The District of Columbia boasts the greatest access to public prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-old children in the United States, offering a full-day, school-year universal preschool program. High participation rates indicate that public investments in prekindergarten are supporting working families and helping DC's children thrive. However,…

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a huge toll on people across the country, including children of all ages. As the new school year gets underway, it is important that state and local policymakers provide a range of supports for students that prioritize learning above politics. To ensure students continue learning and succeeding no matter where or…

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This overview brief discusses the causes and effects of chronic absenteeism and three tiers of evidence-based practices to…

This report is the fourth in a series describing the RAND Corporation's evaluation of the two Delaware weighted funding programs for disadvantaged K-12 schools spanning the 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 school years: Opportunity Funding and the Student Success Block Grant. The authors drew on annual surveys of Delaware local education agencies (LEAs)…

This report is based on a survey of 1,653 primary teachers in state schools in England. The survey was conducted by Teacher Tapp during May half-term 2020, just before schools started re-opening. It forms part of the ESRC-funded project "A Duty of Care and a Duty to Teach: educational priorities during the COVID-19 crisis", based at the…

As of June 2020, it is still too early to know how state early childhood systems will be permanently changed by the COVID-19 crisis. But the need for early childhood data is not new to the pandemic and recovery. States can benefit from data to better understand the landscape of local early childhood services--and about resources needed to help…

Due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, almost all school districts rapidly shifted to distance learning in spring of the 2019-2020 school year. This shift laid bare both the logistical and instructional challenges of distance learning, particularly for English learners and students with disabilities, both of whom have faced…

American public schools today are perhaps more linguistically and culturally diverse than at any other point in American history. Nearly one in ten U.S. students is currently classified as an English learner (EL). This report explores the intersection between ELs and charter schools and provides ideas for helping policymakers use charters as…

Families are critical in the provision of lifelong support to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Today, more people with IDD receive long-term services and supports while living with their families. Thus, it is important that researchers, practitioners, and policy makers understand how to best support families who…

The ultimate outcome of this work is to support students, families, and educators (includes all school members who collectively support students) during the transitions back to school during and following the global pandemic in a manner that prioritizes their health and safety, social and emotional needs, and behavioral and academic growth. This…

The 2021 "KIDS COUNT in Colorado!" report examines how children fared during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. The data included in the report illustrate the pandemic's far-reaching effects on Colorado kids, from increased housing instability and hunger to difficulty accessing health care, child care, preschool and K-12 education.…

Publicly supported, high-quality preschool education is among the most successful and well-documented of education reforms. There is near-universal agreement that high-quality preschool programs more than pay for themselves in economic and social benefits. Program quality is absolutely critical. While no one factor can be considered determinative,…

"The 2021 Pro-Kid Policy Agenda for California" is the comprehensive state-level roadmap to ensure that all children have the necessary supports to reach their full potential. California has an obligation to end systemic injustices that create barriers to kids of color, as well as kids living in poverty and undocumented kids, from…

One requirement of The California Children and Families First Act (Proposition 10) is "to facilitate the creation and implementation of an integrated, comprehensive, and collaborative system of information and services to enhance optimal early childhood development." This report provides policymakers and others with working information…

At the time the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P. L. 104-193) was being debated, some child welfare advocates raised the concern that its effect on families at high risk of involvement in the child welfare system or on families already involved in the child welfare system would be negative. As the debate…