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This brief continues ongoing research by NWEA® examining the degree to which the COVID-19 pandemic, and its associated school closures, influenced student learning. Prior research focused on math and reading and found that the pandemic's negative impact steadily accumulated during the 2020-2021 school year, with significant disparities in achievement and growth compared to prepandemic trends (Lewis, Kuhfeld, Ruzek, & McEachin, 2021). Although there were modest rebounds in reading and math during the 2021-2022 school year, progress toward pandemic recovery largely stalled in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, with achievement and growth trends still trailing behind prepandemic levels (Kuhfeld & Lewis, 2022; Lewis & Kuhfeld, 2023; Lewis & Kuhfeld, 2024). Building on previous research series focused on math and reading achievement, this brief explores how the pandemic influenced student achievement in science. It examines science test scores across seven school years to understand how COVID-19 influenced science achievement.

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share detailed results and more fully describe the sample and methods used to produce the research brief, "COVID's Impact on Science Achievement: Trends from 2019 through 2024. We investigated three main research questions in this brief: 1) How did science achievement in 2021 and 2024 compare to achievement in 2019, before the pandemic? 2) How much additional schooling was required in spring 2021 and spring 2024 to return to spring 2019 levels? 3) How do these patterns differ by race/ethnicity?

In August 2017, the Houston area was ravaged by one of the costliest natural disasters in history--Hurricane Harvey. In this brief, the first in a two-part series, the authors examine the effects of Harvey on student homelessness in the Houston Independent School District (Houston ISD). The authors find that student homelessness in Houston ISD quadrupled due to Harvey, and most students experiencing homelessness lived, at least temporarily, in unsheltered contexts, such as sleeping in a car or on the street. Unlike other high-profile storms such as Hurricane Katrina, students who became homeless due to Harvey tended to be broadly representative of the district in terms of their demographic characteristics. However, they differed systematically from students who experienced homelessness for conventional, economic reasons such as job loss and medical debt, who were particularly likely to be Black. The authors conclude with implications of these findings for educational stakeholders in preparation for both generational and "everyday" homelessness crises.

Targeted school funding is a potentially valuable policy lever to increase educational equality by race, ethnicity, and income, but it remains unclear how to target funds most effectively. We use a regression discontinuity approach to compare districts that narrowly passed or failed a school funding election. We use close tax elections in 9 states to identify effects of operating funds and close bond elections in 8 states to identify effects of capital funds. Results indicate positive achievement returns to spending, especially for math achievement and for operating funds. We find similar returns to spending by race, ethnicity, and income (not statistically different), but we find significantly larger returns for students in low-resource districts than in high-resource districts, including larger returns for Black, Latinx, and low-income students. Mediation analyses suggest spending on teacher salaries and counselors may be particularly effective mechanisms to increase achievement among Black and low-income students. [Additional funding for this report was provided by the Gilead Foundation Creating Possible Fund and the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University.]

Catholic schools have seen more than a 30% decline in enrollment over the past 20 years. While some of the decline in enrollment may have been spurred by secular trends or the Church abuse scandal, the increase in schools of choice, principally public charter schools, may explain at least some of this decline. In this paper we estimate the effect of the opening of charter schools in proximity to Catholic schools across the entire U.S. We find that the opening of a nearby charter school has a negative impact on Catholic school enrollment and increases the likelihood that the school will close. We also find that charter openings induce greater racial isolation. Findings are especially pronounced in K8 schools, rather than high schools.

A collaboration between The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC), this policy brief examines the costs of attending California Community Colleges (CCCs) for low-income students and the roles that financial aid resources, work hours, and student loan borrowing currently play in meeting those costs. The report sheds light on the college affordability challenges that CCC students face and the need for state and CCC leaders to consider strategies that support CCC students' ability to afford and complete their education. Key recommendations from the brief include, among others, supporting equitable financial aid reform and encouraging more students to apply for financial aid. [This report was co-produced with The Student Senate for California Community Colleges.]

