment and classroom practices. Results gathered from four instruments are discussed: (1) physical environment inventory, which recorded classroom architectural arrangement, seating and grouping patterns,…