Clear all

5,299 results found

reorder grid_view

Investing in Our Future: A Look at How We Support Our Children

February 16, 2024

It is our collective belief that access to accurate and comprehensive budget information is crucial for informed decision-making and progress in early childhood education. The Early Childhood Education Budget book should serve as a valuable tool for policymakers, educators and stakeholders in our state. By disseminating this information, we aim to foster transparency, facilitate evidence-based planning and ultimately strengthen the foundations of early childhood education in Mississippi. While we have strived for perfection, we acknowledge that this inaugural edition might require refinement. However, I assure you that we remain fully committed to continually improving our data set and potential future editions. Your feedback and suggestions are invaluable, and we encourage you to share insights that can help enhance the accuracy and usefulness of this resource.As we delve into the wealth of financial and programmatic data presented in the Mississippi Early Childhood Education Budget book, it is essential to approach the information with a balanced mindset and a commitment to meaningful discussion. While financial data can be a powerful tool for understanding and evaluating the allocation of resources, it is crucial not to weaponize it for personal or political gain. Let us remember that the purpose of this book is to foster transparency and informed decision-making, not to fuel divisiveness. By engaging in constructive dialogue and seeking a comprehensive understanding of the data, we can collectively work toward building a stronger foundation for early childhood education in Mississippi.

The Heart Work of Hard Work: Black Teacher Pipeline Best Practices at HBCU Teacher Education Programs

February 8, 2024

This report by the UNCF Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute examines the best practices implemented at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) teacher preparation programs, which result in these institutions being significant producers of Black teachers for America's public education system.This report builds on the HBCU teacher preparation program scholarship by providing a snapshot of the recruitment, curricular, and co-curricular practices implemented at these institutions to strengthen the Black teacher pipeline. Through the voices of faculty, staff, and students at four HBCU teacher preparation programs, this report will introduce practices that support their Black pre-service teachers.

Making Sense of Learning Math: Insights from the Student Experience

January 30, 2024

Mathematics is an integral part of students' daily lives, from marking the first 100 days of elementary school to the pivotal moment of crossing the threshold into Algebra 1. Math not only serves as the key that unlocks the doors to the sciences and technology but also empowers individuals personally. At the same time, math literacy stands as an undisputed public good, providing society with the indispensable tools needed to propel innovation and grapple with intricate societal challenges.For all these reasons math is a subject that sparks seemingly endless and contentious debates in universities and think tanks, among leaders of industry, and in government that are popularly referred to as the "math wars." But how do students themselves experience mathematics in today's classrooms? In this report we explore students' perceptions of their everyday experience in math. How do high school students perceive the math learning experience? How do they see themselves as math learners? And what insights do they have for creating a more engaging math education for all students?

Overdeck Family Foundation 2023 Grantmaking and Impact Report

January 24, 2024

Overdeck Family Foundation was founded in 2011 by John and Laura Overdeck with the goal of providing all children the opportunity to unlock their potential. We focus exclusively on enhancing education, funding efforts both inside and outside of school in the areas of early childhood, informal STEM education, and K-9 programs that include supporting educators and student-centered learning environments. Our grantmaking and strategic support focus on unlocking innovation, evidence, and growth opportunities for organizations and researchers that are committed to accelerating key academic and socioemotional outcomes for all children. We fund both direct impact organizations and ecosystem efforts that clear the path to scale for our grantees and the work that they do.

CTE and Career Readiness in Northwest Arkansas

January 24, 2024

High-quality career and technical education (CTE) programs lead to regional advancement and economic mobility when they align with regional economic needs and provide K-12 students the knowledge, skills and credentials they need for postsecondary success.As in many regions, Northwest Arkansas school districts offer students a range of CTE pathways to pursue based on their interests.To understand the quality and accessibility of those programs in NWA, Insightful Education Solutions convened a local advisory group, examined public enrollment and program quality data and conducted focus groups and surveys with educators and K-12 students. The research was supported with funding from the Walton Family Foundation.

“Hyperlocal” Career Pathway Programs in New Hampshire: Collaborating to Support Youth at the Secondary/Postsecondary Transition

January 11, 2024

With public debates about the value of college escalating and demographic forecasts threatening to reshape higher education, K–12 institutions are adapting by engaging youth more deliberately in "learning for careers" as they approach graduation. Some commentators argue that broadening options to include career and technical education (CTE), certificates, and 2-year degrees—while recognizing the earnings still afforded by a college degree—is essential for realizing equity gains across racial and socioeconomic groups. Successfully building such pathways cannot be accomplished by educational institutions alone; it requires collaboration across public, nonprofit, and private sectors, as well as financial and policy incentives that reduce barriers and risks.This paper describes an innovative effort to address these challenges in New Hampshire, focusing on a set of programs that follow a "hyperlocal" approach to career pathway development. Seeking to expose participants to careers in high-demand areas, the programs simultaneously address specific, local industry, community, and individual needs. Their purpose is to increase the likelihood of social mobility by using career exposure and hands-on involvement to spur interest and motivation toward additional education and training in promising fields. The research reported here focused on programs that target youth approaching the secondary-postsecondary transition.The paper begins by briefly describing New Hampshire's unique demographic characteristics as they relate to the state's approach to education and workforce development. The characteristics help us understand the challenges involved in helping individuals make the transition from secondary education to postsecondary roles. The study's main findings focus on key elements of career pathway programs that align with the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's (NHCF) hyperlocal model. Excerpts from participant interviews across six programs help to show what works in different career pathway sites, in terms of realizing effective collaboration among partners and providing learners with a positive experience. The paper concludes with a discussion about areas of ongoing need both within and outside of individual pathway programs. 

