Recent Publications in Education

4 adults, 2 minors arrested in 3 burglary incidents on shuttered Santa Rosa school campuses in 2 days

FCMAT Headlines | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Authorities said Steele Lane Elementary and Comstock Middle schools were targeted late last week in the latest incidents on closed school campuses in Santa Rosa.

‘Go out and change the world’: Students find confidence, community at LAUSD’s single-sex schools

FCMAT Headlines | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Launched in 2016, the Girls Academic Leadership Academy, or GALA, is California’s only all-girls public school. Its counterpart, the Boys Academic Leadership Academy, or BALA, serves boys in grades six through 12.

Culture War Tensions Roil Beverly Hills School Board Race

FCMAT Headlines | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, school board elections around the country, once sleepy affairs, have been convulsed by America’s political and cultural divides. The teaching of racial justice. Gaza and Israel. Transgender rights.

Why school board members aren’t running for reelection: ‘A lot of disillusionmen

FCMAT Headlines | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

About half of California’s school board candidates are most likely running unopposed, according to a recent USC report, leaving a dearth of public scrutiny just as enormous changes to K-12 education are underway at the state and federal levels.

Why school board members aren’t running for reelection: ‘A lot of disillusionment’

CalMatters Education News | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

School board members cited a slew of reasons for not running for reelection, including distress over budget cuts and labor strife, immigration raids affecting schools and youth and an overall hostile political climate.

Need more financial aid for college? This new law will make it easier to ask for it

CalMatters Education News | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

A new California law will require colleges and universities to clearly inform students how to request additional financial aid if they believe their awarded amount is not enough. Institutions must also publish how they calculate their costs of attendance, which is used to determine how much financial aid students receive.

Nearly 1 in 3 Teachers Aren’t Sold on the Science of Reading

The 74 Million | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Opinion: For Children in Foster Care, School Should Be a Source of Stability, Not a Loss

The 74 Million | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Imagine being told you must leave your home tonight. Then imagine learning that you may also have to leave your school, your friends, your favorite teacher and the one place where life still feels familiar. For a child entering foster care, a change of address can become a cascade of losses. School should not have […]

Student Pulled From Musical Over Anti-DEI Law Sues, Alleging Discrimination

The 74 Million | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

A North Texas high school senior is suing her school district for not allowing her to portray a male character in a campus theater role that she earned. Ana Mota, 17, alleges that Grand Prairie school administrators discriminated against her on the basis of sex when they notified theater faculty a week into rehearsals for […]

Opinion: Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Expands What School Choice Means for Families

The 74 Million | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

School choice has traditionally meant the opportunity to pick a different type of school, like a charter, private or parochial school in another part of town. Families who want their child to stay in their neighborhood public school have frequently been left out, even if the school alone can’t help their child catch up or […]

Opinion: A Renewed Democracy Requires a Literate One

The 74 Million | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

In September, the House passed a bipartisan bill steering federal literacy grants toward instruction grounded in the science of reading. A Senate companion, the READ Act, cleared committee 20 to 2 in July. Whether the full Senate finishes the job before the session ends in December will show how seriously Washington takes a problem the midterm […]

Opinion: When it Comes to School Accountability, Florida Is Raising the Bar

The 74 Million | Sun, 01 Nov 2026

Former Gov. Jeb Bush’s recent essay in The 74 rightly reminds us that accountability is not a destination. Florida built its education reputation by measuring results, publishing them plainly and refusing to accept mediocrity.  That standard still matters. As the state’s education commissioner, I believe the state’s own assessment results provide a much clearer picture […]

Course Correction Needed for NM Universal Childcare Fund, Legislative Economist Says

The 74 Million | Sun, 01 Nov 2026

The New Mexico Legislature’s chief economist told lawmakers this week that without adjustments, New Mexico’s early childhood trust fund will be unable to support the state’s new universal childcare program by 2048. The state created the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund in 2020 with an appropriation of approximately $300 million in order to fund […]

Opinion: 5 Key Steps to Make Sure Every Kid Actually Learns Something

The 74 Million | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

The first learning software I built shipped on a CD-ROM inside a McGraw-Hill textbook 25 years ago. I had left a Ph.D. program in learning science after realizing that research-based study strategies could be automated. The disc became an app, and the app became artificial intelligence that can go to class with a student. But […]

She Graduated From a Segregated High School at 27. Now 105, She Returned for its Centennial

The 74 Million | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

ST. GEORGE, SC — Clara Mae Britt graduated from high school at 27, the oldest in her class by about a decade. After quitting school in eighth grade to help her family make money, Britt was excited to go back six years later, even if she had to repeat elementary classes at 22. Holding on […]

Fact Check: What Sac City Unified’s Measure M does — and doesn’t — require

FCMAT Headlines | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

The Sacramento City Unified School District is asking voters to approve Measure M in Tuesday’s election, a $95-a-year parcel tax expected to raise about $10 million annually for special education and early intervention programs.

