Reassessing the Role of Standardized Tests in University Admissions

 There is a long-running debate over using standardized test scores to inform college and graduate admissions decisions, with some arguing that test scores are an important signal of academic strength and others arguing that they are biased and exclusionary. 

This study revisits this issue by analyzing a novel dataset of more than 13,000 applications over roughly a decade to a large public policy master’s program in the United States. 

Consistent with past work, the authors find that GRE scores substantially improve predictions of first-year grades relative to predictions based on GPA alone. However, when these predictions are used to inform admissions decisions, they find that test scores only modestly improve the expected academic quality of admitted students. 

The gap shrinks further when they augment the test-aware and test-blind predictive models with more fine-grained information available in student transcripts and other application materials. Specifically, they estimate that incorporating standardized test scores in our setting would result in admitting students who perform, on average, only 0.03 grade points better. 

They show—both empirically and theoretically—that this pattern stems from a subtle distinction between predictions and decisions. Even with improved predictions, the downstream admissions decisions are often the same; and where there are differences, they often involve selecting between similarly qualified applicants. 

The results indicate that standardized test scores may be less important for university admissions than previously suggested.

The Labor Market Value of Community College Bachelor’s Degrees

 Community colleges are more financially, academically, and geographically accessible than four-year institutions. Yet despite most community college students intending to earn a bachelor’s degree, few successfully transfer and complete one. Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) programs have emerged as an alternative pathway, allowing community colleges to confer bachelor’s degrees directly. However, little is known about how employers value these credentials in the labor market. 

To address this question, the authors of this study conducted the first resume audit study of CCB degrees, submitting fictitious applications to real job vacancies while experimentally varying applicants’ educational credentials, degree-granting institutions, and demographic signals. 

In this pilot study, they focused on the early childhood education (ECE) labor market, a rapidly growing CCB field characterized by labor shortages and increasing educational requirements. They find that employers view CCB degrees similarly to both traditional bachelor’s and associate degrees, with statistically indistinguishable interview-request rates across degree types. 

A text analysis of employer callback messages reveals little evidence that employers communicate differently with CCB applicants, while a net-price simulation suggests that sticker-price comparisons substantially overstate the affordability advantage of CCB programs. 

Together, these findings provide new evidence on the labor market value and affordability of CCB degrees and inform an ongoing large-scale audit study across additional fields and labor markets.

Racial Disparities in Education During and Following the Pandemic

 This study examines pandemic related racial and ethnic disparities in test scores, absenteeism, and disciplinary incidents for K-12 students in the State of Connecticut through the 2024-25 school year.

Consistent with prior studies, the authors find persistent negative effects of the pandemic on test scores, as well as substantial disparities in test scores along racial and ethnic lines.

For middle school, they also find persistent post-pandemic increases in both severe disciplinary incidents overall and racial and ethnic disparities in severe discipline incidents. However, they document substantial recovery in racial and ethnic disparities in attendance rates and chronic absenteeism by 2024-25.

For all outcomes, most of the increases in disparities are associated with Black and Latinx students attending schools that had worse pre-pandemic outcomes and higher pre-pandemic shares of students who are either economically disadvantaged or face learning barriers.

Federal Support to Help Neighborhoods Thrive: Promise Neighborhoods Grantees

 

