Beating the Odds VIII, An Analysis of Student Performance and Achievement Gaps on State Assessments, Results from the 2006-2007 School Year

This eighth edition of Beating the Odds examines student achievement in math and reading through spring 2007. Publication date: April 2008

   Download analysis- 31 pages
       
   Download city-by-city data- 465 pages

   Download individual city-by-city profiles




Research Brief: Supporting Successful Transitions to High School

The transition between middle and high school is a defining moment for students on whether they drop out of school or progress to graduation. A majority of the students who eventually fail to graduate fall through the cracks during this transition period. This research brief gives several recommendations on how schools and school districts can help students make successful transitions to high school. Publication date: March 2008

 Download research brief- 14 pages

Senior Urban Education Research Fellowship

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the Council of the Great City Schools more than $2.5 million to establish a Senior Fellowship in Urban Education.  The goal of this program is to partner high caliber researchers with leaders in urban school districts in order to produce a coherent body of high quality, policy relevant research that addresses the primary challenges facing urban school districts today. This collaboration aims to better understand the problems in urban education and to further develop sustainable solutions based on scientific inquiry into what works to improve academic outcomes. There will be three $100,000 fellowships granted each year, from 2007 through 2009, following three rounds of competition Each round of research will generate three reports, which the Council will compile into a compendium and disseminate widely. At the end of the project, the Council will create a report synthesizing key lessons for urban districts.

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IES Urban Education Task Force

The Institute for Education Sciences (IES), in consultation with the Council, has established an Urban Education Research Advisory Task Force, consisting of senior scholars in areas critical to urban education reform and practitioners with substantial experience in leadership positions within the Council’s districts. The Council Executive Director and Research Director are “ex officio” members of the task force, with the Executive Director serving as the chair of the committee. The committee will work with IES to establish a research agenda in urban education for IES that is both “rigorous” and “relevant” to the needs and challenges urban school districts face today, help IES design and implement projects, identify and support opportunities for collaboration between researchers and urban educators, and find new ways to advance the use of empirical evidence in urban school reform.