Article in Academic Journal
Ethnic studies increases longer-run academic engagement and attainment
This article highlights the longer-run impact of a ninth-grade SFUSD Ethnic Studies course, including: 1) a significantly increased probability of high school graduation among students near the eight-grade 2.0 GPA threshold used for assigning students to the course; 2) increased measures of engagement throughout high school; and 3) the probability of postsecondary matriculation. View link
Read moreStress in Boom Times: Understanding Teacher’s Economic Anxiety in a High-Cost Urban District
This article highlights the findings of an SFUSD teacher survey revealing that San Francisco teachers have far higher levels of economic anxiety, on average, than a national sample of employed adults. Moreover, economically anxious teachers tend to have more negative attitudes about their jobs, have worse attendance, and are 50 percent more likely to depart […]
Read moreMore Than Just a Nudge Supporting Kindergarten Parents with Differentiated and Personalized Text Messages
This article describes the effects of a text-based program, for parents of kindergarteners, that personalizes messages based on their child’s developmental level, as opposed to a texting general message. Children whose parents received the personalized message were 63 percent more likely to read at a higher level and their parents reported engaging more in literacy […]
Read moreOne Step at a Time: The Effects of an Early Literacy Text-Messaging Program for Parents of Preschoolers
This article focuses on the effects of READY4K!, an eight-month-long text-messaging intervention for parents of preschoolers, that targets the behavioral barriers to engaged parenting. Effects include increased parental involvement at home and school, leading to child gains in early literacy. View link
Read moreResource-and Approach-Driven Multidimensional Change: Three-Year Effects of School Improvement Grants
This article describes the program impacts of the three-year School Improvement Grant (SIG) award in an urban school district, including reduced unexcused absences, increased family preference for SIG schools, improved retention of effective teachers, and greater development of teacher professional capacity. View Link
Read moreThe Causal Effects of Cultural Relevance: Evidence From an Ethnic Studies Curriculum
This article describes the effects of a ninth-grade SFUSD Ethnic Studies curriculum, including large and statistically significant improvements in ninth-grade GPA, attendance, and credits earned for compliers at the 2.0 eighth-grade GPA threshold used for assigning students to the course. View link
Read moreReading Like a Historian: A Document-Based History Curriculum Intervention in Urban High Schools
This article describes the positive effects of “Document-Based Lesson”, within the Reading Like a Historian curriculum, in which students use background knowledge to interrogate, and then reconcile, historical accounts from multiple texts. View link
Read moreThe Document-Based Lesson: Bringing Disciplinary Inquiry into High School History Classrooms with Adolescent Struggling Readers
This article focuses on “Document-Based Lesson”, the pedagogical practices at the heart of the Reading Like a Historian curriculum. View link
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