Appropriately identifying children with disabilities--in ways that are timely, comprehensive, and accurate--is critical for ensuring that learners receive the supports they need to meet early milestones and succeed in school. In turn, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) charges states and school districts with: (1) finding all…

It is well known that Pennsylvania's K-12 schools are inadequately and inequitably funded. But the extent of the problem is not fully understood. This paper uses new data and methods to demonstrate just how unfair--and in fact, morally unsustainable--the funding of elementary and secondary education is in the Commonwealth. It shows that the…

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…

This report looks at trends since 1997, uniquely combining several data sources to give the most comprehensive view available on how patterns in access to higher education have changed in the years between 1997 and 2022. A major study of higher education trends over the past 25 years reveals persistent access gaps for disadvantaged students,…

High school student participation in dual enrollment--a key strategy for increasing equitable access to postsecondary education and improving readiness for college--has been on the rise in California in recent years. Despite the overall increase in participation, however, large gaps between racial/ethnic subgroups persist. Also of concern, English…

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 Annie E. Casey Foundation has released its latest "Race for Results"® report a decade after its inaugural publication, revealing progress in some areas but persistent disparities for children of color in the United States. The report utilizes Casey's Race for Results index based on 12 indicators of child and youth well-being, showing…

Academic achievement in American high schools is increasingly defined in terms of quantifiable values. Despite being designed to produce favorable data, explicit standardized-test preparation has an insignificant impact on scores and is counterproductive to the cultivation of attributes necessary for success in higher education and effective civic…

The Wake County Public School System's AIG 2019-22 Plan is designed to meet the academic, intellectual, social, and emotional needs of gifted and advanced learners with a focus on providing equitable access to AIG programming. To examine progress towards achieving the plan's goals, a descriptive study utilizing a variety of data sources was…

This document contains the technical appendices for the report "Achieving Digital Equity for California's Students." Appendices include: (1) Census Household Pulse Survey; and (2) Additional Figures. [For the full report, see ED617930. For the Policy Brief, see ED617933.]

Well over six decades after the Supreme Court declared "separate but equal" schools to be unconstitutional in "Brown v. Board of Education," schools remain heavily segregated by race and ethnicity. The lack of progress in integrating schools: (1) depresses education outcomes for black students; (2) widens performance gaps…

This report presents findings on the relationship between taking community college dual enrollment courses--in which high school students earn high school and college credits simultaneously--and college outcomes among Florida public high school students. It analyses dual enrollment course-taking by racial/ethnic group (Black, Hispanic, White) and…

This national study provides a comprehensive analysis of the instructions days lost due to out-of-school suspensions in 2015-16 for middle and high school students, for every state and district. The study also demonstrates how the frequent use of suspension contributes to stark inequities in the opportunity to learn, especially for those groups…

In an effort to align its college admission requirements with the new K-12 science standards, the University of California (UC) recently proposed to increase its high school science admissions eligibility requirement--known as area D--from two to three years. UC's new policy has the potential of improving student science learning and readiness for…