Research Reports

Must-Reads

  • Research Reports    
Chelsea Waite, Michael Berardino, Maddy Sims

School districts are struggling to create both equitable and fundamentally different outcomes for young people through incremental improvements. The alternative is transformational systems change, when school districts redefine their purpose and operations through a coherent strategy to ensure every school is a high-quality, empowering place for all students to thrive—but this remains rare.

Latest Publications

  • Research Reports    

The Transformation Gap: Why Motivated District Leaders Pursue Incremental Change

Chelsea Waite, Michael Berardino, Maddy Sims

School districts are struggling to create both equitable and fundamentally different outcomes for young people through incremental improvements. The alternative is transformational systems change, when school districts redefine their purpose and operations through a coherent strategy to ensure every school is a high-quality, empowering place for all students to thrive—but this remains rare.

  • Research Reports    

A Mile Wide, an Inch Deep: The State of Civic Learning in U.S. School Districts

AK Keskin, Lisa Chu

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, civic learning is having a moment—but new data suggest that more support is needed to move students from knowing the basics to participating in civics learning and practice within their communities.

  • Research Reports    

Early Adopter Districts and AI: Strategic Pathways, System Strain, and the Conditions for Amplifying Transformation

Michael Berardino, Swati Guin, Bree Dusseault

School districts are making consequential AI decisions largely on their own—purchasing tools, training teachers, setting policies for student use, and trying to determine what responsible and effective adoption looks like.

  • Research Reports    

Getting Beyond the Lightbulb Stage: Why AI Is Not Yet Transforming Education

Shira Haderlein, Robin Lake

New AI tools are entering the ed tech market every day. But how are they actually playing out in schools and classrooms?

Research Reports

Our studies span governance, systems, and practice in public education. Through our reports we help make sense of complex trends and data, communicate new possibilities for system change, and provide guidance and thought leadership to support that change.

Publications
Focus Areas

Independent peer review is an integral part of all CRPE research projects. Peer reviews are conducted by research or policy professionals who are not members of the CRPE project team. Some externally published work, such as commissioned papers, books and book chapters, journal articles, and op eds, may be hosted on other sites, and some may require purchase or subscriptions to view.

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