Ongoing Projects

Ongoing Projects

CPRE is the evaluation partner for CommonLit’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (EIR) project, CommonLit 360: Expanding Access to a Content-Rich Digital English Language Arts Program to Accelerate Learning Among Underserved Students. The five-year project, which will run from 2023-2028, will develop, refine, and evaluate CommonLit 360, a promising and scalable program designed to accelerate literacy development among underserved students and build teacher capacity to utilize research-backed routines in English Language Arts instruction for grades 6-10. CommonLit 360 includes: 1) an OER content-rich digital English Language Arts curriculum; 2) embedded digital formative assessments; 3) on-demand teacher professional development; 4) data for schools to drive continuous improvement, and; 5) 24/7 tech support. Through this project, CommonLit aims to further develop the platform technology and refine the program services to support fidelity of implementation. The implementation of CL360 will involve approximately 60,000 students per year and almost 80 schools across four school districts. The combined impact and implementation study will involve two distinct though interrelated research strands. The first strand will entail a cluster randomized controlled trial to estimate the causal impact of CL360 on student literacy development. A second qualitative strand will examine aspects of CL360 and its implementation in these schools, with a particular focus on variability in program efficacy across grades, schools, and districts.

The Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University (CPRE-TC) is conducting a formative evaluation of the middle school NYC Solves job-embedded supported providers (JESPs) funded by the Gates Foundation. Designed in collaboration with representatives from the Gates Foundation, NYCPS, and the JESPs, this mixed-methods study will contribute to our understanding of how external support providers function within the ecosystem of schools, districts, and central offices to support the implementation of high-quality instructional materials.

The purpose of this study is to explore the causal impact of English 3D, an English language development curriculum that supports multilingual learners in grades K–12. This 1.5 year study employs two quasi-experimental techniques, regression discontinuity and comparative interrupted time series (CITS), to estimate impacts on student language and literacy development. These two approaches are complementary: the first provides the most rigorous design to estimate the program impact for English Language Learners (ELLs) who are near reclassification, while the CITS design is more flexible, allowing us to understand the impacts of English 3D participation not just for students nearing reclassification, but for newcomers as well.

CPRE is engaged in a one-year study examining the effects of Read 180 Flex, a Tier 2 reading intervention developed as a tech-first version of HMH's long-standing Read 180 intervention. The study includes three parts. First, using a regression discontinuity design, the CPRE team is examining impacts of program participation on student literacy skills in the 2024-25 school year. Next, employing backend usage data, the CPRE team is examining the relationship between Read 180 Flex dosage and student learning. Finally, using teacher surveys, we are investigating teachers' experiences implementing the program to better understand enabling conditions for the Tier 2 intervention.

CPRE is conducting a one-year randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of McGraw Hill’s Augmented Reality (AR) app on student mathematics learning. Classes within the same teacher were randomized to either use the AR app or business-as-usual condition to teach a particular mathematics skill. We are also leveraging teacher interviews and a post-implementation educator survey that seeks to understand teacher experiences incorporating the app into instruction. 

How does attending an intentionally diverse charter school impact students’ long-term outcomes? In partnership with the Diverse Charter Schools Coalition (DCSC), we are conducting a large-scale, lottery-based study of intentionally diverse charter schools’ impacts on long-term student outcomes, including post-secondary success, civic engagement, health, and the extent to which graduates live in diverse neighborhoods. The study follows 15 intentionally diverse charter management organizations (CMOs) currently operating 55 schools across 9 states, serving more than 25,000 students. This research is funded by MIT Blueprint Labs.
CPRE is engaged in a five-year study to estimate the effects of Learning Trajectories, a mathematics intervention involving professional development, coaching, and an online platform, on early childhood teacher and student outcomes. We are conducting a mixed-methods evaluation, including a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) and diverse array of qualitative analytic approaches. The intervention, created by Douglas Clements and Julie Samara, the directors of the Marsico Institute for Early Learning at the University of Denver (DU), seeks to ground Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers in how students learn math and, therefore, can be applied to any math curriculum. The DU team will implement this intervention in partnership with the Boulder Valley School District. This research is funded by the National Science Foundation.  

The Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University (CPRE-TC), has engaged in a multifaceted research and evaluation partnership with the Robin Hood Learning and Technology Fund to study the implementation and impact of its portfolio of investments into approaches to literacy instruction and computational thinking. CPRE is employing a mixed-methods approach to understanding patterns in the design and implementation of the school-based models, identifying challenges associated with sustaining and scaling the models, exploring the impact of the models on participant outcomes, and examining how the Fund and its partners have shaped and been shaped by the local and national educational ecosystems.

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