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Betheny Gross

Senior Research Analyst and Research Director

Background

Betheny Gross is a Research Director at WGU Labs and a Senior Research Analyst and Research Director at the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). Dr. Gross has examined evidence and outcomes of district and state reform across the country. She is currently leading CRPE’s national study of systemic efforts to support the implementation of personalized learning.

Publications

Betheny Gross

  • Research Reports    

Student mental health and well-being: A review of evidence and emerging solutions

Betheny Gross, Laura Hamilton

In the summer of 2022, the Center on Reinventing Public Education convened a panel of education and youth development experts to take stock of recent efforts to address students’ mental health and well-being and to reestablish core elements of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools.

  • Research Reports    

The Promise and Challenges of Pandemic Innovation in High Schools

Betheny Gross, Sarah McCann

This report summarizes what we observed from a survey of New England high schools as they navigated the uncertainty of the pandemic.

  • Research Reports    

“Creativity requires freedom”: What will it take to create space within our education system to think and design creatively?

Sunanna Chand, Betheny Gross

How do we help schools prevent “back to normal” inertia and fuel change?

  • The Lens    

Surging enrollment in virtual schools during the pandemic spurs new questions for policymakers

Betheny Gross

During the 2020–21 school year, a large share of students opted to enroll in established, full-time virtual schools. Our analysis of federal enrollment data suggests parents, perhaps dissatisfied with remote schooling or concerned about the safety of in-person learning, sought new alternatives to traditional school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Research Reports    

How Has the Pandemic Affected Students’ Social-Emotional Well-Being? A Review of the Evidence to Date

Betheny Gross, Robin Lake

This report is part of a series that aims to provide a definitive account of the best available evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected America’s students.

  • The Lens    

Curricula on the cutting-room floor: What are we learning about high school priorities, scope, and goals?

Betheny Gross

This year has been an endless stream of hard choices for teachers. Perhaps the most consequential of these is what curriculum they will cover amid the year’s many distractions, shifting schedules, and the challenges of remote and hybrid learning.

  • Research Reports    

School Districts Across the Nation Plan for An Uncertain Year Ahead

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

This brief gives a snapshot of how school districts across the country are currently planning for fall 2020, how they are planning for contingencies of COVID-19 spread, and how this varies based on district characteristics.

  • The Lens    

How 11 states are using emergency federal funds to make improvements in college and career access

Georgia Heyward, Betheny Gross

The Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER I and II) gave states $4.25 billion in discretionary federal dollars to support K–12 schools, higher education, and workforce initiatives.

  • Research Reports    

How Six School Systems are Responding to Disrupted Schooling: Will It Be Enough?

Michael DeArmond, Betheny Gross, Paul Hill

This report examines how six school systems tried to address the academic consequences of disrupted learning in the 2020-2021 school year.

  • Research Reports    

States and School Systems Can Act Now to Dismantle Silos Between High School, College, and Career

Georgia Heyward, Sarah McCann, Betheny Gross

We interviewed K–12, state, and nonprofit leaders who have been focused on redesigning education and career pathways about how their work has changed in the last year and what their priorities are as the nation emerges from the pandemic.

  • The Lens    

A missing link to help students emotionally and academically

Michael DeArmond, Betheny Gross

Fifty-six percent of students say they are more stressed about school than before the pandemic. Eighty-three percent report a physical symptom of stress—like difficulty sleeping, headaches, and weight gain or loss.

  • The Lens    

The Biden COVID stimulus: Big spending can bring big liabilities

Paul Hill, Betheny Gross

K–12 public education has won the lottery in the current coronavirus stimulus bill, with a $123 billion bailout package—more than six times the size of annual Title I grants.

  • Research Reports    

School Reopening Trends Offer Districts the Opportunity to Start Planning Beyond the Pandemic

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

Our latest analysis of school district learning models from March 1 to March 13 finds that a clear majority—57 percent—of the nation’s school districts report offering full-time in-person learning.

  • Research Reports    

How Schools Adapt during the Pandemic Can Reshape Adolescent Learning Experiences for Generations

Betheny Gross, Georgia Heyward, Sarah McCann

This brief, informed by interviews with school and system leaders in the New England region, suggests some efforts to reinvent schools before the pandemic have helped schools to navigate the current crisis.

