The "twin pandemics" of racial injustice and COVID-19 have underscored the importance of promoting civic knowledge, skills, dispositions, and engagement among the nation's young people. Although some evidence has demonstrated that civic-learning opportunities are inequitably distributed across U.S. schools and communities, we currently…

Providing instruction in multiple languages has the potential to simultaneously help both native English speakers and English learners to develop language proficiency. "Dual language programs" can help native English speakers develop proficiency in a second language and English learners develop proficiency in both their native language…

Background: A potential target of educational policies or practices to address racial or ethnic disparities in school functioning is to increase the extent to which Black and Hispanic students are taught by teachers who are of the same race or ethnicity. Exposure to teachers of the same race or ethnicity may help provide Black and Hispanic…

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically disrupted the functioning of U.S. public schools, potentially changing the relative appeal of alternatives such as homeschooling and private schools. We study changes in families' choices of school sector using longitudinal student-level administrative data from Michigan and nationally representative data from the…

In response to media reports of increased teasing and bullying in schools following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we investigated its prevalence with a Virginia school climate survey completed by approximately 155,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Survey results were mapped onto presidential election results…

Recent evidence demonstrates that disparities by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status in science achievement are present in the earliest grades of school. Preschool represents one potential policy solution; however, little research has explored the relationship between preschool attendance and science outcomes. This study examines whether…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the progress being made to close the current achievement gap in Kentucky. Guiding the study is the following research question: Which districts are closing racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps at rates that exceed expectations? The authors assess districts' progress in closing racial and…

This dissertation is composed of three papers examining the predictors and consequences of increasing school segregation following widespread release from court ordered desegregation orders. Paper one investigates factors shaping districts' choices to pursue release from desegregation orders. This serves to provide context for papers two and…

The primary purpose of this report is to provide preliminary evidence on the measurement properties for newly designed assessments of content knowledge for teaching (CKT) in elementary reading language arts (RLA) and mathematics. The goal is to offer the CKT tests through the "PRAXIS"® assessment. Additional analyses were conducted to…

In this investigation, the degree to which student enrollment (i.e., school size) at elementary schools was related to student progress on the State of Texas reading and mathematics state-mandated assessments was examined for White, Black, and Hispanic students. Archival data available on the Texas Academic Performance Report were analyzed for the…

This study investigated the relationship among the variables instructional time configuration, gender, race/ethnicity, and poverty to predict the academic performance of seventh-grade students on a state-mandated social studies accountability test. Results of 24,919 seventh-grade student social studies test scores from 117 middle schools, as well…

Rather than mitigating behavioral issues, exclusionary school disciplinary practices can actually increase student misbehavior and school dropout. However, the impact these sanctions have on students may vary based on school climate, particularly whether the environment is inclusive or punitive. Relying on a sample of over 2,000 students within 26…

The extent to which youth attend Tier 2 evidence-based intervention is an important dimension of implementation. This study examined attendance patterns of 369 middle schoolers involved in a randomized trial testing the impact of Coping Power, an evidence-based Tier 2 preventive intervention. We conducted latent profile analysis to examine student…

This research brief examines the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Using data from 6.7 million U.S. public school students currently in grades 3-8, the study examined academic gains in the 2022-23 school year relative to pre-pandemic years. It also tracked the gap in…

The 2022-2023 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the ninth consecutive edition of this study. The 2022-2023 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country.…