A "good life" for every student: High schools embrace many pathways to success

January 1, 2024

The Covid-19 pandemic and recovery period is a unique opportunity to understand contemporary issues in high school reform. Evidence has clearly demonstrated lingering Covid impacts on adolescent students that have deepened pre-existing inequities and worsened teen mental health. There's a natural desire to regain normalcy after the pandemic. But it's essential, and urgent, that we examine why that "normalcy" failed in the past to support every student's needs. We must identify effective, even new, ways to level the playing field for today's students, and for future generations. Research has shown that many high school educators and administrators experimented with new approaches during the pandemic. Can the lessons learned in this period contribute to more lasting, transformative shifts?This report begins to answer that question. Beginning in 2022, Arizona State University's Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and Columbia University's Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL)—with support from the Barr Foundation—began studying innovations in six public high schools in New England. We chose schools in a range of contexts that all had some form of redesign underway. Over 20 months, we interviewed students who had begun high school around when the pandemic struck; most of them had graduated by the end of the study in December 2023. We also interviewed students' caregivers, teachers, and administrators. We wanted to know what success meant for students and the adults in their lives, and how schools were making changes—including before the pandemic—to ensure every student had the opportunity to learn and thrive. We listened for where schools were succeeding, and what challenges they faced in the new normal of a post-pandemic landscape.

Civic Thought: A Proposal for University-Level Civic Education

December 11, 2023

Key PointsThere is widespread, bipartisan concern that American universities are not adequately preparing students for citizenship. The most ambitious efforts to attend to this problem to date have been undertaken by Republican-led state legislatures, which have mandated that state universities create new academic units for civic education.While this innovation has been undertaken to meet political needs, its success or failure will be determined by academic standards. To meet those standards, these new academic units will need to define and execute a distinctive intellectual mission.An intellectual mission in the fullest sense requires a coherent program of teaching and research in a specific and demanding discipline. This report sketches the outlines of such a program, which we call "Civic Thought." As its core elements are derived from a consideration of the intellectual demands of citizenship, it may be useful to all those working toward the renewal of university-level civic education.

This is Planet Ed: School Board Member Climate Action Toolkit

December 6, 2023

This toolkit, developed in partnership with UndauntedK12, School Board Partners, and This is Planet Ed, an initiative of the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program, supports school board members to understand their role in driving meaningful climate solutions. School board members can collaborate with district leaders, youth, and community leaders to pass resolutions and develop climate action plans for their districts. These local K-12 climate action plans, similar to those embraced by city governments, utilize community needs and strengths as guiding principles for schools. These plans enable educational institutions to:Reduce Climate Pollution: Implement strategies to decrease the pollution harming our health and driving climate change.Prepare for Climate Impacts: Develop greater resilience against the challenges posed by climate change.Educate Students: Educate students about climate change, climate solutions and inspire action.Advance Equity: Prioritize communities that are most impacted by climate change and are at the center of decisions and schools.

Transforming Data into Action: Fostering College Success for Single Mothers and Parenting Students

December 1, 2023

Transforming Data into Action describes the accomplishments of the eight colleges that participated in College Success for Single Mothers, a three-year project that NCTN launched in January 2020. The goal of the project was to increase colleges' capacity to collect data to identify parenting students, with particular attention to single mothers students, and use that data to address their needs through the implementation of targeted action plans. Each college is transforming data into action to better support student parents' success and improve and sustain systems for ongoing data collection and use. Transforming Data into Action offers insights into what made colleges successful in their efforts. The report contributes to the limited body of research literature and practical guidance for colleges on successful approaches to improving the conditions and outcomes for parenting students.

Intervention Programs of Public Health: Rockefeller Fellowship, Dr. Adetokunbo Lucas, and the Development of Public Health in Nigeria, 1963-1986

November 20, 2023

This paper looks at conversations around global exchanges through fellowship programs for public health development by the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), focusing particularly on Dr. Adetokunbo Lucas. Studies about the history of transnational scholarships designed by RF have often centred on Western/Asian recipients with little or no significant discourses on fellows of African descent. By focusing on Dr. Lucas and the University of Ibadan, this paper examines how campus-based politics, fuelled and shaped by larger Cold War politics, interfered with the implementation process of the global public health agenda of the RF in Nigeria.

Adult Learners: Who are they & what do they need to be successful?

November 15, 2023

THE GREAT EIGHT identified adult learners as a key factor when asked aboutsuccessful policies and practices that drive their student success initiatives. Thiscase study will examine who adult learners are, what they want from college, howto support them, and the Great Eight evidence-based practices they use to helpadult learners succeed during and after their college experience.