Skip to page content

Academic Achievement Gap

Featured

Essay
A Four-Day School Week? Here Are the Costs and Benefits
Hundreds of small school districts across America have cut one day a week from their calendars. A shorter school week helps them compete for teachers and reduce costs. Teachers and parents love it. But is it really in the best interests of students?
Aug 31, 2023
Report
Supporting Students in Foster Care
State and federal policymakers have passed legislation designed to promote collaboration between the education and child welfare systems with the goal of improving educational stability for youth in foster care and, in turn, their educational outcomes. But there are barriers to cross-system collaboration.
Apr 4, 2023

Explore Academic Achievement Gap

Journal Article
Think Again: Is Grade Retention Bad for Kids?
In this brief, we provide a review of recent literature on the causal effects of student grade retention and present three policy recommendations for those considering grade retention policies.
Oct 23, 2023
Journal Article
The Widening Achievement Gap Between Rich and Poor in a Nordic Country
We study a decade of achievement gaps for fifth-, eighth-, and 10th-grade students in Norway using administrative population data.
Oct 16, 2023
Journal Article
Educational Attainment and US Drug Overdose Deaths
This paper studies how overdose rates have disproportionately changed for low education populations.
Oct 9, 2023
Commentary
The American Mathematics Educator Study: Unraveling the Formula for Equitable and Excellent Mathematics Teaching and Learning
Authors lay out a research agenda for the American Mathematics Educator Study by synthesizing what they know from mathematics education research regarding key factors that shape equitable, high-quality mathematics teaching and learning.
Oct 5, 2023
Report
Teaching and Leading: An Evaluation of the Impacts and Professional Trajectories of Teach For America Participants in Indianapolis
The authors quantify the impacts of Teach For America Indianapolis (TFA Indy) on student and school outcomes in the Indianapolis area, by evaluating the effectiveness and retention of TFA Indy teachers in comparison with other teachers.
Jul 20, 2023
Journal Article
Diversity in Schools: Immigrants and the Educational Performance of U.S.-Born Students
We find that the presence of immigrant students has a positive effect on the academic achievement of U.S.-born students, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Jul 13, 2023
Research Brief
Getting Students to and Through Advanced Math
Students who take precalculus, calculus, and advanced placement math classes get a leg up when it comes to securing college admission and careers in STEM fields. But a large portion of U.S. high school students don't take advanced math. What explains this gap, and what can be done to close it?
Apr 17, 2023
Report
Getting Students to (and Through) Advanced Math: Where Course Offerings and Content Are Not Adding Up
High schoolers who take advanced math have advantages in college admissions and in securing STEM careers. This report examines how students' opportunities to prepare for and take advanced math courses in the United States differ by school context.
Mar 21, 2023
Report
Supporting Equitable Math Instruction in California: Findings from the 2022 Learn Together Survey and the 2022 American Instructional Resources Survey
In 2023, California will implement a new statewide math framework that will drive curriculum decisions for years to come. Researchers leveraged data collected from California math teachers to paint a picture of math instruction throughout the state.
Mar 21, 2023
Tool
How the Effects of Racial Bias Compound
Researchers illustrate the ways in which small effects of racial bias can compound over lifetimes. Users of this tool can adjust the amount of racial bias to see its effects on educational achievement, income growth, and wealth accumulation.
Jul 27, 2022
Report
One Year into the Pandemic, What Secondary Math Teachers Said About Challenges to Standards-Aligned Instruction and Skipping Content
The authors use 2020 and 2021 Learn Together Survey data to examine challenges to standards-aligned instruction during COVID-19 reported by secondary math teachers and how frequently and why these teachers skipped standards-aligned math content.
May 11, 2022
Commentary
Commit Now to Get Summer Programming Right
When summer programs are targeted to needs, intentionally designed, and well attended, they produce positive outcomes in math and reading. But these programs need federal support, and they require early planning.
Apr 15, 2021
Report
Adapting Course Placement Processes in Response to COVID-19 Disruptions: Guidance for Schools and Districts
Because of the pandemic, spring 2020 end-of-year assessments were canceled and schools began the 2020-2021 year without assessment data. The authors compare three strategies to estimate missing test scores and help with course placement decisions.
Feb 16, 2021
Journal Article
Inequality in Household Adaptation to Schooling Shocks: Covid-induced Online Learning Engagement in Real Time
Using internet searches, we study real-time demand for online learning resources. Internet searches for online learning resources doubled during the pandemic. Increases were larger in are as with higher income and better internet access. The pandemic will likely widen achievement gaps along these dimensions.
Feb 3, 2021
Report
Do Teachers Perceive That Their Main Instructional Materials Meet English Learners' Needs? Key Findings from the 2020 American Instructional Resources Survey
In this Data Note, researchers draw on data from the spring 2020 American Instructional Resources Survey to examine teachers' perceptions of how their main materials meet the needs of English learners.
Jan 27, 2021
Report
Every Summer Counts: A Longitudinal Analysis of Outcomes from the National Summer Learning Project
This seventh report in a series presents longitudinal findings on the effectiveness of voluntary summer learning programs in five school districts. The authors also offer implications for policy on narrowing the achievement gap between students.
Dec 17, 2020
Multimedia
COVID-19 and the Digital Divide: Inequities in Online Learning
RAND senior policy researcher Julia Kaufman explains how the digital divide impacted teaching and learning when schools closed last spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oct 16, 2020
Report
The Digital Divide and COVID-19
Findings from a survey of U.S. teachers reveal how limited home internet access has been a barrier to providing instruction amid pandemic-related school closures. The problem is particularly acute among high-poverty schools.
Sep 24, 2020

1
2
3
Next

Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor

Researcher Spotlight

Karen Christianson

Policy Analyst

Karen Christianson (she/her) is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. Her research interests include the design, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs and policies. She is particularly interested in efforts to eliminate racial and socioeconomic opportunity gaps in education.…
Ashley Woo

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND, and Ph.D. Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School

Ashley Woo (she/her) is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. student at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research interests include educational equity, supporting the learnings experiences of students from historically minoritized groups, educator recruitment and retention, the…

Explore Our People »