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Housing Boom Widened Access to Better Colleges, Study Shows

For decades, families have used the equity in their homes to help finance college for their children. New research shows the housing boom of the late ’90s and early 21st century gave low- and middle-income families access to higher quality colleges. But the recent housing bust and rise in foreclosure rates may now constrict the range and quality of colleges that high school graduates in these income brackets can afford, making a case for why institutions and policymakers must make college affordability a priority.

Subgroup Accountability ‘Shines a Light’ on School Performance

A new study in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis finds that, when it comes to accountability, subgroup-specific pressure works. The analysis suggests that, when accountability pressure is tied to the performance of specific groups of students, those groups tend to improve more than they did before the pressure was in place.

Low Expectations and Poor Supports Contribute to Gaps and Weak Performance in Science

Newly released data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show modest gains in science achievement among the nation’s middle school students. Achievement, however, still remains alarmingly low. And while Latino, African-American, and low-income students all have made meaningful gains, gaps between groups of students are unacceptably wide. These results, coupled with new research on science standards and instruction, underscore the need for higher expectations and better supports for both students and teachers.

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Join Our Online Celebration of Effective Teachers This Week

A great teacher, one who both challenges and supports her class, can truly turn students’ lives around. That's why The Education Trust is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week by inviting education advocates to begin a Facebook discussion on the power of great teaching. We invite you to join the conversation.

SIG Funds Tied to Promising Results in California

A just-released National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study on the impact of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program in California schools suggests that additional resources, coupled with demands for significant change, can pay off in achievement gains for struggling schools.

A2S Midterm Report Card Shows Progress and Room for Improvement

Last week, The Education Trust released “Replenishing Opportunity in America,” the midterm assessment of the higher education systems participating in the Access to Success initiative. The report covers how the initiative’s member systems perform on two ambitious goals: increasing the number of college graduates in their states, and ensuring those graduates reflect the demographic makeup of their respective state’s high school graduates. The report includes the release of updated system-level report cards, which lay out the related data for progress toward the initiative’s goals. Roughly 1 in 5 students attending public institutions, and 2 in 5 low-income students and students of color who attend public four-year institutions in the United States, are enrolled in A2S systems. The annual conference of the A2S systems convenes this week in Washington, D.C.

Executive Order Aims to Shield Vets from For-Profit Abuse

A new executive order requires all colleges to more accurately inform students about their educational outcomes and financial-aid offerings. Just signed by the president, the new directive aims to curb the abuse of military veterans by those for-profit education companies that appear more interested in helping themselves to federal student-aid dollars than they are in advancing vets’ education.

NCLB Waiver Webinar from Ed Trust and NCLD

Register now for a joint Ed Trust and National Center for Learning Disabilities webinar to get an overview of the NCLB waiver requirements, in-depth content analysis of the 11 approved applications, and a discussion of the waivers' implications for millions of students across the country.

On Friday, May 11, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., presenters Sarah Almy, Ed Trust director of teacher quality; Daria Hall, Ed Trust director of K-12 policy development; and NCLD public policy director Laura Kaloi, will outline state activity in the areas of accountability, teacher evaluation, and the implementation of college- and career-ready standards.

The Role of States in Preparing Teachers for the Common Core

In a recent Ed Week article, Stephen Sawchuck described states as “the first stop on the professional-development train.” The article also notes that “teachers are wrestling with an absence of truly aligned curricula and lessons” in preparing to teach to the new standards.