We analyse the PISA-reported convergence in the performance of private and public schools in Portugal. When PISA sampling weights are used, the number of students enrolled in those types of schools and specific grades/tracks of study differs significantly from official population figures. To account for those differences, we apply a…

This study addressed the issue of low reading proficiency in Kentucky's students with disabilities, potentially exacerbated by post-third-grade curriculum changes. This quasi-experimental ex post facto comparative study aims to determine differences in the grade four reading achievement gap in students with disabilities compared to students…

Locally and nationally, English Learners (ELs) struggle to achieve parity with their monolingual peers in reading. In addition to second language-related considerations, ELs' efforts to succeed in reading may be thwarted by poverty, trauma, interrupted education, barriers to effective instruction and parental engagement, limited parental…

We investigate the effect of changing schools on academic achievement. Using representative data on the educational trajectories of 17,000 Swiss lower secondary students and national assessment data at the end of compulsory schooling, we estimate the potential individual achievement gaps caused by a school change. While the overall effect is…

From late spring of 2020 to the present, the U.S. educational conversation about learning in K-12 public schools during the pandemic has been about the fact that students did not learn as much, widening the achievement gap due to digital learning. Some K-12 public schools and school districts have reported no learning loss. This exploratory study…

There have been substantial advances in the development of states' education data systems over the past 20 years, supported by large investments from the federal government. However, the availability of modern data systems has not translated into meaningful improvements in how consequential state policies, such as funding and accountability…

Recent research in the United States suggests that student performance differences between private and public schools disappear once student and school level characteristics are controlled for. This is an important result as it suggests that in the absence of such differences delivery of education through public means can be as efficient as that…

Efforts to bridge educational achievement gaps and address inequities remain a central challenge across the United States. The multitiered system of supports has emerged as a prominent intervention framework with which to equip educators for this task. Given its growing adoption across school districts, a deeper understanding of teacher…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how public-school IEP team members describe decision-making influences and thresholds in least restrictive environment (LRE) placement for K-5 students with significant support needs in the Midwest. Decision-Making Ecology served as a framework for two research questions which…

Education is the cornerstone of American society. However, American society has a long history of providing unequal access to education resources, often to the detriment of Black children. Black children are often perceived as threatening, even when only 4 years old. Relative to their White peers, Black children receive a disproportionately high…

This data brief, featuring infographics, provides a statistical overview of students attending public schools in non-rural areas, such as cities, suburbs, and towns. It delivers essential information for school leaders, parents, educators, and other stakeholders and is updated annually.

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with historical inequities, resulted in a widening of the achievement gap between underserved populations and more advantaged students. In response to this issue, California took action by allocating additional funds to public school districts for out-of-school-time services through the Expanded Learning Opportunities…

The present study examined Latinx school readiness and 3rd grade student achievement, considering differences based on social categories of gender, race, ethnicity, and home language. The sample included 683 racially diverse children (M[subscript age] = 4.94; SD = 0.57) of Dominican- or Mexican-origin from Spanish-English or Spanish-only…

Acceleration of digital communication has changed the nature of reading and young people today need to engage multimodal skills for reading success in the digital world. While historically there have been social justice issues for marginalised students in terms of reading, the digital age is creating new equity issues across the globe. This…

We use data from the applications North Carolina public school districts and charter schools submitted for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) to investigate the sense that educational leaders made of the pandemic as it unfolded. LEAs understood the pandemic as a multifaceted problem. Nearly all applications addressed four…