"Do You Know Where the Children Are? A Five-Year Analysis of Public School Enrollment" examines public school enrollment trends over the last five school years (2019-2024), focusing on patterns between public charter schools and district schools since the pandemic. It examines year-to-year changes in overall enrollment, with charter…

This research brief explores the relationship between how students responded to a survey about their math experiences and mindsets and how they performed on an end-of-year state standardized math assessment. For this study, NORC partnered with a racially diverse school district in the northeastern region of the United States. Educators in the…

"Changing Course: Public School Enrollment Shifts During the Pandemic" is an analysis of student enrollment trends in public schools during the pandemic (2019-20 to 2021-22 school years). The numbers showed more than 240,000 students enrolled in charter schools, a 7% increase--while district public schools lost approximately 1.5 million…

School assignment in Boston and New York City came to national attention in the 1970s as courts across the country tried to integrate schools. Today, district-wide choice allows Boston and New York students to enroll far from home. Although 1970s desegregation efforts likely benefited minority students, urban school transportation is increasingly…

In fall 2021, Ruffalo Noel Levitz (RNL) published its first "Graduate Student Recruitment Report" (ED618011), a survey of 1,500 prospective graduate students that explored their program demands and preferences, search processes, enrollment decision making priorities, and key expectations of the institutions to which they inquire, apply,…

In the largest U.S. metropolitan areas, suburban school districts enroll 14.4 million students, far more than the 6 million students enrolled in the same metros' urban districts. In fact, students enrolled in the suburban school districts surrounding the 25 largest metropolitan areas represent roughly 30% of the nation's entire public school…

The federal government and many individual organizations have invested in programs to support diversity in the STEM pipeline, including STEM summer programs for high school students, but there is little rigorous evidence of their efficacy. We fielded a randomized controlled trial to study a suite of such programs targeted to underrepresented high…

Americans think higher education can help people economically, particularly in their home states, according to this Public Agenda/USA TODAY Hidden Common Ground (HCG) research. But by a variety of measures, Americans question whether the benefits of college are worth the cost. This report summarizes findings from a nationally representative survey…

The Hispanic-serving community colleges STEM Pipelines (HSCC-STEM) study is a research project that explores the transitions to and through Hispanic-serving two-year institutions for underrepresented minoritized STEM students. This brief uncovers the most viable HSCC STEM pathways for Latinxs and other underrepresented minoritized students as well…

The Hispanic-Serving Community Colleges STEM Pipelines (HSCC-STEM) study is a research project that explores the transitions to and through Hispanic-serving two-year institutions for underrepresented minoritized STEM students. This brief uncovers the most viable HSCC STEM pathways for Latinxs and other underrepresented minoritized students as well…

Over the last five years, Puerto Rico has faced fiscal and economic disruptions, demographic shifts, hurricanes and earthquakes, governance challenges, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While most of these conditions are not new to Puerto Rico, the intersection of all these challenges created a nexus for institutional resilience and efforts. This…

The trend data detailed in this "Focus On" includes doctorates from the class of 2019. It presents data on the number of physics PhDs awarded in the U.S. including data on citizenship, women, and PhDs from underrepresented groups. It also includes data on educational background, time to degree, subfield of dissertation, and general…

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact, implementation and costs associated with a one-semester elective lab course in 9th grade, Accelerating Literacy for Adolescents (ALFA) Lab, which seeks to improve students' reading achievement, particularly for those from economically disadvantaged communities. This study used three cohorts…

"Excelencia" in Education is a trusted information source on the status of Latino educational achievement, a major resource for influencing policy at the institutional, state, and national levels, and a widely recognized advocate for expanding evidence-based practices to accelerate Latino student success in higher education. The goal of…

Faculty diversity plays a key role in college student completion and can have a major impact on students' sense of belonging, retention rates, and persistence. This report examines faculty diversity relative to student diversity, as well as hiring equity, tenure equity, and changes in faculty representation over time for Black and Latino faculty…