Expertise Area
K–12 Education and Juvenile Justice
We understand issues related to K-12 education and school systems in and across a variety of public school contexts, including district schools, charter schools, and juvenile justice facilities. Our research focuses on the implementation and impacts of various schoolwide programs and supports, as well as curricula and instructional practices, related to literacy, STEM, and high school to career and college readiness.
We are committed to improving equity for students in primary and secondary schools and aim to make sure all students have an opportunity to shape their education. Our work is designed to implement reform at a national, state, district, and school level. We understand issues related to K-12 education and school systems in and across a variety of public school contexts, including district schools, charter schools, and juvenile justice facilities.
Our research focuses on the implementation and impacts of various schoolwide programs and supports, as well as curricula and instructional practices, related to literacy, STEM, and high school to career and college readiness. Our findings related to K-12 education have been used to inform policymakers and the media, support teachers, and guide students.
Related Projects
Evaluating the Impact of the Teranga Academy Learning Model on Immigrant and Refugee Student Success
Read More K-12Democratizing Education Data Collective
Read More K-12Evaluation of K-3 Literacy Programming in Philadelphia
Read More K-12Value-Added Models in Teacher Evaluation and Development
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Congreso’s Éxito K-3 Literacy and Family Engagement Project
Read More K-12Allegheny County Black Teacher Study
Read More K-12Allegheny County Educator Diversity Project
Read More K-12Evaluation of makeSPACE Arts Integration Professional Development for 7th and 8th Grade Core Content Area Teachers
Read More K-12KnowledgeWorks Personalized, Competency-Based Learning Project
Read More K-12Educational Opportunity Dashboard
Read More K-12GradNation
Read More K-12Allegheny County Education Research (ACER) Project
Read More K-12Evaluation of the Philadelphia Health Resource Center (HRC) program
Read More K-12Expanding the Knowledge Base on State Policies that Validate Learning that Occurs Outside of the Classroom
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Picasso Schoolwide Model
Read More K-12Say Yes to Education: RFA’s Five-Year Evaluation of the Cleveland Chapter
Read More K-12RFA’s Evaluation of Outcomes in City Year Philadelphia Schools
Read More K-12Investing So Schools Work
Read More K-12Evaluating Philadelphia’s Community Schools Initiative
Read More K-12Examining the Fiscal Impact of Charter School Expansion
Read More K-12Comprehensive School Safety Initiative: Discipline in School Contexts
Read More K-12Community Schools Progress Report
Read More K-12Examining Credit Transfer from Juvenile Justice Facilities to the School District of Philadelphia
Read More K-12Evaluating the Reimagine Learning Initiative for New Profit, Inc.
Read More K-12Evaluating Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) for the Academy of Natural Sciences
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Parent Councils at Five Sites Across the Country: National Urban League
Read More K-12Evaluating the Philadelphia Academies’ All-Academy High School Model
Read More K-12A Formative Evaluation of the Coalition of Essential Schools’ Summer Institute with Philadelphia High School Teachers: Philadelphia Schools Collaborative
Read More K-12Using Common Assignments to Strengthen Teaching and Learning
Read More K-12The Education Justice Network
Read More K-12Providing Technical Assistance on ELL Policy to the Pennsylvania Department of Education: A Project of the Mid-Atlantic REL
Read More K-12Providing Policy Guidance and Support to Increase Student Success in Higher Education
Read More K-12Examining a Math Intervention in Philadelphia Schools: An RCT in Partnership with RAND
Read More K-12STEM Training for Philadelphia Teachers: An Evaluation Funded by the National Science Foundation
Read More K-12The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium (PERC)
Read More K-12Integrative Arts Programs in Philadelphia: An Examination of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program in Four Public Schools
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Delaware’s Teacher Evaluation System
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Keystone Science Network (KSN): Franklin Institute Science Museum
Read More K-12Philadelphia’s Constitution High School and its Partnerships: A Formative Evaluation
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Science Resource Leaders Program: School District of Philadelphia and PATHS/PRISM
Read More K-12Learning from Philadelphia’s School Reform
Read More K-12Providing Technical Assistance to the New Jersey Department of Education
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Philadelphia Urban Systemic Initiative (USI): School District of Philadelphia
Read More K-12Need in Deed Formative and Outcome Evaluation
Read More K-12Twenty Years of Reflection and Action: Lessons from an Exemplary Urban Professional Development Group
