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This report presents selected findings from the 2020/22 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:20/22), a study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education. The findings in this report are based on data about a nationally representative sample of all first-time beginning students (FTBs) who entered postsecondary education for the first time during the 2019-20 academic year. BPS:20/22 is the first follow-up of a cohort of FTBs originally identified during the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20) and covers 3 years of students' experiences, from their first year of postsecondary education in the 2019-20 academic year through the 2021-22 academic year. The BPS:20/22 sample consisted of approximately 37,330 total students, representing the approximately 3.3 million undergraduates who were first-time postsecondary students enrolled in the 2019-20 academic year. Data from BPS can address questions about students' postsecondary enrollment patterns, continued enrollment in college, highest postsecondary credential earned, social and academic experiences and activities, and employment history. To facilitate analyses of student choices and postsecondary enrollment and credential attainment, the BPS:20/22 survey collected information on teacher effectiveness, as well as frequency and types of communication and interactions with family and friends, faculty members, and other students, which were also included in the NPSAS:20 survey. Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several survey questions asked respondents to report on employment and education disruptions and personal experiences "as a result of the coronavirus pandemic" in spring 2020 and in the 2020-21 academic year. Respondents indicated their perception of whether an experience was the result of the coronavirus pandemic. The report provides information on first-time postsecondary students' attainment and persistence rates at any institution 3 years after they began postsecondary education, along with their education and personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this report, attainment represents the students' highest postsecondary credential earned, whereas persistence describes enrollment during the 2021-22 academic year for students who had not earned a postsecondary credential. As a result, students who earned a postsecondary credential and enrolled for additional postsecondary education are accounted for in attainment rates. It is important to note that BPS:20/22 data reflect first-time postsecondary students' experiences over 3 academic years, when many students are still working toward a postsecondary credential. The 2022/25 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, which is designed to follow up with students 6 years after they began postsecondary education, will provide more comprehensive data about postsecondary attainment. This First Look shows some of the ways that BPS:20/22 data can be used. Selected findings are not intended to emphasize any particular issue, and the report does not discuss all the information presented in the tables. Readers should not infer causality from the data in this report. Although many of the factors discussed are related to each other, this report does not explore these relationships. The student- and institution-level factors in this report are just a few of the several hundred that will be available in the BPS:20/22 data.

The tables in this report provide national-level estimates of the extent to which students ages 12-18 enrolled in grades 6-12 experience bullying during school. The tables show how bullying victimization varies by student and school characteristics such as sex, race/ethnicity, grade, household income, region, school locale, school enrollment size, and the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The tables also show how rates of bullying victimization vary by crime-related characteristics such as: the presence of gangs, guns, drugs, alcohol, and hate-related graffiti at school; selected school security measures; student criminal victimization; personal fear of attack or harm; avoidance behaviors; fighting; and the carrying of weapons to school.

COVID-19 had significant impacts on the field of education and, in turn, on school-based research. During this unprecedented time, nearly all schools closed, disrupting learning as schools shifted to a virtual format. Addressing the lasting effects of school closures is a major challenge in the post-pandemic education climate. Educators indicate these challenges have limited their willingness or ability to participate in research. We analyzed over 700 reasons for refusal in four recent education studies to examine the effects of COVID-19 on school-based research. About 4% of education leaders cited COVID-19 as the primary factor impacting their unwillingness to participate, while related factors such as learning loss, instructional time, or teacher shortage were cited approximately 16%. Over 40% of schools declined because of required testing and surveys. Given the voluntary nature of participation, the remaining schools declined for various reasons not necessarily related to COVID-19. Insufficient participation can be detrimental to research by impacting the quantity and quality of data collected and possibly introducing bias into the data, thus skewing findings. In the post-pandemic era, school-based researchers must be mindful of the challenges schools face and develop mitigation strategies to contend with the reluctance to participate in external research.

This report describes the design, methods, and results of the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20) conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). It is the second follow-up with a cohort of bachelor's degree recipients originally identified during the 2015-16 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16). The data collected in B&B:16/20 are intended to provide researchers and policymakers with key information on student debt and repayment as well as postbaccalaureate enrollment and employment outcomes 4 years after completion of a bachelor's degree with a special focus on the experiences of elementary and secondary teachers. This data file documentation details the methods used to collect, process, and analyze these data, and it also provides users with guidance on how to analyze these nationally representative data.

In spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to switch quickly to online learning. Before then, Hawai?i had been expanding its dual credit program, in which high school students could take courses that would yield both high school and college credits. These dual credit programs require partnerships between high schools and colleges. RTI International conducted a multi-method analysis to examine the effect of this COVID-19-based transition to online learning on the dual credit, analyzing data from the state longitudinal data system and conducting surveys and focus groups of the University of Hawai?i's instructors, high school coordinators, and high school staff involved with program. From spring 2020 to fall 2020, students took some dual enrollment courses even though offerings and enrollment declined; offerings and enrollment rebounded by spring 2021. The percentage of course-takers earning both high school and college credit remained about the same during this transition. Examining outcomes for student and school subgroups shows that male students struggled more than female students did with enrollment during this transition, and students in rural schools had a steeper decline in the rate of earning both high school and college credits. However, both groups did begin to recover by spring 2021.

This First Look publication provides the first results of the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20), the most comprehensive national study of student financing of postsecondary education in the United States. This report includes information for about 80,800 undergraduate students and 19,700 graduate students attending 2,200 postsecondary institutions in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This report describes the percentages of students receiving various types of financial aid and average amounts received, by type of institution attended, gender, race/ethnicity, attendance pattern, and income level. Percentages and average amounts are additionally described by dependency status for undergraduate students and by graduate program for graduate students. Supplemental tables feature state-level percentages of students receiving aid and average amounts received by undergraduate students. [For the summary, see ED629548. For the supplemental tables, see ED629549.]

This First Look report presents selected findings about student financial aid during the 2019-20 academic year. These findings are based on data from the 2019-20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20). NPSAS:20 is a national study of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled any time between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020, in institutions that can participate in federal financial aid programs. The main purpose of NPSAS:20 is to measure how students and their families pay for postsecondary education and, particularly, their receipt of federal student aid given through Title IV of the Higher Education Act. Data used in this report are from about 80,800 undergraduate and 19,700 graduate student survey respondents attending approximately 2,200 institutions in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This report classifies financial aid by type (grants, loans, work-study, and other) and source (federal, state, institution, employer, and other private sources). [For the full report, see ED629547. For the supplemental tables, see ED629549.]

This paper contains a new analysis of gender differences in early grade reading and mathematics outcomes in 19 USAID-funded studies over the past decade from 14 locations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The paper addresses gaps in the literature related to learning patterns for girls and boys in lower- and middle-income countries and in early primary school. We analyzed the results from reading and mathematics assessments in grades 2 and 3, including differences in oral reading fluency (ORF) and quantitative comparison scores between boys and girls, as well as differences in score distributions by gender. In line with results from assessments in upper grades and in wealthier countries, we found that girls consistently outperformed boys in reading. In mathematics, boys slightly outperformed girls, although the differences were typically not large. Global experience has shown that patterns in poor performance become more entrenched the further learners progress through the grades, suggesting that early interventions for boys in reading and girls in mathematics could have long-term benefits. At the same time, both girls and boys typically score below expectations in the two subjects across countries, necessitating targeted strategies to improve outcomes for both genders early in their educational trajectories.

Many early care and education (ECE) institutions--including Head Start, state quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), and school district pre-K programs--use classroom quality observations in their quality improvement or monitoring processes. As many states expand their ECE programs, they grapple with questions about how best to use data from quality observations, which are typically conducted once a year at most. This brief presents results from a study that examined levels and patterns of change in classroom quality over a school year, and the way those changes vary by different quality dimensions. The study is based on data from the Expanding Children's Early Learning (ExCEL) Quality project, which assessed two different approaches to improving classroom quality. The findings suggest that practitioners and policymakers should carefully consider the timing and number of quality ratings when making decisions about how to improve programs and monitor processes. This brief examines how biweekly ratings by teachers' coaches of three dimensions of classroom quality--structural, interactional, and instructional quality--changed over the course of the study (which occurred from September 2019 through March 2020). It addresses two research questions: (1) How do different dimensions of quality change over time? and (2) How do changes in the three dimensions of quality differ based on the curricular and professional development approach? The larger ExCEL Quality study was designed to examine how curriculum combined with professional development helps teachers improve classroom quality and maximize improvements in children's outcomes.

