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In fall 2022 and winter 2023, Education Forward DC and Venture Philanthropy Partners+Raise DC supported a cohort of Washington, D.C., public charter schools (PCS) in administering selected domains of the Panorama Social Emotional Learning (SEL) survey to provide educators with data on well-being for students in grades 3-12. The organizations partnered with Bellwether to analyze the schools' survey data and develop a report. All D.C. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are invited to join the annual report so that as many schools and district leaders as possible are equipped with actionable data and locally contextualized research on supporting students' social-emotional well-being. This report summarizes the current state of student well-being across participating D.C. schools. It is intended to aid educators, policymakers, and communities in interpreting the survey results, tracking progress over time, and identifying strengths and areas for growth. Coupled with the DCPS Panorama SEL survey data, this report aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of student well-being across the city. [Additional funding for this report was provided by Education Forward DC and Raise DC.]

In this analysis, the authors describe current approaches to assessing the effectiveness of math curricula and identify potential opportunities to further tailor effectiveness studies to the needs of the practitioners who rely on the research to make adoption decisions. Through analysis of 61 effectiveness studies, supplemented by expert interviews, the authors cataloged various characteristics (including the source, curriculum component of interest, unit of analysis, outcomes, research methods, duration of study, and others) and identified common themes and gaps. Based on the trends that surfaced in their sample of math curriculum effectiveness studies, they conclude with recommendations for funders, researchers, and practitioners as they fund, design, and consume future research.

This paper draws from the Center on Reinventing Public Education's (CRPE's) study of pandemic pods conducted in 2020 and 2021 to understand what lessons can be drawn from the focused implementation of the whole-child approach in pandemic learning communities and to what degree these lessons are applicable to traditional schooling. The majority of the learning environments and their leaders that are the focus of this paper intentionally aimed to support children's social, emotional, physical, and mental health and/or identity development, as well as their academic growth. Promoting a safe, supportive, connected, and culturally competent learning environment was also a key priority, especially in pods designed for students who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). Universally, these elements were supplemental to academic instruction.

During the spring of 2020, two months into the global COVID-19 pandemic, four leading CBOs in Boston--the YMCA of Greater Boston, Latinos For Education (LFE), Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), and The BASE--came together to discuss what they can do to help underserved children in the city experiencing education disruption. In response to the challenge, the organizations used their existing partnership, called the Community Learning Collaborative (CLC), to organize a series of in-person learning centers to meet the needs of youth who found themselves facing a whole year outside of physical school buildings. This case study provides a description of the implementation of the CLC pods during the 2020-21 school year, including initial information on their potential impact.

In 2020, twin forces inspired large numbers of U.S. families of color to look outside traditional schools for their children's education. First, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused schools to shift in and out of virtual or hybrid instruction, many parents looked for other options because they were concerned about keeping their children safe or were dissatisfied with the quality of instruction. At the same time, the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd sparked a national conversation about systemic racism. For many parents of color, this included questions about whether it would be healthier for their child to be educated outside a system they viewed as replicating injustices. The My Reflection Matters (MRM) Village provided the answer that some of those parents were seeking. MRM Village is a nationwide, virtual network of parents, students, and educators, formed with a mission to "cultivate a space that provides the supports, conversations, and healing required to decolonize adults' beliefs and practices around learning and parenting in order to raise free people." Initially an in-person, local organization, MRM launched its virtual "Village" platform in August 2020 to connect and support primarily Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) families. By summer 2021, MRM Village had amassed a membership of more than 600 parents, students, and educators across North America seeking a radically different, identity-affirming alternative to traditional schooling. This report provides an overview of MRM, which has provided an innovative unschooling environment that provides a safe, affirming space; allows for parents and students to take ownership over learning; and frees participants from systems rooted in systemic racism.

