Child welfare courts across the country quickly adapted to conducting remote and virtual hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experience has paved the way for rethinking court as usual as judges navigate returning to physical courtrooms and conducting in-person hearings while maintaining aspects of remote/virtual hearings that have proven beneficial. Research conducted during the pandemic found many legal professionals value remote/virtual hearings and want them to continue. Parties—parents and youth—also value the ability to join hearings online or by phone and the associated cost savings, reduced delays, and fewer disruptions to work or school. Yet, concerns surrounding due process, procedural justice, and access to counsel for parties have also been raised. Continued use of remote/virtual hearings in some capacity is the future for many courts, offering an alternate or expanded way to provide access to justice to court participants. Many courts will adopt an approach that integrates in-court and remote/virtual hearings. Prioritizing hearing quality for all participants is essential in this approach. Benefits include: meeting participants where they are, reducing delays, reducing costs, and improves efficiencies. Drawbacks include: legal representation challenges, isolation, and demands more preparation time.

Every year, millions of people face severe consequences—including arrest, incarceration, fines and fees, and driver’s license suspensions—simply for missing a court date. This is commonly called failure to appear. Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., can impose additional criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment, for missing a court date. While 39 states plus D.C. may consider a person’s intentions in missing court to some degree, four states treat failure to appear as a strict liability offense—no evidence of intent is required to hold people criminally responsible for missing court. In Douglas County, Kansas, from 2017 to 2021, almost a quarter of pretrial jail admissions were due solely to failure to appear. in 2015, about 40% of people charged with low-level offenses, like disorderly conduct or trespassing in a park after hours, missed their court date. But a few simple fixes—like redesigning the city’s summons ticket to prominently display the court date and location at the top of the ticket (instead of at the bottom) and sending text message reminders ahead of court dates—reduced failures to appear by between 13% and 21% from 2016 to 2019.

Each jurisdiction that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024 mathematics assessment receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. The reports in this series provide bulleted text describing overall student results, bar charts showing NAEP achievement levels for selected years in which the state or district participated, and tables displaying results by gender, race/ethnicity, and economically disadvantaged status. For each jurisdiction, a map comparing the average score in 2024 to other states/jurisdictions is displayed. Between 2022 and 2024 for Florida in grade 4 mathematics, average scores increased from 241 to 243 and Florida’s average score was 6 points above the national average score in 2024. For Florida in grade 4 reading, average scores decreased from 225 to 218 and Florida’s average score was 4 points above the national average score in 2024. For Florida in grade 8 mathematics, average scores decreased from 271 to 267 and Florida’s average score was 5 points below the national average score in 2024. For Florida in grade 8 reading, average scores decreased from 260 to 253 and Florida’s average score was 4 points below the national average score in 2024.

A pandemic in 2020 resulted in economic and social disruption of unprecedented scale. Social distancing — or physical distancing while in public spaces — was required, and social media usage spiked globally as people turned to these online spaces for information and connection. Today’s postsecondary students, in particular, are frequently immersed in social media; it can offer them social supports, such as a greater sense of belonging during times of transition and crisis, but also inherent risks, including cyberbullying and online harassment. Although many studies have examined the social connections or supports for learning that college students without disabilities experience by using social media, few studies have explored these phenomena among college students with disabilities, including neurodevelopmental disabilities such as anxiety disorders (e.g., social anxiety, autism, attention deficit disorder) that make socialization difficult for these young adults. It is important that educational research advances understanding of the socialization experiences of these students with disabilities because students’ sense of belonging and peer support is critical to their engagement and success in K-12 and postsecondary schooling.

This study examined the impact of a widely used content-rich literacy curriculum on kindergarteners’ vocabulary, listening comprehension, and content knowledge. In combined findings from two randomized controlled trials, the second being a replication of the first, 47 schools in large urban U.S. districts were randomly assigned to implement Core Knowledge Language Arts: Knowledge Strand (CKLA: Knowledge) or to a waitlist control condition. CKLA: Knowledge focuses instruction on language comprehension through interactive read aloud that systematically build content knowledge. Teachers received two days of professional development workshops, along with light-touch support from facilitators during implementation. Participants included 1,194 kindergarten students, who were administered individual pre- and posttest measures of proximal and standardized vocabulary, listening comprehension, and content knowledge (i.e., science, social studies). After approximately one semester of curricular implementation, CKLA: Knowledge demonstrated positive and significant impacts on proximal vocabulary and science and social studies knowledge. Significant interactions were found for vocabulary and content knowledge, such that children who began the year with relatively higher receptive vocabulary scores derived a greater benefit of learning the words and content knowledge taught in the curriculum. The present work is unique in that it tested the effects of a content-rich literacy curriculum that integrated literacy and content-area instruction and replicated the effects across two randomized controlled trials.

Urban Alliance is a national nonprofit that partners with schools, employers, governments, and philanthropies to provide skills training, mentoring, and paid internships to high school students. It’s flagship program, the High School Internship Program, targets high school seniors who are at risk of disconnecting from economically self-sufficient pathways. The program provides year-round training, paid internships, mentoring, and intensive supports to aid young adults’ post–high school transition to education and employment. The Urban Alliance High School Internship Program does not appear to improve the likelihood of graduating from high school, taking the ACT or SAT, filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), or applying to college. But in each of these areas, there was little room for improvement beyond the control group. There is more room for growth in college enrollment and persistence, but the research team did not find statistically significant effects on either for the full sample. The internship program increased job application comfort, and that increase persisted after two years. Urban Alliance is also associated with a greater likelihood of having a job at some point in the first year after graduation from high school, but the gap between the treatment and control groups shrinks in the second year. Urban Alliance is adapting its program model to increase impact. Given changes in secondary education and workplace contexts, Urban Alliance is adapting its model to emphasize career outcomes. To better advance employment impacts, Urban Alliance is designing sector-specific learning opportunities, engaging young people earlier (as high school juniors), and building onramps to living-wage careers. The program will emphasize sectors such as health care, real estate, and technology services.

