School Start Times, Delinquency, and Substance Use: A Criminological Perspective
Research finds a lack of sleep during adolescence is associated with a variety of negative outcomes and suggests that early school start times contribute to this problem. Criminologists have largely overlooked the relevance of school start times for adolescent delinquency and substance use, precluding multidisciplinary collaborations between criminologists and other social and health scientists that might further elucidate emerging policy initiatives. We provide a theoretically informed criminological perspective explicating the mechanisms through which delaying school start times may reduce delinquency and substance use. Two pathways are proposed: one focused on self-control and another on unstructured socializing with peers. After discussing evidence supporting the pathways, this article outlines a research agenda for criminologists to contribute to understudied portions of the model. (Rutgers University-Camden)
Parents Deserve Clear Information About Student Growth in Schools
As important partners in student and school performance, parents deserve to be empowered with student academic growth. With this information, parents are equipped to better advocate for their students and schools by understanding how learning is changing over time. To help put growth data to work, DQC and the National PTA created a brief that outlines what parents need to know about this information.
An Analysis Of Achievement Gaps In Every School In America Shows That Poverty Is The Biggest Hurdle
Here’s a tale of three cities: Atlanta, New York, and Detroit. In all three cities, there is a high degree of racial segregation in schools. White students go to schools with relatively few black and Hispanic students. Black and Hispanic students attend schools that don’t have many white students. When Sean Reardon, a sociologist at Stanford University, measures the racial isolation in a quantitative way, he finds that the schools in the three cities are “equally racially segregated.”
The Push to Get More Teachers of Color in Special Education Classrooms
It’s a constant struggle for school districts across the country to find qualified special education teachers. An extra challenge: finding special educators of color to help meet the needs of a student population that can be disproportionately nonwhite. Just over 82 percent of special education teachers in public schools are white, according to 2011–2012 federal data, the most recent available. Meanwhile, only about half of students receiving special education services are white, according to 2017-18 data. Yet teacher diversity matters: Decades of research has shown that students often perform better academically when they are taught by teachers of the same race.
