A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement
This often-cited report synthesizes over 50 research studies on the impact of family and community involvement on academic outcomes conducted between 1995 and 2002. The authors provide an overview synthesis of findings across the studies as well as a detailed summary of each individual study. The synthesis of the research studies found that parents of… Read More ›
Deeper Learning for Students with Disabilities
This report focuses on deeper learning for students with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs now requires states to fully disclose the precise steps they will take to ensure better outcomes for students with disabilities. This new requirement can aid educators in implementing effective practices for providing deeper learning opportunities… Read More ›
Building Local Leadership for Change: A National Scan of Parent Leadership Training Programs
This report, while written to inform the development of parent training centers in NYC, provides an excellent overview of four exemplary parent training programs that may be of interest to any school or district that wants to begin or strengthen their own program. A scan of national programs revealed four major types of parent training… Read More ›
Youth Involvement in Evaluation Research in Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluations
This article examines what current youth as researchers projects really look like. It describes the findings from focus groups and interviews with the youth and adults at 14 youth serving organizations working to involve youth in research and evaluation projects. It details who and how youth are involved. It also describes five key elements needed… Read More ›
Turn Up the Volume: The Students Speak Toolkit
This toolkit is designed to help any school or district conduct focus group research with students to learn their opinions about school and learning experiences. It provides detailed steps of the process to select a working team made up of adults and students, choose your research topic, plan the logistics, facilitate the focus groups, and… Read More ›
Youth Adult Partnership Rubric
This detailed rubric assesses the implementation level of several aspects of effective youth-adult partnerships. It can be used as a peer/self assessment, formative, or summative evaluation tool to assess and strengthen practice. It was designed for use in any setting that involves high school or older middle school students and adults working together towards a… Read More ›
Putting it Back Together Again: Reframing Education Using a Core Story Approach
This memo describes the research conducted on current public understanding of education and lays out a new storyline that can better motivate members of the public to become involved in education reform, supporting student-centered approaches to learning. It outlines the default cultural models the public holds regarding key aspects of education such as the education… Read More ›
The Brainwaves Video Anthology
This video anthology is produced and filmed by Bob Greenberg. The Brainwaves series contains short videos (5-10 minutes long) on ideas and topics of education relevant to student-centered learning in the 21st century. Source Organization: Brainwaves Video Anthology Visit the Resource
Teacher Evaluation Systems: Lessons from New Implementations in New Hampshire and Pittsburgh
Join the broadening national discussion among policymakers, educators, and researchers on educator evaluation systems. The focus of this webinar is two new studies supported by the Northeast Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance at REL Northeast & Islands and the Teacher Evaluation Research Alliance at REL Mid-Atlantic. The first is a study of a new pilot teacher evaluation system implemented in eight New Hampshire… Read More ›
Centered on Results: Assessing the Impact of Student-centered Learning
This report, a series of studies recently commissioned by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to address the empirical research on SCL’s impact in K-12 classrooms, evaluates the effects of a variety of student-centered practices in secondary schools. The outcomes of this study were largely positive, demonstrating meaningful effects on student achievement and engagement. Source Organization:… Read More ›
Frequently Asked Questions and Definitions from Students at the Center
This summary unpacks some of the myths and terms in student-centered learning. Isn’t student-centered just a generic, overused term that means “good stuff for kids”? Is competency education the same as student-centered learning? What about personalization? Students at the Center shares answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about student-centered approaches to teaching and… Read More ›
Building Community around UDL: From Theory to Practice
Announcing: CAST’s 1st Annual UDL Symposium! August 10 – 12, 2015 Join educators, administrators, and researchers from K-12 and higher education to work with leading UDL experts to explore the latest in brain research, teaching practices, and curriculum design. Become an active member of the growing UDL community: Hear about and discuss new research that supports the… Read More ›