We combine a large multi-site randomized control trial with administrative and survey data to demonstrate that intensive advising during high school and college leads to large increases in bachelor's degree attainment. Novel causal forest methods suggest that these increases are driven primarily by improvements in the quality of initial…

This report examines the meaning and impact of the digital divide -- the gap between those who can and cannot access the Internet -- on college students during the COVID-19 emergency shift to remote learning. The assessment is based on several national surveys conducted in the spring or summer of 2020, as well as results from a large-scale survey…

Significant racial and ethnic achievement gaps exist between students in the U.S. by elementary school, although the underlying causes for these achievement gaps differ. One factor for racial/ethnic achievement gaps is between-group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), particularly exposure to poverty. Moreover, other factors contributing to…

While access to digital devices, the internet, and digital skills training has been uneven in the United States for decades, the COVID-19 pandemic magnified these disparities. More than ever, digital tools are central to performing daily tasks--from completing school assignments and applying for jobs, to reviewing personal health records, and…

This study employs hierarchal linear modeling to examine whether high school grade inflation occurred between 2010 and 2021, including for students who were tested during the pandemic. The study does so while simultaneously accounting for student and school characteristics. This is the first study, to the current authors' knowledge, that makes use…

Recent changes in higher education financing policies in England have led to more students funding their studies via two types of student loan--for tuition fees and/or for maintenance. Moreover, the average amount borrowed has been increasing. Yet not all students take out loans, and understanding the determinants of take-up is important, not…

This study examined the extent to which the issue of multiculturalism is infused into the environments of Universities in Ethiopia. Four hundred forty-four instructors and students were selected using random sampling technique from the five universities. A structured questionnaire and an unstructured interview were used as data collecting…

The widespread notion of a general student debt "crisis" creates an exaggerated image of the problems associated with borrowing for college and diverts attention from the serious difficulties some students and former students face. A disproportionate amount of attention goes to the $1.5 trillion dollars in outstanding student debt.…

Racially minoritized students in the United States constitute 30% of the U.S. population, but students from these populations represent a smaller proportion of those who earn science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate degrees. This disproportionality contributes to race/ethnic income, status, and power inequalities…

"Families in Tower Hamlets" is an ongoing research project led by University College London that explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of families with young children and pregnant women. This report is of initial findings from the 'first 500' respondents, who completed the survey between July and November 2020. The…

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a number of shortcomings in the nation's social infrastructure, one of which is access to the internet. When school is exclusively online or medical appointments rely principally on telehealth, those without online access are not merely inconvenienced. They are socially excluded, given their limited means to get…

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the protective influence of individual, family, and community assets from the initiation of sexual intercourse (ISI) for adolescents living in one-parent households compared with adolescents living in two-parent households. Methods: Five waves of data were collected annually over a 4-year period…

Women are underrepresented in many undergraduate geoscience programs. Some departments are more successful at recruiting and retaining female students than others. To understand why, we investigated potential differences between more and less successful geoscience departments in terms of social support, institutional supports, institutional…

We identify externalities in human capital production function arising from sibling spillovers. Using regression discontinuity design generated by school-entry cutoffs and school records from one district in Florida, we find positive spillover effects from an older to a younger child in less affluent families and negative spillover effects from a…

This paper estimates the patterns and sources of White-Black and White-Hispanic enrollment gaps in Advancement Placement (AP) and dual enrollment (DE) programs across several thousand school districts and metropolitan areas in the U.S. By merging several data sources, we show that both AP and DE enrollment gaps vary substantially across districts.…