Read More K-12Using Data to Inform Instruction: Examining Teachers’ Use of Data to Inform Mathematics Instruction
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Parent and Community Roles in Local Schools: Alliance Organizing Project (AOP)
Read More K-12A Study of Local Education Funds: Public Education Network (PEN)
Read More K-12Career and Technical Training in Juvenile Justice Facilities: Increasing the Capacity of a Statewide Network to Make Evidence-Based Decisions
Read More K-12A Study of the Experiences of African-American Students: Lower Merion School District
Read More K-12School Choice in a City of Neighborhoods: Philadelphia’s Approach to High School Reform
Read More K-12A Review of Seven Parent Engagement Initiatives: The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Philadelphia Youth Network’s GED-to-College Initiative
Read More K-12Taking Stock/Making Change: School District of Philadelphia and the Center for Urban Ethnography, University of Pennsylvania. An Action Research Project
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Metro Math: The Center for Mathematics in American Cities
Read More K-12Artwell’s HeartBeat Program: An Evaluation of an Elementary School Music Education Initiative
Read More K-12An Evaluation of an In-School Parenting Education Program: Educating Children for Parenting (ECP)
Read More K-12A Study of Effective Organizational Practices
Read More K-12A Study of How 8th Grade Students Understand High Standards Reforms and the Impact on Academic Engagement and Achievement: Spencer Foundation
Read More K-12Renaissance Schools in Philadelphia: Examining Early Implementation of a Turnaround School Model
Read More K-12A Participatory Evaluation of the Gratz Connection: School District of Philadelphia
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the New Jersey Graduate-K12 Partnership: Rutgers University
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Regional Environmental Education Program Middle School and High School Curriculum: Schuylkill Valley Nature Center
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Congreso de Latino Unidos’ Éxito Project
Read More K-12Action Research with Youth United for Change
Read More K-12Teacher Turnover in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Read More K-12A Study of High School Restructuring in Five Schools: Philadelphia Education Fund (PEF)
Read More K-12Youth Civic Engagement in Urban School Reform
Read More K-12An After-School Literacy and Leadership Development Program for Girls: Sisters Together in Action Research (STAR)
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Center for Literacy’s Integrated Literacy Model at West Philadelphia High School
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Reduced Class Size/Early Balanced Literacy Initiative (RCS/EBL): Philadelphia Education Fund (PEF)
Read More K-12An Evaluation of how the Science Leadership Academy Prepares Students for Postsecondary STEM Majors
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Partners in Change with a Middle School Change Project: PATHS/PRISM
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative, a Classroom-Based Coaching Model
Read More K-12A Capacity Building Project with Art Educators: National Arts and Education Consortium (NAEC)
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the School District of Philadelphia’s Faith Partnerships Program
Read More K-12Cross-City Campaign for Urban School Reform: A Study of the Contributions of Community Organizing to Urban School Reform
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the American Reading Company’s ACTION 100 Initiative in Elementary Schools in Camden, NJ
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Pregnant and Parenting Teen Programs: School District of Philadelphia
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the School District of Philadelphia’s Pilot Parent Leadership Academies (PLA)
Read More K-12A Study of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA): The Logan Square Neighborhood Association and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Read More K-12City Year Miami: An Implementation Evaluation
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Talent Development, a Whole-School Reform: The Philadelphia Education Fund (PEF)
Read More K-12Revisiting RFA’s Theory of Change and Indicators Framework for Communities for Public Education Reform
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Bread Loaf Rural Teachers’ Network (BLRTN): Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College
Read More K-12Learning to Learn from Data: Using Data to Inform Instructional Decisions and Improve Student Learning in Low-Performing Urban Schools
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Family Literacy Initiatives
Read More K-12The Campaign for Better Schools: A Coalition to Influence New York City School Governance Supported by the Donor’s Education Collaborative in NYC
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Philadelphia Urban Systemic Program (USP): School District of Philadelphia
Read More K-12An Evaluation of Elev8: A Community Schools Model
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the New York City Mathematics Project: Lehman College, City University of New York
