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The EdResearch for Action "Design Principles Series" focuses on a single program or practice that has been proven to have positive effects on student outcomes. Authors -- leading experts from across the field of education research -- look across many high-quality studies of similar programs to identify the components and conditions that are key to its effective implementation. The "Design Principles Series" helps practitioners adapt and successfully implement an evidence-based program to meet the needs of their target population. This brief is an update of the previous version published in 2021. It incorporates new research on effective design and implementation components in high-impact tutoring programs. [This brief was prepared in collaboration with the University of Virginia, School of Education and Human Development and National Student Support Accelerator.]

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This overview brief discusses the central question: What is the evidence on strategies to build a sense of school connectedness and engagement among all students? Key insights are arranged in the following sections: (1) breaking down the issue; (2) evidence-based practices; and (3) practices to avoid. [The BARR Center and Network for College Success are additional collaborators for this report.]

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This brief discusses the central question: How can schools and districts promote the educational and social-emotional well-being of the diverse population of immigrant-origin students? Key insights are arranged in the following sections: (1) breaking down the issue; (2) evidence-based practices; and (3) practices to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by Re-Imagining Migration and UC Santa Barbara, The Gevirtz School Graduate School of Education.]

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This research brief breaks down what is known about multilingual students classified as English Learners (ML-ELs), how ML-ELs perform in K-12 education, and what challenges they face. Key insights provided include: (1) research-based practices--such as bilingual program models--district and school leaders can use to support the academic success and linguistic development of ML-ELs; and (2) one-size-fits-all practices to avoid that can limit many students' opportunities to engage with rigorous content. [This brief was produced in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin, College of Education.]

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. Authors -- leading experts from across the field of education research -- are charged with highlighting key findings from research that provide concrete, strategic insight on persistent challenges sourced from district and state leaders. This brief asks how districts and states can promote equitable success in academic early college credit courses and covers research on early college credit courses that focus on academic and general content as opposed to career and technical education (CTE).

The EdResearch for "Action Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. Authors -- leading experts from across the field of education research -- are charged with highlighting key findings from research that provide concrete, strategic insight on persistent challenges sourced from district and state leaders. The central question to this brief is: What evidence-based practices can schools and districts implement to identify and support students experiencing homelessness? Students experiencing homelessness tend to have lower attendance and academic achievement than similar low-income students, and academic outcomes vary widely based on residential context. Training school staff on students' legal and educational rights and signs of homelessness is crucial to identifying and supporting students experiencing homelessness and is required by McKinney-Vento. Regular communication with student-identified trusted adults allows schools to tailor practices to meet individual student needs and improve outcomes. The brief provides evidence-based practices and practices to avoid. [The University of Kentucky, Utah State University, and Simmons School of Education and Human Development are additional collaborators for this report.]

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This overview brief discusses what research shows about how student teaching experiences can best prepare new teachers. Effective student teaching experiences can address critical issues in the teacher workforce in the following ways: (1) increasing the effectiveness of novice teachers; (2) addressing teacher shortages and district needs; and (3) enhancing existing teacher workforce quality. The brief provides evidence-based practices and practices to avoid. [The University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education was one of the collaborators of this brief.]

Three years after the onset of the pandemic, there is little evidence of academic recovery in the U.S. The latest data reveal a sobering reality: In spite of many school districts' efforts to accelerate learning, students remain far behind pre-pandemic levels of achievement. Even more troubling, many students did not accelerate their progress at all last year; on average, their rate of learning decelerated, putting them even further behind. Between fall 2022 and spring 2023, according to a recent study, students in grades 4-8 made significantly slower progress in reading and math than was typical in pre-pandemic years (and progress was especially slow for students attending high-poverty schools and students of color). Schools have always looked for ways to accelerate the progress of students achieving below grade level. However, researchers have found that some of the most common approaches to helping those students catch up to their peers (such as grade retention, accelerating entry into advanced courses, and providing optional, on-demand virtual resources) tend to be ineffective. At times, such interventions even exacerbate inequalities, having negative long-term effects that outweigh any benefits students may experience in the short term. In that case, what can educators do to identify and support students who've struggled academically since the onset of the pandemic? Fortunately, certain interventions have proven to be effective at helping students catch up and keep making progress, while allowing them to participate in core classes with their peers. This brief is an updated and revised edition, building upon the original EdResearch Brief "School Practices to Address Student Learning Loss."

