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Focus Area:
Innovation and the Future of Learning

At CRPE, we study how public education can evolve to meet the challenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing world. Our research on innovation and the future of learning examines how schools are rethinking teaching and learning models—from personalized and competency-based approaches to the use of technology and AI—to better prepare students for life beyond school. We investigate how these innovations take shape in real contexts, what barriers and enablers schools encounter, and how systems can support sustainable change. Across this work, we aim to understand how schools and communities can design learning environments that are more equitable, adaptable, and responsive to the diverse needs of students.

  • The Lens    

Innovation Spotlights: Case Studies in High School Redesign

Chelsea Waite, Cara Pangelinan, Lisa Chu, Naureen Madhani, Heather Casimere

Educators nationwide are forging their way in a landscape rocked by pandemic-induced disruptions. Training resources designed to spark new thinking among school staff often feel outdated—especially if they were published before 2020.

  • The Lens    

Low Cost, Big Gains: Family Phone Tutoring Targets Learning Loss

Adam Barton, Gloria Lee

The work of post-pandemic learning recovery will take many years. As researchers Tom Kane and Sean Reardon noted in an opinion piece in The New York Times: “Especially in the hardest-hit communities, it is increasingly obvious that many students will not have caught up before the federal money runs out in 2024.” Schools are hungry for cost-effective strategies that can help students accelerate mastering foundational academic skills.

  • The Lens    

Beyond Finland: Public School Solutions from Around the Globe

Adam Barton, Gloria Lee

As Americans, we love innovation and we’re good at it. We pride ourselves on ingenuity. We celebrate inventors. We are, generally, more tolerant of failure than other countries.

  • The Lens    

Unconventional Private Schools Attract Parents with Tailored Offerings—Public Schools Can, Too

Chelsea Waite

Small learning environments that operate outside public schools—such as microschools, hybrid homeschools, and learning pods—exploded into broad public consciousness during the pandemic.

  • Research Reports    

Innovation in New England

Cara Pangelinan, Chelsea Waite, Christine Pitts, Sarah McCann, Heather Casimere

CRPE partnered with The BARR Foundation to map the New England region’s landscape of learning.

  • The Lens    

Teachers Want to Innovate—Schools that Don’t Let Them are Losing Out

Chelsea Waite

This piece was originally published in The 74. Waite: Education entrepreneurs are taking their creativity and ingenuity to hybrid schools and microschools — and taking their students with them At the end of April, I attended a conference in Atlanta featuring a small but heterogenous group of self-described education entrepreneurs.

  • The Lens    

First Literacy, Now Math: Oakland REACH Prepares to Train More Tutors

Lakisha Young

We can all see where the good jobs are going. By 2025, there will be 25 million digital jobs in this country – more than manufacturing and construction combined. 

  • Research Reports    

Despite Staff Shortages, Few Districts Are Making Teaching More Appealing

Lydia Rainey, Bree Dusseault, Lisa Chu

The exact cause of teacher shortages is still up for debate. Some experts argue that shortages are localized, while others say that the lack of teachers is due to low unemployment and other factors.

  • The Lens    

SEL, Mentoring, Career Prep: Schools That Deliver What Parents Say They Want

Chelsea Waite

This piece was originally published in The 74. Waite: Changing the DNA of how schools educate students is hard, long-term work.

  • The Lens    

Twenty Years of Testing: A Teacher Looks Back; New Reports Look Forward

Christine Pitts

New research on the effectiveness of federal K-12 policies is part of national effort to improve testing and accountability mandates In 2009, I was a third grade teacher.

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