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Inequality in Key Skills of City Youth: An International Comparison

Edited by Stephen Lamb and Russell W. Rumberger

This groundbreaking research volume addresses the topic of educational inequality from a global perspective. It includes 16 chapters from an international group of scholars who examine how well city school systems from around the world are preparing young people, particularly poor and minority students, with the skills they will need for further study, work, and life overall. While skills in key domains such as science, math, language, and civics have been center stage in international comparisons, there has been growing recognition of the effects that education has on the development of broader sets of capabilities such as social and emotional skills (also known as “noncognitive” or “21st-century” skills) that can affect the success of students in school and beyond. This volume aims to address the shortage of international data on the wide range of skills that students need to learn, enabling researchers to compare the types and causes of educational inequality in skills within and between cities.

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Volatility in State Spending for Higher Education

Edited by Jennifer A. Delaney

The severity of cuts and the unpredictability in state funding for higher education have garnered headlines across the nation since the turn of the present century. In this context, the authors in this new groundbreaking volume argue that too little attention is paid to the consequences of volatility in funding, as most discussions focus on levels of funding. Their research addresses an important blind spot in the academic literature since predictability matters—to institutions, students, families, and states. In addition, the risks of operating in an uncertain financial environment have led to behaviors that are not always in the best interests of states, institutions, faculty, students, or the public good.

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Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers

Edited by Conra D. Gist and Travis J. Bristol

Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers are underrepresented in public schools across the United States of America, with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color making up roughly 37% of the adult population and 50% of children, but just 19% of the teaching force. Yet research over decades has indicated their positive impact on student learning and social and emotional development, particularly for Students of Color and Indigenous Students. A first of its kind, the Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers addresses key issues and obstacles to ethnoracial diversity across the life course of teachers’ careers, such as recruitment and retention, professional development, and the role of minority-serving institutions. Including chapters from leading researchers and policy makers, the Handbook is designed to be an important resource to help bridge the gap between scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. In doing so, this research will serve as a launching pad for discussion and change at this critical moment in our country’s history. The volume’s goal is to drive conversations around the issue of ethnoracial teacher diversity and to provide concrete practices for policy makers and practitioners to enable them to make evidence-based decisions for supporting an ethnoracially diverse educator workforce, now and in the future.

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Fairness in Educational and Psychological Testing: Examining Theoretical Research, Practice, and Policy Implications of the 2014 Standards

Edited by Jessica L. Jonson and Kurt F. Geisinger

This book examines scholarship, best practice methodologies, and examples of policy and practice from various professional fields in education and psychology to illuminate the elevated emphasis on test fairness in the 2014 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Together, the chapters provide a survey of critical and current issues with a view to broadening and contextualizing the fairness guidelines for different types of tests, test takers, and testing contexts.  Researchers and practitioners from school psychology, clinical/counseling psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and education will find the content useful in thinking more acutely about fairness in testing in their work.  The book also has chapters that address implications for policy makers, and, in some cases, the public. These discussions are offered as a starting point for future scholarship on the theoretical, empirical, and applied aspects of fairness in testing particularly given the ever-increasing importance of addressing equity in testing.  

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Advancing Knowledge and Building Capacity for Early Childhood Research

Edited by Sharon Ryan, M. Elizabeth Graue, Vivian L Gadsden, and Felice J. Levine
November, 2020

This volume employs a multidisciplinary approach to research on a high-profile topic very much on the agenda of state and national policy leaders: early childhood development and education. It aims to reflect how scholarly perspectives shape the contours of knowledge generation, and to illuminate the gaps that prevent productive interchange among scholars who value equity in the opportunities available to young children, their families, and teachers/caregivers. The editors and authors identify and prioritize critical research areas; assess the state of the field in terms of promising research designs and methodologies; and identify capacity-building needs and potential cross-group collaborations.

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• View the Table of Contents
• The ebook is available on AERA’s ebook platform. 

Condition or Process? Researching Race in Education

Edited by Adrienne D. Dixson, Gloria J. Ladson-Billings, Cecilia E. Suarez, William T. Trent, and James D. Anderson
May, 2020

The question of why we need to think about how we research race demands a conceptualization of race that captures both its social construction and its temporal evolution. We need both an understanding of race and clarity about how we talk about it in our design and conduct of research, and in how we interpret and apply it in our findings. As a field, we can use research on race and racism in education to help construct social change. Our purpose with this volume is to underscore the persistence of the discriminatory actions—processes—and the normalization of the use of race (and class)—conditions—to justify the existing and growing disparity between the quality of life and opportunity for middle-class and more affluent Whites and that for people of color and people of color who live in poverty. As editors of this volume, we wonder what more we could learn and understand about the process and condition of race if we dare to ask bold questions about race and racism and commit to methods and analyses that respect the experiences and knowledges of our research participants and partners.

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• View the Table of Contents
• The ebook is available on AERA’s ebook platform.

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Improving Research-Based Knowledge of College Promise Programs (2020)

Edited by Laura W. Perna and Edward J. Smith
January 2020

Also known as “free tuition” and “free college” programs, college promise programs are an emerging approach for increasing higher education attainment of people in particular places. To maximize the effectiveness of their efforts and investments, program leaders and policymakers need research-based evidence to inform program design, implementation, and evaluation. With the goal of addressing this knowledge need, this volume presents a collection of research studies that examine several categories and variations of college promise programs. These theoretically grounded empirical investigations use varied data sources and analytic techniques to examine the effects of college promise programs that have different design features and operate in different places. Individually and collectively, the results of these studies have implications for the design and implementation of promise programs if these programs are to create meaningful improvements in attainment for people from underserved groups. The authors’ efforts also provide a useful foundation for the next generation of college promise research.

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• View the Table of Contents
• Read the editors' introduction
• Watch a short video of the coeditors discussing the book

Standards for Educational & Psychological Testing
Estándares para las evaluaciones educativas y psicológicas
(New Edition)

The 2014 edition of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing is now available in English and Spanish. The Testing Standards are a product of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). Published collaboratively by the three organizations since 1966, it represents the gold standard in guidance on testing in the United States and in many other countries. 

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing are now open access.
Click here to access downloadable files.

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Watch the Webcast and View Hill Briefing Materials

Now Available in Spanish!