Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy
Project Title
For the development and launch of education research and development hubs
Date
Jun. 08, 2023
Duration
36 months
Description
In order to transform the student learning experience at scale, schools and districts need to develop new approaches and the sector needs the mechanisms to disseminate effective practices beyond individual schools. The Rennie Center for Education & Policy (Rennie) improves public education in Massachusetts and beyond by pairing research with support for practitioners and policymakers. With Corporation support, Rennie will establish a research and development (R&D) hub in Massachusetts, which will pilot new education practices and share them broadly so that more schools have access to effective approaches. This will help fill a gap in the system, as it is estimated that only .4 percent of the national education budget is spent on R&D causing President Biden to recently call for increased public investment in innovation. Since its founding in 2002, Rennie has engaged an extensive network of policymakers and established itselfas the authoritative source of research and policy recommendations for leaders across the state. As an example, Rennie conducts an annual review of student progress and offers recommendations for action. Rennie’s strong networks and reputation with policymakers resulted in the adoption of many of these recommendations, including expanding early childhood programming, providing holistic student supports, and offering early college models to high school students.
Website
Project Title
For general support
Date
Jun. 03, 2021
Duration
24 months
Description
While district leaders and practitioners largely recognize the importance of socio-emotional learning (SEL) to academic and lifelong success, they often lack the resources and support to implement SEL in a comprehensive way. The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy (Rennie), an organization that sits at the nexus of research, policy, and practice, developed the Excellence through Social Emotional Learning (exSEL) Network to build the capacity of district and school leaders to implement SEL.Over the last four years, Rennie has successfully supported thirty-two districts representing 100,000 students across Massachusetts integrate SEL as a district priority. Continued support will allow Rennie to serve as an SEL policy and practice hub by launching the next phase of the exSEL Network, which will include SEL design sprints for district and school leaders, partnering with Boston Public Schools to build adult capacity to deliver SEL in secondary schools, andapplying lessons learned from the exSEL Network to advance a robust policy agenda focused on holistic learning.
Website
Project Title
For support of the Excellence through Social Emotional Learning Network
Date
Jun. 13, 2019
Duration
24 months
Description
While district leaders and practitioners largely recognize the importance of socio-emotional learning (SEL) to academic and lifelong success, they often lack the resources and support to implement SEL in a comprehensive way. The Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, working with Transforming Education, developed the Excellence through Social Emotional Learning (exSEL) Network to equip district leaders to implement SEL in their districts and to facilitate collaboration across districts. Since its launch two years ago, the exSEL network has grown to nineteen participating districts from across Massachusetts. The Rennie Center has demonstrated its capacity to support exSEL members as they integrate SEL into their school systems and is well positioned to expand the network in year three. With Corporation Support, the Rennie Center will codify resources for district SEL planning and implementation, deepen the support offered to current exSEL members, and recruit up to three new members from low-income districts to ensure equitable participation in the network.
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Project Title
for commissioned papers and a policy brief on a new generation of state assessments aligned with the Common Core State Standards
Date
Jun. 09, 2011
Duration
6 months
Website
Project Title
For the development of a website and web-based outreach strategy for Teach Plus
Date
Jun. 11, 2009
Duration
6 months