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Educational inequality due to family socioeconomic status (SES) has been the focus of both public dialogue and education research in the United States for many years. The current study aims to understand how educational inequality due to family SES has changed in the United States. Specifically, the study focuses on the changes in achievement gaps between high and low SES students between 2003 and 2017 and the changes in the performance of low-SES students over time. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) grade 8 mathematics assessment were used for the analyses. Results show that the SES achievement gap at the national level has remained the same over time. State-level results suggest that 34 of the 50 states' SES achievement gaps experienced no significant change between 2003 and 2017, 14 gaps widened, and only two SES gaps narrowed. In addition, at the national level, more low-SES students achieved at the NAEP Basic and at the NAEP Proficient levels over time with a majority of states improving their low-SES students' performance. In conclusion, the study contributes to the existing literature not only by reflecting on U.S. national trends using an effective SES index, but also by providing state-level results. It also collects trend data on states' macro-level indicators, including economic growth, social inequality, and educational expenditures, allowing state-specific findings to be presented in the context of changes in macro-level context. Initial explorations of relationships between state SES achievement gap trends and macroeconomic factors are presented to motivate future research. The trends in SES achievement gaps and the specific policy contexts are presented in greater detail for 13 states/jurisdictions.

This Opportunity 08 position paper advises that the next President of the United States should focus on lifting the achievement levels of our nation's schoolchildren. It recommends that the new President should mount a determined effort, together with states and local school districts, to boost the academic performance of low achievers by: (1) requiring underperforming public schools that receive federal aid to improve the academic performance of chronic low achievers; (2) insisting that individual school improvement strategies be derived from sound evidence about what actually works; (3) joining with states in providing grants for schools to improve the academic performance of low achievers; and (4) penalizing low-performing schools that decline to devise and implement credible school improvement plans by cutting their share of their district's federal Title I grant by 25 percent. The paper presents case studies of San Jose, CA, Hamilton County, TN, and Mount Vernon, NY, where their school districts have, respectively, registered achievement gains utilizing more targeted strategies, given educators incentives, and trained its sights on reading and literacy. (Includes a list of additional resources.)

Building a strong, diverse teacher workforce in sufficient numbers requires understanding of the points along the pathway into the teaching profession where aspiring teachers are most likely lost. Currently, policymakers, state education agencies, and teacher prep programs have limited insight into the obstacles along this pathway, largely due to incomplete or inaccurate data. This makes it hard to identify when and why prospective teachers, particularly persons of color, elect not to consider teaching or, having started down the pathway, exit prematurely. In this study, National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) focuses on a pivotal point for elementary teachers: when teacher candidates take their licensure tests on the content knowledge defined by states as necessary for the job of teaching. States generally expect elementary teachers to have foundational knowledge in English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Low rates of candidates passing licensure tests, especially for candidates of color, have become the subject of considerable debate in states across the country and have some states questioning their testing regimes. These low pass rates present a challenge for policymakers and educator preparation programs working to both diversify the profession and also ensure that every classroom is staffed with a well-prepared teacher. This paper provides the framework for the pass rate data available for each state. While the focus here is on elementary content licensure tests, the analysis can be applied to any assessment on any subject or grade span. [This report was funded by the Gates Family Foundation.]

This paper argues for a radical restructuring of education for grades 11-14--by erasing the arbitrary dividing line between high school and college--to open opportunities for the learners the current systems leave behind. The authors make the case for an entirely new type of institution--neither high school nor college--designed specifically to better meet the needs of young people after 10th grade and help prepare them to succeed in the world of work. The authors take a hard look at the obstacles that impede more than half of the nation's young people from making successful transitions from high school to postsecondary education to the labor market despite the best of intentions of the many who support them. They identify the four key areas that need transformation: (1) incentives (in accountability and finance); (2) alignment; (3) governance; and (4) staffing. For each, the authors provide examples of innovation--existing policies, programs, and networks--that have made strides toward smoothing transitions. Last, the authors recommend an action agenda of next steps to start pushing closer to the ideal. [For the executive summary, see ED614770.]

Early childhood education and school readiness is essential to preparing children to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. Compared to other countries, however, the United States lags far behind on preschool, trailing a number of other countries in enrollment, investment, and quality. In February 2013, however, President Barack Obama put forth a bold plan to significantly expand access to preschool. His plan would invest $75 billion in high-quality preschool, helping the nation catch up with other countries. On almost every element (preschool participation, typical age children begin early-childhood programs, teacher-to-child ratio in early childhood-education programs, and total investment in early childhood-education programs) the United States ranks behind most of the other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD. This paper shows how far behind the United States is on preschool, making it evident that the president's plan needs to be implemented. Each of these elements is explored and compared with other countries' numbers. If the United States is to train a world-class workforce, it is imperative that it catches up to the rest of the world on pre-K.

The Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) is a project within NSF's (National Science Foundation's) Math Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Funded at $23 million over five years, the AMSP involved 51 school districts and nine higher education institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The AMSP faced two significant challenges in its effort to live up to the vision of the MSP initiative and to its own hopes and goals. First, its service area, Appalachia, comprises some of the most isolated and stressed communities and school systems in the United States. Second, the mere scale of the partnership--60 organizations in several states--defied easy implementation. Yet despite these challenges (indeed, working to address them directly), the AMSP built upon existing leadership capacity in the region and created not only effective partnerships, but ultimately formed what is viewed as the foundation for a sustainable regional "improvement infrastructure" for science and mathematics. In this set of five papers, the authors portray the evolution, design and strategies of the AMSP. This paper is the core document of the set of five and stands alone. It provides background on the initiative and on the regional landscape, gives an account of how the AMSP's overall design as an "umbrella partnership" formed, describes the major strategies and components of the partnership (including the benefits they produced and lessons learned from their implementation), documents the core values and design principles underlying the umbrella partnership, and offers the authors' conceptualization of the AMSP as a regional improvement infrastructure. Appendices include: (1) NSF-Funded Projects in Appalachia Prior to or Active During the AMSP; and (2) AMSP Research Activities Conducted by Inverness Research. (Contains 17 footnotes and 2 figures.) ["The Appalachian Math Science Partnership: A Multi-State Umbrella Partnership Promoting Local Mathematics and Science Reform" was written with Mike Howard, Laura Stokes and Dawn Robles. For the accompanying report, see ED508681.]

This paper describes some of the systematic efforts used in the last decade for disseminating the products of research and development in vocational education and provides suggestions for dealing with problems and issues to facilitate the movement of information resources from producers to consumers. The paper: (1) Traces the history and role of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) in the dissemination of information in vocational education; (2) reviews the efforts and activities of the Center for Vocational Education (CVE) at The Ohio State University in operating the ERIC Clearinghouse; and (3) describes the scope and purposes of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Career Education along with some recent observations on the Center's operation while at Northern Illinois University. The role of AIM/ARM (Abstracts of Instructional Materials/Abstracts of Research Materials) in vocational education information dissemination is described, including the history, goals, funding, and accomplishments of its decade of operation. The state dissemination systems of Tennessee and Pennsylvania are described in detail. Also included are a discussion of the utilization of research and development products and results, a sampling of current projects funded under Parts C, D, and I of the Vocational Education Amendments, and suggestions for more systematic ways to assess the impact of research and development efforts. (NJ)