Today, the Institute of Education Sciences released Federal Support to Help Neighborhoods Thrive: Services, Challenges, and Outcomes of Promise Neighborhoods Grantees (NCEE 2026-006).   Children in the nation’s most distressed neighborhoods often face complex, interconnected challenges stemming from persistent poverty and a lack of coordinated supports and services to help them achieve. The Promise Neighborhoods program aims to improve the academic and developmental outcomes of these children by enabling a grantee organization and its partners to identify priority needs and deliver associated services. Representing the U.S. Department of Education’s largest commitment to “place-based” funding, the program invests substantial resources in struggling communities to address their potentially wide-ranging but specific difficulties. This report assesses the first 25 Promise Neighborhood grantees, covering awards between 2011 and 2018. The report describes these grantees and their neighborhoods and assesses how grantees sought to address neighborhood needs and navigate potential implementation challenges. For grantees that received awards in 2011 and 2012, the report also examines whether children living in Promise Neighborhoods experienced changes in educational outcomes.  Findings include:  The first decade of grantees and their neighborhoods varied in resources and scale; despite these differences, neighborhoods often had high rates of poverty and high-priority needs related to improving children’s academic skills and kindergarten readiness.   Most grantees allocated a majority of their funds to adding and expanding service offerings in their Promise Neighborhoods. Services were intended to address a broad set of needs as required by the program, not just the highest priority needs of their neighborhoods.  Most grantees reported that it was difficult to implement and monitor Promise Neighborhoods services due to a lack of school and district involvement, and many grantees faced broader grant management challenges as well.  Even though educational outcomes are central to the program, changes in math and English language arts achievement, attendance, and high school graduation during the grant years were similar for schools in early Promise Neighborhoods and other comparable schools.  To access the report, please visit: https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/resource-library/report/evaluation-report/federal-support-help-neighborhoods-thrive-services-challenges-and-outcomes-promise-neighborhoods.

Avoid intentional screen time for under-twos

Using screens during the first 1001 days of life can lead to developmental concerns for the next generation, researchers warn.

Digital screen time for under-twos is associated with long-term impacts on health and quality of life, and limited benefits, according to the most comprehensive systematic review yet of global peer-reviewed research into babies’ screen time, published today (Saturday 27 June).  

This has implications for a whole generation and their future quality of life.

Rafe Clayton, School of Media and Communication

Based on the findings, the iADDICT group of researchers from four UK universities recommends that under-twos should not receive any intentional, regular screen time. The academics are calling for any guidance that points under-twos to shared screen time, or suggests that screen technology is suitable for “all ages”, to be reconsidered.   

Researchers stress the findings reflect the pressures of modern digital environments rather than individual parenting choices. They hope the review will provide caregivers with the most up-to-date evidence so they can understand risks and seek support sooner. 

Commissioned by the 1001 Critical Days Foundation, the research was conducted by academics across disciplines of mental health, physical health and social science from the University of Leeds, Leeds Trinity University, Aston University and Loughborough University. The study also invited 174 parents across the UK to share their views on young children’s screen use and their concerns around it through an online survey and focus group interviews. 

Report co-lead Rafe Clayton, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at the University of Leeds, said: “We have learned that screen use among the under-twos is a global concern that in 2026 is not being adequately addressed. This has implications for a whole generation and their future quality of life. 

“Screen time guidelines exist for children but are not being followed, in part because the adults who are setting the precedents for societal use are themselves without guidance. As we experience the digital revolution, problematic screen use among adults is common, yet the Government is not currently providing screen time guidelines for adults in the UK, despite the British people wanting them and expecting them. As role models, unguided adults are inadvertently teaching children and babies to develop unhealthy habits and relationships with screen devices and this has to change.” 

The research found a lack of guidance from health professionals for parents about screen use. The researchers believe this is a reminder of the discrepancies between government and healthcare guidance and the real challenges parents face on a daily basis, and call for more targeted support.  

Assessing risk for babies  

Existing guidance from the World Health Organization (2019) and the American Academy of Paediatrics (2024), which recommends that under-twos avoid screen time, is already being exceeded globally during the critical first 1001 days of life, from pregnancy to age two, according to the report.  

The harms of this include reduced opportunities to bond with caregivers, reduced play with peers, limited language development, increased risk of overstimulation, difficulty sleeping, eye health implications, increased risk of childhood obesity and reliance on devices for emotional regulation. However, the review does not establish causal links between screen use and specific developmental conditions. 