The burden of mental health conditions and poor psychosocial wellbeing among children and adolescents is associated with significant lifetime costs, as mental health conditions is associated with learning lower educational attainment and impeding the development of socioemotional skills which translates into reduced earning potential and labor productivity in later life. The humanitarian emergencies further exacerbate these impacts. A critical point, however, is that these costs to individuals, communities and countries can be mitigated through mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) interventions that aim to promote mental health and wellbeing and/or prevent and respond to mental health conditions, thereby promoting learning and educational outcomes. This global cost-benefit analysis (global CBA) firstly estimates the global economic costs of mental health conditions through the effect on school completion, and poor social and emotional wellbeing among children and adolescents aged 10-17 years affected by humanitarian emergencies. It then models the economic benefits of addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents through mental health and psychosocial support interventions. [This report was written by Angie Jackson-Morris, Michael Onah, Christina L. Meyer, Lily Morrell, and Rachel Nugent.]

Students, families, colleges, and lawmakers need clearer information on postsecondary outcomes to make informed decisions. By leveraging data available at institutions and federal agencies, a nationwide student-level data network (SLDN) would close information gaps that persist in our higher education landscape to answer critical questions about students' outcomes. The brief we released today shares lessons learned from a series of conversations with higher education experts aimed at developing a modernized SLDN to ensure stakeholders have the information they need to maximize our collective return on investment in higher education. "Implementing a Student-Level Data Network?(Part IV):?Exploring Design Options" examines high-level conceptual plans for the design and implementation of a federal SLDN developed by three teams of experts. By deliberately engaging experts with a range of perspectives and knowledge, RTI International and IHEP identified potential pain points and solutions related to data submission, data governance, information security, and data usage. Through the considerations presented in the designs and robust discussion at the forum, the authors examined how a well-implemented SLDN could improve data collection and count all students. The brief also highlights ways to reduce the burden on institutions and the National Center for Education Statistics. In our next steps, RTI and IHEP plan to continue to engage experts and gather intelligence, supporting the brainstorming around SLDN design in preparation for future passage of the College Transparency Act or a similar bill creating an SLDN. [For Part III, "Insights from Financial Aid Experts," see ED620389.]

Since the mainstream racial awakening to pervasive and entrenched structural racism, many organizations have made commitments and adopted practices to increase workplace diversity, inclusion, and equity and embed these commitments in their organizational missions. A question often arises about how these concepts apply to research. This paper discusses how organizations can build on their specific commitments to diversity, inclusion, and equity by applying these principles in the research enterprise. RTI International's framework for conducting equity-centered transformative research highlights how incorporating principles of diversity, inclusion, and equity requires a departure from mainstream practice because of historical and intentional exclusion of these principles. Drawing on methodologies of culturally responsive evaluation, research, and pedagogy; feminist, Indigenous, and critical methodologies; community-based participatory research; and theories of social transformation, liberation, and racial justice, this organizing framework illustrates what this departure requires and how research can serve liberation and social justice by transforming the researcher, the research content, and the day-to-day practice of conducting research. Centering the work of seminal scholars and practitioners of color in the field, this paper provides a holistic framework that incorporates various research approaches and paradigms intended to shift power to minoritized and marginalized communities to achieve social transformation through research.

Only three out of five children are enrolled in preschool globally, and only one out of five in low-income countries, yet the expansion of preschool education came to a near standstill in 2020. To restart it, we propose a policy instrument called the Preschool Entitlement. It entails the right of every child to 600 hours of quality government-funded preschool education per year (3 hours per day, 5 days per week, 40 weeks per year). Existing preschool institutions and other organizations with legal status (public, private, faith- or community-based) can offer the child development program after a process of rigorous accreditation to ensure quality, inclusion, and safety. In other respects, they will have the freedom to shape the program according to local circumstances and local preferences. This makes it possible to supplement the daily 3 hours with additional hours of childcare that can be financed by families, local government, employers, national associations, faith-based organizations, ministries of social affairs, or others. In this manner, the Preschool Entitlement reconciles local autonomy with governmental responsibility for quality, access, and equity. In low- and middle-income countries, government costs would range from about 0.15 to 0.4 percent of GDP, and the benefits are likely to be significant.