The United States is losing its position as an innovative global leader because of a shortage of skilled workers in STEM. This decline is due in part to the US producing a lower number of graduates from STEM related fields. One reason for the shortage is that US students are selecting or graduating with STEM majors at a lower rate than those of…

This poll was conducted between August 22-August 26, 2024 among a national sample of 1,002 Teens. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Teens based on gender, age, race, and region. Results from the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. This…

The 2020-21 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a mandatory survey of all public school districts and schools serving students in preschool through grade 12 in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and therefore includes data from 17,821 public school districts and 97,575 public schools. The CRDC measures student…

During the 2020-21 school year, Black students were less likely to learn in person than white students. We examine whether this difference persisted as the pandemic progressed. We find that the rate of in-person learning increased in 2021-22 but remained lower for Black students compared to white students. While several factors helped explain…

The COVID-19 pandemic shed a light on the differences in educational outcomes within American public schools. Although race and socio-economic status is independently associated with scholastic outcomes, it is necessary to take an intersectional approach to examining the persistent and widening opportunity gap stemming from inequity in public…