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Expertise Area

K–12 Education and Juvenile Justice

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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

Assessing WHYY Media Labs Student Engagement Outcomes

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Personalized, Competency-Based Learning in Arizona

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Evaluation of the Relationships First Program at the School District of Philadelphia

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Evaluating the Impact of the Teranga Academy Learning Model on Immigrant and Refugee Student Success

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Democratizing Education Data Collective

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Evaluation of K-3 Literacy Programming in Philadelphia

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Value-Added Models in Teacher Evaluation and Development

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An Evaluation of Congreso’s Éxito K-3 Literacy and Family Engagement Project

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Allegheny County Educator Diversity Project

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Evaluation of makeSPACE Arts Integration Professional Development for 7th and 8th Grade Core Content Area Teachers

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KnowledgeWorks Personalized, Competency-Based Learning Project

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Allegheny County Education Research (ACER) Project

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Evaluation of the Philadelphia Health Resource Center (HRC) program

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Expanding the Knowledge Base on State Policies that Validate Learning that Occurs Outside of the Classroom

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An Evaluation of the Picasso Schoolwide Model

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Say Yes to Education: RFA’s Five-Year Evaluation of the Cleveland Chapter

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RFA’s Evaluation of Outcomes in City Year Philadelphia Schools

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Evaluating Philadelphia’s Community Schools Initiative

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Examining the Fiscal Impact of Charter School Expansion

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Comprehensive School Safety Initiative: Discipline in School Contexts

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Examining Credit Transfer from Juvenile Justice Facilities to the School District of Philadelphia

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Evaluating the Reimagine Learning Initiative for New Profit, Inc.

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Evaluating Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) for the Academy of Natural Sciences

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An Evaluation of Parent Councils at Five Sites Across the Country: National Urban League

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Evaluating the Philadelphia Academies’ All-Academy High School Model

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A Formative Evaluation of the Coalition of Essential Schools’ Summer Institute with Philadelphia High School Teachers: Philadelphia Schools Collaborative

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Using Common Assignments to Strengthen Teaching and Learning

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Providing Technical Assistance on ELL Policy to the Pennsylvania Department of Education: A Project of the Mid-Atlantic REL

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Providing Policy Guidance and Support to Increase Student Success in Higher Education

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Examining a Math Intervention in Philadelphia Schools: An RCT in Partnership with RAND

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STEM Training for Philadelphia Teachers: An Evaluation Funded by the National Science Foundation

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The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium (PERC)

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Integrative Arts Programs in Philadelphia: An Examination of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program in Four Public Schools

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An Evaluation of Delaware’s Teacher Evaluation System

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An Evaluation of the Keystone Science Network (KSN): Franklin Institute Science Museum

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Philadelphia’s Constitution High School and its Partnerships: A Formative Evaluation

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An Evaluation of the Science Resource Leaders Program: School District of Philadelphia and PATHS/PRISM

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Learning from Philadelphia’s School Reform

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Providing Technical Assistance to the New Jersey Department of Education

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An Evaluation of the Philadelphia Urban Systemic Initiative (USI): School District of Philadelphia

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Need in Deed Formative and Outcome Evaluation

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Twenty Years of Reflection and Action: Lessons from an Exemplary Urban Professional Development Group

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Using Data to Inform Instruction: Examining Teachers’ Use of Data to Inform Mathematics Instruction

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An Evaluation of Parent and Community Roles in Local Schools: Alliance Organizing Project (AOP)

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A Study of Local Education Funds: Public Education Network (PEN)

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Career and Technical Training in Juvenile Justice Facilities: Increasing the Capacity of a Statewide Network to Make Evidence-Based Decisions

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A Study of the Experiences of African-American Students: Lower Merion School District

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School Choice in a City of Neighborhoods: Philadelphia’s Approach to High School Reform

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A Review of Seven Parent Engagement Initiatives: The Annie E. Casey Foundation

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An Evaluation of the Philadelphia Youth Network’s GED-to-College Initiative

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Taking Stock/Making Change: School District of Philadelphia and the Center for Urban Ethnography, University of Pennsylvania. An Action Research Project

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An Evaluation of Metro Math: The Center for Mathematics in American Cities

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Artwell’s HeartBeat Program: An Evaluation of an Elementary School Music Education Initiative

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An Evaluation of an In-School Parenting Education Program: Educating Children for Parenting (ECP)

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A Study of Effective Organizational Practices

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A Study of How 8th Grade Students Understand High Standards Reforms and the Impact on Academic Engagement and Achievement: Spencer Foundation

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Renaissance Schools in Philadelphia: Examining Early Implementation of a Turnaround School Model

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A Participatory Evaluation of the Gratz Connection: School District of Philadelphia

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An Evaluation of the New Jersey Graduate-K12 Partnership: Rutgers University

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An Evaluation of the Regional Environmental Education Program Middle School and High School Curriculum: Schuylkill Valley Nature Center

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An Evaluation of Congreso de Latino Unidos’ Éxito Project

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Action Research with Youth United for Change

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Teacher Turnover in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

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A Study of High School Restructuring in Five Schools: Philadelphia Education Fund (PEF)

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Youth Civic Engagement in Urban School Reform

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An After-School Literacy and Leadership Development Program for Girls: Sisters Together in Action Research (STAR)

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An Evaluation of the Center for Literacy’s Integrated Literacy Model at West Philadelphia High School

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An Evaluation of the Reduced Class Size/Early Balanced Literacy Initiative (RCS/EBL): Philadelphia Education Fund (PEF)

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An Evaluation of how the Science Leadership Academy Prepares Students for Postsecondary STEM Majors

