Past Projects
CPRE is engaged in an 18-month, mixed-methods implementation study of the World of
Wonders curriculum in 28 preschool classrooms in South Carolina. World of Wonders was
developed by McGraw Hill and aims to provide developmentally appropriate instruction for
preschoolers. The evaluation explores the socio-emotional (SEL) components of World of
Wonders and the links between children’s SEL development and their social and academic
backgrounds and school contexts. Additionally, the study documents how children and teachers
experience the curriculum’s SEL components. The research is funded by McGraw Hill.
CPRE is engaged in a five-year study of the implementation of Brazil’s National Common Core Curricular Base (BNCC). Our initial work is focused on understanding the national landscape of BNCC design and implementation through document analysis and interviews with policymakers, practitioners, and politicians across multiple sectors and governmental levels. In addition to ongoing stakeholder interviews, subsequent years will include qualitative fieldwork in 18 elementary schools across three states to better understand how the BNCC is being interpreted, perceived, and implemented in practice. This work is supported by Fundação Lemann and Itaú Social.
The Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund seeks to leverage the potential benefits of a content-rich literacy strategy with a technology-enhanced blended learning approach that also personalizes student learning. The program will be implemented in 15-20 New York City schools serving substantial proportions of low-income students. CPRE-TC will document the processes schools develop in service to the blended literacy framework, the instructional approaches that evolve from those processes, and the impact these processes and approaches ultimately have on student outcomes. The study is funded by the Robin Hood Foundation, the Overdeck Family Foundation, and the Siegel Family Endowment.
The Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund is supporting three pre-service teacher training institutions in developing a computational thinking approach to K-5 pre-service teacher training. CPRE-TC will document the processes and models that Relay Graduate School of Education, CUNY Queens College and Hunter College develop in service to Computational Thinking teaching and learning practices. Researchers will follow pre-service teachers into K-5 classrooms and carry out a rigorous mixed methods evaluation of the potential impact of Computational Thinking training on teacher and student outcomes. The study is funded by the Robin Hood Foundation, the Overdeck Family Foundation, and the Siegel Family Endowment.
CPRE is engaged in a 1.5 year two-part study that investigates the associations between Amira Learning usage and student literacy development. Amira Learning, a state-of-the-art online assessment and supplemental practice software tool, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to assess oral reading fluency, screen for dyslexia, and provide 1:1 reading practice. The first part of our study will provide early descriptive insights using data from districts and schools that implemented Amira during the 2020-21 school year. The second part will entail a randomized controlled trial to estimate the causal effects of Amira Learning on student literacy achievement in two school districts during the 2021-22 school year.
CPRE is evaluating the implementation of BookNook, a tech-based tutoring program for struggling readers, in Prince George’s County Public Schools (Maryland) during the 2020-21 school year when schools were largely closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation entailed a remote tutoring approach, in which professional tutors, church and community members, and other adults from local nonprofit and civic organizations met virtually with small groups of students for approximately two thirty-minute BookNook sessions per week via Zoom. We are examining the associations between literacy growth and software usage patterns among students who opted into the program. We are also exploring the extent to which literacy development differed between BookNook students and students who did participate in the implementation, and how those potential effects varied across student academic and socio-demographic background characteristics.
Itaú Social launched a two-year pilot program in 2019 aimed at improving educational planning and delivery processes in eight mid-sized Brazilian municipalities. The program matches municipalities with partner organizations in an effort to improve outcomes in several areas, including access to quality schooling, teachers training, student academic performance, student retention and graduation, and strategic planning of the local department of education. CPRE is conducting an implementation evaluation of the pilot program. The study seeks to understand what factors facilitate or hinder the implementation of education reforms led by Itau's external partners. This work is supported by Itaú Social.
Over the years, Blue Engine has worked in partnership with schools and teachers to test innovative uses of human capital and create classroom conditions that seek to empower every student to succeed. CPRE is engaged in a fully-integrated, quantitative-dominant mixed-methods evaluation of Blue Engine's AmeriCorps and Co-Teaching Models. The study comprises a methodologically rigorous quantitative study of Blue Engine’s causal impact on student performance and a collaborative qualitative analysis of Blue Engine's implementation processes.
Instituto Singularidades, a school of education and a center for professional development located in São Paulo, Brazil, was designed with an explicit focus on developing teachers through stressing the importance of deep immersion of its students into real-world classrooms and schools. CPRE is engaged in a one-year content and process evaluation of Instituto Singularidades, exploring the extent to which the undergraduate Singularidades program is meeting these ideals, both programmatically and practically.
CPRE is conducting a randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate the effectiveness of Cignition’s FogStone Isle, a game-based platform focused on mathematics instruction for grades 4-8. The study, which will take place in 10 schools during the 2018-19 school year, is being funded by the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fund for Strategic Innovation.
CPRE is assisting the Museum in its efforts to understand the socio-demographic
New Classrooms Innovation Partners was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand its Teach to One: Math model in grades 5-8 in three schools and grades 6-8 in two schools in Elizabeth, NJ. CPRE is engaged in a four-year evaluation of these efforts. The evaluation has two primary strands: (1) a methodologically rigorous quantitative study of Teach to One’s causal impact on student mathematics performance and (2) a systematic qualitative analysis of Teach to One’s implementation processes, combined with staff interviews and classroom observations in each of the five Teach to One schools. This work is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Click here to read the final impact results.
Breakthrough Charter Schools in Cleveland, Ohio was awarded a five-year Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2012. Through these funds, BCS designed and implemented the “GRO” Program (Growth, Recognition, Opportunities) which aimed to increase teacher retention rates through four avenues: improved performance evaluation processes, performance-based compensation, differentiated career pathways, and improved professional development. The mixed-methods study combines an analysis of administrative data, responses to an online survey of former and current teachers, and qualitative interviews to explore four key outcomes: (1) GRO implementation, (2) relationships between GRO and teacher retention, (3) relationships between GRO and the teaching and learning environment, and (4) other non-GRO factors influencing teacher satisfaction and retention. The study is supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Teacher Incentive Fund.