S.F. opens new school to keep high-needs special education students in the city

FCMAT Headlines | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

San Francisco has a new public school, officials announced Thursday, one that will educate many of the district’s highest needs students instead of sending them to costly non-public providers often located far outside the city.

EdSource: California voters face $12.6B in school bonds. Here’s what districts want to do with the money

FCMAT Headlines | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

Repairing roofs, bathrooms and gymnasium floors. Removing asbestos, mold and lead pipes. Modernizing labs and classrooms. These are among the repairs and projects school districts around the state are citing in their bid to convince voters to approve school bond measures.

Michigan Teachers Head Back to School for Science of Reading Training

The 74 Million | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

In 2010, Karlee Little attended Central Michigan University to learn how to teach elementary school. Now a veteran teacher, she’s back in the classroom as a student. Little, like so many Michigan teachers, is seeking as many strategies and fresh ideas as she can to help her students become stronger readers. It’s that extra reading […]

Opinion: Can The ‘Dormant Decade’ Searching for a Meaty K-12 Policy Agenda Be Over?

The 74 Million | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

Like most people — especially most middle-aged fathers of teenagers — I’m wrong a lot. Regular readers may remember that I take this seriously. In 2014, I wrote a column explaining why No Child Left Behind was certain to survive to the end of the Obama administration, only for it to be replaced with the […]

Opinion: A Haunted House, 40 Extracurriculars and a Lot of Questions About Inequality

The 74 Million | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

Late summer, right before school started, I got an email. My niece got a seat. I recognized the school’s name, but I was apprehensive. I wasn’t sure it was located where I thought it was. So I checked the ZIP code across Washington, D.C. It was right where I thought. Even with all my questions, […]

With House Likely to Flip, Democrats Look to Stop Education Dept. Dismantling

The 74 Million | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

Democrats are favored to retake control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections. They could even flip the Senate. If those predictions hold up, members focused on education say they won’t waste time in trying to stop, or at least slow down, the dismantling of the Department of Education. “We need to subpoena […]

Rural Mississippi Communities Push Back on School Consolidation Efforts

The 74 Million | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

Mississippi has lost thousands of public school students over the past decade, leaving fewer children enrolled in the state’s 138 school districts and less money to go around.  State leaders think they’ve found a solution: School consolidation.  House Speaker Jason White has formed a select committee to examine how merging districts in Mississippi could benefit […]

Shared Indianapolis Tax Would Boost Charters, but a Key Partnership Is Threatened

The 74 Million | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

The push to give Indianapolis’ growing charter schools more money and power could take a leap forward Nov. 3 if voters pass a property tax increase that gives millions annually to charter schools for the first time. The $95 million tax, the first in the city to be split between charter schools and the Indianapolis […]

The New Kid on the Tutoring Block: Definitions, Developments, and Future Directions for Hybrid Human-AI Tutoring

Tiffany Wu , Ashish Gurung , Kenneth R. Koedinger , Danielle R. Thomas | EdWorkingPapers | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Human tutoring is among the most effective educational interventions, yet high costs and intensive resource demands make it difficult to provide broadly and at scale. We conceptualize this tension as an “iron triangle” of tradeoffs between effectiveness, affordability, and scalable reach. This essay examines how an emerging genre of tutoring, hybrid human-AI tutoring, reconfigures these tradeoffs by redesigning how the work of tutoring is divided between people and technology. We first synthesize developments in human- and AI-only tutoring models, with a focus on introducing concepts across the fields of learning analytics and AI in education (AIED) for a broader education research audience. We identify four emerging hybrid architectures, compare how tutoring responsibilities are assigned to humans versus AI and coordinated within each architecture, and examine patterns of human involvement. We conclude by highlighting unresolved questions and outlining a research agenda focused on which combinations of human and AI tutoring are most promising for different learners and settings, and what conditions are needed to implement hybrid tutoring effectively, equitably, and sustainably at scale.

