Topological data analysis (TDA) is a collection of powerful tools that can quantify shape and structure in data in order to answer questions from the data's domain. This is done by representing some aspect of the structure of the data in a simplified topological signature. In this article, we introduce two of the most commonly used topological…

More than ever, school districts and other organizations need to provide parents with information about school quality and their school choices. Across the country school choice is expanding in ways that provide opportunities--and challenges--for parents to select the schools that best fit their children's needs. The federal Every Student Succeeds…

School choice is expanding, providing both opportunities and challenges for parents seeking information about schools that best fit their children's needs. Federal law now calls for every school to have "understandable" and "user-friendly" report cards. However, there is little evidence-based guidance to help design effective…

Conflict among peers is common, and not necessarily a bad thing. Disagreement, teasing, and conflict are part of growing up, and children and adolescents need to develop skills to resolve these clashes. However, bullying, an extreme form of peer conflict or teasing, can be physically and psychologically harmful. Therefore, it is important for…

This article suggests that the development of listening skills should extend to the "soundscape" of nonspeech acoustical information. It presents a model for effective aural processing, identifies categories of information obtained from nonverbal sound, and explores "ear-tuning" or listening exercises that use sound to glean…