IES Blog

Institute of Education Sciences

How Has Your School Year Started? Five Questions for School Leaders from REL Experts

Back to school season is a great time to establish practices that will set the tone for the entire school year. We asked experts from across the 10 Regional Educational Laboratories what school leaders should keep in mind as the year gets under way, and they had plenty to say. We’re sharing five of their recommendations below.

1. How are you encouraging good attendance? The early years of school, especially pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, are an important time to promote good attendance habits. Set the stage for school success by connecting with families and explaining why regular attendance matters. Regular attendance in the early grades helps students develop essential learning habits and skills and sets the foundation for future academic success. Use REL resources like the Go-Learn-Grow toolkit and the family engagement fact sheet to convey the importance of regular attendance to families. Talk with families about getting their kids to school on time, every day, and why it matters. These tools can help you establish a successful start to the school year and beyond.

Christine Ross and Laura Dyer, REL Mid-Atlantic

2. How are you promoting family engagement? Back-to-school time is often filled with opportunities to communicate and interact with families. As you start the new year, think about ways you can develop strong and inclusive family engagement practices. Research shows that family engagement has a host of benefits, including improving student achievement, attendance, and behavior. Using inclusive language is one strategy educators can use to build trusting relationships with families. While using inclusive language is valuable for building relationships with all families, it is especially critical for interacting with family members who may not feel at ease or welcome in schools, such as kinship caregivers and grandfamilies. Check out the REL Appalachia infographic on How Educators Can Use Inclusive Language with Kinship Caregivers and Grandfamiliesfor more information

Sarah Dec, co-lead of the Supporting Students, Grandfamilies, and Kinship Caregivers Community of Practice, REL Appalachia 

3. How are you supporting a sense of belonging? As you return to school, it's essential to foster a sense of belonging in your students and create an environment where each student can thrive. As highlighted in the REL Midwest handout, The Importance of Student Sense of Belonging, research shows that students who feel accepted, included, and supported are more likely to be engaged and perform well academically. To create this environment, prioritize building positive relationships with your students by recognizing and valuing their unique experiences and cultures. Incorporate culturally responsive practices into your teaching and create a classroom atmosphere where every student feels safe and valued. Remember, a strong sense of belonging can boost your students' motivation, emotional stability, and overall academic success.

Jaime Singer, training, coaching, and technical support lead, REL Midwest

4. How are you incorporating joy into rigorous instruction? To kick off the new school year in a positive way, purposefully elevate joy in evidence-based early literacy instruction. A good first step to achieve this goal is to select books that affirm children’s cultural, racial, linguistic, and other identities. Engaging children in interactive read-alouds with books that make them feel seen, heard, and loved promotes their pride in who they are, sense of belonging in school, and greater connection to the literacy activities centering the book. Second, integrate playful learning with evidence-based literacy approaches. For example, phonological awareness and phonics instruction that are game-like, incorporate singing, and include dancing, make them fun and therefore motivating and engaging. Read all about these approaches and more in the Joyful Reading and Creative Expression with Young Children: Planning Guide (2021) and the Joyful Reading and Writing with Young Children web resource collection.

Pamela Spycher, PhD, senior research associate, REL West

5. How are you building strong, sustainable support systems? The start of a new year is also an important moment to be sure that the systems and structures that schools have put in place to support students all year long are strong and vibrant. Multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) are commonly used in classrooms to ensure students receive high-quality academic support, and many districts are using an MTSS framework as a strategy to address student well-being. These systems allow schools to tailor resources based on student needs through the use of child support teams. To learn more about an MTSS approach to student well-being, including key considerations in creating child support teams, see the Meeting the Social, Emotional, and Mental Health Needs of All Students fact sheet.

Shai Fuxman, mental health and behavioral health expert, REL Northeast and Islands

The 10 Regional Educational Labs serve states, district, schools, and other education stakeholders across the nation. Find your lab and learn more about REL research and research-related supports at https://ies.ed.gov/rels. Principals, teachers, parents, policymakers, and anyone who is interested in learning more about what works for students can submit a question to the National Library of Education.

NCSER to Compete its First Doctoral Grant Opportunity

Two adult students sit in front of a computer while a standing instructor speaks with them

As a federal agency committed to advancing knowledge and innovation, IES recognizes just how critical it is to invest in the next generation of researchers in the education sciences. Since NCSER was established in 2006, we have funded a total of 86 postdocs and 37 early career scholars through our training programs. These investigators have gone on to produce notable accomplishments, including now-seminal research articles and research projects funded through our main research competitions, all while pushing the field of special education in new and important ways. The time is right to expand this investment further to bring scholars into the NCSER community even earlier in their research careers.