The EdResearch for Action "Overview Series" summarizes the research on key topics to provide K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students. This overview brief discusses the causes and effects of chronic absenteeism and three tiers of evidence-based practices to reduce it: (1) Reaching all students with broad-based and preventative supports; (2) Targeting students with signs of risk; and (3) Responding to chronic absenteeism with coordinated supports. Ineffective practices to avoid are also provided.

The EdResearch for Action "Design Principles Series" focuses on a single program or practice that has been proven to have positive effects on student outcomes. Authors -- leading experts from across the field of education research -- look across many high-quality studies of similar programs to identify the components and conditions that are key to its effective implementation. The "Design Principles Series" helps practitioners adapt and successfully implement an evidence-based program to meet the needs of their target population. This brief discusses online credit recovery as a strategy to help students make up coursework missed during COVID-19. The suggested instruction design includes: (1) blended learning; (2) class size and grouping; and (3) progress monitoring. The brief also outlines strategies pertaining to student selection, student support from school personnel, professional development for instructors, and effective technology.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision-makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. Schools and districts are increasingly turning to online credit recovery as a strategy to help students make up coursework missed during COVID-19. Vendor-provided online credit recovery programs often do not accommodate the learning needs of students who read below grade level or require special academic supports. Online credit recovery often results in less learning and lower earnings than face-to-face credit recovery, even if students regain course credits. Design principles for effective online credit recovery are presented in this report.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can system leaders improve reading comprehension for students in kindergarten to grade 4 through stronger Tier I English language arts instruction? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into four points: (1) Throughout the early elementary grades, students struggle to comprehend grade-level texts that require strong word recognition skills, vocabulary and background knowledge, mastery of complex syntax, and the ability to draw inferences; (2) Word recognition and language comprehension are central to how well a student understands a written passage; (3) Reading comprehension also depends on the reader, the text, the activity, and the context; and (4) Failing to read proficiently in the early elementary grades can have long-lasting negative consequences for students' future educational and economic success. Based on these points, the brief provides eight strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. The brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) Missing school negatively affects academic and socioemotional outcomes for all students, but the impacts are largest for low-performing, low-income, and English learner students; (2) The biggest drivers of absenteeism are transportation challenges, student health, school climate, mobility, and poverty--for individual students and for communities; and (3) The virtual learning environment, increased physical and mental health concerns, and reduced transportation access associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the problems that cause student absences. Based on these points, the brief provides three tiers of ten strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools and districts help students make well-informed choices about college? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into four points: (1) On average, a college education translates into higher earnings and non-monetary benefits that recover the upfront investment of time and money, but the pandemic has disrupted many students' plans for college; (2) The cost of college rose steeply for decades but is currently holding steady or declining; (3) Students who want to go to college often fall behind in completing the necessary steps for applications, especially if they are from disadvantaged backgrounds; and (4) About 10% to 20% of graduating seniors who are accepted to college do not enroll by the fall after high school. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid. [This brief was prepared in collaboration with the University of Missouri, Harry S Truman School of Government & Public Affairs.]

