Think Twice Weekly Report

Early Childhood Education

Source: Center for American Progress

Date: 1/30/2025

A 2024 Review of Child Care and Early Learning in the United States

Updated data on child care and early learning in the United States illustrate the urgent need for holistic public policymaking and robust investments that support young children, families, and early educators.

Student Achievement

Source: Brookings / Annenberg

Date: 1/28/2025

Making the Grade: Accounting for Course Selection in High School Transcripts with Item Response Theory

We use student-level administrative data from Delaware for 43,767 high school students across five 12th grade cohorts from 2017 to 2021. We apply Item Response Theory (IRT) to high school transcript data, treating courses as items and grades as ordered responses, to estimate both student transcript strength and course difficulty. We prove, via construct and predictive validation and simulation, that improves upon GPA because it accounts for ability selection into courses with variable difficulty. Compared to the SAT, shows smaller racial/ethnic gaps but substantially larger gender gaps that indicate boys underperform in their courses relative to their standardized test scores. We conclude by discussing significant methodological-such as grade-inflation and cross-school heterogeneity in course offerings-and practical challenges that remain before such measures could be considered for high-stakes applications.

Review of Underachieving and Underenrolled: Chronically Low-Performing Schools in the Post-Pandemic Era

Source: Fordham Institute

Reviewed by: Sally A. Nuamah, Northwestern University

A recent Fordham Institute report argues that post-pandemic enrollment declines will inevitably force districts to make the controversial decision to close some schools. Embracing this possibility, it provides dual criteria of substantial declines in enrollment and chronic low performance as indicators of which schools should be closed first, naming nearly 500 specific schools that meet the criteria.

In her review of Underachieving and Underenrolled: Chronically Low-Performing Schools in the Post-Pandemic Era, Sally A. Nuamah of Northwestern University finds little evidence to support the report's contention that closing these schools will meaningfully reduce budget deficits and improve education outcomes.

The Roles and Responsibilities of the President

By: Learning For Justice

This resource from Learning for Justice answers several important questions: So, what are the roles and responsibilities of the president? What are the powers and limits of the office? And how can people evaluate a president's ability to fulfill the responsibilities of the office and hold a president accountable?

Guidance on Immigration Issues

By: NEA Office of General Counsel

NEA Office of General Counsel just released this comprehensive immigration guidance. The sections are Immigration & Schools 101, Immigration Enforcement at Schools, How Educators Can Safely Engage in Immigration Advocacy, Mass Raids FAQ, Know Your Rights: Immigration Enforcement, DACA Update, and Safe Zones. Please share widely.

First-year college enrollment spiked 5.5% in fall 2024

By: Natalie Schwartz, K-12 Dive

Enrollment of first-year students grew 5.5% in fall 2024 compared to the year before, representing an increase of about 130,000 students, according to a final tally from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

GreatLakesCenter.org