The researchers are calling for the creation of a baby screen time risk assessment in collaboration with policymakers, healthcare workers and early years practitioners. This could help services to provide targeted support, guide families toward interactive alternatives, and intervene where developmental vulnerabilities may be emerging. 

Report co-lead Carmen Clayton, Professor of Family and Cultural Dynamics at Leeds Trinity University, said: “Screen time is heavily interwoven into the lives of many families throughout the day. Caregivers are calling for more guidance, but professional support is limited. The Government must consider how to engage with families better about problematic screen use, whilst being sensitive to the fear of judgement that many parents face when opening up about such issues.” 

Tips for parents 

More research is needed into which strategies are most effective for parents and caregivers wanting to reduce and cut out babies’ screen time. But the following strategies from the review have evidenced benefits:  

• Taking children outdoors to spend time in nature prevents screen time and can benefit physical development and eye health. 
• Avoiding using screens at mealtimes could correlate with healthier eating habits. 
• Access to non-digital toys is beneficial for reducing screen time and improving development. 
• Spending time in the physical presence of others – meeting, interacting and playing with other people – supports social development. 

A wake-up call for society 

The review also found that parent and caregiver screen time correlates with babies’ screen time, but the researchers emphasise that parents should not be the focus of blame or criticism here. Digital screens are embedded in our lives – from working, to buying groceries, accessing healthcare and communicating with friends and family – so passive screen exposure is inevitable. 

Families are navigating this challenge without the information and support they need. The responsibility cannot rest solely on their shoulders.  

Dame Andrea Leadsom, Founder of 1001 Critical Days Foundation

To have healthy human futures, the researchers say we need to sustainably change our relationships with digital screens – including smartphones, tablets, TVs and games consoles – as a society. The first steps to societal change are focusing on understanding adult screen time thresholds, and reconsidering any guidance on screen time for children. 

Dame Andrea Leadsom, Founder of 1001 Critical Days Foundation, said: "This landmark review is a wake-up call. The evidence increasingly suggests that screens offer limited benefits for babies and may carry significant risks during the first 1001 days, the most important period of human development. Parents must not be blamed for a problem they did not create. 

"Screens are now part of everyday life and many families are navigating this challenge without the information and support they need. The responsibility cannot rest solely on their shoulders.  

"That is why every family should have access to a Best Start Family Hub, where they could access trusted advice and practical help during their baby's earliest years. 

"Technology companies must play their part too. Parents should not be presented with content that is labelled or promoted as suitable for babies when the evidence points to the contrary. It is time for a more honest approach to how content is promoted. 

“Every baby should experience the best start in life. Helping parents navigate the digital world is an essential part of making that ambition a reality.” 

The report itself is not peer-reviewed but the full list of peer-reviewed studies referenced is available in the report.   

Two weeks of focused journaling = months of depression relief in young adults

 Journaling about one’s identities from childhood through early adulthood may offer an accessible, low-cost way to help young adults struggling with depression, according to new Cornell psychology research.

In a study involving more than 100 people aged 18 to 29 experiencing moderate to severe depression, participants who reflected on their life story reported significantly reduced symptoms two months later, compared to a control group.

As a possible complement to therapy, the researchers said, the two-week journaling exercise could be a promising strategy for adults open to reflecting on their past, present and future identities – but perhaps less so for those prone to ruminating about negative experiences.

“Something about journaling based on your identities and connecting them through time – throughout your life story – appears to be psychologically beneficial,” said Christopher Davis, a doctoral candidate in the field of developmental psychology affiliated with the Purpose and Identity Processes Lab. “Connecting yourself back to yourself in such an explicit manner, and thinking about how you can take that forward, seems to be therapeutic.”

Davis is the first author of “Strengthening Self-Continuity to Reduce Depressive Symptoms and Derailment: A Multiphasic Mixed-Methods Randomized Controlled Trial,” published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Co-authors are Emma Levinbook ’26; Sydnie Spearman, a therapist with LifeStance Health; Cassondra Lyman, a doctoral candidate in the field of social psychology and member of the Better Outcomes Laboratory; and Anthony Burrow, the Ferris Family Associate Professor of Life Course Studies in the Department of Psychology and College of Human Ecology, and director of the Purpose and Identity Processes Lab.

