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.

Throughout the history of the United States there have existed gaps in the educational achievement outcomes of different groups of students. One of the most well-known and persistent achievement gaps is seen in the academic performance of Black versus White students, which is also known as the Black-White student achievement gap (BWSAG). The BWSAG…

This study aimed to investigate the predictive relationship of teacher race on student outcomes in New Jersey public schools, as measured by the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA), chronic absenteeism, and graduation rates. Specifically, the relationship between teacher and student race matching with Black students, the schoolwide…

A qualitative study was conducted to explore the influence of mandated school closures and transitions on coping and identity development in late adolescent youth. Student participants ([eta]=8) aged 18-24 were ethnically diverse and positioned as underachieving in an alternative urban school context due to being 1-3 years behind their cohort…

This study explores the impact of attending optional professional learning events on the critical consciousness development of Ready to Learn (RtL) mentors over the course of one program year. Ready to Learn is an out of school time math tutoring and mentoring program that seeks to address opportunity gaps in math learning for middle school…

This study investigates whether teaching practices of non-minorities who teach Black students has an impact on the achievement gap between Black and White students. There is a lack of awareness of culturally relevant teaching in the U.S public school system (Epstein, 2005). Per NCES (2015), 80% of public schools have a high density of Black…

This qualitative phenomenological study explored how 19 school leaders in seven California comprehensive high schools were making sense of data and using data to transform their schools by closing achievement gap for historically underrepresented students. Data is a powerful tool in the hands of school leaders to transform patterns of inequality…

"Children at the Center" provides a closely observed account of a decade-long effort to reshape the scope, direction, and quality of the Boston Public Schools' early childhood programs. Drawing on multiple perspectives and voices from the field, the authors highlight the reflective, collaborative, inquiry-driven approach undertaken by…

Teacher shortages disproportionally impact high need schools that can be hard to staff. However, effective teachers have an influential role in improving low-performing schools. Focusing on recruiting and retaining teachers to low-income and low-performing schools is crucial not only to closing achievement gaps, but also to ensuring that students…

Decades after the 1954 "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka" unanimous decision to desegregate schools, the ideology of Black people having equal educational opportunities has not been realized; Black people continue to lag in educational attainment. However, the inequalities in life experiences between Black and White people limit the…

This study reports achievement levels and fall-to-spring gains in grades K to 8 for three groups of English Learners (ELs): (a) ever-ELs who were ever eligible for service; (b) current-ELs who continue to require service; and (b) dually-identified students eligible for both EL and Special Education services. I leverage unique data that include…

Early identification and intervention for struggling readers increased the likelihood of students identified as proficient; ultimately leading to future success. The researcher sought to evaluate the Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) program in a Midwest urban school district, to help close the achievement gap between students' reading levels…

Students in the United States face an increasingly competitive college admissions process. High school seniors must prove themselves capable of university level work. The standard for evidencing such capacity is through enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Upon completion of the AP course students sit for the corresponding national exam.…

Between 1994 and 2014, New York City engaged in a historic overhaul of its publicly funded high schools. This included the opening of charter high schools (made possible by a 1999 state law) and the creation of new, smaller district high schools that would, in time, replace many of the city's large, traditional, comprehensive, and vocational high…

This paper addresses what we are calling "the gaps," the divergent and contextual understandings of "opportunity gap" and "achievement gap" evident in phenomenological interviews with principals and school district leaders. Drawing from a sample of 22 interviews in urban, inner-ring suburban, and outer-ring suburban…