Press Releases

Growing economic and racial inequality are impacting many children’s health and welfare, as well as educational and life success. To address these inequalities, policymakers increasingly look to community schools as an effective approach for supporting students and their families in neighborhoods facing concentrated poverty. A new study from the Learning Policy Institute finds that, when implemented well, these schools  help students overcome such challenges, improving their educational outcomes by removing out-of-school barriers to learning.

When students return to school in the upcoming weeks, many will enter one of the more than 100,000 classrooms across the country staffed by an instructor who is not fully qualified to teach. This is because many districts, facing ongoing teacher shortages, are hiring underqualified candidates to fill vacancies. While shortages tend to draw attention to recruitment issues, a new report, just released by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), finds that 90% of the nationwide demand for teachers is created when teachers leave the profession. Some are retiring, but about two thirds of teachers leave for other reasons. Addressing early attrition is critical to stemming the country's continuing teacher shortage crisis.

A study released by the Learning Policy Institute demonstrates how well-designed teacher professional development programs significantly improve student achievement, challenging the logic behind the Administration’s proposal to eliminate funding for those programs. The new report, Effective Teacher Professional Development, reviewed 35 scientifically rigorous studies conducted over the past 30 years which showed significant gains in student achievement resulting from teacher development programs.

Community schools can be a successful strategy for improving schools under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), according to a policy brief released by the National Education Policy Center and the Learning Policy Institute. The brief, Community Schools: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement, finds that community schools, an increasingly popular school improvement strategy, are strongly supported by research evidence, as required by ESSA.

California is home to more than 3 million children from birth through age 5. These children are in a critical phase of development that will, in part, determine their long-term academic success, health, and well-being. And, while research shows that participation in high-quality early care and education programs (ECE) can have a highly positive impact on children’s development, many of California’s children don’t have access to that care. A report by the Learning Policy Institute, Understanding California’s Early Care and Education System, lays out the key problems that need to be solved.

As states develop new accountability and improvement systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act, a new report examines ways that social and emotional learning and school climate can be included.

A just-released follow-up to a January 2016 report on teacher shortages in California shows that shortages have worsened in the past year, with especially severe shortages continuing in special education, math, and science. The update compares data from 2015-16 with earlier data, finding that while roughly the same number of teachers are entering the profession each year, the increasing demand for teachers in California is far outpacing the supply.

Statement of Learning Policy Institute President Linda Darling-Hammond on California Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposed Budget for Special Education | As a leading national institute conducting and communicating research to improve education policy and practice, LPI applauds Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal in this year’s budget summary to study special education funding in the service of improving special education in California. As state leaders explore strategies for funding reform, we hope they will attend to the state’s urgent need to build a supply of high-quality teachers.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) includes a number of important requirements and opportunities to advance equity in U.S. education. A new report by the Learning Policy Institute, Equity and ESSA: Leveraging Educational Opportunity Through the Every Student Succeeds Act, outlines the equity implications of ESSA and discusses ways in which the federal government, states, districts, and schools can promote equity for underserved children and youth. The report was released in conjunction with a briefing on Capitol Hill.

A Fall 2016 survey of California school districts reveals that the state’s teacher shortage has reached alarming levels, with 75% of surveyed districts indicating there are too few qualified teachers to fill their teaching vacancies. Teacher shortages leave districts with high rates of vacancies and force them to rely on underprepared teachers and substitutes, increase class sizes, and assign teachers outside of their areas of training. To better address shortages, particularly in high-need fields and schools, the state and districts will need to develop a variety of evidence-based strategies that can be targeted to meet the needs of different communities.