STRATEGIC EDUCATION RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP INSTITUTE
1100 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 www.serpinstitute.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: THE STRATEGIC EDUCATION RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP GENERATES INNOVATIVE, SCALABLE SOLUTIONS TO OUR SCHOOLS' MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS THROUGH SUSTAINED COLLABORATIONS AMONG RESEARCHERS, PRACTITIONERS, AND DESIGNERS. WE WORK TO INCREASE EQUITY, IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING, AND GIVE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS GREATER AGENCY.

TO GENERATE INNOVATIVE, SCALABLE SOLUTIONS TO OUR SCHOOLS' MOST PRESSING PROBLEMS THROUGH SUSTAINED COLLABORATIONS AMONG EDUCATORS, RESEARCHERS, AND DESIGNERS.

BUILDING CAPACITY TO SUPPORT STRUGGLING ADOLESCENT READERS SERP WAS AWARDED A FIVE-YEAR, 7.8-MILLION EDUCATION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH (EIR) MID-PHASE GRANT STARTING IN OCTOBER 2018 TO BUILD THE CAPACITY TO SCALE THE STRATEGIC ADOLESCENT READING INTERVENTION (STARI). IN A PRIOR STUDY, STARI SHOWED IMPACTS THAT ARE STATISTICALLY AND SUBSTANTIVELY SIGNIFICANT ON COMPONENT READING SKILLS AND ON DEEP COMPREHENSION. THIS PROJECT WILL ALLOW SERP TO EXPAND THE CAPACITY- BUILDING RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR STARI AND SCALE THE PROGRAM TO MORE DISTRICTS, SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, AND STUDENTS. TO MEET THE COST-MATCHING REQUIREMENT, SERP HAS RECEIVED CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ABELL FOUNDATION AND BLAUSTEIN FOUNDATIONS, AS WELL AS SEVERAL IN-KIND DONATIONS. OVER THE COURSE OF THE PROJECT, TRAINING WILL BE PROVIDED TO NEARLY 100 TEACHERS AND COACHES, PROGRAM MATERIALS WILL BE PROVIDED TO AN ESTIMATED 3,500 STUDENTS, INCLUDING WORKBOOKS, FLUENCY PASSAGES WRITTEN AT FOUR LEVELS, AND THE NOVELS, NON-FICTION TEXTS, AND POETRY THAT ACCOMPANY EACH UNIT. ELIGIBLE STUDENTS WILL BE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO RECEIVE STARI OR THE SCHOOL'S BUSINESS-AS-USUAL READING INTERVENTION, AND MDRC WILL CONDUCT THE EVALUATION. CAPACITY WILL BE SHIFTED FROM THE PROJECT TEAM TO DISTRICT STAFF TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABILITY AND EXPANSION IN PARTNER DISTRICTS. IN ADDITION, PROFESSIONAL LEARNING RESOURCES WILL BE DEVELOPED TO ENABLE MORE SCHOOLS AND DISTRICTS TO ADOPT AND IMPLEMENT THE PROGRAM SUCCESSFULLY IN THE FUTURE. THUS, ANTICIPATED IMPACT FAR EXCEEDS THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS DIRECTLY SERVED THROUGH THE PROJECT. BY THE END OF THE FIVE-YEAR GRANT PERIOD, WE EXPECT TO (1) SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE PERFORMANCE ON COLLEGE AND CAREER ALIGNED STATE TESTS FOR APPROXIMATELY 3,500 STUDENTS IN 246 CLASSROOMS ACROSS FOUR PARTNER DISTRICTS; 2) VALIDATE THE EFFICACY OF STARI WHEN IMPLEMENTED ON A LARGER SCALE FOR SUBGROUPS OF STUDENTS IN DIVERSE CONTEXTS; 3) IMPROVE DISTRICT CAPACITY TO HELP STRUGGLING READERS MEET COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS STANDARDS; AND 4) EXPAND SERP'S CAPACITY TO SUPPORT THE USE OF STARI IN OTHER SCHOOL DISTRICTS. DEVELOPMENT WORK FOR THE PRODUCTS OF THE PROJECT WILL OCCUR DURING 2018-2021. DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, WORK IN SCHOOLS AND DATA COLLECTION EFFORTS HAVE BEEN IMPACTED SIGNIFICANTLY IN 2020. WHILE THE RESEARCH COMPONENTS OF THE PROJECT HAVE BEEN DISRUPTED, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS HAVE CONTINUED AND EXPANDED TO INCLUDE EXTENSIVE SUPPORTS AND RESOURCES FOR CLASSROOMS USING STARI IN HYBRID AND VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS. PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SERIES AN ONLINE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SERIES IS BEING DEVELOPED TO EXPAND TEACHERS' KNOWLEDGE REGARDING STARI COMPONENTS AND PRACTICES. THE SERIES CONSISTS OF ONLINE SESSIONS THAT CAN BE COMPLETED INDEPENDENTLY OR IN TEACHER TEAMS. SESSIONS WILL CONSIST OF VIDEOS FEATURING STARI LEAD DEVELOPER LOWRY HEMPHILL, STARI PROJECT DIRECTOR MARGARET TROYER, AND STARI INSTRUCTIONAL COACHES TALKING THROUGH KEY FEATURES OF STARI, SUCH AS FLUENCY, GUIDED READING, DEBATE, COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES, AND DECODING. VIDEOS ARE INTERLEAVED WITH ACTIVITIES FOR TEACHERS TO COMPLETE. IF POSSIBLE, SESSIONS WOULD BE LED BY A COACH/FACILITATOR TO FOSTER DEEP AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS AMONG TEACHERS REGARDING STARI IMPLEMENTATION AND PRACTICES.

TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY THROUGH CLIMATE CHANGE SERP RECEIVED A ONE-YEAR, 350,000 GRANT FROM THE KOSHLAND FOUNDATION TO COLLABORATE WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (SFUSD) AND THE OAKLAND UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT (OUSD) TO DEVELOP A YEAR-LONG HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY CURRICULUM THAT WILL TEACH DISCIPLINARY CONTENT IN THE CONTEXT OF CLIMATE CHANGE. OUTSTANDING UNIVERSITY EXPERTS IN CHEMISTRY ARE CONTRIBUTING TO CONTENT DEVELOPMENT AND REVIEW, AND THE UNITS WILL BE ROAD TESTED AND REVISED IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH THE PARTNER DISTRICTS TO ENSURE THAT THE CONTENT SUPPORTS EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING. A SECOND YEAR OF FUNDING WAS APPROVED FALL 2019 IN THE AMOUNT OF 350,000. THE ORIGINAL INTENT OF THE GRANT WAS TO REVISE THE EXISTING MATERIALS FROM SFUSD. UPON FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE MATERIALS AND BASED ON THE FEEDBACK OF ADVISORS, IT WAS DECIDED THAT REVISIONS OF THE MATERIALS WOULD NOT BE SUFFICIENT. INSTEAD, THE MATERIALS WOULD NEED TO BE REWRITTEN IN ORDER TO FULLY INTEGRATE CHEMISTRY CONTENT WITH CLIMATE CHANGE CONTEXT. PRODUCT HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY COURSE THE FINAL PRODUCT WILL BE A YEAR-LONG HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY COURSE ALIGNED TO NGSS STANDARDS WITH ALL NECESSARY STUDENT MATERIALS, AND WITH COMPANION SUPPORTS FOR TEACHERS. TEACHER MATERIALS WILL BE GENERATED AS JUST-IN-TIME SUPPORTS FOR TEACHERS TO SHORE UP THEIR GRASP OF THE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS AND PLAN THEIR DAILY LESSONS. MATERIALS FROM THE COURSE HAVE BEEN SHARED WITH TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS FOR FEEDBACK AND TO SUPPORT THE REVISION OF MATERIALS. THE FINAL PRODUCT WILL BE AN OPEN EDUCATION RESOURCE UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE.

STRENGTHENING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE SERP RECEIVED A THREE-YEAR, 1-MILLION GRANT FROM THE SPENCER FOUNDATION TO BRING TOGETHER A DIVERSE TEAM OF RESEARCHERS WITH EXPERTISE ON ACADEMICALLY PRODUCTIVE TALK. RESEARCH KNOWLEDGE BASE AND CURRENT EDUCATION STANDARDS SUPPORT A MAJOR SHIFT IN INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE - ONE THAT REQUIRES STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN EXPLAINING THEIR THINKING AND MAKING AND DEFENDING ARGUMENTS. DESPITE AGREEMENT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ACADEMICALLY PRODUCTIVE TALK, THERE ISN'T CONSENSUS ON WHAT CONSTITUTES ACADEMICALLY PRODUCTIVE TALK OR HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN IN CLASSROOMS. THE COLLABORATION WILL ADDRESS THREE PURPOSES: 1) TO CREATE A VIDEO DATABASE AND INSTRUMENT-SHARING SITE TO PROMOTE SITUATED RESEARCH ON CLASSROOM TALK CAPABLE OF INFORMING CLASSROOM PRACTICE; 2) TO CONDUCT RESEARCH ON THE FEATURES OF CLASSROOM TALK THAT MAKE IT ACADEMICALLY PRODUCTIVE; AND 3) TO PROVIDE ANNOTATED VIDEO RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND THOSE WHO PREPARE THEM PROFESSIONALLY THAT WILL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER EXPERTISE IN TALK-BASED PEDAGOGY. PRODUCTS OF THE COLLABORATION WILL INCLUDE: A) A CORPUS OF TRANSCRIBED VIDEO AND CODING INSTRUMENTS HOUSED ON AN EXISTING PLATFORM DESIGNED FOR RESEARCHERS AND CAPABLE OF EXPANSION OVER TIME; B) A NEW, FREELY-ACCESSIBLE WEBSITE TO SUPPORT PRACTICE WITH ANNOTATED VIDEOS THAT HAVE PERMISSIONS FOR PUBLIC SHARING; AND C) RESEARCH PAPERS THAT ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE MARKERS OF TALK THAT MAKE IT ACADEMICALLY PRODUCTIVE AND THE CONDITIONS THAT SUPPORT IT. MEMBERS OF THE TEAM HAVE CONTRIBUTED A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF CLASSROOM FOOTAGE FROM THEIR OWN RESEARCH INITIATIVES TO THIS WORK. THE INITIAL FOOTAGE HAS BEEN VITAL IN GENERATING THE CONVERSATIONS THAT ARE HELPING TO ANSWER OUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND WILL BE USED IN OUR PRACTITIONER FACING WEBSITE. WE HAD INITIALLY PLANNED TO COLLECT ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE IN AREAS LIKE ELEMENTARY MATH WHERE WE DO NOT HAVE EXISTING VIDEO, HOWEVER PLANS FOR FURTHER VIDEO COLLECTION HAVE BEEN DELAYED DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

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