This is the technical document for the report, "Centering Quality, Centering Equity: Lessons Learned in Increasing Early Childhood Educator Credentials." The report explores Early Childhood Education (ECE) credential requirements in California (CA) and Washington, D.C. (D.C.) for two key reasons: 1) both recently raised these requirements and 2) both are in the process of implementing the new changes. The study does not seek to advocate in favor of or against the adoption of increased credential requirements. Rather, its purpose is to shed light on the need to center racial and economic equity in policy design and implementation--focusing on the impact of increased credential requirements on early childhood educators in states pursuing these changes. The appendices in this technical document are: (1) Make-up of Early Care and Education Workforce; (2) Center-Based Early Educator Characteristics by Role; (3) Center-Based Early Educator Work Experience and Credentials by Role; (4) Center-Based Early Educator Time Worked, Income, and Wages by Role; (5) Lead Teachers' Work Experience and Credentials by Race and Ethnicity; (6) Lead Teachers without a Postsecondary Degree, Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity; (7) Focus Group Interview Protocol for California; (8) Focus Group Interview Protocol for Washington, D.C.; (9) Hourly Wages for Early Childhood Educators; and (10) Comparison of D.C. Teacher Salaries in 2022 and Minimum Salaries Required in Fiscal Year 2024 for Programs Receiving Pay Equity Funds.

This brief is a continuation of NWEA's research series examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Initiated in the early phase of the pandemic, this series has leveraged NWEA's large national sample of longitudinal MAP® Growth™ data to track student performance and compare it to historical trends. The authors have tracked two critical aspects of student performance in the wake of the pandemic: achievement and growth. Achievement data reveals the extent of unfinished learning. The authors refer to the distance between current test scores and prepandemic trends as "achievement gaps." Growth data estimate how much test scores increase over time. They use these data to indicate whether students are making gains that keep pace with prepandemic trends. Understanding and tracking both achievement and growth is important. Achievement gaps quantify how much unfinished learning remains, while growth patterns help gauge the rate at which gaps will close. The system needs accelerated or above-average growth for students to catch up. The data provide insights into how effectively this is happening. The cumulative research shows that the harmful effects of the pandemic on student achievement steadily accumulated over the course of the 2020-21 school year (Lewis, Kuhfeld, Ruzek, & McEachin, 2021). Growth generally returned to, or slightly exceeded, prepandemic trends in the 2021-22 school year (Kuhfeld & Lewis, 2022). Progress stalled in 2022-23 when growth in nearly all grades fell short of prepandemic trends (Lewis & Kuhfeld, 2023). In this analysis, the authors use 2023-24 school year data to examine the current progress toward recovery. They examine test scores from approximately 7.7 million students currently in grades 3-8 in 22,400 public schools who have taken MAP Growth reading and math assessments since the onset of the pandemic. The "COVID sample" consists of six separate cohorts of students followed longitudinally across the last three school years. For instance, current fifth-graders are part of the grade 3-5 cohort; they measure this cohort's achievement across third grade in 2021-22, fourth grade in 2022-23, and fifth grade in 2023-24. The authors compared this COVID sample to a comparable group of 10 million students who tested in grades 3-8 in the pre-COVID school years of 2016-17 through 2018-19.

This quasi-experimental study examined the effectiveness of a one-time emergency financial relief program among Pell Grant eligible undergraduate students in Spring 2015 pursuing their first bachelor's degree across academic and financial outcomes. The academic outcomes included retention to the next semester, degree completion, attempted credit hours, and grade point average. The financial outcome captured whether students received a stop registration hold due to an unpaid financial balance in the semester after receiving the emergency relief. The results reveal that financial relief applied to low-income students' accounts can improve their retention and graduation rates. The financial relief was most effective among first-generation college students, resulting in a complete elimination of the retention gap for first-generation students. The emergency relief did not improve GPA or substantially change the number of credits earned. A concerning finding was that students receiving this emergency support were more likely to receive a financial hold in a subsequent semester and that effect was stronger among students of color (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latine, Asian, Multiracial, American Indian/Alaska Native), males, and first-generation college students.

We study changes to teacher working conditions from 2016-17 to 2022-23, covering school years before, during, and after the COVID pandemic. We show working conditions were improving leading into the pandemic but declined when the pandemic arrived. Perhaps more surprisingly, the pandemic was not a low point: teacher working conditions have continued to decline during the post-pandemic period. Teachers report worsening working conditions along many dimensions including the level of classroom disruptions, student responsibility, and safety, among others. They also report declines in trust between themselves and principals, parents, and other teachers. Trends in working conditions since the pandemic are similar in schools serving more and less socioeconomically advantaged students. However, schools in districts where online learning was the predominant mode of instruction during the 2020-21 school year have experienced larger declines than other schools.

Students in the foster care system tend to have lower educational outcomes than their peers, including more frequent disciplinary events. However, few studies have explored how transitions into and out of foster care placements are associated with educational outcomes. Using longitudinal data from four California school districts, this study investigated the dynamics of entering versus exiting foster care to predict school discipline and how this relationship ultimately influences absenteeism. Our findings suggest that students in foster care are more likely than their peers to face disciplinary action, especially exclusionary discipline, particularly when entering foster care. We also find suggestive evidence that disciplinary actions upon entry increase student absenteeism for students in foster care.

