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Articles by Ember Smith
The decisive decade: Understanding the trajectories of 14- to 24-year-olds
. Young adults face a myriad of firsts and opportunities: making independent decisions; landing a job; navigating adult relationships; having children; and attending school. These factors set the stage for their future opportunities. This report provides a snapshot of how young adults are faring in the decisive decade and highlights the need for continued attention and investment in this critical period of life.
Designing for Proudness
In this paper, we center the idea of having proud moments, or feelings of proudness, in physics contexts. First, we outline the idea, list design principles, and explore connections between these principles. Then, we give a concrete example of how students and faculty can work together to enhance proud moments in an already-existing introductory college physics course. Our particular example focuses on a typical moment in physics classrooms: when small groups share their work with the entire class.
Examining college enrollment gaps: A discussion with leading scholars
On January 23, the Brookings Center on Children and Families hosted an event where leading education experts discussed the factors that contribute to college enrollment disparities and ways to improve access to higher education. First, Sarah Reber, senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at Brookings, presented findings from her new report with Ember Smith.
College enrollment gaps: How academic preparation influences opportunity
College graduates earn more, are healthier, and have more stable employment and marriages. Although young adults today are twice as likely to have a bachelor’s degree as they were fifty years ago, there are still sizable differences in enrollment by gender, race, and socioeconomic status. In our latest paper, we report new data on college enrollment gaps and explore how they relate to students’ high school academic performance.
College enrollment disparities
Completing a college degree is the most reliable path to upward mobility in the United States; college graduates have higher earnings, better health, more stable marriages, and are less likely to be unemployed. The share of young adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher doubled over the last fifty years, from 19% to 40%. Despite the improvements in college-going overall, bachelor’s degree attainment still varies substantially by socioeconomic status, gender, race and ethnicity.
Hawaii Gender Gap #2 in USA--Failing Boys Account for All of DoE Shortfall > Hawaii Free Press
Hawaii Gender Gap #2 in USA--Failing Boys Account for All of DoE Shortfall By Selected News Articles @ 8:47 PM :: 60 Views :: Education K-12, Hawaii Statistics Boys left behind: Education gender gaps across the US by Richard V.
Boys Left Behind: Education Gender Gap
Boys Left Behind: Education Gender Gap There are wide gender gaps in education in the U.S. and across the economically advanced nations, as I describe in my new book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, a… Read Full Article »
Boys Left Behind: Education Gender Gaps Across the US
Boys Left Behind: Education Gender Gaps Across the US There are wide gender gaps in education in the U.S. and across the economically advanced nations. Read Full Article »
Boys left behind: Education gender gaps across the US
There are wide gender gaps in education in the U.S. and across the economically advanced nations, as I describe in my new book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It (Brookings Institution Press, 2022). But how does the gender gap in educational outcomes vary across the U.S.? That’s the question addressed in this note and accompanying interactives.
Boys left behind: Education gender gaps across the US
There are wide gender gaps in education in the U.S. and across the economically advanced nations, as I describe in my new book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It (Brookings Institution Press, 2022). But how does the gender gap in educational outcomes vary across the U.S.? That’s the question addressed in this note and accompanying interactives.
The Black-white gap in wealth mobility and what to do about it
Editor's Note: Read the full report on intragenerational wealth mobility in the United States here. the US racial wealth gap remains stubbornly large. In our Americans born in the 1940s through 1960s, we show that the median white American in their early thirties had $29,000 more wealth than the median Black American of the same age. This racial wealth gap is even greater among older adults: This is not just because initial wealth gaps compounded over time.
Stuck on the ladder: Wealth mobility is low and decreases with age
The combination of increasing wealth inequality and poor prospects for upward mobility create sharp class divides which are at odds with the American dream. The top one percent held 31 percent of household wealth in 2019 compared to 24 percent in 1989, . This growing wealth gap might be of less concern if there is significant opportunity to move up the wealth ladder. But there is not.
Stuck on the Ladder: Intragenerational wealth mobility in the United States
Wealth cushions adverse economic shocks, such as loss of employment, and helps to fund investments, like college and post-graduate training. Wealth inequality is much higher than income inequality in the United States. Understanding the dynamics of wealth accumulation may be important in narrowing wealth gaps. Here we study intragenerational wealth mobility using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID).