The new research advances prior work finding that people who can form a thematically coherent narrative about their lives may be psychologically stronger, compared to people whose life stories feel more fragmented.

Focusing on young adults – the fastest-growing group among the 29% of U.S. adults reporting they’d been diagnosed with depression in 2023 – the study tested whether bolstering a sense of identity and continuity could reduce depression and “derailment,” a perceived mismatch between current and past identities.

A first study phase measured depression, derailment and self-continuity among nearly 260 participants recruited online. From that group, 111 qualified to participate in the journaling project because they had at least moderate depression symptoms, based on a commonly used scale. Half were randomly assigned to a control group that wrote about everyday activities, like a trip to the grocery store, and the other half to the experimental group.

Over two weeks, the latter group responded to five prompts asking about their motivations, passions or goals at different life stages – early childhood, middle school, high school, college and their desired future – and how those experiences affected their current direction. Participants summarized their identity during each period in a word – examples included “sapling,” “determined” and “inquisitive” – and reviewing those words later appeared to be a powerful experience for many, Davis said. Symptoms were measured during the program and both two weeks and two months after completion.

Results showed that two months later, the group that reflected on their identities at different points in time on average reported feeling significantly less depressed, less derailed and more connected to their past selves than the control group, which returned to baseline levels. That suggested the reported improvement was related not just to the act of journaling but to its content.

In a final phase, the researchers investigated why many participants experienced fewer depressive symptoms, but about a quarter saw no change. Their analysis of journal entries showed that those making the biggest gains had engaged in “reflective self-evaluation,” responding more introspectively, including recalling some positive aspects of their past, like a college semester of self-discovery. Those who benefitted least displayed “ruminative brooding,” with minimalist journal entries emphasizing more negative experiences – a high school audition that heightened feelings of isolation.

“More introspective respondents did something we don’t typically do in daily life that is more, ‘Go, go, go, what’s the next step,’ rather than, ‘Where did I come from, and what parts of that story do I want to bring with me into the future,’” Davis said. “Taking a step back and looking through your life may help you realize, ‘I’m actually not that far off track.’”

The team said additional research could fine-tune the journaling methods and address limits to their study. But they said the intervention as is could give clinicians a useful tool alongside structured care.

“This work demonstrates an accessible, actionable way to address this growing issue that we see in emerging adults of simultaneous increases in depression and loss of identity,” Davis said. “If someone is willing to do this, these journaling prompts could offer a promising avenue for symptom relief for a vast number of people.”

---

Journal

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

DOI

10.1037/ccp0001006 

K–3 Teachers Build Reading Comprehension Using Evidence-Based Strategies

 

The Institute of Education Sciences has released the Toolkit for Teaching Reading Comprehension in Early Elementary Grades. Developed by REL West, this Toolkit is designed to support a schoolwide effort to improve reading comprehension for students in kindergarten through third grade. Developing literacy skills in the early grades provides a foundation for later academic success—yet recent NAEP scores indicate that many students across the United States continue to struggle. The Toolkit includes the following: Five online professional learning modules engaging K–3 teachers through a Learning Cycle of Learn, Plan, Apply, Reflect, and Refine—with videos, tools, and classroom-ready resources. A School Leader Guide with an overview, administrator role guidance, and teacher support tips. A Facilitator Guide and online modules to help coaches organize professional learning and encourage integration of WWC recommendations. Family and caregiver resources to extend reading comprehension support at home. The Toolkit is designed to help educators implement practices recommended by the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide, Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade. It is designed as a flexible 5–7-month professional learning experience, taking approximately 26 hours spread over 17–26 weeks. To access the Toolkit, please visit https://ies.ed.gov/regional-educational-laboratories-toolkits.