No perfect parenting method exists. But a number of decades ago, educators thought differently – so much so that they acquired babies from local orphanages for home economics students to "parent."
Population Studies and Training Center
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Pandemic Journaling Project Made Accessible to Researchers at New Long-Term Home
Researchers studying the COVID-19 pandemic will maintain wide access to this paradigm-shifting historical record at its new placement at Syracuse University
Disasters Forced 2.5 Million Americans From Their Homes Last Year
Many of those displaced also reported food shortages and predatory scams, according to new data from the Census Bureau.
Pandemic Journaling Project makes new home at Syracuse University
The Pandemic Journaling Project (PJP) offers insight into people’s lives and experiences from May 2020 to 2022 in 55 countries through nearly 27,000 online journal entries of text, images, and audio.
Mindfulness training proves effective in reducing hypertension and improving diet
"About half of American adults have hypertension and of them only half of them have it under control," said Dr. Eric Loucks, director of the mindfulness center at Brown, who designed this study.
Kindergarteners who weren’t in school during pandemic struggle too
Compared to students entering kindergarten before the pandemic, current students started school with weaker math and reading skills and were less likely to start school at grade level, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Wealth Inequality and 'Billionaire Supremacy' Have Gotten so Bad That at this Rate, it will Take 230 Years to End Poverty
Oxfam International published its inequality report this month, detailing a slew of grim predictions about the ever-widening wealth gap.
One-on-One tutoring program bets big on teaching kindergartners to read
Once program co-founder asks, ‘Why couldn't you just teach every kid in America to read one-on-one?’
Investigating the Link Between Intra-Occupation Job Variation and Gender Segregation in the Workplace
Sociologist Ananda Martin-Caughey is re-examining social survey data to analyze the impacts of job title stratification.
There’s a new pill for postpartum depression, but many at-risk women face hurdles
Suicide and overdoses are among the leading causes of maternal death in the U.S.
Saving for Retirement on Part-Time Pay: The Challenges for Women
Most part-time workers in America are women — leaving them with less access to retirement plans and less money to sock away.
This group at Brown University is studying ways to avoid pandemic shutdowns. Here's how.
An ongoing project will help the School of Public Health generate recommendations for how to handle another event like COVID-19.
Study: Colon cancer screenings are more effective than previously understood
By reevaluating existing data, researchers find the procedure is even more valuable than consensus had indicated.
The Best and Worst of Ed Reform in 2023
John Papay's and colleagues' research on "Understanding High Schools’ Effects on Longer-Term Outcomes" was chosen as the most important education study of 2023 by Amber Northern, Vice President of Research for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, during the Research in Review segment of the Institute's last podcast of the year.
What a Difference a Day Makes: How Schools Can Harness More Learning Time
To help students regain academic ground lost during the pandemic, schools have often rearranged their class schedules to eke out more time for instruction in individual subjects. But new research suggests adding extra time to the school calendar—rather than rescheduling classes—is what really adds up for students over time.
Entrepreneurial Responses to Infrastructure Failures in Nigeria
PSTC researcher Daniel Jordan Smith’s 2022 book documents how citizen-government relationships in Nigeria have been impacted by the state’s infrastructural shortcomings.
The top 1% of American earners now own more wealth than the entire middle class
The top 1% of American earners now control more wealth than the nation’s entire middle class, federal data show.
Free New AI Tool to Help Americans Search and Compare Student Test Scores Across All 50 States
Brown University’s Emily Oster says Zelma could democratize school performance data as schools struggle to recover from pandemic.
Science of Reading Push Helped Some States Exceed Pre-Pandemic Performance
Brown University analysis of test data shows that ‘recovery is possible,’ but many states lag behind.
Brown University Unites Against Future Contagions
A research project called MAPPS is convening a wide array of community members to better understand how social mixing contributes to virus spread, and how that may inform future pandemic response.
The Launch of a Project on Mesoamerican Migration
Using innovative survey techniques, the project aims to comprehensively document the experiences of migrants to the U.S. from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
An Innovation System That Works
Before rushing to build the next DARPA, we need to assess the R&D model we have.
Legislating Inequity: Structural Racism In Groups Of State Laws And Associations With Premature Mortality Rates
Most evaluations of health equity policy have focused on the effects of individual laws. However, multiple laws’ combined effects better reflect the crosscutting nature of structurally racist legal regimes.
EPA to propose full ban on chemical linked to Woburn leukemia cluster
The childhood cancer cases and subsequent litigation were chronicled in ‘A Civil Action.’
Racial Discrimination in Child Protective Services
Childhood experiences have an enormous impact on children’s long-term societal contributions. Experiencing childhood maltreatment is associated with compromised physical and mental health, decreased educational attainment and future earnings, and increased criminal activity.
New SAT Data Highlights the Deep Inequality at the Heart of American Education
The differences in how rich and poor children are educated start very early.
A Community-Driven Project to Analyze Local Drug Supply
As part of the TestRI research project, PSTC epidemiologist Alexandra B. Collins worked alongside RI community partners to better understand and mitigate local overdose risk.
