In the 2024-2025 school year, Annenberg launched the Professional Learning (PL) Network in RI, a community of practice with six Rhode Island school districts focused on curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL).

This report, produced in partnership with the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association (RISSA) and the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), examines the current state of teacher professional learning (PL) in Rhode Island. It identifies challenges districts face and provides guidance for district and state leaders to strengthen PL.

Interviews with Rhode Island educator preparation providers and Providence Public Schools HR identify what stands in the way of stronger partnerships — and what would make student teaching placements work better for both sides.

Decisions about who is in charge of school systems often make the news. High-profile cases such as the recent takeover of the Houston Independent School District by the State of Texas – where one of the first steps by state leaders was to replace the superintendent – highlight the central importance of district leadership as well as the public perception of superintendents as critical contributors to the quality of a school system.

Finds that barely passing the Massachusetts math exit exam has meaningful effects on educational attainment, operating differently for low- and higher-income students.

Tests whether a pediatric clinic-based text-messaging program improves school readiness for young children without access to early childhood education.

Uses county-level CDC data and matching strategies to examine the relationship between later school closures and COVID-19 deaths.

Background:For nearly three decades, policy-makers and researchers in the United States have promoted more intellectually rigorous standards for mathematics teaching and learning. Yet, to date, we have limited descriptive evidence on the extent to which reform-oriented instruction has been enacted at scale.

Describes and evaluates a scalable web-based coaching program that supports teachers in implementing Common Core-aligned mathematics instruction.

Replicates and extends research on whether disciplinary knowledge and knowledge for teaching are distinct, drawing on a multi-year study of over 200 elementary teachers.

Uses topic modeling of over ten thousand teacher applicant essays on closing achievement gaps to examine how views of equity relate to hiring outcomes.

Examines recent changes in the academic competitiveness of the teacher workforce amid No Child Left Behind, alternative pathways, and labor market shifts.

Documents substantial variation in teacher retention rates across 16 urban districts that observable characteristics do not easily explain.

Draws on classroom experience to argue for better school-to-parent communication systems that engage families in supporting student learning.

Explores how the relationship between observed quality of elementary mathematics instruction and student achievement differs across school districts.

Examines how teacher performance ratings change with evaluation system design choices such as measure weights and rating thresholds.

Revisits The Widget Effect with teacher ratings from 24 reform states, finding fewer than 1% rated unsatisfactory but wide variation in rating distributions.

Finds that schools under performance pressure assign teachers with stronger performance measures to tested classrooms the following year.

Analyzes how teachers in six high-poverty schools judged whether instructional teams helped them teach better and improved their schools.

Draws on research in high-poverty schools to describe the working conditions that help teachers stay, improve, and succeed.

Recent education reform efforts commonly aim at improving teacher effectiveness. One study of three large districts finds that they spent approximately $18,000 for professional development for each teacher each year.

Finds upper-elementary teachers have large effects on students' self-efficacy, happiness, and classroom behavior, predicted by emotional support and classroom organization.

Documents positive spillovers among teachers, showing that working with more effective colleagues improves teacher performance.

Uses New York City panel data to show that teachers switching grades or subjects within a school hurt student achievement, at about a third the effect of a new teacher.

Examines how the particular knowledge and skills English language arts teachers impart contribute to students' longer-term success across subjects.