In recent years, a new movement to raise awareness about early math learning has been growing in the U.S., driven by research showing that foundational math knowledge is more predictive of later success in school than nearly any other indicator, including literacy. This awareness of the importance of early math has led to an increasing focus among funders, researchers, and educators on understanding how to effectively promote development of math skills in early childhood -- both in educational settings and in the home. Any effort to improve opportunity gaps in U.S. education must include attention to the needs of dual language learners (DLLs), defined as young children between the ages of 0 and 8 with at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home. Many DLLs are faced with socioeconomic opportunity gaps and an education system designed for monolingual students. These factors likely contribute to the disparities in early math achievement for DLLs that are evident as early as kindergarten and persist throughout the academic career and beyond. This report sets out to begin addressing the gap in knowledge about effective strategies to promote early math learning for DLLs in educational settings and at home. The report begins with an overview of the importance of early math learning, followed by an overview of math achievement among DLLs nationally and in California. Next, the authors examine existing evidence about effective and promising practices for supporting DLLs' early math learning in school and for engaging DLL families in early math at home, including profiles of two organizations that embody the lessons they identify for supporting DLLs' early math achievement. The following section highlights research, policy, and practice gaps and opportunities related to promoting early math for DLLs. Finally, the authors offer recommendations for opportunities for improving support for DLLs' early math achievement in research, policy, and practice.

For the past several decades, private schools have steadily served about one in ten students in the United States. However, the student population enrolled in private schools has changed. Thousands of Catholic schools, which often serve less affluent urban communities, have closed; meanwhile, tuition increases in independent schools have outpaced inflation and wage growth, making them less accessible to those with limited means. This suggests an emerging gap in affordable options and merits a fresh look at private schools that still seek to serve middle- and low-income families. In this report, the authors sought to understand the landscape of private schools that are working to remain affordable, the approaches they are taking, and how some are revisiting traditional operating models. This document provides an overview of private schools' enrollment, an analysis of the strategies private schools use to be accessible to middle- and low-income families, and an analysis of microschools, in particular. The authors identify and examine a variety of strategies private schools can use to improve affordability: (1) Subsidize cost with public funds; (2) Subsidize cost with private funds; (3) Find alternative revenue streams; and (4) Reduce expense of the model. The report ends by surfacing questions regarding the role of private schools in serving middle- and low-income students, the lessons they might hold for others, and their potential to scale and innovate.

In the past several decades, Boston has been a proving ground for new strategies such as mayoral control, charter schools, and expanded access to early childhood education. Located in a state known for rigorous standards and accountability, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has consistently ranked among the top-performing large public school districts in the country. At the same time, BPS currently faces significant challenges, including tight budgets, aging facilities, and persistent achievement gaps by race, ethnicity, native language, and special needs status. In this paper, the authors set out to inform the public dialogue about BPS' current performance and future direction. Through analysis of academic data and interviews with a variety of stakeholders in Boston's education community, they explore a set of key questions: How does the current pace of improvement in BPS compare to the district's past performance? Do BPS' trends in student outcomes track above, below, or alongside those of other urban districts? What policies do local stakeholders view as having contributed to or hindered progress on student learning and equity? And based on recent trends and stakeholder input, how might local leaders rethink or revise their efforts? The analysis of BPS performance trends finds that the district has consistently outperformed other large cities participating in the NAEP, across subjects and grade levels. Although it still trails the national average for all schools, BPS demonstrated particularly rapid improvement from 2003 to 2011, especially in eighth-grade math. After 2011, the rate of growth slowed, though Boston still leads other large cities. However, several urban district peers have instituted a variety of reforms in recent years and are closing the gap with Boston. The analysis of performance trends combined with lessons from stakeholder interviewees leads the authors to offer three recommendations for the next BPS leader to consider, as key strategies to accelerate performance in the near future: (1) Articulate a clear, concise theory of action and drive it through implementation; (2) Make tough choices to advance equity; and (3) Double down on areas of strength and bright spots.

Every year, new teachers collectively spend about $4.8 billion on their training requirements, nearly all of which goes to teacher preparation programs. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether that is money well spent. Despite decades of research and ongoing calls to improve the quality of teacher training, we still do not know how to sculpt an effective teacher preparation program. In this report, the authors argue that a new approach focused on rigorous, actionable research is critical to driving improvement in teacher preparation. To create that body of research, the field needs: (1) systems that link completer performance data to preparation programs, make those data publicly accessible, and maintain individual privacy; (2) research methods that use those data to produce actionable strategies and effective practices to improve program design; and (3) policies that incentivize programs to evaluate the effectiveness of their model and adopt new, evidence-based practices. The end result should be a body of rigorous research that explores a multitude of possible improvement strategies, testing which components of program design are effective, for whom, and under what circumstances. Until those pieces are in place, the quality of teacher preparation will remain stagnant. The authors make several interrelated recommendations to authentically improve teacher preparation that are the shared responsibility of researchers, preparation programs, and state and federal policymakers.