Stuck on the ladder: Wealth mobility is low and decreases with age
This growing wealth gap might be of less concern if there is significant opportunity to move up the wealth ladder. But there is not. As we show in a new paper, Americans are quite unlikely to move far up (or down) the wealth ranks early in life, and their chances decrease with age. Wealth inequality is high. And wealth status is sticky.
Defining distress: Lessons from the Federally Chartered Regional Commissions
Widening geographic inequality in the United States has shifted federal policymakers’ attention to investing in “places” as well as “people.” On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order prioritizing support for underserved communities, including those in rural areas.
Overturning Roe highlights need for family planning, especially in trigger ban states
The Supreme Court’s draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will drastically limit access to abortion in the estimated twenty-three states expected to ban or restrict abortion. Reversing federal protection will result in economic and health consequences for families. Many of the states expected to restrict abortion access also have high unplanned pregnancy rates and low contraceptive use.
What should the new Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys propose? Here are 32 ideas for starters.
It might be the most important Commission you haven’t heard of – or at least not yet. Created by bipartisan legislation in August 2020, the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys is now up and running. Not a moment too soon. The specific, unique challenges faced by Black men and boys are in the spotlight. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have explicitly called attention to how their policies can “empower Black men.” But more tailored policies are also needed.
Boys and men
The Boys and Men Project examines the challenges facing many boys and men, in the context of progress towards gender equality, and potential policies and norms to promote greater male flourishing and agency. Particular attention is paid to Black boys and men, those from low-income backgrounds, and those with lower levels of education. Richard Reeves is a senior fellow in Economic Studies, where he holds the John C. and Nancy D. Whitehead Chair.
The male college crisis is not just in enrollment, but completion
In 1972, when the U.S. government passed the landmark Title IX laws to promote gender equality in education, there was a 12 percentage-point gap in the proportion of bachelor’s degrees going to men compared to women. By 1982, the gap had closed. Nobody predicted what happened next: the gap started to widen rapidly in the opposite direction. By 2019, the gender gap in bachelor awards was wider, at 14 points, than it had been in 1972 — but the other way round.
Improving K-12 education for Hispanic students in Las Vegas and beyond
Editor's Note: This report was developed for our partners at Brookings Mountain West; the original version was published on their site on July 9, 2021. Abstract Public K-12 education serves as a launching pad for economic mobility and opportunity, preparing students for college or a good-paying job. Despite K-12 education’s influence on later-in-life outcomes, schools often underserve students of color.
Support children by empowering parents with family planning resources
Children do best when their parents have the resources to care for them, one reason why President Biden recently overhauled the Child Tax Credit to give low- and middle-income families more money. While the significant cash transfer is set to slash poverty and boost children’s social mobility by improving families’ economic security, policymakers should also work to ensure that children have family stability.
Adapting workers to the modern economy: Alternative training and certification
The specter of labor market disruption driven by advanced automation technologies raises concern that the US workforce will be both underprepared and inflexible in the face of these changes. While this alarm is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic may be bringing these predictions to the present much faster than originally expected. For example, businesses are adopting policies that minimize human contact both between their employees and with their consumers.
Black moms facing the toughest childcare crunch: How policy can help
Balancing work and home can be a struggle for many parents—above all for Black moms, who are more likely to be working a “double shift” of both paid and unpaid work. The pandemic has sharpened many of these challenges as schools have closed, jobs have been reconfigured, and social distancing requirements have disrupted informal care networks. Faced with new trade-offs, many parents have had to make new arrangements, especially mothers exiting the labor market in large numbers.
Explaining the economic impact of COVID-19: Core industries and the Hispanic workforce
Editor's Note: This report was developed for our partners at Brookings Mountain West; the original version was published on their site on February 4, 2021. Abstract As the United States prepares for a COVID-19 recovery, policymakers need to understand why some cities and communities were more vulnerable to the pandemic’s economic consequences than others.
