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January 24, 2025

Testing Theories of Why: Four Keys to Interpreting US Student Achievement Trends

…assessments gauge reading and math for ages nine and 13 from 1978 to 2022. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assesses science and math for grades four…

January 24, 2025

Testing Theories of Why: Four Keys to Interpreting US Student Achievement Trends

…assessments gauge reading and math for ages nine and 13 from 1978 to 2022. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assesses science and math for grades four…

December 11, 2024

US Students Best Other Nations—in Achievement Gap Growth

US scores on the 2023 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are another sign not only that American students are losing ground in math and science, but that the…

December 9, 2024

TIMSS Shows the Bottom Is Falling Out for US Test Scores

Last week’s release of 2023 scores from the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)—an international assessment measuring fourth and eighth graders in math and science—offers a fresh look at…

September 6, 2024

The Latest Chronic Absenteeism Numbers

A new school year is beginning, and students are returning to school, but the question this year is how many will return to attending consistently. Chronic absenteeism, the percentage of…

May 23, 2024

Biden’s Unending Student Loan Forgiveness Run

On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced $7.7 billion in student debt cancellation for about 161,000 borrowers, equating to about $48,000 per borrower. Compared to what has already been spent on loan forgiveness…

May 6, 2024

How Much Are You Willing to Spend on Student Loan Forgiveness?

…becomes taxes you paid, services you might have missed, or debt you will owe. No matter what, you have a share. But how big is your share? Let’s do the…

February 22, 2024

Chronic Absenteeism Could Be the Biggest Problem Facing Schools Right Now

…really, and how can schools respond? My friend and colleague Nat Malkus has the most recent available numbers in his Return to Learn Tracker. In addition, he’s out with an…

January 24, 2024

It’s National School Choice Week. Democrats: What Do You Think?

This week is National School Choice Week, which makes it a good time to ponder the state of the school choice coalition. During the Clinton–Bush school reform era, broad swaths…

November 28, 2022

Public School Instructional Offerings and Enrollment Changes: Evidence from Two Years After the Pandemic

…2021–22 school year. Our results suggest that the most-remote districts lost over 600,000 more students than they might have if their in-person instructional offerings matched those of the most-in-person districts….