This fall, NCSER is launching its first grant competition for doctoral students: the Special Education Dissertation Research Fellowship Program (ALN 84.324G). This competition will provide up to eight advanced doctoral students with a 1-year fellowship of up to $50,000 to support the completion of their dissertation research and to participate in IES-related training. The goal of the fellowship is to broaden opportunities for emerging researchers to engage with IES and to prepare them to conduct high-quality research focused on learners with or at risk for disabilities. By providing financial support and resources during the dissertation phase, we hope to empower these emerging researchers to tackle new and pressing challenges in the field of special education.

Our inaugural competition focuses on four areas that have, to date, been underrepresented in NCSER’s funding portfolio—education systems, postsecondary education, educational technologies, and low-incidence disabilities. Each of these areas holds immense potential for impact, and we are prioritizing them through our other funding avenues. Our FY25 Special Education Research Grants competition (ALN 84.324A) focuses explicitly on education systems.  To establish more robust programs of research in the areas of postsecondary education and educational technologies, we launched a Research and Development (R&D) Center on postsecondary education and the AI Institute for Exceptional Education, both in FY23. We continue to explore ways to spur additional research investments focused on low-incidence disabilities.  

By making a concerted effort across our training programs, research grants, and special initiatives, we aim to encourage the fields of early intervention and special education to explore areas where we believe there are opportunities for groundbreaking research. We also hope this new initiative will continue NCSER’s work to foster a vibrant community of scholars committed to leveraging rigorous research to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. We look forward to seeing the impactful research that emerges from this fellowship and to working with the talented individuals who receive these dissertation fellowships.

This blog was written by Nathan Jones, NCSER commissioner, and Courtney Pollack and Katie Taylor, NCSER program officers.

Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Student Literacy and Teaching Mathematics in Grades PK-9

As you begin the new school year, consider how you can use the following evidence-based practices and resources to improve literacy and mathematics instruction in your school!

Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Student Literacy in Grades PK-9

A row of students lying on the grass reading books

Learning to read, and then reading to learn, are critical both to student success—both in and out of the classroom. 

Set our youngest learners on the path to success

Caregivers and educators can support early literacy by:

  • Intentionally planning activities to build children’s vocabulary and language;
  • Building children’s knowledge of letters and sounds; and
  • Using shared book reading to develop children’s language, knowledge of print features, and knowledge of the world.

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse’s Preparing Young Children for School Practice Guide.

Use evidence-based literacy practices to support foundational literacy

Educators can do so by:

  • Teaching students to decode works, analyze word parts, and write and recognize words; and
  • Helping parents to become involved in their child’s literacy development, including incorporating activities into daily routines like grocery shopping or chores around the house. 

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse’s Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten through Third Grade Practice Guide.

Also check out the Regional Educational Laboratories’ Teachers Guides to Supporting Family Involvement in Foundational Reading Skills

Provide struggling readers additional opportunities for practice

Evidence-based strategies include:

  • Offering readers the chance to make sense of challenging (“stretch”) text that will expose them to complex ideas and information; and
  • Providing purposeful fluency-building activities to help students read effortlessly, including reading with appropriate expression, pitch, tempo, and pauses (“prosody”).

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse’s Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4-9 Practice Guide.


Evidence-Based Strategies for Teaching Mathematics in Grades PK-9

A colorful abacus meant for younger children

Evidence-based practices in teaching math can support every student in becoming more mathematically literate. In addition to promoting student achievement, proficiency in math can provide students the greatest possible opportunity for additional education and high-quality careers.

Set our youngest learners on the path to success

Caregivers and educators can support early math learning by: 

  • Providing intentional instruction to build children’s understanding of mathematical ideas and skills, and
  • Engaging children in conversations about mathematical ideas and support them in using mathematical language.

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse’s Preparing Young Children for School Practice Guide.

Also check out the Regional Educational Laboratories’ Teaching Math to Young Children for Families and Caregivers.

Use evidence-based practice to support elementary school students who may be struggling to develop math skills

Educators can do so by:

  • Using number lines to build students’ understanding of grade-level concepts underlying mathematical operations and to prepare them for advanced math; 
  • Using well-chosen concrete and semi-concrete representations to support students’ learning of mathematical concepts and procedures; and
  • Regularly including timed activities as one way to build fluency in mathematics. 

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse’s Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades Practice Guide.

Improve algebra knowledge in middle school and high school through evidence-based teaching strategies

Evidence-based strategies include:

  • Teaching students to intentionally choose from alternative algebraic strategies when solving problems; 
  • Teaching the students to use the structure of algebraic representations; and
  • Using solved problems to engage students in analyzing algebraic reasoning and strategies.

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the Teaching Strategies for Improving Algebra Knowledge in Middle and High School Students Practice Guide.