Variation in Post-Pandemic Postsecondary Transitions across Academic Subgroups

Tom Swiderski , Daniel Klasik , Sarah Crittenden Fuller , Steven W. Hemelt , Matthew G. Springer | EdWorkingPapers | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

We examine how trends in postsecondary readiness and enrollment from pre- to post-pandemic differ across student subgroups defined by pre-pandemic (8th grade) achievement levels. Using individual-level data from North Carolina and interrupted time series approaches, we find that students with high baseline achievement became less likely to apply to and enroll in a four-year college following the pandemic’s onset, whereas enrollment rates of students with low baseline achievement increased. Likewise, post-pandemic changes to key college readiness indicators, including high school college-level course-taking, GPAs, and ACT scores, were either similar or less negative for students with low baseline achievement relative to higher-achieving peers. These results may reflect multiple factors including pandemic-era changes to educational policy, declines in college interest, and floor effects on the ACT exam. Findings contextualize literature documenting post-pandemic declines in college enrollment and success and encourage further research on post-pandemic college persistence, completion, and workforce transition rates.

Relationships between 8th-grade students’ background characteristics, affect, and achievement in mathematics in the U.S.: A TIMSS 2023 analysis

Tye Campbell, Sehrish Jabeen, Melissa Barker, Erin Rich | Investigations in Mathematics Learning | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

.

Writing styles in mathematics education research: a cultural perspective

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

No abstract available.

Can Home Visits Re-Engage Chronically Absent Students? Evidence from the LEAP Program -- by Eric Brunner, Shangyue Jiang, Stephen Ross

NBER Working Papers - Econ of Ed | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

No abstract available.

Affirmative Action, Faculty Productivity and Caste Interactions: Evidence from Engineering Colleges in India -- by Robert W. Fairlie, Saurabh Khanna, Prashant Loyalka, Gagandeep S. Sachdeva

NBER Working Papers - Econ of Ed | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

No abstract available.

What Drives Censorship on College Campuses? -- by Peter Arcidiacono, Cory Dowd, Matthew Lilley

NBER Working Papers - Econ of Ed | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

No abstract available.

Identity, Knowledge, and Power: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Morality and Ethics in U.S. Teacher Education Textbooks

Di Zhao, Huan Song | Journal of Teacher Education | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

This study examines how morality and ethics are discursively constructed in 43 U.S. teacher education textbooks, focusing on the intertwined themes of identity, knowledge, and power. Drawing on Fairclough’s three-dimensional critical discourse analysis, the study analyzes how textbook discourses could shape ethical teacher subjectivity. Findings show that textbooks predominantly construct teachers as moral role models and ethicists-in-community. Ethical knowledge is legitimized through an integrated repertoire of professional codes, legal frameworks, moral dilemmas, and developmental theories. Power operates through normative professional standards and disciplinary practices of reflection that encourage self-regulation within institutional boundaries. While these discourses promote ethical professionalism, they largely privilege micro-ethical concerns and marginalize sociopolitical macro-ethics and systemic power relations. The study argues for textbooks that more deliberately function as social practices, cultivating critical moral agency and ethical resilience so that teachers are prepared not only to navigate existing systems but also to question and, when necessary, challenge them.

Using Theory of Change Models to Evaluate the Implementation of Urinary Incontinence Management in Primary Care Initiatives

Gabriela Alvarado, Shreya Huilgol, Nipher Malika, Peter Mendel, Elizabeth Cope, Jaime Adler, Brianna Bragg, Poonam Pardasaney | Evaluation Review | Mon, 02 Nov 2026

Theory of change (ToC) models articulate how and why implementation interventions are expected to produce specific outcomes and can guide both program design and evaluation. As part of a theory-driven evaluation for a federal initiative to improve non-surgical management of urinary incontinence among women in primary care, we co-developed ToC models for five funded projects. Each model depicted intervention approaches, hypothesized mechanisms of change, and expected outcomes. Using a six-step process which included document review, consensus-based element identification, open coding, iterative refinement, and stakeholder validation, we created and refined a separate ToC for each grantee. The Technical Expert Panel, convened for the broader initiative, provided multidisciplinary feedback to ensure methodological rigor and contextual accuracy. Sharing the models in annual meetings supported cross-grantee learning and revealed common implementation themes: reliance on technology-based patient education and clinician training, challenges with practice recruitment, tailored facilitation to reduce clinician burden, and gaps in patient-level evaluation measures. The ToC models served four primary functions: orientation for evaluators, technical assistance for grantees, monitoring and evaluation of implementation processes, and cross-site collaboration. Key lessons included the importance of early stakeholder engagement, flexibility in model development, and the value of visual tools for communication and shared understanding. Although resource requirements and retrospective development were challenges, ToC models proved to be adaptable, dynamic tools that enhance evaluation and collaboration in complex, multi-site health initiatives. Their systematic application can strengthen future national and international implementation efforts.