While current higher education literature stresses the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusivity, these imperatives have been mainly absent from conversations related to boards of higher education. In this paper, the authors present a historical overview of the demographic landscape of trustee boards from inception to the present. Using critical literacy as a methodology, the authors problematize the lack of discourses regarding Board's diversity. The authors juxtapose the longstanding homogeneity of boards with the increasing heterogeneity of higher education students and argue that systemic forms of racism have denied the opportunity to diversify those in charge of making decisions in higher education. Additionally, using the case of California, the authors problematize how diversity gaps in board composition manifest even within one of the most diverse and liberal states in the country. Ultimately, the authors make a case for diversifying the board of trustees as an instrumental step to align with the national push for enhanced diversity and equity in higher education.

Appropriately identifying children with disabilities--in ways that are timely, comprehensive, and accurate--is critical for ensuring that learners receive the supports they need to meet early milestones and succeed in school. In turn, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) charges states and school districts with: (1) finding all children, birth through age 21, suspected of having a disability; (2) evaluating them to determine if they are eligible for IDEA services; and (3) measuring and addressing racial or ethnic disparities in who is identified. Since IDEA's reauthorization in 2004, there is greater access to data and more sophisticated approaches to screen for and detect certain disabilities, an increasingly diverse child population, and new regulations on how to measure disparities in identification. This report examines how state and district practices during the 2019-2020 school year aligned with IDEA's goals of appropriate identification.

This report describes results from the Long-Term Impact of Early College High Schools Study--funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) (#R305A210017)--which aimed to explore the long-term impacts of early college (EC) high schools on students' academic outcomes (e.g., college enrollment, degree attainment) and workforce, financial, and later life outcomes after schooling. In this report--the second follow-up report on our initial EC impact study--we focus specifically on key questions about workforce, financial, and other life outcomes: What were the impacts of ECs on workforce, financial, and other life outcomes in the 12th to 14th years after expected high school graduation? Did the impacts of ECs vary by participant characteristics? This report describes findings which build on a previous EC impact study, which was a multisite student-level randomized controlled trial with randomization based on admission lotteries. The analyses in this report focus on individuals who originally participated in 17 admission lotteries conducted by seven ECs for three cohorts of students, and examined outcomes after formal schooling. Key takeaways include the following: (1) Participants who were admitted to an EC, regardless of whether they attended the EC, did not experience a significant effect on any of the workforce, financial, and other life outcomes measured with survey data 12 to 14 years after expected high school graduation; and (2) EC impacts on workforce, financial, and other life outcomes measured 12 to 14 years after expected high school graduation did not differ significantly by individuals' race/ethnicity, low-income status, or prior achievement. While our initial impact study and first follow-up study found that attending an EC had effects on secondary and postsecondary enrollment, and completion for participants with different background characteristics, we found that attending an EC had no impact on any of the workforce, financial, and other life outcomes that we analyzed 12 to 14 years after participants' expected high school graduation. Future studies could consider examining workforce, financial, and other life outcomes in years before the 12th to 14th year after expected high school graduation using administrative data sources (e.g., IRS or unemployment insurance records). Further research may also examine if other factors, such as EC students' college major or labor market opportunities, influence the impact of ECs on longer-term outcomes.

This study investigates the role of college major choices in labor market outcomes, with a focus on racial minorities and immigrants. Drawing upon research on school-to-work linkages, we examine two measures, linkage, the connection between college majors and specific occupations in the labor market, and match, the alignment of workers' occupations with their college majors. Analyzing data from the American Community Survey, 2013-2017, we show that linkage positively predicts earnings, particularly for workers in matched occupations, and negatively predicts unemployment. Notably, Black, Hispanic, and foreign-born workers in matched occupations benefit more from linkage strength than their White and U.S.-born counterparts. This advantage is more pronounced in states that are popular destinations for immigrants. Our findings suggest that earnings and unemployment disparities experienced among racial minorities and immigrants may diminish if they pursue majors closely tied to jobs in the labor market and secure jobs related to their college majors.