Read More K-12Which Bets Paid Off? Estimating the Effects on Middle Grades Achievement of More than a Decade of Ambitious Reform in Philadelphia
Read More K-12An Evaluation of the Partners for Youth Program: American Red Cross
Read More K-12Boosting Adolescent and Young Adult Literacy: An Examination of Literacy Teaching and Learning in Philadelphia’s Accelerated Schools
Read More K-12A Formative Evaluation of Reform Initiatives in Trenton Public Schools: Trenton School District
Read More K-12Evaluating Project L.I.F.T.: A Cross-Sector Effort to Close the Achievement Gap
Read More K-12A Study of Middle School Girls: American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Read More K-12Going Small: Public/Private Collaboration in Restructuring High School Education in Philadelphia
Read More K-12Related Publications
Publication
Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding Afterschool Art Programming
Four Boys & Girls Clubs implementing high-quality art skill development classes for tweens and teens experimented with five different virtual approaches that hold promise for expanding programming. This brief describes three approaches that reach young…
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Small but Mighty: Lessons from Black Teachers’ Experiences in Allegheny County
RFA studied why Black teachers were leaving their jobs more than White teachers in Allegheny County from 2014 to 2020. RFA analyses have found that the number of Black teachers in the area was consistently…
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Allegheny County Teacher and Student Demographics: 2022-23 Update
This ACER brief updates RFA’s prior analyses of teacher and student race and ethnicity in Allegheny County public schools with data current through the 2022-23 school year. We found that in 2022-23, teachers of color (TOCs)…
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Top 5 Insights from RFA’s Community Research Partnership: Becoming a Community-Engaged Research Organization
We at Research for Action are committed to becoming a community-engaged research institution, with the goal of having our work be grounded in principles of community empowerment, collaboration, and social change within K-12 education. We’re…
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Exploring the Diversity and Supports for School District of Philadelphia English Learners as they Prepare to Transition to High School
In Philadelphia, the School District (SDP) is home to a diverse community of English Learners (ELs) hailing from various ethnic backgrounds, cultures, and languages. ELs are students identified through the WIDA English proficiency screener, marked…
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Pennsylvania School Funding and School Staffing Disparities
Pennsylvania operates one of the most inequitable public school systems in the nation, with among the largest disparities in school funding, educational opportunities, and student achievement. In this brief, RFA examines the relationship between school…
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“Worn & Weary” Black Teachers’ Storied Experiences and Recommendations around their Attrition and Retention in Philadelphia Schools
The benefits of a diverse teaching staff are well-established in research literature. Yet in Philadelphia, and many of the nation’s largest school systems, the number and share of Black teachers has been declining for at…
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Changing the Finish Line: Implications of new graduation requirements in the School District of Philadelphia
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. New graduation requirements, enacted in 2018…
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Unequal Access to Educational Opportunity in the United States
Research for Action’s Educational Opportunity Dashboard is an interactive on-line tool to synthesize data and rank all 50 states by how well they provide students access to schools that offer 14 indicators of educational opportunity…
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The Negative Fiscal Impact of Cyber Charter School Expansion in Pennsylvania Due to COVID-19
Pennsylvania has the highest cyber charter school enrollment in the country with student enrollment soaring in 2020-21 due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. School districts paid over $1 billion in tuition for students…
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From State Commitment to District Implementation: Approaches and Strategies for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning
View the Publications From State Commitment to District Implementation: Approaches and Strategies for Personalized, Competency-Based Learning Executive Summary of District Implementation Findings Executive Summary State Level Findings From State Commitment to District Implementation: Approaches and…
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The Need for More Teachers of Color
This booklet, The Need for More Teachers of Color, was released as part of a Teach-In hosted by Research for Action on April 23, 2022, in FDR Park in Philadelphia. The booklet provides highlights of…
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FAQ: Superintendents in Pennsylvania School Districts
