Using rich Texas administrative data, we estimate the impact of middle school principals on post-secondary schooling, employment, and criminal justice outcomes. The results highlight the importance of school leadership, though striking differences emerge in the relative importance of different skill dimensions to different outcomes. The estimates…

Today's economy demands higher order thinking skills (HOTS), and the public education system has a critical role in supporting students' acquisition of HOTS. Yet, numerous studies documented inequity in access to higher quality instruction that promotes HOTS, which could result in wide test score gaps in HOTS. In this study, I examined test score…

In response to chronically low gifted identification rates in the majority of elementary schools among Black and Hispanic/Latino students, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) launched Nurturing for a Bright Tomorrow (NBT) in Fall 2014. NBT was a multicomponent curricular enhancement program designed to train early elementary school…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with Dollar General Literacy Foundation, is proud to present this issue brief examining the vital role afterschool programs play to build students' literacy skills. This issue brief will explore the additional support needed to help students with their reading, writing and critical thinking skills, as well…

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and its companion projects serve colleges and universities committed to monitoring and improving the quality of the undergraduate experience. While participating institutions receive detailed customized reports, the "Annual Results" series presents noteworthy aggregate findings from the…

In 2015, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) collected responses from more than 315,000 first-year and senior students attending 585 bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. This report presents selected NSSE results from students at 541 U.S. institutions or subsets of that group where…

Increasingly, national stakeholders express concern that U.S. college graduates cannot adequately solve problems and think critically. As a set of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills provide students with tangible academic, personal, and professional benefits that may ultimately address these concerns. As an instructional method, writing…

The California Critical Thinking Skills Test--College Level (CCTST) was examined in terms of the possible impact on critical thinking (CT) skill performance of: (1) student gender; (2) ethnicity; (3) academic major; and (4) CT self-esteem. The CCTST was administered to 1,196 students at California State University (Fullerton) in the 1989-90 school…

Maintains that, because of its importance in modern U.S. history, over 300 college courses are taught on the Vietnam War. Asserts that studying the war helps students develop critical thinking skills needed for citizenship. Describes the texts, formats, and assignments used in a college sociology course on the Vietnam War. (CFR)