This report is the second in a series that presents evidence about the conditions under which Career and Technical Education (CTE) may be most and least effective and for whom. It focuses on a different set of schools: Comprehensive high schools in New York City (NYC) that offer CTE alongside other educational options. Like the CTE-Dedicated high…

Despite the considerable resources dedicated to teacher evaluation reform, there is currently little evidence on the mechanisms by which evaluation translates into improvements in teachers' instructional practice. To address this need, this study was a two-pronged approach to examine the use of evaluation data for improvement within the Chicago…

For many years, schools in the Bronx have faced challenges related to teacher recruitment and retention, as well as student achievement. In 2017, to address these issues, the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) launched the Teacher and School Leaders Bronx Human Capital Initiative (TSL). TSL was designed to help build a "highly…

Concerns for student safety are a commonly cited reason for the presence of police in schools. But as the nation grapples with the appropriate roles and responsibilities of police more broadly, the time is right to shine a light on what we know about the effects of police in schools. This brief summarizes the research related to this question.…

Research for Action has studied statewide Promise programs since 2017, with in-depth analysis in four states--Delaware, Nevada, Oregon, and Tennessee. Our research in these states includes an extensive review of legislative and policy documents; 146 interviews with policymakers, institutional leaders, and high school staff; site visits to 8…

Research for Action (RFA) in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin is engaged in a five-year mixed-methods study of the reforms associated with California AB 705. Over the course of the study, our team will assess the implementation, impact, and cost effectiveness of reforms associated with the law. This third interim report,…

High-quality, well-implemented early childhood education (ECE) positively affects the learning trajectories of children who start school with lower skills than their peers, according to decades of evidence. Yet studies on ECE programs across the country reveal that too few offer high-quality programming. To date, the ECE field has focused most…

The perspective that computing and computational thinking (CT) are necessary competencies for the 21st century is increasingly pervasive. Computational concepts and methods--problem solving, designing systems, refining the steps in a process, and tinkering toward creative solutions--are relevant in nearly every discipline, profession, and…

In 2013-14, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the nation's third-largest school district, implemented several changes to the policies governing its pre-kindergarten (pre-k) application and enrollment process. Two policy changes that were central to the school district's strategy focused on increasing access to full-day pre-k for high-priority student…

Responding to an Illinois law that took effect in 2010, the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA), Chicago Public Schools (CPS) created and implemented the REACH (Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago's Students) educator evaluation and support system. REACH was piloted in 2012-13. It is still being implemented as of the 2019-20 school year…

The Success Project was a multi-year effort that aimed to better prepare middle grade students for the transition to and success in high school and beyond. Underlying this initiative was a belief that many urban public middle grades students in the United States enter high school without sufficient social supports and academic skills to succeed in…

OrchKids has been offering free, year-round music-based programming to students across Baltimore for 10 years. In school year (SY) 2017-18, its out-of-school-time (OST) program was based in six schools and served over 1,000 children in pre-K through 10th grade. The primary goal of OrchKids is to expose students and their family members to music…

As part of an ongoing, multi-million dollar Wallace Foundation initiative to improve and expand arts learning opportunities for young people, the Wallace Foundation, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), developed the Youth Arts Initiative (YAI) to deliver otherwise inaccessible high-quality arts programs to low-income…

This is the technical appendix for the report: "Social-Emotional Learning and Academic Growth: Insights from an Innovative Research-Practice Partnership." Contents of the appendix include: (1) Sample; (2) The Student Success Network (SSN) Survey; and (3) Analytic Framework and Estimates. [For the full report, see ED615830.]

This paper reports findings from a researcher-practitioner partnership (2015-18) that examined how adult education providers in Chicago, Houston, and Miami are designing and implementing career pathways (CP) programming, particularly for immigrants and adults with limited education. This Institute of Education Sciences-funded study was the first…