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An Evaluation of Partners in Change with a Middle School Change Project: PATHS/PRISM

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An Evaluation of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative, a Classroom-Based Coaching Model

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A Capacity Building Project with Art Educators: National Arts and Education Consortium (NAEC)

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An Evaluation of the School District of Philadelphia’s Faith Partnerships Program

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Cross-City Campaign for Urban School Reform: A Study of the Contributions of Community Organizing to Urban School Reform

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An Evaluation of the American Reading Company’s ACTION 100 Initiative in Elementary Schools in Camden, NJ

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An Evaluation of Pregnant and Parenting Teen Programs: School District of Philadelphia

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An Evaluation of the School District of Philadelphia’s Pilot Parent Leadership Academies (PLA)

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A Study of the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA): The Logan Square Neighborhood Association and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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City Year Miami: An Implementation Evaluation

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An Evaluation of Talent Development, a Whole-School Reform: The Philadelphia Education Fund (PEF)

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Revisiting RFA’s Theory of Change and Indicators Framework for Communities for Public Education Reform

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An Evaluation of the Bread Loaf Rural Teachers’ Network (BLRTN): Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College

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Learning to Learn from Data: Using Data to Inform Instructional Decisions and Improve Student Learning in Low-Performing Urban Schools

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An Evaluation of Family Literacy Initiatives

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The Campaign for Better Schools: A Coalition to Influence New York City School Governance Supported by the Donor’s Education Collaborative in NYC

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An Evaluation of the Philadelphia Urban Systemic Program (USP): School District of Philadelphia

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An Evaluation of Elev8: A Community Schools Model

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An Evaluation of the New York City Mathematics Project: Lehman College, City University of New York

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Which Bets Paid Off? Estimating the Effects on Middle Grades Achievement of More than a Decade of Ambitious Reform in Philadelphia

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An Evaluation of the Partners for Youth Program: American Red Cross

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Boosting Adolescent and Young Adult Literacy: An Examination of Literacy Teaching and Learning in Philadelphia’s Accelerated Schools

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A Formative Evaluation of Reform Initiatives in Trenton Public Schools: Trenton School District

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Related Publications

Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: A 2024 Update

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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: A 2024 Update

David Lapp, Anna Shaw-Amoah

This PACER brief provides RFA’s updated analysis of data on students experiencing homelessness in Pennsylvania, highlighting prevalence, challenges with identification, disparities in educational opportunities, and impact on academic outcomes. Our main findings include that: Roughly…
Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding After- school Art Programming

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Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding Afterschool Art Programming

Wendy McClanahan, Tracey A. Hartmann

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…
Allegheny County Student and Teacher Race and Ethnicity, 2022-23

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Allegheny County Teacher and Student Demographics: 2022-23 Update

Mary Eddins, David Lapp, Anna Shaw-Amoah

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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Pennsylvania School Funding and School Staffing Disparities

David Lapp, Anna Shaw-Amoah

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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Changing the Finish Line: Implications of new graduation requirements in the School District of Philadelphia

Sean Vannata, Anna Shaw-Amoah, Molly Pileggi, Molly Schlesinger, Theodore Wills, Roland Reyes, Alyn Turner

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

Anna Shaw-Amoah, David Lapp

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 Need for More Teachers of Color

Leana Cabral, Mary Eddins, David Lapp, Saxon Nelson

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

Mary Eddins, Leana Cabral, David Lapp, Molly Pileggi, Saxon Nelson, Ammani Ahmad-Khan

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

Mary Eddins

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

Mary Eddins, Molly Pileggi

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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Students Experiencing Homelessness in Allegheny County

Anna Shaw-Amoah

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

David Lapp

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

Mary Eddins

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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School Police Presence in Allegheny County

Mary Eddins, David Lapp

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

Anna Shaw-Amoah, David Lapp, Dae Y. Kim

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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How Long Will it Take Me To Get to School?

Molly Pileggi, Alyn Turner

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

Mary Eddins, Rachel Comly, David Lapp

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

Anna Shaw-Amoah, Dae Y. Kim, David Lapp

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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Equity-Focused Charter School Authorizing Toolkit

David Lapp

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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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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Detroit-Area Early Childhood Workforce Study

Alyn Turner, Kelly Etter (Policy Equity Group)

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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The Philadelphia Community Schools Initiative: Year 1 Evaluation

Mark Duffy, Alyn Turner

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

Matthew P. Steinberg, Ruth Curran Neild, W. Kyle Canuette, Sharin Park, Emily Schulman, Melissa Wright

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

David Lapp, Jason Fontana

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School Performance Profiles: Still Not the Sum of a School’s Parts

David Lapp, Lindsey Liu

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Philadelphia Community Schools Progress Report

Mark Duffy, David Lapp

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Supporting Literacy in Out-of-School Time: Summary of Evidence

Tracey A. Hartmann, Rachel Comly, Rebecca Reumann-Moore, Elise Bowditch

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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Charter School Special Education Funding in Pennsylvania

David Lapp, Joshua Lin

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

Dae Y. Kim, Ashley Campbell, Roger Chu, Austin Slaughter

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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Educating English Language Learners: Opportunities for Improved Infrastructure

Jeannette Rowland, Rebecca Reumann-Moore, Rosemary Hughes, Joshua Lin

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Characteristics of English Language Learners in the School District of Philadelphia

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Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia – Executive Summary

Jolley Bruce Christman, Ruth Curran Neild, Katrina E. Bulkley, Suzanne Blanc, Roseann Liu, Cecily A. Mitchell, Eva Travers

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Selecting a High School: Not a Level Playing Field

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Community Schools in Practice: Research on Implementation and Impact

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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…
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