Superintendent leadership plays an important role in charting the trajectory of school district operations and ultimately of student learning. Meanwhile, several school districts undergo a superintendent transition each year, yet relatively little is known about…
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Access to Experienced Teachers in Allegheny County
Using personnel records from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), this ACER report, takes a closer look at teacher experience in Allegheny County, examining whether equity gaps exist between district and charter schools and between…
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Teacher Mobility in Allegheny County, 2014-15 through 2019-20
Teacher mobility, or teacher turnover, has long garnered attention as a critical educational equity gap. This attention is warranted as, within schools, teachers have the single greatest impact on student achievement. The unprecedented interruptions to school-based learning and the trials…
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Final Report: Evaluation of the Aspiring to Educate Philadelphia Pilot
In November 2019, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced the Aspiring to Educate (A2E) program and its intention to pilot the program in the Philadelphia area. The goals of A2E include diversifying and developing…
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Where Do We Go Next? Youth Insights on the High School Experience During a Year of Historic Upheaval
Our new report, Where Do We Go Next? Youth Insights on the High School Experience During a Year of Historic Upheaval, made in collaboration with America’s Promise Alliance, presents findings from a national survey focused…
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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Allegheny County
Close to 3,000 students in Allegheny County public schools were identified as experiencing homelessness during the 2018-19 school year, or 2.0% of the total student population. Meanwhile, homelessness rates have been growing in recent years…
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Special Education Funding in Pennsylvania Charter Schools
For many years, policymakers, researchers, and education stakeholders in Pennsylvania have been examining and debating the Commonwealth’s system of funding special education in charter schools. Despite all this attention, there remains significant confusion about how…
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FAQ: Allegheny County Teachers of Color
In a December 2020 project, Research for Action provided statewide analysis and released seven years of new data on teacher demographics for each Pennsylvania public school. Here, as part of our ACER project, we address…
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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: New Evidence of Under-Identification and Inequity
Properly identifying when students are experiencing homelessness is the first step to providing them academic supports and other rights afforded by federal law. As RFA found in 2018, Pennsylvania schools have a history of under-identification.…
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School Police Presence in Allegheny County
In recent years, some school districts across Allegheny County have made noteworthy changes to school policing. While some districts have sought to reduce or eliminate reliance on police, a growing number of other districts in…
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Teacher Diversity in Pennsylvania from 2013-14 to 2019-20
As RFA documented in Patching the Leaky Pipeline, teachers of color (TOCs) are important for all students and particularly for students of color (SOCs). Yet, despite promising statewide initiatives to improve teacher diversity, there is…
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Recovering Credits in the School District of Philadelphia: High School Student Credit Recovery Utilization in 2018-19
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. The goal of school-year credit recovery…
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State Funding to Ensure Safe and Healthy Facilities: Lessons for Pennsylvania
Long before closures due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Pennsylvania schools faced a different health crisis: unsafe facilities. Crumbling buildings, asbestos, lead, and other school facility health and safety risks plague many schools across Pennsylvania,…
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Teacher Use of Digital Tools: Results of a Survey of District Teachers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton and Neshaminy
When schools in Pennsylvania and across the nation were suddenly shuttered in March due to COVID-19, teachers were faced with an enormous challenge: how to effectively teach and engage their students remotely when the vast…
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Getting Back on Track: How Off-Track Ninth Graders Progressed in Later Years of High School, Class of 2017 and 2018
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Students who successfully transition to ninth…
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How Long Will it Take Me To Get to School?
