Press Releases

Students who attend high-quality preschool programs reap benefits that can last through school and their lives, according to a review of research by Learning Policy Institute. The study includes reviews of rigorous evaluations of 21 large-scale public preschool programs which find that children who attend these programs are more prepared for school and experience substantial learning gains in comparison to children who do not attend preschool.

In recent years, the country has been rocked by debates about school choice. For some, school choice, in and of itself, is viewed as a major goal of policy. For others, the term raises concerns about privatization of public schools. Often forgotten in the policy debates are the fundamental questions of whether and how choice influences access to high-quality schools for all students, and whether, in our diverse democracy that requires common ground, choices promote or undermine integration. Rather than debate school choice as an end, a new research report shifts the focus to choice as a means to an end.

A new study identifies policy and practice strategies that foster strong academic, social, and emotional learning, based on the science of learning and development.

A new report and interactive map provide information on which states are using provisions in the Every Student Succeeds Act to address students’ needs and ensure schools provide educational opportunity to all students, and how these efforts can be maximized.

Most states have been struggling to address teacher shortages for several years now, often filling the vacuum with underprepared teachers who aren’t able to give children the high-quality learning they need and who leave at two to three times the rate of well-prepared teachers. Most often, these teachers are hired in schools serving students of color and those from low-income families. Governors and legislators in many of these states are now working to turn the tide, according to a new report from the Learning Policy Institute (LPI).

Schools in the United States are among the most inequitably funded of any in the industrialized world. These inequities in funding — which impact everything from class sizes to course offerings to teaching quality — create dramatic disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes for children. Students from low-income families and students of color experience the greatest disparities.

Research shows that teachers of color help close achievement gaps for students of color and are highly rated by students of all races—a fact that is all the more relevant in light of the release this month of data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress which show persistent achievement gaps between students of color and from low income families and their White and affluent peers. Unfortunately, although more teachers of color are being recruited across the nation, the pace of increase is slow and attrition rates are high, leaving growing gaps between the demand for such teachers and the supply.

Learning Policy Institute researchers who examined community schools as an evidence-based strategy for school improvement and who explored charter school brand management are among the award winners who will be honored at the 2018 American Educational Research Association annual meeting in New York City this week.

A new study shows that investments in schools based on the Local Control Funding Formula improve achievement and attainment, reduce racial and economic disparities in graduation rates. By examining high school graduation rates, and student achievement by grade and subject (mathematics and reading) in the years before and after the implementation of LCFF for all public schools in California, the authors found significant increases in all of these areas that track the implementation of LCFF. They also found that students who received higher “dosages” of LCFF (that is, attend school in highest-poverty districts, which receive greater funding under the formula) showed greater academic gains.