Literacy Education

Source: CRPE

Date: 12/5/2023

Teachers and tutors together: Reimagining literacy instruction in Oakland

In a new report package How States Protect Funding for K-12 Public Schools, EdChoice Director of Fiscal Research & Education Center Martin Lueken, along with EdChoice fellow and associate professor at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, James Shuls, explore state-by-state funding protections for public schools and their benefits and drawbacks.

 

This research provides education reform stakeholders with valuable perspectives on how expanding choice polices interact with funding protections such as declining enrollment and funding guarantees, also known as hold harmless provisions, within their states.

Math Education / Student Achievement

Source: Ed Trust

Date: 12/5/2023

Opportunities Denied: High-Achieving Black and Latino Students Lack Access to Advanced Math

For this brief, The Education Trust and Just Equations partnered to explore differences in patterns of math course enrollment for high school students using data from students who participated in the 2009 High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:09). Like other research has shown, we find that high-achieving Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds who take and pass Algebra I in eighth grade still end up taking advanced math courses in high school at lower rates than their peers. The data also points to the likelihood that students who did and did not take advanced math courses in high school have different experiences with math teachers' and counselors' practices and perceptions.

Student Achievement

Source: Fordham Institute

Date: 12/5/2023

The Education Competition Index: Quantifying competitive pressure in America's 125 largest school districts

Exposing traditional school districts to greater competition is a central goal of education reform in the United States. Yet because of the complexity of reform efforts, quantifying "competition" is challenging.

 

In this report, Fordham analysts David Griffith and Jeanette Luna use data from multiple sources to estimate how much competition the 125 largest school districts in the United States face for students, how the answer to that question differs by student group, and how the competition facing each district has increased or decreased in the past decade.

 

Interactive figures embedded in the report allow readers to see how specific forms of competition have evolved in particular communities.

Student Achievement / Curriculum / Equity and Social Justice

Source: Ed Trust

Date: 12/7/2023

Increasing Access to Advanced Coursework in Washington

Research shows that when students have access to advanced coursework opportunities, they work harder and are more engaged in school, have fewer absences and suspensions and higher graduation rates. Unfortunately, many Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds lack equitable access to advanced coursework opportunities, such as gifted and talented programs in elementary school, eighth grade Algebra courses, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment programs in high school. As a result, these students are missing out on crucial opportunities that can set them up for success after high school.

Review of From Surviving to Thriving: K-12 Choice and Opportunity for Rural Texas Students and Teachers

Source: Heritage Foundation

Reviewed by: Amanda Potterton of the University of Kentucky, Annah Rogers of the University of West Alabama, and Jeanne Powers of Arizona State University

The Heritage Foundation recently published a report that claims increased competition has improved academic achievement in Arizona's rural public schools and that similar policies will be good for rural Texas. However, a review finds several flaws in the report's reasoning and methodology.

Amanda Potterton of the University of Kentucky, Annah Rogers of the University of West Alabama, and Jeanne Powers of Arizona State University reviewed From Surviving to Thriving: K-12 Choice and Opportunity for Rural Texas Students and Teachers. They found that the data provided in the report fails to support its contention that rural Texas would do well to copy Arizona's example.

The $1.8-Billion Lawsuit Over a Teacher Test

By:Emma Green, The New Yorker

In the nineties, New York began requiring aspiring educators to take an exam. Thousands of people later claimed that the test was racially biased.

GreatLakesCenter.org