equity

The Nellie Mae Education Foundation (Nellie Mae) has invested in connecting the dots across diverse areas of research on the optimum conditions for student learning through the Students at the Center initiative. This work has shaped the foundation’s definition of student-centered learning—the...

In 2008, the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) invited a team of researchers, including the authors, to study schools within the city, including elementary schools that were, like those profiled in High Schools for Equity, achieving strong educational outcomes with low-...

High Schools for Equity documents the practices and outcomes of five urban high schools in California that do an extraordinary job of preparing their students for success in higher education, productive careers, and a fulfilling life. The schools, which are non-selective in their admissions and...

Engaging students in meaningful applications of their knowledge is a key aspect of both addressing the standards and providing greater access. Not only do the standards emphasize the importance of meaningful engagement in real-world tasks, but evidence shows that engagement is strongly related...

Engaging students in meaningful applications of their knowledge is a key aspect of both addressing the standards and providing greater access. Not only do the standards emphasize the importance of meaningful engagement in real-world tasks, but evidence shows that engagement is strongly related...

This policy brief outlines key components of providing quality educational opportunites for all students. The paper includes details and specific state examples to illustrate how performance assessments can be used to support and assess how educators meet professional standards for teaching....

Karin Hess defines Learning Progressions (LP) and outlines four interrelated guiding principles behind LP:

1)  LPs are developed (and refined) using available research 

2)  LPs have clear binding threads that tie together concepts with processes

3)  LPs articulate movement...

This report by Ace Parsi and Linda Darling-Hammond is intended to familiarize state boards of education with performance assessments and help policymakers address some of the thorniest issues around these assessments: purpose, sustainability, reliability, accountability, policy...

This paper, discusses limitations with the standardized achievement tests currently used for ELLs and share information on how performance assessments can be efficiently used to lead to better understanding of these students’ content knowledge and to improve their academic performance.  

The primary focus of this study was to investigate process and content opportunities that are particularly relevant to improving English Language Learner (ELL) achievement with particular attention to the relationship between opportunities to acquire academic language and ELL achievement on...

In this paper, authors Scott Marion and Paul Leather present an overview of New Hampshire’s efforts to implement a pilot accountability system designed to support deeper learning for students and powerful organization change for schools and districts. The accountability pilot, referred to as ...

This paper makes a compelling case for “student-centered” practices in the nation’s high schools. The paper does not offer a prescriptive agenda.  But the authors do argue, and the evidence strongly suggests, that students benefit when given ample opportunities to:  

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This policy brief describes how four student-centered high schools support student success. In addition, it recommends policy strategies that could sustain schools like these on a much broader scale, so that they become the norm rather than the exception.  The four high schools featured in this...