This brief examines the experiences of California high school seniors from the graduating class of 2023, offering insights into their preparation, plans, and concerns for college prior to enrollment. Drawing on results from a large-scale survey of seniors, the findings reveal important variation in students' secondary school experiences and their plans for college, particularly by race/ethnicity and gender identity. As students' experiences in high school influence concerns about their college futures, these results represent an important marker of what college going may look like for future graduating cohorts and can help policymakers and practitioners better understand the context of students' postsecondary decisions and pathways.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders of childhood. It is characterized by a pattern of inattention, impulsivity, or hyperactivity that leads to functional impairment experienced in multiple settings. Symptoms of ADHD occur during childhood, and many children continue to have symptoms and impairment through adolescence and into adulthood. This report describes the percentage of children and adolescents ages 5-17 years who had ever been diagnosed with ADHD from the 2020-2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).

Chronic school absenteeism can lead to poorer academic performance and school engagement for students. It is also a risk factor for school dropout, which is associated with many long-term health impacts. This report uses data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to describe the percentage of children ages 5-17 who experienced chronic school absenteeism due to illness, injury, or disability by sociodemographic and health factors.

This "2019-2020 IACC Autism Research Portfolio Analysis Report" presents trends in autism research funding from 2008 to 2020 and alignment of research projects with the primary Objectives of the 2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan, as well as the Cross-Cutting Objective. An analysis of funding for projects that align with the Cross-Cutting Theme on disparities in autism, introduced in the "2017-2018 Portfolio Analysis Report," is also included. To ensure that the portfolio analysis represents the most comprehensive view of the U.S. autism research landscape, the Office of National Autism Coordination (ONAC) and the IACC regularly review available information about autism research to identify additional funders to partner in this effort. In 2019 and 2020, five federal funders and four private funders, each of which is supporting autism biomedical and services research, were added to the portfolio analysis.

This snapshot provides updated findings about parents' child care and early education (CCEE) search and decision-making using the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) Household (HH) Survey. We present findings on (1) the prevalence of CCEE searches among household respondents, usually parents, that reported on children under age 6, (2) the reasons for CCEE searches, (3) the rate at which parents changed their care arrangement following a search, and (4) the reasons why parents ultimately did not change their care. We tested differences in CCEE search and decision-making by household income, child age, and, where sample sizes allowed, the race and ethnicity of the selected child. To better examine CCEE decisions within the contexts of current research, we utilize a multi-dimensional definition of CCEE access offered by the Access Guidebook to categorize parents' reasons for looking for CCEE and reasons for not changing their care arrangement. This definition identifies equitable CCEE access as a process that requires only reasonable effort for households to find CCEE that is affordable, supports child development, and meets parents' needs. Importantly, no one dimension is a more preferred or valuable reason for engaging in a CCEE search than any other; comparisons are examined to better understand the reasons why parents seek CCEE and how supports and services might be better tailored to meet their needs.

Research shows that socioeconomically, racially, and ethnically integrated schools can have important benefits for student learning. While much research has focused on the benefits of integrated K-12 settings, emerging evidence indicates that the benefit of school- and classroom-level diversity may also be significant in early childhood education (ECE). Despite the positive influence of integrated settings, most ECE programs are remarkably segregated, driven by patterns of residential segregation and by policies that govern access to programs. This report explores five policy strategies that foster integration rather than segregation: (1) Establish universal ECE programs where age is the only requirement, so that family income does not determine where a child can enroll; (2) Braid public funding or combine funding streams from various sources to enable children from different socioeconomic backgrounds to learn in the same classroom; (3) Allow tuition-paying families to enroll in public programs while reserving seats for families with low incomes; (4) Attract families across neighborhoods or district boundaries; and (5) Create two-way dual language immersion programs (programs that offer instruction in two languages). These strategies can be bolstered by collecting enrollment data--disaggregated by race, ethnicity, language, and socioeconomic status--to help state and local leaders understand the extent to which children are learning in diverse classrooms. Examples are provided of how cities and school districts across the country are implementing each strategy and navigating common challenges. The strategies examined highlight ways policymakers can create enabling conditions for children from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds to learn together.