Explaining the Economic Impact of COVID-19: Core Industries and the Hispanic Workforce
Home > Brookings Mountain West > Brookings Policy Briefs and Reports > 2 Authors Aaron Klein, The Brookings InstitutionFollow Ember Smith, The Brookings InstitutionFollow Publication Date 2-4-2021 Publisher Brookings Mountain West Publisher Location Las Vegas (Nev.) Abstract As the United States prepares for a COVID-19 recovery, policymakers need to understand why some cities and communities were more vulnerable to the pandemic’s economic consequences than others.
The unreported gender gap in high school graduation rates
A welcome trend in recent decades has been the sustained rise in high school graduation rates up to a national average of 85% for 2017-18—as well as a significant narrowing of differences by race and ethnicity for this educational milestone (though gaps remain). Policymakers are rightly focused on making sure even more young Americans successfully complete their high school education, and on further narrowing gaps between various subgroups.
Class Notes: Depression and fatherhood, personal income growth, and more
This week in Class Notes: Depression weakens the relationships between low-income fathers and their children, but parental self-efficacy mitigates this effect. Successive expansions of the EITC since 1975 have increased employment among less-educated unmarried mothers by 3.9 percentage points. Schools play a role in students’ socioemotional development, which affects educational outcomes.
Class Notes: Rising income and wealth inequality, parent spending, and more
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. This week in Class Notes: As income and wealth inequality grew over the last four decades, taxes have become less progressive. In 2018, the top 1% of earners received 19% of pre-tax U.S. income and the top 0.1% wealthiest individuals held 18% of all wealth. Single parents spend a higher proportion of their income on kids compared to married and cohabiting parents.
SAT math scores mirror and maintain racial inequity
In 1926, the SAT was created to give talented students, regardless of income, the chance to compete for college admission and scholarships. Nearly 100 years later, it often excludes the lower-income students it was created to help. Although the original exam was primarily aimed at economic diversity, part of its stated modern mission is to help increase racial diversity, too.
SAT math scores mirror and maintain racial inequity
In 1926, the SAT was created to give talented students, regardless of income, the chance to compete for college admission and scholarships. Nearly 100 years later, it often excludes the lower-income students it was created to help. Although the original exam was primarily aimed at economic diversity, part of its stated modern mission is to help increase racial diversity, too.
Class Notes: Welfare and parenting, free contraception, and more
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. This week in Class Notes: Welfare reform in the 1990s reduced the amount of time parents spent with their children and the quality of their relationship, with the biggest impact on boys. Providing free access to long-acting birth control in Colorado reduced teen birth rates by 20% within 7 miles of a clinic.
Automation from farm to table: Technology’s impact on the food industry
The COVID–19 pandemic has negatively impacted a number of industries, perhaps none more than those engaged in food packaging, preparation, and service. The impact on the consumer end is well-discussed. Because of social distancing and other precautions related to employee and patron health and safety, many restaurants still operating do so well below capacity. Others have suspended operation; six in ten will not reopen. It is not, however, only restaurants and bars that have taken a hit.
The challenges facing Black men - and the case for action
“To be male, poor, and either African-American or Native-American is to confront, on a daily basis, a deeply held racism that exists in every social institution,” writes our Brookings colleague Camille Busette.
Class Notes: Parenthood and the gender pay gap, incarceration’s wealth effect, and more
This week in Class Notes: Why do women earn less than men on average? Parenthood, mostly. Incarceration leads to a 76% decline in a young adult’s assets, and a 34% decline in their net worth. Children without health insurance, low-income children, and children of color are less likely to be healthier than their parents were at the same age. This week’s top chart shows that by the end of the 20th century, few Americans still thought it was bad for preschoolers if their moms worked.
Class Notes: Parents are worried about their sons, falling college enrollment, and more
This week in Class Notes: Higher-income families are snapping up Child Tax Credits while lower-income families—the “progressive” policy’s ideal beneficiaries—are often ineligible to receive it. Dads spend more time with boys than girls when they are first born, but more time with their girls by the time they are five years old. Grandparents play a key role in supporting their grandchildren, especially if they are raised by single or cohabiting parents.
