This article describes a piloted approach to responsive lesson planning and lesson reflection that centers the motivation of both teachers and students in public school settings. Anchored in the African philosophical approach of Sankofa and Self-Determination Theory, the tools and practices described encourage strategic reflection while…

Background/Context: Professional development (PD) programs have been the primary tool school districts have used to improve teachers' knowledge and skills, though the evidence is mixed on the degree to which these investments translate into improved outcomes for teachers and their students. Further, most research has tracked researcher-designed…

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory partnered with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to explore the potential use of teacher surveys in school leader evaluation. The DCPS evaluation system, like many others, currently consists of two components: an assessment on how well a school performs on a set of student achievement…

Policymakers continue to champion private school voucher programs as a way to improve educational outcomes through increased school choice. For nearly two decades Congress has supported vouchers in Washington, DC, providing federal funds for the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) to allow low-income children to attend private schools in the…

This appendix volume supplements Evaluation Report NCEE 2025-006r, which assessed whether families' expressed interest in and use of scholarships for the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) appears consistent with the goal for program expansion. Appendix A provides additional information about the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), including…

Ten years ago, many policy makers viewed the reform of teacher evaluation as a highly promising mechanism to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Recently, that enthusiasm has dimmed as the available evidence suggests the subsequent reforms had a mixed record of implementation and efficacy. Even in districts where there was…

Background: Public education reforms, such as expanded school choice, have become a critical lever for remaking urban landscapes. These reforms often aim to attract and retain affluent and White families in urban schools, so scholars have examined how these parents navigate the perceived risk of choosing these schools for their children. Purpose:…

Principals' influence on teachers is an important route through which principals may affect student outcomes. The advent of teacher evaluation systems allows estimations of principal contributions to teacher effectiveness. Employing data from the District of Columbia Public Schools, this paper examines how principals vary in their contributions to…

This report summarizes the fiscal effects of education choice programs across the United States from an analysis of 48 private education choice programs in 25 states plus D.C. The programs in the analysis include five education savings account programs, 22 school voucher programs, and 21 tax credit scholarship programs. This study estimates the…

The percentage of White residents in the urban core increased during the last three decades. Meanwhile, urban school choice policies have changed school enrollment processes. Scholars must examine how White residents navigate school choice in this context to understand why racial segregation persists. We study White parents in a city with changing…

Methods: The intervention was designed in partnership with a local food service provider in the District of Columbia and took place at two public elementary schools over the course of two years. Each semester, researchers visited schools to conduct a baseline assessment before the intervention was introduced. In two semesters, students were…

This mixed methods case study examined teachers' levels of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue, or the combination of burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and strove to understand how teachers experience these phenomena and what supports could be used to alleviate some of the harmful symptoms of compassion fatigue. For this study, I…

Over several weeks of the late Spring and early Summer of 2010, along with a bright summer intern, the author visited a dozen DCPS schools. The alleged purpose was to collect feedback on the design of an expanded testing program. These meetings were informative, animated, and very well attended. School staff appreciated the apparent opportunity to…

Scholars Leonard & Woodland (2022) suggest schools and districts face a crucial challenge. Are schools and districts ensuring their personnel are prepared to engage in critical practices to affirm, include, and support all students, families, peers, and communities? Or are schools and districts just haphazardly committing to diversity, equity,…

Efforts to bridge educational achievement gaps and address inequities remain a central challenge across the United States. The multitiered system of supports has emerged as a prominent intervention framework with which to equip educators for this task. Given its growing adoption across school districts, a deeper understanding of teacher…