In 2020, EdTrust released a report titled, "Segregation Forever?," which explored the continued underrepresentation of Black and Latino first-time, full-time undergraduates at the nation's 101 most selective public four-year colleges and universities in 2000 and 2017. The analysis revealed significant underrepresentation of Black and Latino students at public colleges and universities in states matching their demographics; nearly half of these institutions received failing grades in the analysis for disproportionately low enrollment of Latino students. As a follow-up, the authors explored enrollment for these same student groups at the nation's 122 most selective private four-year colleges and universities. The authors looked at the years 2000 and 2020 to see how Latino enrollment at these institutions matched the demographics of Latino residents in the states from which first-time students came. While the share of Latino student enrollment grew at almost all these institutions between 2000 and 2020, enrollment did not represent the demographics of the states from which students came. Population parity is not the ultimate goal; however, it is the most reliable benchmark for comparison based on available data at the time of the analysis. This report specifically analyzes Latino student enrollment, and a similar analysis for Black students can be found in this report. Access scores, ranging from 0-100, measure how well each institution's Latino enrollment reflects the racial and ethnic demographics of the states from which first-time undergraduate students migrated. Letter grades were applied based on an institution's access score. Scores of 90 or higher received A's. Scores in the 80s, 70s and 60s received B's, C's, and D's, respectively. And scores below 60 received F's.

The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. Our polls are designed to provide insight into how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans' highly decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year, we ask some new questions about the most relevant and pressing issues facing educators and families. We also repeat questions from our previous polls to assess how opinions change over time on a few key topics. We now release the poll findings in a series of briefs at the start of each year. This is the second of two briefs that will be released in 2024 with results from polling conducted in the fall of 2023. We present the data in this way to make it more accessible and understandable for the general public -- the briefs allow us to group the findings by topic, enabling us to surface trends about particular areas of the city's education system. To capture the experiences and attitudes of a wide range of parents, as we have done since 2020, we polled 1,000 public and private school parents and guardians in Orleans Parish, as well as a small number who homeschool their children.

This technical appendix accompanies the report, "Preparatory Pathways and STEM Calculus Completion: Implications of the AB 1705 Standards." The appendices contain a full methods section and multivariate analyses that augment the descriptive analyses presented in the report. Together, these analyses examined a cohort of more than 37,000 STEM majors who began in a transfer-level course in a calculus pathway at a California community college between 2012-2013 and 2019-2020 to determine -- based on their high school math preparation and high school GPA -- the implications of AB 1705 standards in practice. The law sets standards for students' placement and first math enrollment to ensure STEM students begin in transfer-level coursework that best positions them to complete calculus requirements for their programs.

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.

The 2023-2024 AASA Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study marks the twelfth consecutive edition of this report. The 2023-2024 version employed a slightly revised and updated survey instrument. The survey tracked the demographics, salary, benefits, and other elements of the employment agreements of school superintendents throughout the country. This year's study results are based on 2,706 complete responses -- the highest response rate since inception of the study in 1999. The survey was distributed online and relied on superintendents responding to 66 items with the understanding that the report of findings would contain no personally identifiable information. Therefore, readers must consider the data descriptive and not necessarily representative of all superintendents. The study is intended to provide superintendents with actionable information needed to negotiate and manage their compensation and benefits.

Many educators in California are unaware of just how harmful out of school suspensions can be. When suspended students are barred from attending school, more often than not, the rule broken was some form of minor misconduct. This update of "Lost Instruction Time in California Schools" demonstrates that despite the important efforts by the state of California to reduce suspensions, those efforts are seriously insufficient. The most recent statewide rates of lost instruction due to out of school suspensions show a widespread increase in the days lost per 100 students. The increase in these lost instruction rates, is not large for every group, but the 2023 data reverses a consistent downward 6-year trend. In 2023, nearly every racial and ethnic group, as well as students with disabilities, experienced an increase over their rate of lost instruction from the prior year. Using the recently released data for 2023, show that not only are the rates for homeless youth increasing for every demographic, but they increased far more for Black and Native American homeless youth than any other groups.

Families are now an undeniable part of prospective students' college search process. As American higher education stands at the precipice of profound demographic shifts, colleges and universities must reexamine how they engage not just prospective students, but their families as well. In collaboration with Ardeo and CampusESP, RNL collected and analyzed the findings of 11,309 families with college-bound students from across demographic and geographic backgrounds. The key findings from this 2024 Prospective Family Engagement Report highlight the considerations and inclinations that shape families' awareness and decision-making processes. Insights cover subjects such as their comfort with distance from home, type of information they value, communication channels and the frequency with which they hope to hear from institutions, and their concerns about financing their students' degree. Importantly, the 2024 research underscores how family income, generational status, and ethnicity can shape these categories. The authors' hope is that leaders in higher education institutions find the resulting recommendations to be a practical guide for developing proactive, targeted strategies to engage diverse families in the college planning process.

This report provides a look at the Fall 2023 term enrollment in categories such as student load, location and demographics of the community college student population. The content and format of this report have been developed through a collaborative effort between the Wyoming Community College Commission (WCCC), the Executive Council, and the Data Governance/Institutional Research Council members representing the seven community colleges. Effective with the Summer 2016 reporting term, data were extracted from the Central Station Instance (CSI) using one report rather than consolidating individual customized reports from all seven colleges.

