This case study explores the implementation of personalized learning at an elementary school in Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District 35. The study, conducted by Research for Action and funded by KnowledgeWorks, sheds light on the shift towards personalized, competency-based learning practices within the district. Through qualitative sources…

In partnership with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, RFA has been studying Philadelphia schools' take-up of an instructional reform that has demonstrated positive impacts on teacher knowledge and student learning in math. The Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) is designed to deepen teachers' understanding of foundational concepts in…

High-quality, well-implemented early childhood education (ECE) positively affects the learning trajectories of children who start school with lower skills than their peers, according to decades of evidence. Yet studies on ECE programs across the country reveal that too few offer high-quality programming. To date, the ECE field has focused most…

Every year millions of Americans gain valuable college credit-worthy learning through workplace training, the military, apprenticeships, & professional certifications. Nearly all of this learning goes unrecognized by colleges & universities. Without a consistent way to recognize, reward, and transfer this learning, many people are left…

In 2012, the Community School Engagement Strategy was adopted by the Family League of Baltimore as a way to address historical racial and structural inequalities that have produced unequal educational outcomes among the city's children and youth. The goals of community schools include integrating health and social supports for children and their…

The use of data to inform decisionmaking and practice at the school and district levels is now a common feature of reform efforts. Advances in districts' technological capacities have produced data systems that allow a flow of data to and from schools, often to the point of creating an overwhelming flood of information. To make the flow of…

The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium--or PERC--was launched in August 2014 as an innovative partnership designed to provide research and analyses on some of the city's most pressing education issues. This partnership was forged among the School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia's charter school sector, and Research for Action (RFA).…

Initiated for the 2013-14 school year, the Common Assignment Study (CAS) is a three-year effort being led by the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) and The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky (The Fund) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Conceptually, CAS builds on previous efforts to improve instruction through…

National initiatives to raise K-12 standards and align them to postsecondary entrance requirements have prompted states and/or state postsecondary systems to enact policies to improve alignment among postsecondary readiness standards, postsecondary placement and diagnostic exams, and developmental education curricula. This report examines how six…

As of the writing of this report, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being implemented in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Approaches to implementing the standards, however, are highly varied. For the past 3 years, Research For Action (RFA) has been tracking how one approach to implementing the literacy standards--the Literacy…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested in the development and dissemination of high quality instructional and formative assessment tools to support teachers' incorporation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into their classroom instruction. Literacy experts have developed a framework and a set of templates that teachers can use…

Funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) offer a set of instructional and formative assessment tools in literacy and math, which were developed to help educators better prepare all students to meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and succeed beyond high…

In partnership with the Mayor of Baltimore City and Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools), Family League of Baltimore (Family League) launched the Community & School Engagement Strategy in school year 2012-13. As part of that process, it intentionally aligned its existing Out of School Time (OST) activities with community schools…

Funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) and Math Design Collaborative (MDC) offer a set of instructional and formative assessment tools in literacy and math, which were developed to help educators better prepare all students to meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and succeed beyond high…

In August of 2011, NYC launched the Young Men's Initiative (YMI)--an ambitious set of programs across several City agencies aimed at improving outcomes for Black and Latino males. The bulk of YMI's education effort is the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), which provides funding and support to 40 high schools to help them improve college and…