General Strategies to Improve Student Learning

A chalkboard on top of which is a crumpled ball of yellow paper and a chalk drawing, which together depict a light bulb

Whether you’re teaching literacy, math,  or another subject, remember the following tips that can support effective instruction when applied in developmentally appropriate ways:

  • Space learning over time.
  • Interleave worked example solutions with problem-solving exercises.
  • Combine graphics with verbal descriptions.
  • Connect and integrate abstract and concrete representations of concepts.
  • Use quizzes to re-expose students to key content and promote learning.
  • Ask deep explanatory questions.

Learn More

Learn more about these recommendations in the What Works Clearinghouse’s Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning Practice Guide.

Summer Challenge for Our Dedicated Educators—Focus on Strengthening Mathematics Instruction

A student does a math problem on a white board

Calling all education leaders and educators who teach mathematics! We hope you are enjoying your well-earned summer break. We at the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) would like to share our heartfelt gratitude for your dedication and hard work serving our nation’s children. Teachers, we know what it takes to create engaging lesson plans that meet the needs of diverse learners, provide academic and emotional support to your students, and foster a sense of community and belonging in your classroom. Education leaders, we also know that you are working to prepare educators for this coming school year.

Since 2008, NCSER has funded a range of studies focused on improving mathematics instruction in areas such as understanding of whole numbers, fractions, word problem solving, and algebraic reasoning, which are the building blocks of success in secondary mathematics and beyond. Based on what we're finding through our funded projects, we would like to share some resources with you to support work to improve mathematics instruction and learning—especially for students with or at risk for disabilities that affect mathematics—in the 2024-25 school year.

WWC Mathematics Practice Guides

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Practice Guides are written specifically for educators and summarize interventions and instructional practices for which there is the strongest evidence for improving outcomes for learners. The following WWC Practice Guides can be useful to support educators in strengthening mathematics instruction:

Evidence-Based Math Interventions

Below are five examples of NCSER-funded interventions that have demonstrated improved outcomes in mathematics for learners with or at risk for a disability that affects mathematics.

  • Numbershire is a digital math game with an intensive focus on critical whole number concepts and skills for students in kindergarten through second grade. Published findings from an efficacy study indicate significant effects favoring the learners using Numbershire on proximal measures of whole-number concepts and skills.
  • Whole Number Foundations Level K is a kindergarten math intervention that provides in-depth instruction on critical whole number concepts, including counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, and number operations in base 10. Published findings from a replication efficacy trial of the intervention, originally called ROOTS, showed that students who received ROOTS in a small group of 2 or 5 students outperformed students in the control group.
  • Whole Number Foundations Level 1 is a first grade intervention aimed at developing understanding of whole numbers. Published findings from an efficacy trial of the intervention, initially called FUSION, showed a significant effect on improving student math performance. The strongest effects on student outcomes at a follow-up assessment the next school year were among smaller groups of students (2:1) compared to the slightly larger groups.
  • Pirate Math Equation Quest is a third grade intervention tested using two version of the tutoring program—one using equations to solve word problems and one using word-problem instruction alone. Published findings showed that students in both intervention groups significantly outperformed students in the control group with large effect sizes. At follow up (grade 4), only students in the group focusing on using equations (pre-algebra reasoning) significantly outperformed the control group on a measure of word problem solving.
  • Super Solvers is a fraction intervention for grades 4-5 delivered in small groups of students with or at risk for math learning disabilities. The intervention was tested with interleaved calculation instruction (learning two or more related concepts or skills, instead of focusing exclusively on one concept or skill) and blocked calculation instruction (learning one concept or skill at a time). Published findings showed that students in the intervention group significantly outperformed the control group. At follow up a year later, the two intervention groups still significantly outperformed the control group, but the group with interleaved calculation instruction made greater gains than the blocked calculations group.

IES Math Summit 2023

In 2023, IES held a Math Summit  focused on evidence-based instructional practices, including presentations by some of our NCSER grantees who have developed and tested interventions to improve outcomes for learners with or at risk for disabilities. Below, we share links to these recorded sessions to support your professional learning.

Strategies for Differentiating Instruction for Diverse Learners

High-Dose Tutoring and Other Academic Recovery Strategies

Language and Mathematics, Including Support for English Learners

Increasing Opportunities to Learn and Raising Expectations for All

Thank you for your dedication and commitment to our nation’s learners. We hope these resources will energize you for the exciting challenges that lie ahead.

This blog was produced by Sarah Brasiel (Sarah.Brasiel@ed.gov), a program officer for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics portfolio in the National Center for Special Education Research.

