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Studies persistently show disparities in exclusionary discipline across racial/ethnic groups in U.S. schools. Using administrative data from kindergarteners through fifth graders in Indiana, we examine the effects of student-teacher race/ethnicity matching on disciplinary outcomes. We find that Black students exhibit lower rates of suspension and expulsion when they study with Black teachers—driven mainly by fewer defiance and profanity offenses. By contrast, for Latinx and White students, having a teacher of the same race/ethnicity is not associated with suspension and expulsion. In light of the shortage of Black teachers in the teacher workforce, our findings underscore the vulnerability of Black students to exclusionary discipline in the early stages of schooling.

A pervasive issue in the school choice literature is whether schools of choice cream skim students by enrolling high-achieving, less-challenging, or less-costly students. Similarly, schools of choice may "push out" low-achieving, more-challenging, or more-costly students. Using longitudinal student-level data from Indiana, we created multiple measures to examine whether there is evidence consistent with the claims of voucher-participating private schools cream skimming the best students from public schools or pushing out voucher-receiving students. We do not find evidence consistent with the claim of cream skimming. However, we find evidence consistent with the claim of private schools pushing out the lowest-achieving voucher students. This is the first study to examine these two issues within a statewide private school voucher program.

This article examines the pathways that students can follow within the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program and the associations with their math and English language arts achievement in upper elementary and middle school. We analyze student-level longitudinal data by matching voucher and nonvoucher students to estimate the role of participating in the voucher program, taking advantage of the uniqueness of Indiana public and private schools taking the same standardized assessment over time. The different student pathways for using vouchers are related to student achievement with significant achievement losses for students who switch from a public to a private school with a voucher. Students who have always attended a private school, both before and after receiving a voucher, experience no significant changes in achievement.

Educators and researchers have been fighting the reading wars for the last century, with battles see-sawing literacy instruction in American schools from phonics to whole language and, most recently, back to phonics again. Over the last decade, 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new "science of reading" laws that require schools to use curricula and instructional techniques that are deemed "evidence-based." Such reading programs include direct instruction in phonics and reading comprehension skills, such as finding the main idea of a paragraph, and efforts to accelerate learning tend to double down on more of the same skill-building practice. The authors conduct the first-ever experimental study of this topic, based on randomized kindergarten-enrollment lotteries in nine Colorado charter schools that use an interdisciplinary knowledge-based curriculum called Core Knowledge.

Parents’ decision making about whether to send their children to a traditional public or charter schools has been studied mostly in urban, low-income areas. Few studies have focused on the decisions of high-income, suburban families. In a sample of Core Knowledge charter schools in a predominantly White and socioeconomically advantaged set of suburbs in Denver, Colorado, we are able to examine both the closed- and open-ended responses of parents who reported the importance of various factors in the decision-making process. Similar to findings from urban, low-income areas, we find that parents rely on their social networks in choosing schools and report the importance of effective teachers, distance to school, and academic quality, which our open-ended responses reveal means different things to different parents. Contrasting previous research, we also find that high-income parents “do their research” on schools to which they are applying.

Scholars continue to debate whether persistent racial inequality flows primarily from differences in measured achievement [e.g., Cancio, A. S., Evans, T. D., & Maume, D. J., Jr. (1996). Reconsidering the declining significance of race: Racial differences in early career wages. American Sociological Review, 61, 541-556; Farkas, G., & Vicknair, K. (1996). Appropriate tests of racial wage discrimination require controls for cognitive skill: Comment on Cancio, Evans, and Maume. American Sociological Review, 6/, 557-5601, a debate pointing scholars toward the school. Yet, a look inside schools reveals conflicting evidence concerning students' opportunities. Notably, analyses of race and track location have found Whites and Asians advantaged when compared to Blacks and Latino/as [e.g., Mickelson, R. A. (2001). Subverting swann: First- and second-generation segregation in Charlotte-Mecklenberg schools. American Educational Research ./ournal; 38, 215-2521, Black-White-Latino/a equality [e.g., Lucas, S. R., & Gamoran, A. (2002). Tracking and the achievement gap, In J. E. Chubb, & T. Loveless (Eds.), Bridging the gap (pp. 17 1-198). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Pressi, and Whites disadvantaged when compared to Blacks and Asians [e.g., Garet, M. S., & DeLany, B. (1988). Students, courses, and stratification. Sociology of Education, 6], 61-771. Upon investigating whether schools actually vary in their racial/ethnic gaps in track location, we find important school-level differences. This variation is not random; the more racially diverse the school, the better Whites' chances and the worse Blacks' chances of college prep course-taking. Provocatively, predicted probabilities of college-prep course-taking are consistent with one-to-one substitution of Whites for Blacks as one moves from less to more diverse schools. The results suggest analysts must explore cross-school variation to discern when, where, and why comparable students have different placements. Further, the findings imply that pursuing diversity, the sole remaining acceptable justification for race-conscious desegregation efforts, may actually hinder Blacks' access to demanding curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death in India. In high-income countries, pre-hospital systems of care have been developed to manage acute manifestations of ischemic heart disease, such as acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, it is unknown whether guidelines, policies, regulations, or laws exist to guide pre-hospital ACS care in India. We undertook a nation-wide document analysis to address this gap in knowledge. Methods and results: From November 2014 to May 2016, we searched for publicly available emergency care guidelines and legislation addressing pre-hospital ACS care in all 29 Indian states and 7 Union Territories via Internet search and direct correspondence. We found two documents addressing pre-hospital ACS care. Conclusion: Though India has legislation mandating acute care for emergencies such as trauma, regulations or laws to guide pre-hospital ACS care are largely absent. Policy makers urgently need to develop comprehensive, multi-stakeholder policies for pre-hospital emergency cardiovascular care in India.