  • Research Reports    

U-Turn: Surge of COVID Cases Reverses Reopening Progress in America’s School Districts

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

Our December review of a statistically representative sample of 477 districts found 31 percent are operating in fully remote learning—a larger percentage than at any other point during the fall semester.

  • Research Reports    

One Step Forward, One Step Back: Public Health Fears Keep America’s School Districts on a Reopening Treadmill

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

This brief gives an update on our nationally representative sample of school district reopening plans.

  • Research Reports    

Support Every Student: Lessons from Five Charter Schools on Effective Special Education During the Pandemic

Lanya McKittrick, Betheny Gross, Sivan Tuchman, Sean Gill

In-depth case studies of five charter schools reveal lessons learned on educating students with disabilities remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • The Lens    

As many school districts reopen virtually, the opportunity gap widens for students living in poverty

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

As students and teachers begin the new school year, the opportunity gap for students living in poverty is likely to be wider than ever.

  • Research Reports    

Getting Back to School: An Update on Plans from Across the Country

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

This brief gives a snapshot from August 17–21 of how school districts across the country are planning for fall 2020.

  • Research Reports    

School Districts Across the Nation Plan for An Uncertain Year Ahead

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

This brief gives a snapshot from July 27-31 of how school districts across the country are currently planning for fall 2020.

  • The Lens    

Too Many Schools Leave Learning to Chance During the Pandemic

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

We knew the sudden shift to remote learning would be hard. For the last two months CRPE followed a group of large, mostly urban school systems as they clarified their expectations for teaching students, tracking attendance, and monitoring learning.

  • Research Reports    

Navigating Out-of-School Learning and the Power of Relationships: Lessons from Year 2 at RESCHOOL Colorado

Betheny Gross, Michael DeArmond

This report describes the implementation of RESCHOOL Colorado’s Learner Advocate Network between 2018 and 2019 and what it implies for expanding similar efforts elsewhere.

  • Research Reports    

Navigating Choice: How High-Touch Supports Can Address Educational Inequity

Georgia Heyward, Betheny Gross, Ashley Jochim

This brief presents findings from a preliminary analysis of 10 organizations with school navigator services.

  • Research Reports    

Too Many Schools Leave Learning to Chance During the Pandemic

Betheny Gross, Alice Opalka

This brief summarizes our findings from a review of COVID-19 response plans of 477 school districts across the country.

  • The Lens    

We Must Close the Gap Between Research and Policy in School Systems’ Responses to COVID-19

Betheny Gross, Robin Lake

In times of crisis, knowledge must flow freely and quickly. The COVID-19 pandemic created just such a crisis in K-12 education.

  • The Lens    

Teacher Contracts Shouldn’t Be a Barrier to Continuing Student Learning

Betheny Gross

With school buildings across the country shut down for an unknown period of time, educating students necessarily means massive changes in how educators deliver instruction and how school and system leaders support these efforts. 

  • The Lens    

An Innovation Network: A More Diverse and Inclusive Way to Innovate

Betheny Gross

This spring the Center on Reinventing Public Education launched the Big Think Network—a collaboration among six organizations that are working to build more just and responsive learning systems in their communities.

  • The Lens    

Introducing the Big Think Network: A Shift from “Scaling Innovation” to Innovation at Scale

Robin Lake, Betheny Gross

At CRPE we have a tradition of looking around the corner. We worry about problems that may be coming and contemplate new ways to get ahead of them.

  • The Lens    

Some Charter Schools Use Their Flexibility to Serve Students With Disabilities. Our New Report Shows How More Schools Can Do the Same.

Robin Lake, Betheny Gross

For parents of children with disabilities, finding a school where the adults not only care about what your child needs but are capable of providing it can be life-changing.

  • Research Reports    

Seizing the Opportunity: Educating Students with Disabilities in Charter Schools

Michael DeArmond, Sean Gill, Betheny Gross, Georgia Heyward, Robin Lake

This report is the first step in developing an evidence base about how charter schools meet the needs of unique learners, how they can improve in this work, and what aspects of chartering as a governance model support or impede their ability to do so.

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