Facing the persistent challenge of educator turnover in U.S. public school systems, the Kansas Teacher Retention Initiative (KTRI) has been relaunched to delve into the current state of the Kansas educator experience. Building on insights from the inaugural 2021 KTRI study launched in the summer of 2021 in response to a growing teacher shortage, the 2023 KTRI offers a renewed perspective, aiming to amplify educators' voices and examine trends longitudinally. The Kansas Teacher Retention Survey--a comprehensive tool meticulously crafted through extensive research and which aims to explore the critical drivers of teacher engagement and retention--was deployed and administered to all teachers in Kansas. For the 2023 KTRI, a notable surge in participation occurred, with over 24,000 Kansas educators contributing their perspectives, resulting in an overall response rate of 60%. This encompassed 50% of school districts achieving a response rate surpassing 50%, and 61% of districts qualifying for the standard report. The provided insights offer data-driven analysis along with strategic and actionable recommendations for school district leaders. [This report was produced by the Educator Perceptions and Insights Center (EPIC) in partnership with the United School Administrators of Kansas (USA-KS).]

Rural America has long been perceived as "left behind" by policies that leave it struggling while benefiting bustling urban cities and suburbs. That narrative holds some truth: rural America has a declining population, along with lower educational attainment and lower workforce participation than urban America. But while rural America certainly faces challenges, it also has its own strengths and assets. "Small Towns, Big Opportunities: Many Workers in Rural Areas Have Good Jobs, but These Areas Need Greater Investment in Education, Training, and Career Counseling" counters some of the negative stereotypes and finds that working adults in rural America are almost as likely (50 percent) as working adults in urban America (54 percent) to have a good job.

Home to the nation's largest Latinx (15 million), Asian American NHPI (almost 7 million) and the 5th largest Black (2.8 million) populations, California is the nation's most diverse and populous state. This diversity is one of the state's greatest assets, yet, representation of racially minoritized leaders in California's colleges and universities remains incredibly low in comparison to the racial composition of the student population. This executive summary provides key points from "Still Left Out: How Exclusion in California's Colleges & Universities Continues to Hurt Our Values, Students, and Democracy," which examines the issue of representation in leadership across California's public colleges and universities. [This report was written with significant contributions from Michele Siqueiros.]

The 35th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "KIDS COUNT"® Data Book examines the unprecedented declines in student math and reading proficiency brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on education. The latest data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress reveals that between 2019 and 2022, fourth-grade reading and eighth-grade math scores plummeted, representing decades of lost progress. This alarming trend underscores the urgent need for action to address the growing academic disparities among U.S. students. Today's students, who will comprise America's future workforce, are ill-prepared for the high-level reading, math and problem-solving skills required in a competitive global economy. The failure to adequately prepare our children will have dire consequences for their futures and for the economic vitality of our nation. [For "KIDS COUNT Data Book, 2023: State Trends in Child Well-Being," see ED629264.]

This brief highlights the urgent need to address chronic absenteeism among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. It explores the challenges that AI/AN students and their families face in terms of regular school attendance. Systemic barriers, unwelcoming?school environments, biased disciplinary practices, and a lack of culturally relevant curricula are all referenced as?major contributors to chronic absenteeism. The brief emphasizes the importance of working with parents, tribal leaders, community members, educators, policymakers, and other allies to improve AI/AN student attendance rates. Recommendations include investing in positive learning environments tailored specifically to these students' needs, implementing tiered approaches that include prevention strategies, and enacting targeted interventions aimed at removing barriers to attendance. This brief provides practical solutions,?focusing?on successful initiatives such as attendance recognition programs, inclusive graduation events that foster a sense of belonging, and collaboration with tribal governments to provide transportation or medical services.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is required by RCW 28A.250.040 to report annually on online learning. This report uses data extracted from the Comprehensive Education Data and Research System (CEDARS). Key findings from the 2022-2023 school year include: (1) More students accessed online courses and more schools and districts used online courses; (2) There was a small reduction in the overall number of online courses; (3) Students who are Asian or multilingual/English learners participate in online learning at the lowest rates, and students who identify as Gender X are the most likely to enroll in online learning by a large margin; and (4) Course performance continues to be, on average, lower than course performance in non-online settings with the exception to students who identify as Gender X, who seemed to be as successful in online learning as non-online courses.