The EdResearch for Action "Design Principles Series" focuses on a single program or practice that has been proven to have positive effects on student outcomes. The series helps practitioners adapt and successfully implement an evidence-based program to meet the needs of their target population. This brief provides the evidence base to make the case for instructional coaching and discusses who the best candidates to coach and to be coached are; what effective coaches do; and what supports coaches need to be successful.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools and districts ensure that all students benefit from school counseling programs? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) Access to school counselors improves academic outcomes, social-emotional development, and postsecondary enrollment; (2) The students who could benefit the most from counselors typically have the least access to them; and (3) During COVID-19, virtual work and added non-counseling duties have further limited students' access to school counselors while student needs have accumulated. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision-makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It offers design principles to improve practice with instructional coaching based on a review of research. Links to research are included, as well as key considerations for designing an evidence-based coaching program. [This report was produced in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, Learning Research and Development Center.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: What does the research say about structural supports that enable teacher well-being? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) Burnout and demoralization are meaningfully different forms of work dissatisfaction that each affect teachers' ability to do their jobs and influence decisions to remain in the profession; (2) System and school conditions contribute to or buffer against demoralization and burnout in ways that directly affect the lives of both teachers and students; and (3) Evidence is growing that the pandemic has increased demoralization and burnout among many teachers. Based on these points, the brief provides six strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by Bowdoin College.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision-makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It begins with an at-a-glance view of an effective voluntary academic summer learning program structure (duration, class size, attendance, enrichment activities, academic curriculum) and personnel (academic teachers, enrichment instructors, and administration). Next, it provides the evidence base that supports instituting voluntary academic summer learning programs. Then a more in-depth look at the program structure and personnel of effective programs is offered. Lastly, the brief includes a section on summer programming caveats and considerations.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: What policies, procedures, and practices coupled with professional development can prepare schools to meet the needs of students coping with trauma and toxic levels of stress? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into four points: (1) Trauma disrupts the development of core cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral competencies that are needed to succeed in school; (2) Trauma is broadly experienced across the U.S. student population, but disproportionately concentrated among members of racially and ethnically marginalized and lower-income communities; (3) The pandemic has placed increased pressure on schools to provide mental health support, especially for schools serving racially and ethnically marginalized students, and those living in lower-income communities; and (4) Many teachers and staff members report that they need more training in recognizing and responding to student trauma. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was prepared in collaboration with the Trauma Responsive Educational Practices (TREP) Project.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision-makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. Rigorous research provides strong evidence that high-dosage tutoring can produce large learning gains for a wide range of students, including those who have fallen behind academically. This brief provides information on design principles for effective tutoring including: frequency, group size, personnel, focus, measurement, relationships, curriculum, scheduling, delivery mode, and prioritization. [This brief was prepared in collaboration with the University of Virginia, School of Education and Human Development.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: What does research tell us about how to use community-based resources to address academic and social gaps resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into two points: (1) The pandemic revealed and exacerbated problems that have pushed schools and districts beyond their existing capacity to effectively respond; and (2) Partnerships between school districts and community organizations let schools draw on rooted community assets to confront key areas of concern, including basic family needs, technology access, childcare, and academic enrichment. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by the American University, School of Education.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools and districts monitor students' social and emotional well-being across the year? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into two points: (1) Disruptions to students' mental and emotional health, social systems of support, and learning environments require a new focus on social and emotional well-being; and (2) Although the need to assess students' social and emotional well-being in a virtual environment is new, we can still draw from assessments that were developed and validated prior to the pandemic. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: Recognizing longstanding educational inequities, what research-backed practices can district administrators, school leaders, and classroom teachers use to support English Learner (EL) students' academic success and linguistic development in an instructional context transformed by COVID-19? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) EL students are a rapidly growing and diverse population entitled to English language development instruction that will allow meaningful access to academic content; (2) Complex federal laws govern the education of EL students and continue to hold state and local education agencies accountable for their academic performance even during the pandemic; and (3) School leader and teacher training rarely provides sufficient support for how to meet the unique needs of EL students. Based on these points, the brief provides five strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and the University of Texas at Austin, College of Education.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools and districts support families in their diverse contexts and build practical trust to support student learning? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) Schools are demanding more than ever from parents even as parents lack specific guidance and supports from schools to meet many of the demands; (2) The disruption of ongoing school routines is already having detrimental effects on families while limiting access to mental health and wellness services; and (3) Legacies of discrimination and marginalization in schools and inequities in access to high-quality education undermine trust in ways that shape the possibilities for family engagement. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by Boston School Finder.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools create contexts that foster safety and prosocial behaviors in the wake of COVID-19 and the ongoing state of increased unrest over racial justice? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into four points: (1) We can expect an increase of students, particularly Black students, experiencing and displaying behavioral dysregulation at school, as well as students whose behavioral challenges signal a need for support rather than disciplinary sanctions and policing; (2) Over the past 30 years there has been a dramatic rise in the prevalence of police officers stationed in school buildings; the overwhelming majority of officers have minimal training on practices that meet the developmental needs of children and youth; (3) Increased police presence in schools is associated with increased "detection" of security incidents, but there is no evidence that police in schools have increased student safety or improved school climates; and (4) There are large racial and ethnic disproportionalities in exposure to police officers in schools and in the negative effects of increased police presence in schools. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was also a collaboration with the Trauma Responsive Educational Practices (TREP) Project.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: What changes in central office systems are likely to support principals in leading for equitable, high-quality teaching and learning? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into two points: (1) Principal leadership is essential to equitable, high-quality teaching and learning; and (2) Central offices formed at the turn of the 20th century to handle business and regulatory functions; only in the past 20 years have they been called on and supported to lead for high-quality teaching and learning. Not surprisingly, then, support for principals' equity-focused instructional leadership typically requires fundamental shifts in specific central office systems. Based on these points, the brief provides five strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools provide high-quality distance and blended learning during the pandemic? To answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into four points: (1) With the abrupt end of in-person schooling in the spring of 2020, learning opportunities available to students varied enormously with some students receiving almost no distance instruction and others engaging in meaningful learning; (2) Student engagement in available distance learning opportunities was uneven and inequitable in the spring, partially but not entirely due to students' challenges in accessing online learning; (3) The move to distance learning reduces opportunities for many of the crucial social aspects of learning; and (4) Early elementary children and vulnerable student populations are most at risk from the move to a distanced setting. Based on these points, the brief provides six strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: What research-backed practices can school districts, schools and classroom teachers use to support immigrant-origin students' educational success and build inclusive environments in learning contexts transformed by COVID-19? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) Immigrant-origin children are the fastest growing segment of the school-age population in the U.S.; (2) Immigrant communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in terms of loss of employment, representation among frontline and essential workers, and rates of illness; and (3) Immigrant-origin students tend to have lower access to at-home resources that might support their learning during the pandemic. Based on these points, the brief provides five strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by Re-Imagining Migration and UC Santa Barbara, The Gevirtz School Graduate School of Education.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: What are the key considerations for districts that may need to reduce spending and potentially lay off employees? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into four points: (1) State revenues will drop for districts in many states. The extent of revenue loss will vary considerably across districts and could be partially mitigated by the federal response; (2) If the federal government does not offset state revenue losses, districts will need to cut spending on salaries and benefits; (3) School spending cuts negatively affect students' educational outcomes and apparently neutral budget choices often have disproportionate effects on traditionally underserved students; and (4) The COVID-19 pandemic creates substantial new demands on schools that will likely require a reallocation of resources. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. Student teaching placements influence teacher effectiveness. If student teaching experiences are constrained by the pandemic, teacher candidates may lose valuable experiences and schools may lose the opportunity to shape and evaluate prospective hires. Teacher preparation programs and student teaching experiences play a major role in determining where candidates take job placements, in ways that can influence both job markets and staffing shortages. Teachers and teachers-in-training who participate in online practice teaching see significant improvements in teaching skills. School systems can provide in-service supports for new teachers whose student teaching experiences were interrupted or incomplete. Stronger partnerships between teacher preparation providers and remote districts have the potential to bring significant benefits, both for student teachers and for districts facing staffing shortages. Student teachers represent an important pool of additional talent for schools; creative deployment of student teachers could provide a major boost as the COVID-19 crisis continues. Low-quality teacher mentoring programs, as well as those that are not sustained across multiple years, are likely to be ineffective. Teacher effectiveness might show up differently in an online setting -- so relying on past measures of teacher quality will likely be insufficient.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. For children meeting academic benchmarks before the shutdown, slowdowns through September will not be catastrophic. However, delayed openings or shutdowns combined with weak remote learning offerings in the fall may set students' learning back significantly. In order to move students through grade-level content, schools will need to lean heavily on tiered strategies that include broad-based supports for all students and intensive intervention for students who have felt the pandemic's impacts most directly. Face-to-face instruction is particularly important for early elementary students. Targeted support strategies for families, such as take-home books, text messages, and family involvement programs, can effectively supplement in-school curriculum. Teaching grade-level content to all students in the fall, while identifying students needing special support, can help students remain on track. Scheduled time for teachers to communicate across grade-level teams and efforts to maximize instructional time can help students catch up while avoiding redundancy. Teacher looping structures that keep students and teachers together for more than one academic year seem to be beneficial, but the evidence is thin, and large-scale shifts would require teachers to learn new content across multiple grade levels. Large-scale, standardized testing is unlikely to yield results quickly enough and/or at a grain size that teachers can use to plan instruction. Remediation programs that supplant regular instruction are likely to prevent students from learning new, grade-level content.

