News

  • | NBC News

    “The type of tutoring with evidence is intensive tutoring with a consistent tutor who comes with an understanding of the students needs — based on data from direct assessments or from the school or teacher — and with curricular materials for addressing these needs,” Susanna Loeb, the director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, said in an email.

  • | Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL)

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. (August 31, 2021)—Today the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL) launches a learning agenda and call to action to transform professional learning (PL) research and practice. The collaborative of researchers and PL organizations will generate new knowledge on how teacher learning improves classroom experiences and academic growth, especially for students from historically marginalized groups. 

    “We know that professional learning can work to improve teachers’ practice and student outcomes, but there’s more we need to learn to fully realize its potential to advance teaching and educational equity,” says Sarah Johnson, Vice Chair of RPPL and CEO of Teaching Lab. 

  • | The Journalist's Resource

    Projecting the Potential Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement
    Kuhfeld, Megan; et al. Working Paper No. 20-226 from Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, May 2020.

    This working paper predicted U.S. public school students would likely start the 2020-21 school year having learned 37% to 50% of what they ordinarily would have learned in math had schools remained open. “In some grades, students may come back close to a full year behind in math,” write the authors, from the University of Virginia, Brown University and the nonprofit education research organization NWEA

  • | Acelero Learning

    A recent study conducted by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, in collaboration with Acelero Learning, found that Head Start infants, toddlers and preschoolers in Acelero programs made significant gains during the 2020-2021 school year despite the pandemic. These findings are especially compelling given reports of the disastrous effects of the pandemic on childhood education nationally.  

  • | Education Week

    With school returning to something closer to normal after over a year of disruption, most principals are looking for ways to get students back on track. Recent research suggests surprising benefits to student outcomes from a relatively straightforward policy: keeping teachers in their current grade and subject assignment to the extent possible.

    Teachers, just like students, learn by doing, and those teaching 5th grade for the second time will most likely be better at teaching that grade than they were the first time. Switching them to a new grade loses the benefit of that learning.

    Moreover, teachers new to a grade level can disrupt the existing team. Grade-level teacher teams learn to work together. Put a new person on the team, and the team has to relearn its collaboration routines. Plus, veteran teachers will turn some of their focus from their classroom to helping their new team member.

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  • | Annenberg Institute at Brown University
    In college, I actually had plans to be a high school teacher or guidance counselor. However, I quickly realized that what really piqued my interest was gaining an understanding of the structural nature of inequality in our schools, as opposed to being in the classroom myself. I chose policy research because I love the process of producing knowledge that can then be used in various ways to improve systems and to help all students thrive.With that said, though, my roots as an immigrant and a first-generation college student most deeply influenced my interests in education policy. My early experiences of poverty and of being an English Learner continue to color my perspectives on various policies and their ability to set up students for success, regardless of their background or starting point.
  • | University of Rhode Island Magazine
    At URI, Domingo Morel ’98, Soljane Martinez ’98, Tammy Warner ’99, M.S. ’06, and Matthew Buchanan ’98, —all first-generation college students from underrepresented communities—became friends. None planned to be educators. But they all found themselves drawn to education, finding there a sense of purpose and a cause—the fight for equity and social justice—that needed their particular superpowers.
  • I was initially drawn to understanding education through my own schooling experience across three different countries. I started my K-12 schooling in Nepal and India and then moved to the U.S for college. I think this gave me a sense of curiosity to understand how different countries provide accessible and quality education.
  • | Education Week

    For many leaders, accelerating student learning is top-of-mind, and one method that has garnered a lot of recent attention is high-impact tutoring. The National Student Support Accelerator, founded this year at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University to promote and support high-impact tutoring, defines it as one-to-one or small-group support that supplements classroom learning and complements existing curriculum by focusing on specific goals in response to individual students’ needs. This kind of tutoring is also known as “high-intensity tutoring” or “high-dosage tutoring.”

  • | The Brown Daily Herald

    The Annenberg Institute received a $999,260 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last month to fund the National Student Support Accelerator. The NSSA research aims to strengthen and grow high-impact tutoring programs and opportunities for K-12 students nationwide. This funding will support the project for two years.