Anna Shaw-Amoah
Former RFA Employee
Recent Publications by Anna Shaw-Amoah
Publication
Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: A 2024 Update
This PACER brief provides RFA’s updated analysis of data on students experiencing homelessness in Pennsylvania, highlighting prevalence, challenges with identification, disparities in educational opportunities, and impact on academic outcomes. Our main findings include that: Roughly…
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Understanding Increases in Head Start Teacher Turnover During COVID-19
This report explores the dramatic increase in Head Start teacher turnover during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data from the Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) from 2010 to 2022, the study investigates trends in teacher…
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Allegheny County Teacher and Student Demographics: 2022-23 Update
This ACER brief updates RFA’s prior analyses of teacher and student race and ethnicity in Allegheny County public schools with data current through the 2022-23 school year. We found that in 2022-23, teachers of color (TOCs)…
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Pennsylvania School Funding and School Staffing Disparities
Pennsylvania operates one of the most inequitable public school systems in the nation, with among the largest disparities in school funding, educational opportunities, and student achievement. In this brief, RFA examines the relationship between school…
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Changing the Finish Line: Implications of new graduation requirements in the School District of Philadelphia
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. New graduation requirements, enacted in 2018…
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Unequal Access to Educational Opportunity in the United States
Research for Action’s Educational Opportunity Dashboard is an interactive on-line tool to synthesize data and rank all 50 states by how well they provide students access to schools that offer 14 indicators of educational opportunity…
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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Allegheny County
Close to 3,000 students in Allegheny County public schools were identified as experiencing homelessness during the 2018-19 school year, or 2.0% of the total student population. Meanwhile, homelessness rates have been growing in recent years…
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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: New Evidence of Under-Identification and Inequity
Properly identifying when students are experiencing homelessness is the first step to providing them academic supports and other rights afforded by federal law. As RFA found in 2018, Pennsylvania schools have a history of under-identification.…
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Teacher Diversity in Pennsylvania from 2013-14 to 2019-20
As RFA documented in Patching the Leaky Pipeline, teachers of color (TOCs) are important for all students and particularly for students of color (SOCs). Yet, despite promising statewide initiatives to improve teacher diversity, there is…
Publication
Allegheny County Students in Foster Care
Students in foster care require additional supports from schools in order to maintain educational stability. And, in the time of COVID-19 school shutdowns, experts warn that vulnerable students such as those in foster care may…
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Making It Work: Bibliography and Technical Appendix
A bibliography and suggestions for further reading, as well as the technical appendix to accompany Making It Work: Examining the Status of Non-Traditional Child Care in Pennsylvania.
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Making It Work: Examining the Status of Non-Traditional Child Care in Pennsylvania
As the number of jobs that require non-traditional work schedules (evenings, weekends, and overnight) increases, families’ need for child care during non-traditional hours has also grown. An estimated more than 150,000 Pennsylvania families with young…
Publication
Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: Under-Identification and Inequitable Enrollment
Housing instability and homelessness are highly detrimental to children and youth, and the effects often linger long after the experience itself. Students who have experienced homelessness are more likely to drop out of school and,…