Philadelphia’s high school selection process is a complex one for students and their families. Under normal circumstances, transportation to school is an important factor to consider. Average public transit times can vary widely by school…
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Responses to Covid-19 School Closures
In March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic caused schools to close for the remainder of the school year, all Pennsylvania school districts and charter schools were required to “make good faith efforts to implement continuity of…
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Allegheny County Students in Foster Care
Students in foster care require additional supports from schools in order to maintain educational stability. And, in the time of COVID-19 school shutdowns, experts warn that vulnerable students such as those in foster care may…
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Six Lessons to Facilitate Deep Ownership of Ambitious Instructional Reforms
In partnership with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, RFA has been studying Philadelphia schools’ take-up of an instructional reform that has demonstrated positive impacts on teacher knowledge and student learning in math. The…
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Unequal Access to Educational Opportunity in High School: A National Analysis of the Civil Rights Data Collection
The United States is plagued by large disparities in life outcomes between racial and ethnic groups. Researchers have documented how gaps in outcomes are related to gaps in access to opportunity, both in education and…
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Results from a Two-Year Study of the Effects of Extended Learning Opportunities on Student Outcomes in New Hampshire
In 2005, New Hampshire shifted from “seat-time” requirements for grade-level advancement and graduation to a competency-based education system. The state subsequently required all local school districts to adopt and implement a competency-based assessment process and…
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Equity-Focused Charter School Authorizing Toolkit
Providing high-quality and equitable learning opportunities should be a primary goal of all schools and school systems. Charter schools comprise the most steadily growing sector of Pennsylvania’s public education system, now home to over 160…
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Updating Pennsylvania’s Special Education Funding Formula
The goal of state special education funding should be to equitably distribute funds that are adequate for all schools to meet their legal obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with…
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Student Mobility and Dropout in Philadelphia High Schools, 2013-14 through 2016-2017
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Philadelphia offers an extensive array of…
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Investing So Schools Work
Recognizing the need for new estimates on how much school funding is adequate for Pennsylvania school districts, Research for Action commissioned an independent project based on the research of national school funding experts, Picus Odden…
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Present from the Start: Ninth Grade Attendance Patterns in the School District of Philadelphia, 2015-2017
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. School learning starts with school attendance.…
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Trauma-Informed Schools in Pennsylvania: Aligning Expansion with High-Quality Implementation
Recent momentum to develop a trauma-informed education system provides an important opportunity for Pennsylvania schools. About two out of every three school-age children are likely to experience at least one traumatic event, such as abuse, neglect,…
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Principal Mobility in Philadelphia Traditional and Charter Public Schools, 2007-08 through 2015-16
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Effective principals improve student achievement, develop…
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Supporting Early Readers in Philadelphia’s Independent Charter Schools: An Initial Inquiry into Cross-School Collaboratives
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Charter schools enroll about one third…
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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: Under-Identification and Inequitable Enrollment
Housing instability and homelessness are highly detrimental to children and youth, and the effects often linger long after the experience itself. Students who have experienced homelessness are more likely to drop out of school and,…
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Detroit-Area Early Childhood Workforce Study
Research shows that process quality in early childhood education (ECE) programs—specifically teacher–child interactions—is the strongest predictor of children’s gains in learning and development. Due to a number of factors associated with the city’s early childhood…
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On Track Across Four Cohorts: Ninth Grade On-Track Patterns in the School District of Philadelphia, 2013-2017
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. This brief is an addendum to…
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The Philadelphia Community Schools Initiative: Year 1 Evaluation
In this report, Research for Action presents findings and associated recommendations from the first-year evaluation of Philadelphia’s Community Schools initiative. RFA assessed the initiative during the 2017-2018 school year at two levels. First, we examined…
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Teacher Mobility in the School District of Philadelphia, 2009-10 through 2015-16
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Teachers are the most important influence…
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New Data on Teacher Diversity in Pennsylvania
RFA’s most recent analysis of Pennsylvania’s teacher diversity data is available in the following publication: Teacher Diversity in Pennsylvania from 2013-14 to 2019-20 Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Education provided new data for 2016-17 that…
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Ready from the Start: Identifying and Supporting At-Risk Ninth Graders from their Earliest Days in High School
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Ninth grade is a critical juncture…
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Supporting Early Readers: A Scan of K-3 Literacy Practices in Philadelphia Charter Schools
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. In Philadelphia, civic and education leaders…