The Contributions of School and Neighborhood Factors to Student Attendance Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

Elaine Allensworth , Marisa de la Torre , Meril Antony , William Delgado | EdWorkingPapers | Sun, 01 Nov 2026

Student attendance remains well below pre-COVID pandemic levels, yet districts lack evidence about which levers are most influential. Whether school and neighborhood contexts still account for meaningful variation in attendance, especially for students with weaker attendance histories, is an open question. Using a longitudinal database of over 360,000 Chicago Public Schools students in grades 6-11 before and after the pandemic, we estimate the relative contributions of school, neighborhood, and individual factors using cross-nested hierarchical linear models. We find that school-level differences in attendance substantially outweigh those observed between neighborhoods, and school context matters more for students who had lower attendance in the past. Teacher-parent trust in the school shows a particularly strong relationship with attendance in high schools. The findings indicate that schools retain meaningful leverage over attendance in the post-pandemic era, including for the students furthest from regular attendance, and point to where districts can most efficiently direct limited resources.

Unveiling gendered participation dynamics in collaborative group work through transition network analysis

Jingoo Kang, Stephen Adofo, Jori Manner, Mohammed Saqr | Learning and Instruction | Sun, 01 Nov 2026

Publication date: February 2027 Source: Learning and Instruction, Volume 107 Author(s): Jingoo Kang, Stephen Adofo, Jori Manner, Mohammed Saqr

Are mathematics teachers with high pedagogical content knowledge inequitably allocated? Evidence from six U.S. urban public school districts

Mengyuan Liang | Research in Mathematics Education | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

.

Professional development for culturally responsive teaching: A qualitative study of pre-service science teachers’ experiences

Rif'ati Dina Handayani, Triyanto, Nofouz Mafarja, Renuka A.P.V. Sathasivam | Teaching and Teacher Education | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

Publication date: January 2027 Source: Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 185 Author(s): Rif'ati Dina Handayani, Triyanto, Nofouz Mafarja, Renuka A.P.V. Sathasivam

University-level language teachers’ identity readjustment in an artificial intelligence-driven academic landscape: The role of career motivational profiles

Mohammad N. Karimi, Zahra Keshvari | Teaching and Teacher Education | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

Publication date: January 2027 Source: Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 185 Author(s): Mohammad N. Karimi, Zahra Keshvari

The Impact of the Collegiate Mathematics Transition on Self-Efficacy and Mindset

Jordan R. Gill, Christine M. Phelps-Gregory | International Journal of Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

This research takes a qualitative approach to examine how the transition from high school to university (the collegiate mathematics transition or the secondary-tertiary transition) can affect mathematics self-efficacy (MSE) and mindset for undergraduate students. Thirteen first-year and nine non-first year students from three different mathematics courses (Intermediate Algebra, Calculus 1, and Discrete Mathematics) were interviewed. Results show that the collegiate mathematics transition provided an opportunity for increases in MSE for first-year students who entered university with low MSE; some of these students also experienced shifts towards growth mindset. Conversely, most first-year students with high MSE experienced no change in MSE or mindset, with one student experiencing a decline in MSE. Changes to MSE appear tied to students’ attributions. In addition, we compare these results with students not undergoing the collegiate mathematics transition to highlight the specific effects of the transition. Results have implications for our understanding of how MSE can change as well as for our understanding of how to better understand and support students during their transition to university mathematics.

The conductor in a crowded classroom: A multimodal analysis of Chinese teachers’ compromise-oriented inclusive classroom practice

Yao Zhang, Qi Wang, Yuhao Deng | Teaching and Teacher Education | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

Publication date: January 2027 Source: Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 185 Author(s): Yao Zhang, Qi Wang, Yuhao Deng

The emergence of embodied knowledge through collaborative pose creation in geometry

Candace Walkington, Mitchell J. Nathan, Min Wang, Michael Swart, Kasi Holcomb-Webb, Kelsey Schenck, Julianna Washington | The Journal of Mathematical Behavior | Sat, 31 Oct 2026

Publication date: March 2027 Source: The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, Volume 85 Author(s): Candace Walkington, Mitchell J. Nathan, Min Wang, Michael Swart, Kasi Holcomb-Webb, Kelsey Schenck, Julianna Washington

From policy objects to self-regulating subjects: reimagining the role of teacher educators

Eline Vanassche, Amanda Berry, Maria Assunção Flores, Diane Mayer | European Journal of Teacher Education | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

.

Perceived quality of professional experience placement and teacher self-efficacy among pre-service teachers: a latent profile analysis

Kang Ma, Michael Cavanagh, Ping Wang, Jingjing Dong | European Journal of Teacher Education | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

.

Key arithmetic word problems to assess children's understanding

Jeanne Bagnoud, Emmanuel Sander | Learning and Instruction | Fri, 30 Oct 2026

Publication date: February 2027 Source: Learning and Instruction, Volume 107 Author(s): Jeanne Bagnoud, Emmanuel Sander