News

Connect Education's weekly research roundup for parents features two EdWorkingPapers on tutoring. One tests ways to get more Arkansas families to sign up for free literacy tutoring; the other, by Huffaker and colleagues, looks at a Texas district's virtual tutoring program that did not deliver.

A SIEPR news story summarizing the new working paper by Thomas Dee and Jaymes Pyne on school and staffing counts after pandemic enrollment losses. It relays their findings that school numbers were essentially unchanged while teacher counts rose, and includes Dee's comments on district responses.

A Globe 'Great Divide' feature on immigration enforcement and student absenteeism in Massachusetts. It cites Andrew Camp's study of a midsize New England district finding foreign-born students became about a third more likely to miss school on any given day after January 2025.

Chalkbeat Ideas article on two new studies showing that third-grade retention rules can spur learning even for students who are not held back. One of the two is the EdWorkingPaper by Sarah Souders and Robert Bifulco on Ohio's retention threat, which the article links and describes.

Hechinger's key takeaways from its school-closures reporting with AP and Big Local News at Stanford. Among them, Thomas Dee and Jaymes Pyne's analysis shows closures are lagging well behind enrollment declines.

An AP wire story, carried by the Boston Globe, on rising school closures and the financial strain from falling enrollment, with Vallejo, California as a case study. It draws on data and findings from Stanford researchers Thomas Dee and Jaymes Pyne to show that closures are lagging enrollment declines.

An Associated Press investigation finds U.S. school closures reached a post-pandemic high last year, with 1,156 schools shutting. It draws on Thomas Dee and Jaymes Pyne's analysis showing enrollment has fallen far faster than schools are closing, signaling harder budget choices ahead.

The Hechinger Report, reporting with AP, follows districts such as Vallejo, California, that are closing schools as enrollment drops, and asks whether closures actually save money. It cites Thomas Dee and Jaymes Pyne's finding that the number of schools is back only to pre-pandemic levels while enrollment fell by more than 1.4 million students.

A Flypaper review on whether locally rooted teachers are more effective and stay longer. It summarizes Nicolas Dominguez-Mel, Wesley Morris, Sarah Montana, and David Blazar's study of teacher localness, early-career effectiveness, and retention.

Connect Education's weekly roundup draws on four EdWorkingPapers. It leads with Chicago research by Elaine Allensworth and colleagues finding that schools matter more than neighborhoods for post-pandemic attendance, and also covers papers on hybrid human-AI tutoring and Texas's four-day school weeks.

A Proof Points column contrasting two new AI-in-education studies led by Jing Liu of the University of Maryland. It links to both papers: one on the Goblins AI math platform for middle schoolers and one randomized trial of an AI assistant in college courses.

Connect Education's roundup covers two EdWorkingPapers: Marty Haoyuan Chen's study of what private tutoring centers in Texas change for students, and Florence Bason and Christopher Redding's test of whether state science-of-reading laws moved fourth-grade reading scores.

An analysis of CTE expansion. It describes the Yoon and Dougherty study of Massachusetts high schools that added state-approved CTE programs.

A research digest leading with the University of Maryland AI tutoring trial. It reports Jing Liu and colleagues' finding that course-integrated AI tutor access lowered final grades and online participation, with larger losses for first-generation students.

A Brown Center Chalkboard overview of trends in U.S. schools and international comparisons. It cites and links to James Wyckoff's paper on declining achievement, including his caution against attributing recent NAEP declines mostly to COVID-19.

A Flypaper review of a study of Chicago's merit-based free community college program. It reports Emileigh Harrison and colleagues' findings that the program did not pull students away from bachelor's degrees.

A news story on renewed immigration enforcement and schools. It cites Thomas Dee’s finding that daily absences rose 22% in the Central Valley after the early 2025 raids.

An opinion essay arguing colleges should not abandon diversity work without understanding legal requirements. The authors draw on and link to their own interview study of faculty across 38 states on how anti-DEI politics dismantle faculty equity infrastructure.

A Chalkboard piece on unequal school building conditions and what state policymakers can do about them. The authors present findings from their own study of racial disparities in New York school facilities and link to a meta-analysis on air pollution and student achievement.

A five-item research digest for Canadian families and teachers. It summarizes the randomized study by Elizabeth Huffaker, Bess Levin Markel, Carly Robinson and Susanna Loeb finding that tutors' prior experience with the same program, not degrees or teaching experience, predicted larger reading gains.