During the current COVID-19 global health crisis and shift to distance learning, students are being asked to do more independent work—reading, writing, and problem solving—outside of their time in class. School and district leaders in the West have expressed a need for teachers to have access to user-friendly, research-based guidance Read more
Launched by a diverse community of education experts and scholars from around the country, the National Student Support Accelerator is building a comprehensive set of tools and resources for tutoring organizations, schools, and districts that will make it possible to implement high-impact tutoring at scale. Research shows that high-impact tutoring Read more
Postsecondary education is vital to thrive, not just survive. Eighty percent of good-paying jobs require postsecondary education, and 56 percent require a bachelor’s degree or higher. While the nation’s high school graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 85 percent, students are insufficiently prepared for postsecondary education and the Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the education field in multiple ways. Policymakers, superintendents, school leaders, and teachers have had to adopt new models, processes, policies, protocols, and strategies in order to conduct the business of teaching and learning over the last year. As the nation (eventually) emerges from this pandemic, Read more
J-PAL North America, a research center focused on reducing poverty, recently released a meta-analysis of close to 100 studies of tutoring in literacy and mathematics and found that tutoring programs consistently produced large improvements in learning outcomes for students — with effects that eclipse those of most other educational programs. Read more
Writing for The 74, Kevin Mahnken recently reviewed a new roadmap for American history and civics education titled “Education for American Democracy.” Excerpts of the piece appear below: Through a collaboration funded by grants from the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities, a group of civics Read more
A new study focusing on Missouri and Tennessee shows that principals of color are more likely to hire and retain teachers of color. After five years, having a Black principal leads to a 5 percentage point increase in a school’s share of Black teachers. Findings not only demonstrate that principal Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has added more stress to an already high-stress profession: American public school teacher. The authors of a new report by RAND share the results of a survey of nearly 1,000 former public school teachers and reveal how important stress has been—even more so than pay—to teachers’ decisions Read more
For many state education leaders looking to recoup learning losses caused by interruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, a competency-based approach is attractive. It provides the flexibility and autonomy for students to earn credits and satisfy diploma requirements by demonstrating mastery of competencies, rather than fulfilling seat time requirements. However, a Read more
Below are three proposals for scaling tutoring nationwide to combat the learning loss experience during COVID-19: 1. A new EdWorking Paper by Matthew Kraft and Grace Falken, “A Blueprint for Scaling Tutoring Across Public Schools” explores how tutoring could be scaled nationally to address COVID-19 learning loss and become a Read more
Writing for Edutopia, Sarah Gonser explores how school leaders can help create the conditions for educator health and well-being. Excerpts of the piece appear below: The stress of this disrupted school year is impacting all educators. Instead of “make space to restore your balance” or “find time to exercise more,” Read more
Recently in the New York Times, Erica Green reviewed an education program that has underprivileged students thriving in Ivy League classes, and the students’ success has raised questions about how elite university gatekeepers determine college prospects. Excerpts from the piece appear below: Through an initiative started by a New York-based Read more
Dan Goldhaber, Malcolm Wolff, and Timothy Daly recently published a CALDER working paper titled, “Assessing the Accuracy of Elementary School Test Scores as Predictors of Students’ High School Outcomes.” They employ datasets from Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Washington to track sixteen cohorts of students from third grade through high school, Read more
Amid the profound disruption of the pandemic, some schools and districts have responded with highly innovative staffing and scheduling strategies that could be valuable post-pandemic models. A new report from FutureEd and EducationCounsel,Teaching Innovation: New School Staffing Strategies Inspired by the Pandemic, explores these innovations, the conditions that enabled them, Read more
COVID-19 has presented new challenges for schools and families to grapple with when it comes to student learning — but the pandemic also has illuminated shortcomings and missed opportunities that have long been present in our education system. A new series of briefs from Bellwether offers guidance on how the Read more
School districts in the United States have approached reopening public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic in notably different ways. The authors of a new report, titled “Remote Learning Is Here to Stay: Results from the First American School District Panel Survey” by RAND developed a national picture of school districts’ Read more