Test Can Tell How Well Kindergarteners Will Do in Schools Later On

Charts That Changed the Way We Think About Our Schools in 2017

Every year, education researchers force us to re-examine cherished assumptions. In 2017, we started thinking differently about the importance of high-quality preschool. We began talking about the boon to minority students of a more diverse teacher workforce. We questioned the country’s skyrocketing high school graduation rates. And we took a second look at system-wide reform efforts in historically dysfunctional school districts. Here are some of the most memorable charts that we found this year: 30 million well-paying jobs — that don’t require bachelor’s degrees (see main image) A college education is increasingly regarded as a prerequisite for a decent income and a middle-class lifestyle. That’s one reason high school graduation rates have skyrocketed in recent years even as many worry that unprepared teenagers are being illegitimately advanced. But according to research from Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce, 30 million jobs exist across the country (though mostly clustered in the South and West) that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. Even top-performing girls may not think they’re smart The academic news has continuously improved for girls over the past few decades, to the extent that they now outperform boys in tests of all subjects, at all age levels. Yet according to new research from the advocacy group Ruling Our Experiences, many of the best female students still don’t believe in their own excellence. Read the top 10 charts that changed the way we think about education in 2017 by Kevin Mahnken and Andrew Brownstein at The 74.