SCRInsider: Rethinking How, When, and Where Kids Learn

Read our insightful Q&A BellXcel Board Member and former Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville.

SCRInsider: Plan Comprehensive Evaluations to Go Beyond Tests Scores

A comprehensive summer evaluation plan is about more than math and reading tests. Gathering holistic data on your summer program allows you to go beyond answering how your program did, to understanding what was delivered and why your results look the way they do. To help you answer these and other common questions, this month we’re sharing our new Summer Learning Program Evaluation Guide. Check it out for quick, practical tips and key considerations for developing your comprehensive evaluation plan.

SCRInsider: Make Your First Day Your Best Day

After more than a year of postponements, closures, and breaks, summer 2021 is poised to be an exciting and productive time – a time for reconnecting and re-engaging. The infusion of stimulus dollars for summer learning has the potential to allow for bigger and more robust summer programs than ever before, albeit with less time for planning.
Never fear. This month, we are sharing three new resources designed to ease your summer planning and take a few things off your long to-do list.

SCRInsider: Plan for Summer Learning

We distilled lessons from a first-of-its-kind study on summer as a time for teacher professional learning into a companion guide and planning tool that make it easy for districts and youth development providers to zero in on key insights and put the evidence into action. And speaking of summer, we’ve had the privilege of working with nine districts in Texas to help them design intentional and impactful summer learning programs that will be implemented in just a few weeks.

SCRInsider: A Year of Turning Evidence Into Action

This month SCRI celebrates its one-year anniversary. In many ways, launching at the start of the pandemic accelerated the importance and value of our work. The education and youth development fields faced unprecedented challenges that required a nimble response.

SCRI’s mission to turn evidence into action propelled us to lean in on our practical expertise, consulting, coaching, research, and evaluation capabilities to support and amplify our partners’ efforts to meet these important challenges. Here are a few highlights of the year:

SCRInsider: Boosting Technology Confidence Through Summer Learning

We’ve found two more strong reasons to prioritize summer learning in 2021 – increased confidence in technology and improved teacher practice! Our new research brief, Boosting Technology Confidence Through Summer Learning, reveals scholars, families, and staff who participated in BellXcel Remote in Summer 2020 improved technology skills, built confidence with virtual learning, and were set up for success in remote learning in the new school year. Additionally, our latest SCRI Asks dives deeper into last month’s RAND study on the power of summer professional development for teachers. We discuss the implications for the broader K-12 field with lead authors Elizabeth Steiner and Laura Stelitano. Read and download everything in this SCRInsider.