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. Homelessness is not a uniform experience. Even before the pandemic, student homelessness was increasing, and many schools were struggling to respond. Students experiencing homelessness may be particularly vulnerable to health-, wellbeing-, and education-related adversity brought on or exacerbated by the pandemic. To successfully implement the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, schools should prioritize proactive identification and consider fostering an environment that frames policy supports as rights for students. Collaborations and data sharing with community providers can improve identification of students experiencing homelessness and ease access to resources and supports for families. Regular communication to build relationships with student-identified networks of trusted adults allows schools to tailor practices and supports in ways that meet individual needs. When weighing the risks and benefits of various models for reopening schools in the fall, plans must consider local COVID-19 conditions, available funding, and the realities of students' home environments. Deficit-oriented and stigmatizing practices may have adverse short- and long-term consequences for students and their families. [This report was co-prepared by the Southern Methodist University, Simmons School of Education and Human Development.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can research inform student transitions from high school to college and career, given the financial and health uncertainties that students -- particularly those who are marginalized and traditionally underserved -- are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) Recent recessions have increased existing employment gaps between workers with and without a college degree; (2) Research generally shows that students are better off attending college versus not and better off attending a more selective bachelor's degree-granting institution; and (3) Both college-bound and career-bound students are at risk of losing momentum in 2020-2021 and transitioning to a less secure postsecondary pathway. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and two strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by Southern Methodist University, Simmons School of Education & Human Development.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. It addresses one central question: How can schools intervene to reduce learning gaps between students with disabilities and their peers, which have likely widened during school closures? In order to answer this question, the brief breaks down the issue into three points: (1) All current federal guidance indicates that, even during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, schools still need to provide students with disabilities an education that (a) is individualized and (b) ensures they make appropriate progress; (2) Students with disabilities are one of the student populations likely to have regressed the most during COVID-related distance learning; and (3) The single most important service schools provide for students with disabilities is additional intervention time devoted to students' specific areas of need. Based on these points, the brief provides four strategies to consider and three strategies to avoid. [This brief was co-prepared by the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk.]

