Key Findings

• The high school graduation rate increased to an all-time high of 85%.
• The college enrollment rate increased to 63% after seeing pandemic dips, approaching the prior high of 64% from 2017.
  • The four-year college enrollment rate increased 2.5 percentage points to an all-time high of 47.5%, while the two-year college enrollment rate declined slightly to 15.7%.
• College completion rates are holding relatively steady for four-year and two-year college enrollees—at 54% and 31%, respectively.

As commentators have warned, a perfect storm of financial trouble — declining enrollment, outdated buildings and the end of federal pandemic-relief funds — is descending on many school districts. In response, education leaders from Boston to Seattle are eyeing school closures. 

Professional development is foundational to educational success, but our current model is in desperate need of an upgrade. Well-designed curricula are rendered ineffective without a parallel commitment to equipping teachers with the skills they need to bring those plans to life. 

Over the last 20 years, education experts have increasingly questioned whether standardized tests are the best way to measure how students perform. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of institutions let high school students decide whether to submit their standardized test scores with their admission applications, and many colleges and universities continue to have “test-optional policies” today...

This Learning & Development Group pilot study is a validation of the Catalyze Survey, which measures the school conditions that support educators to engage in equitable and supportive practice, such as Collective Vision, Inclusive Leadership, Effective Systems, and Trust Community. The study assesses the survey's predictive validity for teacher practices and retention.

This Learning & Development Group study is a multidistrict revalidation of the Cultivate Survey Instrument that 1) assesses the causal impacts of schools on students’ learning conditions, learning beliefs, and trajectories, and 2) examines the relationship between school climate (5Essentials Survey) and classroom learning condition measures (Cultivate Survey).

This mixed-methods Learning & Development Group study addresses the racialized narratives and/or deficit assumptions that many students face in mathematics by building knowledge on teaching practices that enhance student experiences, and support positive self-beliefs and learning in math.

In service of systems transformation toward equity at scale, the Learning & Development Group is partnering with district and school support organization partners to advance research and practice on fostering educational environments that 1) center student experience, 2) elevate student voice, and 3) engage students as co-constructors of their learning environments.

COVID-19 created a once-a-century public health crisis that, in turn, created a once-a-century public education crisis. A total of 50 million students nationwide lost the learning equivalent of a half a year of school. The learning losses were even larger—sometimes much larger—among the nation’s most socially and economically disadvantaged children, particularly in low-income communities of color.