Education Commons^™

"Backpack" Food Programs Linked To Higher Test Scores For School Children, Michael Kurtz, Karen S. Conway, Robert D. Mohr

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Nationwide, over half a million children live in households that report very low food security among children, meaning a child is not eating enough, going hungry, skipping a meal, or not eating for a full day because the household can’t afford food. School meals cannot alleviate this need outside of school hours. To mitigate food insecurity on days when free school meals are unavailable, foodbanks have partnered with schools to create weekend feeding, or “BackPack,” programs that provide children with a bag of nonperishable food to nourish them over the weekend.

In this brief, authors Michael Kurtz, Karen Conway, and …

Rising Student Debt And The 2020 Election, James Kvaal, Jessica Thompson

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this perspectives brief, authors James Kvaal and Jessica Thompson explore the challenge of college affordability and summarize the campaign proposals to address it. Driven by steadily rising college costs and student debt, the 2020 presidential campaign has put the issues of college costs and student debt on the agenda as never before. Many candidates are promising to transform the federal investment in college affordability, but there is great variety in how they would structure their initiatives. The debate on the strengths and weaknesses of these plans on the campaign trail is likely to have a substantial influence on future …

After The Bell: Youth Activity Engagement In Relation To Income And Metropolitan Status, Sarah E. Leonard

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

In this brief, author Sarah E. Leonard uses data from the 2012 National Survey of Children’s Health to examine involvement in activities among youth ages 12–18 across income categories and metropolitan status in the hopes of informing policy aimed at attenuating inequalities in participation. While not a complete profile of youth activities, determining participation rates helps us understand what youth are doing in their out-of-school hours and how these activities vary by income and metropolitan status. The relationship between extracurricular participation, academic success, and well-being is potentially linked in complex ways, yet access to extracurricular activities and employment is growing …

Limited Access To Ap Courses For Students In Smaller And More Isolated Rural School Districts, Douglas J. Gagnon, Marybeth J. Mattingly

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief assesses trends in access to, enrollment in, and success in Advanced Placement (AP) coursework in relation to school district poverty, racial composition, and urbanicity. It uses data merged from the 2011–2012 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), the 2012 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE), and the 2010 Decennial U.S. Census. Authors Douglas Gagnon and Marybeth Mattingly report that nearly one-half (47.2 percent) of rural districts have no secondary students enrolled in AP courses, compared with only 20.1 percent of town, 5.4 percent of suburban, and 2.6 percent of urban districts. Remote rural districts with small populations are …

Reading Levels Of Rural And Urban Third Graders Lag Behind Their Suburban Peers, Suzanne E. Graham, Christine Teague

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This brief examines the complex interplay of family, school, and place factors in the reading achievement levels of third grade students. Third grade reading achievement is critical to later academic and occupational success. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, the authors report that suburban children realize greater gains in reading achievement from kindergarten to Grade 3 than their rural or urban counterparts. Rural students who were struggling readers at the beginning of kindergarten have lower average reading achievement in third grade than both urban and suburban students when children of the same socioeconomic status are compared. The differences …

Teachers Matter: Feelings Of School Connectedness And Positive Youth Development Among Coos County Youth, Nena F. Stracuzzi, Meghan L. Mills

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

Students who feel positively about their education, have a sense of belonging in school, and maintain good relationships with students and staff generally feel connected to their schools. In fact, 63 percent of Coos youth report feeling this way. It is one of the most important factors in promoting socio-emotional well-being and positive youth development, according to authors Nena Stracuzzi and Meghan Mills. Their research, using surveys of Coos students, shows that students who feel more connected to their schools usually get better grades, have higher self-esteem, use fewer substances, and engage in aggressive behaviors less frequently. Their latest brief …

Students In Rural Schools Have Limited Access To Advanced Mathematics Courses, Suzanne E. Graham

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

This Carsey brief reveals that students in rural areas and small towns have less access to higher-level mathematics courses than students in urban settings, which results in serious educational consequences, including lower scores on assessment tests and fewer qualified students entering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) job pipelines.

Student Discipline In New Hampshire Schools , Barbara Wauchope

The Carsey School of Public Policy at the Scholars' Repository

A new analysis of student discipline in New Hampshire schools in the 2007–2008 school year shows that out-of-school suspension rates are higher and statewide expulsion rates are lower than the average. Schools reporting the highest rates of suspensions and expulsions are the smallest in the state and have the highest percentage of students in poverty. This brief is the first in a collaborative series between the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire and the Carsey Institute.