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School Performance Profiles: Still Not the Sum of a School’s Parts
Since 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has annually published School Performance Profiles (SPPs), which assign a summative academic performance score for every traditional public and charter school in Pennsylvania by rating each school…
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Getting On Track to Graduation: Ninth Graders’ Credit Accumulation in the School District of Philadelphia, 2015-2017
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Ninth grade is a critical juncture…
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Getting On Track to Graduation: Ninth Graders’ Credit Accumulation in the School District of Philadelphia, 2014-2016
PERC’s report retroactively applies the School District of Philadelphia’s new Ninth Grade On-Track Definition to two ninth-grade SDP cohorts to determine the number of students on track to graduation, the characteristics of on- and off-track students,…
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Patching the Leaky Pipeline: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers of Color in Pennsylvania
RFA’s most recent analysis of Pennsylvania’s teacher diversity data is available in the following publication: Teacher Diversity in Pennsylvania from 2013-14 to 2019-20 Research shows that exposure to teachers of color has a positive impact…
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Community Schools Progress Report Toolkit: Indicators of Engagement, Planning and Early Successes
There are more than three dozen systemic community schools initiatives currently underway nationwide, with even more communities considering the reform. Yet few tools exist to help school districts, government agencies, and communities at large track…
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Supporting Literacy in Out-of-School Time: An Examination of OST Early Literacy Practices in Philadelphia
Philadelphia’s Out-of-School Time (OST) system has identified K-3rd grade literacy support as the focus of the first phase of its strategic plan, launched in 2017. Research shows that OST programs can have an impact on…
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Philadelphia Community Schools Progress Report
Philadelphia’s Community Schools initiative was launched in 2016. The effort pairs a full-time coordinator with each school and its community to pinpoint needed services and coordinate their delivery via city agencies and non-profits. Research shows…
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The Fiscal Impact of Charter School Expansion: Calculations in Six Pennsylvania School Districts
As charter school enrollment in Pennsylvania rises, understanding the fiscal impact of charter school expansion is critical for school districts to accurately budget and to anticipate current and future costs. In order to calculate the…
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Supporting Literacy in Out-of-School Time: Summary of Evidence
The City of Philadelphia’s Citywide Out‐of‐School‐Time (OST) Initiative was launched in February 2017 to better coordinate and focus the capacities of OST programs on the needs of the city’s children. The first phase of this initiative…
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Kindergarten English Learners’ Time to Proficiency in Philadelphia
Philadelphia is often called the original American melting pot for its rich mix of languages, people, ideas and religions. The city’s immigrant population is growing steadily, and more than 20 percent of the city’s population…
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Finding Their Stride: Kindergarten English Learners’ Time to Proficiency in Philadelphia
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. Paralleling demographic shifts in the city,…
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Charter School Special Education Funding in Pennsylvania
For many years there have been calls to reform how Pennsylvania funds special education both for school districts and charter schools. While some modest changes were recently legislated, they applied exclusively to new state special…
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Project LIFT: Year Four Student Outcomes Memo
Year Four marked the first year in which Project LIFT anticipated that long term outcomes would start taking shape. This expectation was, in part, based on the belief that after three years of added supports…
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Racial Disparities in Educational Opportunities in Pennsylvania: A First Look at New Civil Rights Data
We know that segregation and educational inequity are harmful to students and weaken school systems. Yet 62 years after Brown v. Board of Education rendered the doctrine of “separate but equal” unconstitutional, it has been…
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Educating English Language Learners: Opportunities for Improved Infrastructure
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. In Philadelphia, a growing and increasingly…
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Characteristics of English Language Learners in the School District of Philadelphia
PERC research is produced through collaboration between researchers from Research for Action and the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Research and Evaluation. For more information, please visit phledresearch.org. In Philadelphia, a growing and increasingly…
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Parent Leadership Academy: A Parent-Led, District-Hosted Partnership for Parent Engagement – Executive Summary
The Parent Leadership Academy was a pilot effort of the School District of Philadelphia and the William Penn Foundation to empower and promote the development of parents as leaders in their children’s education and schools.…
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A New Conception of Parent Engagement: Community Organizing for School Reform
This chapter provides an indicators framework for understanding the contributions of community organization to school reform and a theory of change model that shows the link between school improvement and the work community organizing groups…
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National School and Community Corps 2005: Members’ Perspectives on Service and its Impact – Executive Summary
Summary of a report to EducationWorks on the National School and Community Corps that presents data that speak strongly to the impact of service on corpsmembers, providing perceptions that enable an understanding of their experience…
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Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia – Executive Summary
