Results from the 2013 NAEP assessments show fourth- and eighth-graders making progress in mathematics and reading. Nationally representative samples of more than 376,000 fourth-graders and 341,000 eighth-graders were assessed in either mathematics or reading in 2013. Results are reported for public and private school students in the nation, and…

This report provides a new resource for understanding the state of urban public schools in the U.S. Geared specifically toward city leaders who want to evaluate how well traditional district and charter schools are serving all their city's children and how their schools compare to those in other cities, the report measures outcomes for all public…

Although rearranging school organizational features is a popular school reform, little research exists to inform policymakers about how grade spans affect achievement. This article examines how grade spans and the school transitions that students make between fourth and eighth grade shape student performance in eighth grade. The authors estimate…

This document presents the technical appendices that accompany the full report, "High School Choice in New York City: A Report on the School Choices and Placements of Low-Achieving Students." The appendices include: (1) The Shrinking Pool of Level 1 and Level 2 Students; and (2) Supplemental Tables and Figures. [For the full report, see…

School choice policies, a fixture of efforts to improve public education in many cities, aim to enable families to choose a school that they believe will best meet their child's needs. In New York City, choice and the development of a diverse portfolio of options have played central roles in the Department of Education's high school reform…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the third in a series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief focuses on service-learning opportunities for middle schoolers. Pairing service…

Why do girls perform so well academically yet lose ground as professional women? This diminishing number of women up the leadership hierarchy is often referred to as the "leaky pipeline," and attributed to many factors: external ones such as work environments not conducive to work/life balance, and internal ones such as women's own…

Inequality in educational outcomes is a frequent topic of policy debate. This paper investigates one potential source of educational inequality--school safety. With panel survey data of middle school students, this paper estimates racial gaps in student feelings of safety in the classroom, in the hallways, and outside the school building, and how…

This was a qualitative study of highly effective, veteran middle school teachers and their attitudes toward self-efficacy, burnout, resiliency, content knowledge, professional development, and the use of technology. This study involved a group of veteran teachers that have proven, over the entirety of their careers, to be highly effective. They…

Hosting an engineering competition can bring great success to a technology department. Development and planning of an event can prove frustrating at times, but it pays off in the end. The author describes the first-ever engineering competition held at Maple Avenue Middle School in Saratoga Springs, New York, which provided an evening of creative…

Policymakers have long pursued more cost effective, scalable alternatives for delivering elementary and secondary education. The elusive goal is identifying how to reform educational systems so that children will consistently achieve more academically--at a lesser cost. A frequently heard reform claim of this sort is that charter schools deliver…

The purposes of this two-part study were (1) to investigate urban middle school African American girls' physical activity levels and their relationships to attitudes and, (2) to explore urban middle school African American girls' attitude toward physical education. A total of (N = 649) African American girls from 14 New York City middle schools…

This article offers wisdom to those seeking to better engage young adolescents: children are inherently curious and eager to learn, and will be more so when adults step aside and give them room to stretch. The author describes tools and suggested practices on how to advance student empowerment to learn. Allowing students to make choices about…

Five middle school teachers are among the few people wandering around the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, squinting at labels describing the plants that will bloom soon. The author and her colleagues are on a reconnaissance mission, trying to plan an interdisciplinary field trip for the seventh grade. They represent different departments--science, math,…

The problems facing males and reading continues to be a topic of concern and discussion in communities across the country. The author has interviewed school librarians and teachers, however, who are coordinating programs that are successfully connecting male students and reading. This article includes summaries of those interviews. The author has…