This brief is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the novel coronavirus pandemic. Learning losses are likely to show up differently across grades and subjects, with intensive recovery needs concentrated in the early grades and among already struggling students. Supportive school environments and strong teacher-student relationships speed recovery from learning loss. High-dosage tutoring that is directly tied to classroom content -- helping students succeed in their coursework -- can substantially accelerate learning in both math and reading for the most struggling students. Extended learning time interventions, including weeklong acceleration academies staffed with highly effective teachers and some double dose math structures, show strong evidence of effectiveness. Strong systems to monitor for early student warning signs paired with strong norms and routines help students recover emotionally and engage academically. Compressed content, grade retention, and enhanced Response to Intervention (RTI) show less evidence that they substantially shift learning outcomes for struggling students, and some have potential adverse long-term consequences.

The purpose of this Policy Impact Snapshot is to identify the major categories of career and technical education (CTE) currently available within our nation's secondary and postsecondary education systems and describe the existing research on whether these programs are achieving desired outcomes for students. This Policy Impact Snapshot describes four major types of CTE programs: (1) CTE instruction and training; (2) Career Pathways; (3) Youth Apprenticeships; and (4) Career Readiness and Skills Training. The evidence of effectiveness for each category was reviewed and it was found that, because CTE programs have been around for so long, there are many studies, including many that are out of date. Many also describe associations and relationships rather than causal connections to specific outcomes. But over time, better data availability and quality have allowed researchers to conduct more rigorous studies. In this paper, the focus is on those more recent and rigorous studies.

