This report focuses on implementation of the Apple and ConnectED Initiative with respect to the dual digital divides along socioeconomic lines in access to technology and its use in instruction.
Education & learning publications
The Apple and ConnectED Initiative: Research Study Methods
This report describes the methodology of Apple and ConnectED Research, a six-year study of the Apple and ConnectED Initiative that uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to tell a comprehensive story of implementation and outcomes.
Bilingual Education Across the United States
In this brief, the authors define some of the key terms in bilingual education and then provide an overview of the different state policies for the provision of bilingual education to English learners.
Addressing the Bilingual Teacher Shortage
In this brief, the authors share strategies that can help mitigate bilingual teacher shortages and provide considerations for state and district leaders who are interested in addressing these shortages.
Leveraging Flexible Teacher Certification Policies to Address the Bilingual Teacher Shortage
In this brief, the authors share strategies that state education agencies may use to provide more flexibility in teacher certification policies and thereby mitigate bilingual teacher shortages.
Research Brief: SRI Finds Positive Effects of the College, Career, and Community Writer’s Program on Student Achievement
The National Writing Project’s (NWP) College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) is designed to improve students’ argument writing through intensive teacher professional development, instructional resources, and formative assessment.
The Efficacy of Digital Media Resources in Improving Children’s Ability to Use Informational Text: An Evaluation of Molly of Denali from PBS KIDS
Informational text—oral or written text designed to inform—is essential to daily life and fundamental to literacy. Unfortunately, children typically have limited exposure to informational text. Two nine-week randomized controlled trials with a national sample of 263 first-graders examined whether free educational videos and digital games supported children’s ability to use informational text to answer real-world questions. Participants received data-enabled tablets and were randomly assigned to condition. Study 1 found significant positive intervention impacts on child outcomes; Study 2 replicated these findings. Combined analyses demonstrated primary impact on children’s ability to identify and use structural and graphical features of informational text. Results are discussed in the context of the scalability of educational media to support informational text learning.
A pre-print version of the manuscript submitted to the American Educational Research Journal is available on ResearchGate.
Innovations in Early Mathematics: Final Report
SRI’s evaluation of a 2-year professional development (PD) intervention for PreK to 3 rd grade teachers found that high-quality PD focusing on teachers’ instructional practices and pedagogical content knowledge, as well as their dispositions toward math, can lead to significant changes in teacher behavior across preK and early elementary grades.
In partnership with the Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative, SRI evaluated the impact of teachers’ participation in a 2-year professional development (PD) intervention to improve teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and instructional practice in math across prekindergarten (preK) to third grade classrooms in the city of Chicago. Compared to teachers receiving business as usual PD, participation in Erikson’s Whole-Teacher PD led to robust changes in teacher practices after 1 year and were sustained at the 4-year follow-up observations. Intervention teachers also reported higher confidence in their ability to use high-quality math instructional practices after completing the 2-year PD compared to business-as-usual teachers. Limited impacts on student learning were observed. The findings suggest high-quality PD focusing on teachers’ instructional practices and pedagogical content knowledge, as well as their dispositions toward math, can lead to significant changes in teacher behavior across preK and early elementary grades.
Designing Schools with and for Students: Lessons Learned from the Engage New England Initiative
This research brief identifies promising strategies for embracing student voice in school design based on the experience of Engage New England (ENE) grantees.