In partnership with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and 22 San Mateo County school districts, this report and research brief explore the ways in which local students experience housing instability, and how cross-sector strategies can better identify and serve these students. This study considers a rich set of school administrative data, which allow…

Indiana dual-language immersion (DLI) programs have grown exponentially in the last 5 years as a result of state policies, related state funding, and increasing pressure for public schools to have a specialized presence amidst school choice provisions. Principals work with their communities to identify the DLI model they will adopt, student…

Universal approaches have not sufficiently improved higher education outcomes for Black, Latino, and Indigenous students, and students from low-income backgrounds because these broad interventions are not targeted toward specific populations. Student voices and interests must be centered in policy and practice, and higher education leaders and…

While U.S. public education is experiencing an increase in student body size and diversity, there is also an increase in racial and socioeconomic isolation. Participation rates among White students are decreasing as rates among Latine and Asian American and Pacific Islander students increase, and Black student participation rates hold steady.…

Background and Context: Computing is being integrated into a range of STEM disciplines. Still, computing remains inaccessible to many minoritized groups, especially girls and certain people of color. In this mixed methods study, we investigated racial and gendered patterns of equity and inequity in high school physics classrooms incorporating…

To support the nation's college completion goals, early college high school (ECHS) reform creates opportunities for interested students to earn up to two years of free college credit during high school. ECHSs also have an equity objective: to target and enroll students who are historically underrepresented and/or might not otherwise go to college.…

An across-the-curriculum (ATC) approach to undergraduate research (UR) is a productive addition to UR ecosystems at equity-oriented institutions. The ATC approach is differentiated from mentored UR experiences and laboratory course-based UR experiences by its ability to employ experiential, problem-based skills and practices for a broad variety of…

While New England's population remains predominantly non-Hispanic white, the region has diversified considerably in recent years, as most population growth has occurred among minority groups. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 2010 and 2018, New England's non-Hispanic white population shrank by 3.1%. During this same period, the region's…

Even before COVID-19, officials at Waubonsee Community College (Illinois) knew well the difficulties historically underserved students had in meeting their workforce education goals. As the virus crisis has only magnified existing equity gaps, leaders at two-year institutions are putting even more emphasis on bridging societal chasms. Onlookers…

Latinx Californians represent the largest ethnic group in the state, with a demographic that is disproportionately young. The state must significantly increase the educational opportunity and success of Latinx Californians, ensuring that more of them are prepared for college, attend college, and graduate with the skills necessary to thrive…

MDRC is working with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office to study the state's efforts to improve college outcomes for Latinos--in particular, the approaches being taken at two-year and four-year colleges that qualify as Hispanic-Serving Institutions. This brief covers the first step in that project: a daylong conversation among…

As the United States population approaches a minority majority, the need to address educational inequities is intensified, especially for Latin@ students who are among the fastest growing ethnic minority group across the United States and at four-year colleges and universities. Concerns for educational equity also demand broadening participation…

This study addresses the complexity of colorblindness as a phenomenon and explains not only its tenacity, but also potential breaks in its hold on school leadership practice. The authors draw from an interview study of 22 school leaders in a county in the Northeastern USA to examine their perceptions and practices associating with leading schools…

Using data from a large urban district, this study investigated whether racial inequality in access to eighth-grade algebra is a reproduction of differences in prior opportunities to learn (as evidenced by grades, test scores, and level of prior mathematics course) or whether patterns reflect an increase in inequality such that racial differences…

Drawing on interviews with 38 black and Latino/a engineering students at a predominantly white, elite university, I use a cultural analytic framework to explicate the role of pre-college integration in the heterogeneous psychosocial and academic experiences of students of color on predominantly white campuses. I identify three cultural strategies…