Head Start is a valuable federal program that improves the lives of our nation's most vulnerable children and their families. Research shows that Head Start programs improve children's learning at school entry and have a positive impact on long-term life outcomes. Research also suggests that Head Start could have a stronger impact on children's early learning, school, and life outcomes. The key question is, how can policymakers and practitioners maximize outcomes for Head Start children and their families? This paper--the product of a combined effort of Results for America, Bellwether Education Partners, the National Head Start Association, and the Volcker Alliance--outlines a vision for a continuous improvement approach that uses data, evidence, and evaluation to improve outcomes at all levels of the Head Start program. Although realization of the vision will require a multiyear commitment to research and cycles of experimentation to address outstanding technical and measurement challenges there are steps that Congress and the administration can take now to both advance this vision in the near term and support the research needed to fully realize it in the future. These steps include: (1) Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services should make data-informed, continuous improvement a key priority in any legislative or regulatory policy action on Head Start; (2) The Office of Head Start and the philanthropic sector should invest in building grantee capacity to use data to improve performance; (3) Federal policymakers should initiate an iterative process to develop robust, common performance indicators for Head Start and should engage researchers, the philanthropic sector, and Head Start grantees as partners in this process; (4) Federal research agencies should work with researchers and the philanthropic sector to support the development of solid, trusted metrics of Head Start child outcomes, family outcomes, and program capacity; (5) The Office of Head Start should provide transparent, interactive, public reporting on grantee performance; (6) Once the Office of Head Start has developed a sufficiently robust system to measure grantee performance, it should use this system to differentiate grantee performance; (7) The Office of Head Start should continue, learn from, and build on efforts to make program monitoring more performance focused and less compliance oriented; (8) The Secretary of Health and Human Services should implement a robust research agenda for Head Start, and Congress should increase the cap on Head Start research, demonstration, and evaluation spending from $20 million to 1 percent of total appropriations; and (9) Congress should authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to grant additional flexibility to allow cohorts of programs working with researchers to pilot new approaches to serving children and families.

More than a decade ago, Michael Lewis penned the influential book "Moneyball." An examination of how Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane used data to make his franchise competitive with wealthier baseball teams, the book struck a chord. Beane's strategy of making decisions based on data had a powerful and positive impact on the performance of the Oakland A's, and people quickly saw that this practice could and should be more widely applied. This paper suggests ways to revamp federal education policies and programs to help lawmakers spend public funds more effectively and efficiently to improve student outcomes. The aim is to identify a set of proposals that have some bipartisan appeal and can make a practical difference. This effort was informed by thinking from a select group of seasoned experts from the left and right who have much experience with federal education policy. Given strong-principled disagreements about the nature of the federal role in education, three caveats are vital. First, this exercise assumes that the recommendations will be revenue neutral. Second, this exercise does not assume that the federal government should dictate to states or localities exactly how to spend their funds. Third, "moneyball" strategies are not imagined to suggest that we should only value what can currently be measured, or paint everything as either "working" or "not working." Even with these caveats, however, promoting more use of data, evidence, and evaluation to do better for students is too important to pass up. Moneyball could also present a bipartisan pathway forward at a time when much of education policy seems to be increasingly stuck in fruitless debate.

Since Head Start's last reauthorization in 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Head Start, has implemented significant reforms that are improving the program. In "Renewing Head Start's Promise: Invest in What Works for Disadvantaged Preschoolers," Sara Mead offers several recommendations to enable Head Start to better serve children and families such as: (1) Maximizing the effectiveness of designation renewal; (2) Setting clear goals and measuring program performance; (3) Increasing flexibility to innovate; and (4) Carefully explore options to expand the state role in Head Start while protecting federal investments and comprehensive services for Head Start children. By strengthening Head Start, Mead adds, it can improve both the school readiness and long-term life outcomes for our nation's most disadvantaged youngsters.