In 2020 preschool participation rates substantially declined. A recent NIEER survey found that the Fall 2022 preschool participation rates had nearly returned to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. The NIEER survey asked parents of young children who were still not in preschool in the Fall of 2022 to report why they did not enroll their children. The top…

This tenth annual High School Benchmarks Report provides updated data on high school graduates' college access, persistence, and completion outcomes. This report was designed with several features particularly tailored to secondary education practitioners and policymakers. First, results presented in this report update last years' findings on high…

The 2022 "KIDS COUNT in Colorado!" report reveals the momentous loss experienced by children and families across the state during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. It illustrates the pandemic's continued, far-reaching effects on Colorado kids--from difficulty accessing health care, child care, early learning opportunities,…

This briefing guide offers the latest data on the availability of child care and pre-K by legislative district as well as new documentation on affordability by county and median salaries for early childhood educators. Today 9 out of 10 families cannot afford quality child care. Further 4 out of 5 four-year olds outside of New York City have no…

Opportunity is not evenly spread across the country. A young person's socio-economic background -- including the income level of their family, their parents' educational qualifications, and their family's wealth -- all play a critical role in shaping their future. But as well as variations between families and across socio-economic groups, Britain…

For the past several decades, private schools have steadily served about one in ten students in the United States. However, the student population enrolled in private schools has changed. Thousands of Catholic schools, which often serve less affluent urban communities, have closed; meanwhile, tuition increases in independent schools have outpaced…

Since 1999, one of the main strategies the Colombian government has used to mitigate coca cultivation is to spray the crops with herbicide, which is carried out from airplanes. In this paper I evaluate the consequences of this strategy for rural households in areas where coca is cultivated, specifically the effects of aerial spraying on child…

The majority of students in Maryland spent at least a portion of the last school year learning virtually, from public prekindergarten through college. Throughout the year, jurisdictions made individual decisions to allow for a gradual return to in-person school in a variety of ways. Lessons learned from the earliest stages of the pandemic made it…

Indiana's Schooling Deserts uses Geographic Information System (GIS) software to generate drive-time distances to different schooling types to examine the state's robust K-12 choice environment, under which more than 100,000 families are choosing a school for their children other than one that has been residentially assigned. The maps produced for…

COVID-19 has brought chaotic change to early education. Most of the nation's 5 million 3- to 5-year-olds attending preschool classrooms had their attendance cut short in March 2020. Preschool-age children in family day care or at home with parents and other family members had their daily routines disrupted. Parents now often work from home and…

In Maryland, one way children's wellbeing is measured is by looking at the data from the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA). While the data can illustrate how children perform on various indicators across literacy, math, social-emotional development and physical well-being, it's really a reflection of the "readiness" of Maryland…

The 34th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT® Data Book describes how the country's lack of affordable and accessible child care negatively affects children, families and U.S. businesses. This year's publication continues to present national and state data across four domains--economic well-being, education, health and family and…

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…

The "State of Preschool 2022" annual report covers the 2021-2022 school year and is NIEER's 20th report tracking preschool enrollment, funding, and policies state-by-state. This report focuses on the recovery since the 2020-2021 school year, where we are compared to before the pandemic, where we've come over the last two decades, and…

Early learning experiences at home and in classrooms build the foundations for children's later success in school and life. The pandemic has upended home life and preschool programs, making it more challenging for both parents and communities to provide optimal learning experiences for young children. These changes are likely to have important…