Implementing and scaling up targeted interventions can be challenging. This Spotlight will help readers learn about the most common interventions for academic recovery; dive into research on implementing effective learning recovery programs; investigate strategies for making intensive tutoring sustainable; discover how districts are tackling…

Traditional school models and policy frameworks have often neglected the outside-of-school factors that can impact students' academic achievement and well-being at school. However, a number of schools in the USA have been or are beginning to integrate community-based support services to address students' varied needs. School-based wraparound is an…

This Perspective builds on a related RAND Corporation report that describes the implementation of Findhelp at four North Carolina community colleges in 2021 and 2022. Findhelp is an online tool to connect students to resources in their communities to help meet their basic nonacademic needs. The North Carolina Community College System, with support…

Learning depends on the social, emotional, physical, & mental health of students. This resource shares policy recommendations to transform disjointed resources for children into potent systems of integrated student support. The systems that come together to support young people's learning and development include schools, community…

Growing research suggests that a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum in school has a positive impact on students' emotional and academic learning. However, schools in Pakistan face multiple challenges for fostering social-emotional skills due to lack of awareness of the existence and benefits of SEL programs, inadequate funding in public…

Online programs are often viewed as a cost-efficient strategy for increasing revenue for shrinking university budgets but this may not be an accurate assessment. Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) is a budgeting model that is purported to increase efficient delivery of academic programs. As RCM budgeting models have been embraced, many…

Research across the decades has confirmed that effective school leadership is associated with better outcomes for students and schools. A high-quality school leader affects dozens of teachers and hundreds or thousands of students. It is a pivotal role. From 2011 to 2016, The Wallace Foundation, through its Principal Pipeline Initiative (PPI),…

Catch Up® Literacy is a structured one-to-one literacy intervention for pupils between the ages of 6 and 14 who are struggling to learn to read. It teaches pupils to blend phonemes (combine letter sounds into words), segment phonemes (separate words into letter sounds), and memorise particular words so they can be understood without needing to use…

Integrated student supports (ISS), sometimes referred to as integrated student services, represents an emerging field of practice that aims to address persistent disparities in educational achievement and attainment. ISS is a school-based approach to promoting students' academic achievement and educational attainment by coordinating a seamless…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) represent the first time that nearly every state has set common expectations for what students should know and be able to do. In the past, each state set its own standards, and the results varied widely. And while states collectively developed these common standards, decisions about the curriculum and…

In 2006, the National Center for Postsecondary Research, of which is MDRC is a partner, launched a demonstration of one-semester learning community programs at six colleges; five of these programs focused on developmental education. This is the final report from the project and includes findings from analyses that pool data across these five…

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a process that addresses both the identification of learning disabilities and the design of early intervention and instruction. RtI provides a framework upon which to structure high quality instruction for all students and a means by which to identify those in need of more intensive intervention. The process is…

Peer tutoring has been used as an effective program for students with academic difficulties. This article provides information on the efficacy of considering behavioral function and structure and data addressing ecobehavioral variables to establish a productive learning environment. Infusing peer-tutoring programs with applied behavior analysis…

A recent cost-benefit analysis was made of reduced class size, increased instructional time, computer-assisted instruction, and peer or cross-age tutoring. Tutoring turned out to have the greatest effect on student learning and to be the most cost effective. Implementation of a successful tutoring program is described. (MT)

This study describes the major forms of year-round education, evaluates their potential costs and educational benefits (including effects on student academic achievement, learning retention, socialization, and employability), and assesses such programs' feasibility as to legal requirements and effects on school personnel and the larger community.…