Big ideas to redesign K-12 for the automation age
Automation and artificial intelligence are transforming work at a dizzying pace. Rapid technological advances will require a forward-looking workforce that is ready to adapt. While much of the policy discussion has focused on the role of college, not all students attend college, and not all who do are ready for a rigorous technology-driven education. To prepare students for an increasingly automated future, we need to modernize K-12 education.
Americans are more worried about their sons than their daughters
Editor's Note: The American Family Survey results were discussed in detail during this September 22, 2020 event. Gender equality has been very much on the agenda in recent years. The challenges facing girls and women on many fronts are clear, including access to reproductive health care, protection from harassment in the workplace, labor force participation and rewards, and representation at the highest levels of politics and business.
Americans are more worried about their sons than their daughters
Editor's note: The American Family Survey results were discussed in detail during this September 22, 2020 event. Gender equality has been very much on the agenda in recent years. The challenges facing girls and women on many fronts are clear, including access to reproductive health care, protection from harassment in the workplace, labor force participation and rewards, and representation at the highest levels of politics and business.
Class Notes: Our New Contract with the Middle Class
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. Welcome to a special edition of Class Notes highlighting our latest publication, “A New Contract with the Middle Class.” The Contract contains policy ideas to improve the quality of life of middle-class Americans in five key areas: money, time, relationships, health, and respect.
Students of color most likely to be learning online: Districts must work even harder on race equity
For many students, this year’s back-to-school supply list looks different—rather than pencils and paste, students are starting the year with a Zoom account and a keyboard. Remote learning has become the educational norm; most K-12 students look to be attending class only via a screen. But there are big race gaps. We show that Black, Hispanic, and Asian students are, on average, around fifteen percentage points more likely than white students to live in a “remote-only” school district.
Class Notes: The gender poverty gap, COVID-19’s impact on college students, and more
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. This week in Class Notes: Head Start attendees are more likely to graduate high school and less likely to live in poverty than their peers. COVID-19 is hardening socioeconomic divides in higher education; low-income students delay graduation because of the pandemic 55% more often than higher-income students.
Class Notes: Explaining the rise of populism, generosity in policymaking, and more
This week in Class Notes: Lack of social mobility, rather than income inequality or cultural change, fuels populism. Higher federal student loan limits make for better student outcomes, in terms of graduation rates, earnings, and loan repayments. Acting selflessly makes people happy; smart policy design can capitalize on it. This week’s top chart shows that most Americans think casual sex is always or sometimes OK.
Class Notes: Parenthood wage gaps, WFH benefits, and more
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. This week in Class Notes: Parenthood penalizes the wages of women and raises them for men, but the impact is bigger for white parents. More children are being dislocated by their parents’ drug abuse – half a million grandparents are stepping up. The introduction of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 1975 brought an extra million moms into the workforce – and may have modernized attitudes about working mothers.
Class Notes: How divorce affects wealth, COVID-19 and education inequality, and more
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. This week in Class Notes: Education-related searches after school closures are highest in affluent areas. COVID-19 may speed up automation in jobs with high infection risk, which would affect mid-skilled women the most. Divorce decreases personal wealth, but men may be in a better position to recover. Our top chart shows a rise in high- and low-income jobs as middle-skilled jobs disappear.
Class Notes: The effects of elementary class rank, COVID-19 mortality, and more
Editor's Note: If you want more content like this, subscribe to our newsletter. This week in Class Notes: How students rank among their elementary school peers has a lasting impact on their academic performance, college attendance, and future earnings. States with more income inequality have suffered a higher rate of COVID-19 deaths. Community colleges play a vital role in creating equitable access to the evolving U.S. workforce. Opportunity America lays out a strategy to meet students’ needs.
Up Front
Who owes the most in student loans: New data from the Fed Learn More Arrow Class Notes: Affirmative action and student achievement, unequal income growth, and more Hutchins Roundup: Immigrant fertility, temporary layoffs, and more Major decisions: What graduates earn over their lifetimes Americans are more worried about their sons than their daughters Using extractive industries data for better governance Play Video How budget flexibility tools help address social determinants of health Play...
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