This is the executive summary of RFA’s report, Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia. Under No Child Left Behind, urban school districts have increasingly turned to interim assessments, administered at regular…
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Making Children Larger and Cracks Smaller: The Role of a Participatory Evaluation in School Restructuring – Executive Summary
The executive summary to a report on a participatory evaluation project where a group of teachers and school counselors in a set of neighborhood schools worked to create reforms that would address student dropout. This…
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Making A Difference: Year Two Report of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative – Executive Summary
The Executive Summary to the Making a Difference: Year Two Report of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative. This report examines the implementation of the second year of three for the Pennsylvania High School Coaching…
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Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School Reform in a Privatizing System – Executive Summary
Following the 2001 state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia, a new governance structure was established and an ambitious set of reforms went into effect, generating renewed public confidence in the district. Despite this,…
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Looking for Indicators of the Impact of Community Organizing for School Reform
This report series, produced through the Education Organizing Indicators Project, presents a methodology for documenting the contribution of community organizing to school reform. The Project stemmed from the perceived need to make the positive impact…
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Philadelphia’s First Year Middle Grades Teachers: Perspectives on Supports and Experiences — Executive Summary
The School District of Philadelphia implemented several ambitious new initiatives in 2003-04 aimed at inducting and retaining new teachers. These efforts supplemented the existing in-school mentoring program and included the assignment of a New Teacher…
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Selecting a High School: Not a Level Playing Field
With the recent creation of many new, themed high schools and the continuing growth of the charter school movement, students in Philadelphia have more public high school options than ever.But more options haven’t meant that…
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Philadelphia’s Teacher Hiring and School Assignment Practices: Comparisons with Other Districts – Executive Summary
The executive summary to the report compares the way the School District of Philadelphia goes about hiring and placing teachers in schools with the practices of other districts.
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Off to College? An Examination of the Postsecondary Aspirations, Plans, and Preparations of the First Cohort of Philadelphia GEAR UP – Executive Summary
Executive Summary to the report provides an overview of the GEAR UP goals as experienced by the first cohort of GEAR UP students to graduate from high school, some of whom became involved in the…
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Promising InRoads: Year One of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative – Executive Summary
Executive summary to the report that examines the implementation of the first year of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative. Funded by the Annenberg Foundation, it is an on-site professional development initiative that employs instructional…
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Six Years of Philadelphia GEAR UP – Executive summary
This executive summary gives an overview of major challenges, key outcomes for each goal, and recomendations after six years of Philadelphia GEAR UP. GEAR UP had three explicit primary goals: Enhancing Academic Support, Enhancing College…
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Closing the Teacher Quality Gap in Philadelphia: New Hope and Old Hurdles – Executive Summary
This study of teacher staffing issues in the School District of Philadelphia, the third in a series, outlines the degree to which the district has succeeded in upgrading teachers’ professional credentials, recruiting and retaining them,…
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Community Schools in Practice: Research on Implementation and Impact
Community schools are receiving increased attention in Pennsylvania and across the country as policymakers and practitioners strive to address the effects of poverty on academic performance, and provide more comprehensive supports for traditionally-underserved populations. While…
Publication
Using Common Assignments to Strengthen Teaching and Learning: Research on the First Year of Implementation
The Common Assignment Study (CAS) is a research project designed to shed light on the progress and outcomes of the initiative. RFA’s research focuses on providing formative feedback on unit design, unit implementation, and supports…
Publication
Using Common Assignments to Strengthen Teaching and Learning: Research on the Second Year of Implementation
In this second report on implementation of the Common Assignment Study (CAS), RFA’s research focuses on providing formative feedback on unit implementation; teacher collaboration; the status of context and conditions for CAS success, including school…
Publication
Blended Learning: Defining Models and Examining Conditions to Support Implementation
The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium’s (PERC’s) inaugural project is centered on the emerging concept of Blended Learning. This first brief, published in September 2014, examines the research base, identifies a definition of this emerging concept,…
Publication
Blended Learning: Lessons from Best Practice Sites and the Philadelphia Context
The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium’s (PERC’s) inaugural project is centered on the emerging concept of Blended Learning. The first brief, published in September 2014, examines the research base, identifies a definition of this emerging concept,…
Publication
Creating a Comprehensive Picture of School Performance
For more than two decades, states have been required to report publicly on the academic performance of schools and districts. These school rating systems have received increased public attention amid growing concerns about the prevalence and…
Publication
On Track to Success: The Second Year Evaluation of Congreso’s Éxito Program
Congreso de Latinos Unidos has partnered with Edison High School on the Éxito™ initiative since 2008-09 with the goal of reducing the school’s high dropout rate and increasing graduation rates. The program has received support…