Research on school climate; shifts in race, income and gender-based achievement gaps; learning tools and approaches; and more appeared in the 20 most popular journal articles published by the American Educational Research Association in 2016. Based on the number of times they were accessed online, the following were the most popular AERA research articles published in 2016.
Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?
Researchers found that over a 12-year period, kindergarten classes have become increasingly like first grade. Kindergarten teachers in 2010 have much higher expectations of their students than in 1998, and their classrooms have become more similar to first-grade classes from the ‘90s.
AERA Open, January 2016
Daphna Bassok, Scott Latham, Anna Rorem
Discretion and Disproportionality: Explaining the Underrepresentation of High-Achieving Students of Color in Gifted Programs
This study found that even among elementary school students with high standardized test scores, black students are half as likely as their white peers to be assigned to gifted programs in math and reading. However, when black students are taught by a black classroom teacher, this gap largely disappears.
AERA Open, January 2016
Jason A. Grissom, Christopher Redding
Recent Trends in Income, Racial, and Ethnic School Readiness Gaps at Kindergarten Entry
This study found that in a sharp reversal of a decades-long trend, the gap in kindergarten academic readiness between high- and low-income students narrowed by 10 percent to 16 percent between 1998 and 2010.
AERA Open, August 2016
Sean F. Reardon, Ximena A. Portilla
Socioeconomic Gaps in Early Childhood Experiences: 1998 to 2010
This study found that between 1998 and 2010, low- and high-income families significantly increased the amount of time they spend engaging in educational experiences with their children, with the biggest changes seen among the lowest-income children.
AERA Open, August 2016
Daphna Bassok, Jenna E. Finch, RaeHyuck Lee, Sean F. Reardon, Jane Waldfogel
The Politics of Achievement Gaps: U.S. Public Opinion on Race-Based and Wealth-Based Differences in Test Scores
Researchers found that when asked about wealth- and race-based academic achievement gaps, Americans are more concerned about the gap between poor and wealthy students, more supportive of policies that might close it, and more prepared to explain the reasons behind it.
Educational Researcher, August 2016
Jon Valant, Daniel A. Newark