Education

A new study suggests that paying teachers based on student test scores may hurt student performance in some subject areas.

Immigrants, politicians across the spectrum regularly declare, help make America a success. The United States was founded by immigrants and their children on the idea that anyone, regardless of birth, can achieve anything.

But some groups — that is, American immigrants from certain countries — appear more successful than others. Why? The answer, a new paper explains, depends largely on the proportion of an immigrant’s home country population that moves to the U.S.

Teenagers in wealthy American suburbs seem to have it all: a nice home, great opportunities. More often than other adolescents, they also seem to have a taste for drugs and alcohol.

The issue: College students who want financial aid from the federal government must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, most commonly known as the FAFSA. The information provided on that form determines whether a student qualifies for Pell Grants, federally-subsidized education loans and work-study programs. Many colleges and universities also require students to submit a FAFSA to qualify for other aid, including grants and scholarships the school offers.

The issue: As news and technology continue to evolve, media organizations and scholars are curious how these changes affect how people use and access news. A new study compares new consumption by adolescents and their parents.

As the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, education leaders are pushing for greater diversity among public school teachers. A growing body of research suggests children benefit in many ways from having a teacher of the same race or ethnicity. Published studies, for example, suggest black students do better in reading and math and are less likely to be suspended from school when they have black teachers.

A new study looks at how special education students and students who are learning English spend the summer. Researchers want to understand why some children forget what they learned while they are away from school.