Urban Institute

In this project, the researchers will explore career development opportunities (CDOs) for middle and high school students in Washington, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS), with the goal of informing decisions that support schools' ability to prepare students equitably and effectively for entry into the workforce. Attaining a stable, family-sustaining, fulfilling career requires individuals have technical skills, professional competencies, education or certifications, social and emotional aptitudes,...

While the evidence on short- and longer-term prekindergarten efficacy has grown in recent years, nearly all existing research comes from studies of programs for 4-year-olds. Increasing policy interest in programs for 3-year-olds, persistent disparities in access, and theories and evidence from economics, neuroscience, and developmental psychology highlight the need for new research so that policymakers, practitioners, and the public can make informed choices about investments in children's s...

Children living in distressed communities face significant academic, social, and health challenges, many of which were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Promise Neighborhoods program provides distressed communities funding to directly address student academic, social, and health needs as well as employment and other challenges that might contribute to these needs. With more than $500 million invested under Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) since 2010, the program gives grantees the flexibility to define their Promise Neighborhood and offer a wide set of supports and services intended to improve academic outcomes

The project investigates two ways in which schools and teachers might behave strategically when facing pressure from school accountability systems based on student test scores. First, schools might provide more attention to students who have full academic year eligibility. Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2011 (NCLB), a school is only accountable for a student's performance if that student has attended that school for a certain number of days and states are required to define that time,...

Supported by a five-year, $10 million grant from the Institute for Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education, CALDER is a federally funded National Research and Development Center. The center will harvest state and district administrative data on individual teachers and students for insights into how state and local policies, especially teacher policies, governance policies, and accountability policies affect teachers (e.g., who teaches what students) and students (e.g., academic a