The biggest mistake most state education agencies (SEAs) make is not a matter of policy but of mindset: Too many assume their primary function is to monitor compliance with state and federal laws rather than...
In public education, we need to challenge our assumptions and recognize that we can’t get dramatically different results by doing the same things over and over.
We need to rethink traditional models for teaching and learning. Finding ways to use the innovative technology of the 21st century can improve public education by maximizing teacher expertise, and creating new ways for parents to engage with their child’s schooling. Some technology can also create more flexible learning environments for students to receive curriculum and instruction tailored to their unique needs. Using these technologies in the classroom can greatly increase the efficiency of teaching, learning, and administration. Our work addresses policy barriers that make many of the most promising innovations impossible to implement.
Current Work: A Learning Agenda for Taking Personalized Learning to Scale
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CRPE is conducting a multi-year, multi-method effort to learn about how school districts and regional partners can support the successful implementation, expansion, and sustainability of personalized learning (PL) in schools. CRPE researchers will use a combination of field studies, surveys, and secondary data analysis to explore how schools, districts, and partner organizations outside the school district help to seed and grow PL and with what results.
Key questions for the project include:
What do principals, teachers, and system leaders need to know and be able to do to successfully support, implement, and scale up PL?
What policies and practices, at the classroom, school, district, partnership, and state levels, offer important supports (and barriers) for successfully implementing and scaling up PL?
What are the early results for teachers and students?
The biggest mistake most state education agencies (SEAs) make is not a matter of policy but of mindset: Too many assume their primary function is to monitor compliance with state and federal laws rather than...
Five years after the pandemic, learning gains and engagement remain at historic lows—and marginalized students continue to bear the worst consequences. Many districts have focused on safer, incremental improvements that accommodate the status quo but...
A policy agenda for K-12 schools 1. Take a reasonable middle ground in the culture wars 2. Invest in systems that keep students safe 3. Help schools provide the academic preparation students need 4. Use...
This article originally appeared in The 74. The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence is exposing a glaring disconnect in teacher preparation. While forward-thinking superintendents are rolling up their sleeves to build AI literacy among...
This piece originally appeared in The 74. Last week, DOGE’s “shock and awe” campaign came to education. The chaotic canceling of grants and contracts for various research activities at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES),...
What does it really take to pilot bold, systemwide innovation in public education? Over the 2023–24 school year, CRPE partnered with 11 districts across the country to support and study their “Bold Ideas”—ambitious initiatives designed...
This report distills five years of research to understand how the pandemic reshaped public education. Drawing from over 100 reports and articles, we examine the crisis response, recovery efforts, and ongoing challenges facing schools today....
Tomorrow’s release of the Nation’s Report Card will surely generate abundant hand-wringing among parents, policymakers, business leaders, and educators. While the fine-grained details deserve examination, we can already tell you what the headlines will say:...
To CRPE followers, colleagues, and friends: Happy 2025! Longtime readers will know that CRPE prides ourselves on “thinking forward.” We do make straight-out predictions from time to time, but mostly, we look around the corner...
Last February, I went out on a limb and made ten predictions about what we’d see this year in terms of policy and practice. At the time, I said: “Unlike cable news pundits, who rarely...
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