Highlights from 2015's Most-Viewed Work

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In case you missed it, explore the more widely read AIR work published online in 2015.

Most-viewed overall

A Million New Teachers Are Coming: Will They Be Ready to Teach?

In the next decade, more than 1.5 million new teachers will be hired for our schools; unfortunately, teacher preparation programs may not be up to the task of delivering the teacher workforce we need. This brief describes elements of an effective start-to-finish look at teacher preparation.

Supporting Social and Emotional Development Through Quality Afterschool Programs

This brief provides an overview of work done to date both in afterschool and school-based settings to define social and emotional learning, shares recent research on how afterschool programs contribute to the development of these competencies, and offers some next step recommendations to both practitioners and researchers.

Moving Forward, Looking Back: Landmark Legislation for Americans with Disabilities

On the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 40th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) this year, AIR experts reflect on an era of research on the classroom and the workplace, their stories, and the future.

Read on for more of our most-viewed work from 2015.

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Most-Viewed In Adult Learning and Work

One Size Does Not Fit All: A New Look at the Labor Force Participation of People with Disabilities

The proportion of working-age people with disabilities who are in the labor force fell from 25 percent in 2001 to 16 percent in 2014.  Millions of working-age adults with disabilities are willing to work but do not have jobs and do not count as unemployed. State by state, the paper breaks down the workforce participation of people with disabilities, according to disability type.

Meeting the Professional Learning Needs of Career and Technical Education Teachers

States, districts, and teachers identify a need for professional learning that enables Career and Technical Education teachers to help their students meet new standards, and to respond more effectively to shifts in policy and requirements. This brief outlines the most-needed training topics, the challenges to meeting these needs, and the learning opportunities that work best.

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Most-Viewed In Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan

First Do No Harm: Patient Safety Awareness

Public awareness of patient safety issues—from surgical errors to miscommunications and misdiagnoses—has grown dramatically. The greatest advances in safety encourage patient engagement, systems improvement, more effective communication, and better risk assessment.

Public Deliberation: Bringing Common Sense to Complex Health Policy Issues

New research indicates it is an effective way to gather informed public views on complex health policy and to help guide policy decisions. This fact sheet provides an overview of public deliberation—convening a diverse group of citizens to consider an ethical or values-based dilemma and weigh alternative views—and what evidence says about its effectiveness.

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Most-Viewed In International

International Education: Improving Lives and Communities

For millions of children in developing countries, education can be the key to improving their lives and communities. Research and application demonstrate that programs can be successful in fostering literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking; developing teachers; and increasing educational opportunities for children and youth.

Facilitating Reading Acquisition in Multilingual Environments in India (FRAME-India) - Final Report

Most of the world is multilingual—at the national, community, family, and individual levels—and each of these has implications for teaching and learning. This study is one of the first to focus on a theory of change relevant for multilingual learners in the developing world. Pooja Reddy Nakamura introduces the report in a brief video.

Language in Learning and Literacy: Native Tongues First

In this commentary, Pooja Reddy Nakamura, an AIR senior researcher, explores the question of when to introduce English to children in multilingual contexts. Rather than introducing it at the first opportunity, she suggests grouping classes by local language achievement skill—not just age—and introducing written English only after the local language threshold has been reached.

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Most-Viewed in Higher Education

What Do State-Level College and Labor Market Data Teach Us About Higher Education Policy?

Attaining some kind of college degree is the surest way to improve one’s earnings in the United States. But many college students earn credentials with little labor market value or don’t attain any credential at all. Many—especially in our community colleges—could get into better colleges than they end up attending. In this commentary, AIR Institute Fellow Harry Holzer offers suggestions for a widening the range of pathways into the labor market and boosting performance and completion rates for students.

Five College Myths to Ignore

If you want to know which school is the right choice for launching your future, college rankings lists aren’t much help. In USA Today, AIR’s Mark Schneider advises students and families looking for a good return to ignore these myths about choosing a college.

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Most-Viewed in P-12 Education and Early Childhood

Impact of California's Transitional Kindergarten Program, 2013-14

Transitional kindergarten is intended to better prepare young five-year-olds for kindergarten and ensure a strong start to their educational career. AIR researchers examined the success of the program by determining the impact of transitional kindergarten on students’ readiness for kindergarten in language, literacy, mathematics, executive functioning, and social-emotional skills.

Social and Emotional Learning Practices: A Self-Reflection Tool for Afterschool Staff

Both the formal and informal education communities are increasingly focused on fostering opportunities for social and emotional learning (SEL) and the link between SEL and youth outcomes. This self-reflection tool is designed to help afterschool program staff reflect upon their own social and emotional competencies and their ability to support young people's SEL through program practices.

Study of the Alignment of the 2015 NAEP Mathematics Items at Grades 4 and 8 to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has provided the best available information about the academic achievement and educational progress of the nation’s students. The influence of Common Core State Standards on instruction suggest the need to examine the alignment between NAEP and the CCSS. This study compares the mathematics items in the 2015 NAEP and the CCSS.

School Discipline Planning Guide for Educators

A planning guide for educators, released at the Rethinking School Discipline event at the White House on July 22, 2015, is aimed at promoting positive school climates and ending disparities in administering student discipline.

School Composition and the Black-White Achievement Gap

With recent concerns about the growing resegregation of schools, this analysis sheds light on the relationship between the Black-White achievement gap and the demographic makeup of schools. The analysis finds that black student scores were lower, and achievement gaps wider, in mostly black schools.