TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Christopher Edley, Jr. A2 - Judith Koenig A2 - Natalie Nielsen A2 - Constance Citro TI - Monitoring Educational Equity SN - DO - 10.17226/25389 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25389/monitoring-educational-equity PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education KW - Surveys and Statistics AB - Disparities in educational attainment among population groups have characterized the United States throughout its history. Education is sometimes characterized as the "great equalizer," but to date, the country has not found ways to successfully address the adverse effects of socioeconomic circumstances, prejudice, and discrimination that suppress performance for some groups. To ensure that the pursuit of equity encompasses both the goals to which the nation aspires for its children and the mechanisms to attain those goals, a revised set of equity indicators is needed. Measures of educational equity often fail to account for the impact of the circumstances in which students live on their academic engagement, academic progress, and educational attainment. Some of the contextual factors that bear on learning include food and housing insecurity, exposure to violence, unsafe neighborhoods, adverse childhood experiences, and exposure to environmental toxins. Consequently, it is difficult to identify when intervention is necessary and how it should function. A revised set of equity indicators should highlight disparities, provide a way to explore potential causes, and point toward possible improvements. Monitoring Educational Equity proposes a system of indicators of educational equity and presents recommendations for implementation. This report also serves as a framework to help policy makers better understand and combat inequity in the United States' education system. Disparities in educational opportunities reinforce, and often amplify, disparities in outcomes throughout people's lives. Thus, it is critical to ensure that all students receive comprehensive supports that level the playing field in order to improve the well-being of underrepresented individuals and the nation. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Martín-José Sepúlveda A2 - Rebekah Hutton TI - Shaping Summertime Experiences: Opportunities to Promote Healthy Development and Well-Being for Children and Youth SN - DO - 10.17226/25546 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25546/shaping-summertime-experiences-opportunities-to-promote-healthy-development-and-well PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Behavioral and Social Sciences AB - For children and youth, summertime presents a unique break from the traditional structure, resources, and support systems that exist during the school year. For some students, this time involves opportunities to engage in fun and enriching activities and programs, while others face additional challenges as they lose a variety of supports, including healthy meals, medical care, supervision, and structured programs that enhance development. Children that are limited by their social, economic, or physical environments during the summer months are at higher risk for worse academic, health, social and emotional, and safety outcomes. In contrast, structured summertime activities and programs support basic developmental needs and positive outcomes for children and youth who can access and afford these programs. These discrepancies in summertime experiences exacerbate pre-existing academic inequities. While further research is needed regarding the impact of summertime on developmental domains outside of the academic setting, extensive literature exists regarding the impact of summertime on academic development trajectories. However, this knowledge is not sufficiently applied to policy and practice, and it is important to address these inequalities. Shaping Summertime Experiences examines the impact of summertime experiences on the developmental trajectories of school-age children and youth across four areas of well-being, including academic learning, social and emotional development, physical and mental health, and health-promoting and safety behaviors. It also reviews the state of science and available literature regarding the impact of summertime experiences. In addition, this report provides recommendations to improve the experiences of children over the summertime regarding planning, access and equity, and opportunities for further research and data collection. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Jennifer E. DeVoe A2 - Amy Geller A2 - Yamrot Negussie TI - Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity SN - DO - 10.17226/25466 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25466/vibrant-and-healthy-kids-aligning-science-practice-and-policy-to PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine AB - Children are the foundation of the United States, and supporting them is a key component of building a successful future. However, millions of children face health inequities that compromise their development, well-being, and long-term outcomes, despite substantial scientific evidence about how those adversities contribute to poor health. Advancements in neurobiological and socio-behavioral science show that critical biological systems develop in the prenatal through early childhood periods, and neurobiological development is extremely responsive to environmental influences during these stages. Consequently, social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors significantly affect a child's health ecosystem and ability to thrive throughout adulthood. Vibrant and Healthy Kids: Aligning Science, Practice, and Policy to Advance Health Equity builds upon and updates research from Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity (2017) and From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000). This report provides a brief overview of stressors that affect childhood development and health, a framework for applying current brain and development science to the real world, a roadmap for implementing tailored interventions, and recommendations about improving systems to better align with our understanding of the significant impact of health equity. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Emily A. Callahan TI - A Health Equity Approach to Obesity Efforts: Proceedings of a Workshop SN - DO - 10.17226/25409 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25409/a-health-equity-approach-to-obesity-efforts-proceedings-of-a PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Health and Medicine KW - Food and Nutrition AB - The obesity crisis in the United States disproportionately affects some demographic groups more than others. Contextual influences on obesity are complex and include an individual's weight-related behaviors and outcomes, the intermediate variables that influence these behaviors and outcomes, and broader, upstream historical, social, economic, physical, and policy contexts. The National Academies convened a workshop on April 1, 2019 to explore the history of health equity issues in demographic groups that have above-average obesity risk and to consider principles and approaches to address these issues as part of obesity prevention and treatment efforts. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. ER - TY - BOOK AU - National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine A2 - Lorelle L. Espinosa A2 - Kent McGuire A2 - Leigh Miles Jackson TI - Minority Serving Institutions: America's Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce SN - DO - 10.17226/25257 PY - 2019 UR - https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25257/minority-serving-institutions-americas-underutilized-resource-for-strengthening-the-stem PB - The National Academies Press CY - Washington, DC LA - English KW - Education KW - Industry and Labor KW - Policy for Science and Technology AB - There are over 20 million young people of color in the United States whose representation in STEM education pathways and in the STEM workforce is still far below their numbers in the general population. Their participation could help re-establish the United States' preeminence in STEM innovation and productivity, while also increasing the number of well-educated STEM workers. There are nearly 700 minority-serving institutions (MSIs) that provide pathways to STEM educational success and workforce readiness for millions of students of color—and do so in a mission-driven and intentional manner. They vary substantially in their origins, missions, student demographics, and levels of institutional selectivity. But in general, their service to the nation provides a gateway to higher education and the workforce, particularly for underrepresented students of color and those from low-income and first-generation to college backgrounds. The challenge for the nation is how to capitalize on the unique strengths and attributes of these institutions and to equip them with the resources, exceptional faculty talent, and vital infrastructure needed to educate and train an increasingly critical portion of current and future generations of scientists, engineers, and health professionals. Minority Serving Institutions examines the nation's MSIs and identifies promising programs and effective strategies that have the highest potential return on investment for the nation by increasing the quantity and quality MSI STEM graduates. This study also provides critical information and perspective about the importance of MSIs to other stakeholders in the nation's system of higher education and the organizations that support them. ER -