International Experts to Feature in Keraleeyam Seminars
Robin Jeffrey, a visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies in Singapore, and Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs at Brown University in the U.S., will speak at a session on Kerala economy.
Math test scores show some recovery from pandemic learning loss; reading scores stagnant
The scores offer among the most comprehensive national pictures of student learning, pointing to some progress but persistent challenges.
How to smash the class ceiling in the workplace
We like to think of the workplace as a meritocracy, but is it really?
New Report Identifies Policies to Reduce Intergenerational Poverty in the U.S.
Implementing a portfolio of programs and policies to reduce intergenerational poverty would yield a high payoff for children and the entire nation, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Youngkin wants tutors for many students. Where will they come from?
Virginia educators say that it will be difficult to find enough tutors to implement Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s new plan to boost test scores for elementary and middle school students.
Education, Growth, and Religion
Dayo Sobowale argues that religion has a way of interfering with states’ capacity for sustainable growth.
They moved to Vermont for climate safety. Then came floods.
In the past few years, Vermont has earned high rankings for its relatively low climate risk. A 2020 ProPublica report classified four Vermont counties as part of the top 10 across the country that are least likely to suffer from climate change effects like wildfires, extreme heat, and sea level rise.
Can Teachers and Parents Get Better at Talking to One Another?
Families are more anxious than ever to find out what happens in school. But there may be value in a measure of not-knowing and not-telling.
Big Tech and Its Discontents
Does technology still have what it takes to make life better?
PSTC Researcher Investigates Social Determinants of Gender Differences in Dementia
Assistant Professor of Population Studies Meghan Zacher explores potential link between educational inequality and women’s increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
The U.S. had more than 9 million open roles in June, and while that’s down from the peak of 12 million in March 2022, it’s still among the highest number of openings we’ve had since before 2000.
Declining birth rates and falling enrollments prompt school consolidation concerns
Concerns over school closures in Rhode Island are being sped up by a rapid drop in public school students. The state has 17,000 fewer students enrolled in public schools than it did in 1999.
Drivers on the 405 Freeway in O.C. could pay $10 tolls, get extra lanes. Would it help with traffic?
Critics of freeway expansion projects cite the need to combat climate change and air pollution, the legacy of displacing and polluting communities of color, and research that shows that expanding freeways doesn’t alleviate traffic congestion.
The roots of cultural diversity
Societal diversity fosters creativity and cultural cross-pollination, but can also hinder social cohension. This column uses data on oral traditions and folkloric motifs across the world to examine the impact of the prehistoric migration of humans out of Africa on cultural diversity.
A digital ‘atlas’ of the refugee imprint in Greece
Is the trauma of displacement enduring? What is its impact – on the economy, on electoral behavior, on art – even decades later? How is a society affected when it suddenly needs to take in a large number of refugees?
Elevated Office Blood Pressure: Exploring the Effect of Adapted Mindfulness Training
About 46% of Americans have hypertension, among whom more than 75% do not have it under control. “Hypertension is a primary cause of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading killer in the United States and worldwide,” says Eric B. Loucks, PhD.
Ending health disparities requires full federal government, National Academies panel says
To narrow the nation’s deeply entrenched health disparities, a permanent entity with regulatory powers should be created by the president to oversee health equity efforts across the entire federal government, says a report issued by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.
We must invest in behavioural economics for the HIV response
Effective HIV prevention and treatment are widely available, but services are underused and underdelivered. Behavioural economics offers insights into why this is and shows us cost-effective interventions to change behaviours.
PSTC Researcher Uncovers Educational Disparities among Africa’s Largest Religious Populations
In his recently published paper, PSTC economist Stelios Michalopoulos investigates why Christian populations experience higher rates of educational mobility throughout Africa.
Professor Oded Galor Awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Athens University of Economics and Business
On July 6, 2023, members of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) community gathered in the Amphitheater “Leonidas Zervas” of the National Research Foundation in Athens to award an Honorary Doctorate of the Department of Economics, of the School of Economics, to Professor Oded Galor.
A new study shows how Medicaid coverage policies shape maternal health disparities
Medicaid is an essential source of maternal and postpartum care for low-income Americans, covering 42% of births in the U.S. But many immigrants don’t have access to this coverage, making them more vulnerable to maternal health problems, as highlighted by a new study of nearly 73,000 postpartum people across 19 states and New York City between 2012 and 2019.
Study of Elite College Admissions Data Suggests Being Very Rich Is Its Own Qualification
Elite colleges have long been filled with the children of the richest families: At Ivy League schools, one in six students has parents in the top 1 percent. A large new study, released Monday, shows that it has not been because these children had more impressive grades on average or took harder classes.
The teaching profession is facing a post-pandemic crisis
Dire warnings of teacher shortages are nothing new, especially during the pandemic, and are sometimes overblown. But a confluence of warning signs suggest that the country is at a post-pandemic inflection point.