Measuring the Homelife of Students During the Pandemic

As part of the IES-funded Prekindergarten Through Grade 12 Recovery Research Network, the Georgia Policy Labs has been working to gauge the effects of economic insecurity and health stressors on student engagement and achievement during and after COVID-19 era remote learning. In this guest blog, Dr. Tim Sass, principal investigator of the IES-funded project and Distinguished Professor at Georgia State University, discusses a challenge his research team faced while linking home environment and student academic success, highlighting an obstacle to collecting home background survey data from parents/legal guardians. Dr. Sass shares his team’s practical solution to address this challenge.

The Challenge: Difficulty Collecting Data about Student Home Situation

A major challenge to studying out-of-school factors that contribute to student academic success is the lack of information about a student’s home situation. Standard administrative data barely scratch the surface, providing information on language spoken at home, eligibility for subsidized meals (an admittedly crude measure of poverty), and little else. This lack of information became even more problematic during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were learning from home, and the pandemic had severe effects on many families’ health and economic well-being.

As part of our project, we focus on identifying the factors associated with student engagement and achievement growth in remote instruction. Our initial strategy was to gather survey data in three of our partner school districts in metro Atlanta. We created a questionnaire to measure student engagement as well as collect information on economic insecurity, health stressors, and protective factors like adult monitoring of student learning at home or hiring a tutor. However, we faced two major challenges that made it difficult for us to collect the information we needed.

The first challenge was creating a process for identifying respondents.  Our partners agreed to send out the survey on our behalf, using their established systems for communicating with parents/guardians. Our intent was to make the responses identifiable so we could directly link information gathered from the survey to outcomes for specific students. While one of our partner districts was not comfortable with identifying individual respondents, it agreed to identify respondents’ school of enrollment. A second district agreed to identify respondents, but due to miscommunication within the district, their survey team made the survey anonymous. Finally, the third district agreed to allow linking individual responses to student ID numbers but left it up to parents/guardians to identify their student in the survey, and only about half of respondents filled in their student’s ID number.   

The second challenge was the very low response rates: 192 respondents from District A (0.4% response rate), 1,171 respondents from District B (1.2% response rate), and 80 respondents from District C (0.1% response rate). While disappointing, the low response rates are not unique to our study. Other researchers have struggled to get parents/guardians to respond to surveys conducted during the pandemic or shortly after the resumption of in-person instruction.

The Solution: Using Non-School-Based Administrative Data from Multiple Agencies to Complement Survey Data

Given the low response rates and non-identifiable responses, we considered how we could use additional non-school-based administrative data to complement the survey evidence. Through a partnership with researchers from the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Georgia Institute of Technology, we obtained data from court records on evictions in the Atlanta Metro Area. The data cover four of the five “core” counties in the Atlanta Metro Area, spanning calendar years 2019-21. Over this period, there were approximately 300,000 unique eviction filings across the four-county area, including both households with and without school-aged children. The court records contain a property address and filing date, which were used to match yearly eviction filings to students based on district student address files.

The following table provides counts of students that we successfully linked to eviction filings by district and year.  “Experienced Eviction” refers to cases where we directly matched an individual dwelling unit to an eviction filing.  In many cases, however, the street address in the eviction filing is for a multi-family structure, and there is not enough information in the filing or in the student address files to directly match a student living in the complex with the unit in which the eviction filing occurred.  When this type of match occurs, we designate it as being “Exposed to Eviction.”  The “Exposed to Eviction” counts include the instances of “Experienced Eviction.” The “Eviction Rate” is the ratio of “Experienced Eviction” to the total number of students in the district.

 

DISTRICT A

DISTRICT B

DISTRICT C

Exper-ienced Eviction

Exposed to Eviction

Eviction Rate

Exper-ienced Eviction

Exposed to Eviction

Eviction Rate

Exper-ienced Eviction

Exposed to Eviction

Eviction Rate

2019​

2,608

12,555

0.043

3,249

22,520

0.030

32

321

 <0.001

2020​

3,412

13,408

0.057

4,467

25,503

0.042

1,246

10,520

0.013

2021​

2,251

10,789

0.041

2,929

19,514

0.029

2,323

9,842

0.024

 

While an eviction filing does not mean that a family was removed from their dwelling, it does indicate that they were at risk of losing their home. Moving forward, we plan to use the eviction filing information as a measure of housing insecurity and economic stress. We will incorporate this metric when estimating models of student achievement growth during the pandemic, and absenteeism and student behavior after students returned to in-person learning. This will give us a sense of the degree to which external factors affected student performance in remote learning as well as the influence of housing and economic insecurity on achievement, engagement, and behavior once students returned to classrooms. Our findings will provide information to school districts and social-service providers on student exposure to economic stress so as to ensure that in-school supports and "wraparound" services are offered to students who need them the most.  


This blog was produced by Haigen Huang (Haigen.Huang@ed.gov), program officer at NCER.