The U.S. Census Bureau released an expanded version of Veteran Employment Outcomes (VEO), an experimental data product showing earnings and employment outcomes for veterans of the U.S. armed forces. Launched in 2020, VEO initially covered labor market outcomes for U.S. Army veterans. The update expands VEO coverage to also include data on Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard veterans discharged between 2002 and 2021. (There are not statistics available yet for members of the Space Force, established in December 2019.) These data show earnings and employment outcomes of more than 2.8 million formerly enlisted service members. Coverage includes labor market outcomes one, five and 10 years after discharge, by military occupation, rank, demographics, industry and geography of employment. Among the findings, veterans with more specialized military training and work experience had higher civilian earnings and employment rates than infantry and combat veterans. Findings include that former operational intelligence specialists are among the highest earners after leaving the service. In their first year after service, Army veterans who were operational intelligence specialists typically had average earnings of $55,000 while former infantry veterans average earnings were $33,000. Veterans of the Navy, Marines and Air Force experienced similar gaps in initial median earnings in their first year after service. Former unmanned vehicle systems operators (such as drone operators) also had relatively high pay compared to other military occupations. Average earnings include $52,000 for Army veterans, $79,000 for Marine Corps veterans, and $83,000 for Air Force veterans. The largest share (16%) of new Army and Marine veterans were employed in the Administrative and Support Services sector. The next highest sectors were Retail Trade, Manufacturing and Construction.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) uses a multistep process—called Mail Processing Facility Reviews (MPFR)—to review proposed consolidations to mail processing facilities. As part of that process, USPS provides public notice and an opportunity for public input on proposed consolidations. Since starting the MPFR process in July 2023, USPS has initiated 59 reviews. In May 2024, USPS announced it was pausing all in-process MPFRs until January 2025. The GAO found that the cost and savings analysis (cost estimate) USPS conducts as part of the MPFR process aligned with four selected best practices (i.e., fully or substantially met) but did not align with four others (i.e., partially met, minimally met, or did not meet). The fully or substantially and minimally or not met best practices for a cost estimate include providing evidence that the cost was reviewed and accepted by management, containing a few minor mistakes, documenting all costs influencing ground rules and assumptions, and including a sensitivity analysis. The GAO also found that USPS's MPFR documentation lists few ground rules and assumptions related to costs and does not explain how USPS determined the assumptions or describe some methodologies used in the analysis.

This report presents maternal mortality rates for 2023 based on data from the National Vital Statistics System. A maternal death is defined by the World Health Organization as, “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes”. Maternal mortality rates—the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births—are shown in this report by age group and race and Hispanic origin. In 2023, maternal mortality rates decreased significantly for White non-Hispanic and Hispanic women. The observed decrease for Asian non-Hispanic and increase for Black non-Hispanic women was not statistically significant. In 2023, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births and was significantly higher than rates for White (14.5), Hispanic (12.4), and Asian (10.7) women. Rates decreased significantly for women ages 25–39 and age 40 and older between 2022 and 2023. Rates in 2023 were 12.5 deaths per 100,000 live births for women younger than age 25, 18.1 for those ages 25–39, and 59.8 for those age 40 and older. The rate for women age 40 and older was nearly five times higher than the rate for women younger than age 25. Differences in the rates between age groups were statistically significant.

Referrals to peer support (PS) can help families of children with special health care needs in providing emotional support, reducing feelings of stress and anxiety, and improving the care experience. This study aimed to gain providers’ perspectives about PS referrals for families of children with special health care needs, including their perspectives on logistics of, barriers to, and facilitators of making referrals as well as the perceived impacts of PS referrals. Respondents offered a variety of PS referrals inside and outside their institutions, tailoring referrals to each family’s needs and preferences. Social workers and family liaisons were most commonly responsible for making PS referrals. Respondents found that care team collaboration and ease of sharing information about PS resources among colleagues facilitated the referral process. Respondents noted a need for more PS resources, including funding, education, and the need for a network where providers can identify PS resources. Encouraging PS program information-sharing within and across organizations could help connect more families to PS services. Future research should assess families’ experiences with PS referrals and services to understand approaches that can best meet their needs for information, instrumental, and emotional supports. A majority of pediatric subspecialists (over 85%) hold positive views about peer support for families with children having special health care needs. Despite favorable opinions, only 40% of practices frequently refer families to peer support services. Barriers to referrals include limited knowledge of available resources, time constraints, staffing limitations, and the absence of institutional peer support programs.

Mental health disorders are the leading cause of childhood disability worldwide. This paper examines the impact of a relatively common household stressor on child mental health: the presence of a younger sibling with a physical disability. Using Danish administrative data from families with at least 3 children, this paper focuses on differences between first and second-born children in families with and without a 3rd child with a disability. Second-born children in these families spend a larger fraction of their early childhood in families that may be under stress. Researchers found that second-born children are 11% more likely to use mental health services than first-born children. Researchers also found there is a 19% increase in psychiatric visits and a 16% increase in the use of psychiatric medications.