“So Hard, but So Rewarding:” How School System Leaders Are Scaling Up Strategic School Staffing Models
Innovative staffing models are promising, but challenging to scale up. What does the work of leading strategic staffing involve, and what could make scaling up easier? This report digs deep into the many challenges system leaders face when scaling up innovative staffing solutions. These leaders are trying to address longstanding teacher shortages and retention challenges […]
Postsecondary Enrollment during the Pandemic: Evidence from Rhode Island
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted nearly every aspect of economic and social life, affecting who went to college and where. This paper asks: How did patterns of enrollment and persistence in college and university change during the pandemic? Which postsecondary sectors were the hardest hit by declining enrollment? Were changes in postsecondary enrollment consistent across student subgroups? […]
A “Good Life” for Every Student: High Schools Embrace Many Pathways to Success
CRPE & CPRL hosted a webinar on this report with the co-authors and report stakeholders. Check it out! Can the lessons schools learned in the Covid-19 recovery period contribute to more lasting, transformative shifts in high school? Researchers from CRPE and the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL), with support from the Barr Foundation, […]
Communities in the Driver’s Seat: Black Mothers Forum Microschools Raise Sustainability Questions
The Black Mothers Forum (BMF), established in 2016 to combat institutional racism in Phoenix-area schools, responded to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic by creating a network of microschools. With Black leadership and a focus on racial justice, BMF fills a unique niche in a region where Black families are often underrepresented. In 2022, CRPE documented […]
Literacy for All: The Story of Sobral
The scorching, arid northeastern state of Ceará, Brazil has long been known for growing cashews and coconuts. Now, it’s defied expectations by cultivating one of the world’s best public elementary school systems, despite high rates of poverty. How Sobral transformed its public school system and attained near-universal literacy offers lessons for communities everywhere. With 85 […]
Teachers and Tutors Together: Reimagining Literacy Instruction in Oakland
High-quality tutoring has become a critical tool for addressing pandemic learning gaps and accelerating student learning, but access to tutoring programs remains an issue. CRPE took a deep look at how Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) designed and implemented a literacy program with embedded tutoring support from community partners—and the impact the effort had on […]
Communities in the Driver’s Seat: Intensive Training, Deep Investment Power Oakland Parent-Led Literacy Programs
Across the country, school systems are struggling to implement effective, research-based literacy instruction and to help students recover from lost learning time during the pandemic. At the same time, school systems sit near pools of untapped talent—community members who have personally experienced the harm of inequitable school systems and now brim with passion for addressing […]
Teaching, Reinvented: How Unconventional Educator Roles Pave the Way for a More Fulfilling and Sustainable Profession
As school systems struggle to recover from years of disruption, new programs, policies, and nontraditional organizations that support innovation in the teaching role will need to grow to support all students’ learning. But what is it like to teach in new ways? What are the advantages and drawbacks? What brought educators to these unconventional roles […]
The State of the American Student — 2023
Beyond Test Scores: Broader Academic Consequences of the Covid-19 Pandemic for American Students
Recent state and national achievement exam results, as well as academic progress reports, have underscored how the Covid-19 pandemic and related school closures had a large, negative impact on students’ reading and math development. But there has been less research conducted on how the pandemic affected other academic measures beyond standardized testing, such as attendance, engagement […]