Friday Institute Education Briefs

The NC ASSISTments Replication Study began in the 2017-18 school year and aimed to replicate the findings from a prior study conducted in Maine. That study found that the students of 7th-grade mathematics teachers who used ASSISTments for homework scored significantly higher on the Terra Nova mathematics exam than the students of teachers who did not use ASSISTments. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced North Carolina’s schools to move to all-remote instruction in March 2020 and the End-of-Grade exams were canceled, which made the replication study impossible to complete. This forced a change in the ASSISTments study and a re-evaluation of what researchers could learn about the use of ASSISTments in schools in North Carolina. Using surveys and interviews, researchers at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation conducted a case study of teachers’ use of ASSISTments in in-person instruction and in remote instruction, both during the NC ASSISTments Replication Study and outside of the study.

In order to better understand the current state of the Arlington Public Schools' 1:1 program transition, the district partnered with the Friday Institute Research and Evaluation (FIRE) team at North Carolina State University to conduct a small-scale study. The purpose of the study was to identify implementation successes and challenges and to signal opportunities for program growth moving forward.

Teachers play a critical role in student success with digital game-based learning in the classroom. That is a key finding from a study the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation’s STEM Cyberlearning team recently conducted to investigate how teachers utilized a digital genetics game to meet students’ learning needs.

Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global is a collaborative, global inquiry-to-action process through which schools can prepare students to be globally competent; STEM and STEAM knowledgeable; creative problem solvers and critical thinkers; and effective communicators and collaborators in today's continuously changing global context. This brief contains practical suggestions for teachers wishing to engage in PBI Global with their students.

Due to high rates of poverty, low levels of educational attainment and unemployment, many rural school districts face significantly different challenges in educating students than their suburban and urban counterparts. The Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative at the Friday Institute has worked with and across rural communities to address the needs of schools and districts. In this brief, the authors share practical suggestions for improving professional learning opportunities at a school.

In order to encourage more of the nation’s young people to pursue careers in science, it pays to help them dress the part. That is the key finding of a study our researchers conducted to determine what kind of effect a simple article of clothing – in this case white lab coats – have on students’ confidence in their ability to do science.

This brief highlights lessons learned from the MMTIC® Initiative at Combs during the 2020-21 school year, based on the information found in the MMTIC® at Combs Elementary Year 3 Summative Brief.

Published in spring 2022, Meeting the Moment: Strategic Recommendations for Literacy & Equity in North Carolina centers educator voices toward providing insights into the Literacy…

Although female and male students perform equally well on standardized math and science tests, the middle school years prove to be a pivotal time when girls lose confidence and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Nevertheless, these challenges present middle schools with an opportunity to intentionally change the tide and promote STEM to middle school girls in newfound ways.

From January-December 2021, five school districts participated in The Innovation Project’s (TIP) Early Learning Network, an initiative that centers equity in addressing vulnerable children’s learning needs. Participants on district teams underwent the Liberatory Design Process—a seven step approach to centering equity in reimagining and redesigning educational interventions. Researchers from the Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) Group from the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation sought to better understand (1) how the design process impacted district teams and (2) the supports and barriers to design thinking and how to improve the design thinking process. Through case study methodology that incorporated focus group interviews, one-on-one interviews and artifact analysis, the researchers found that notions of accountability and intentionality, the awareness of self and others, and the development of community partnerships were impactful for districts conducting this equity work. Further, intradistrict dynamics, the availability of resources, team-level dynamics and non-linear processes frequently acted as supports and barriers to successful implementation of the Liberatory Design Process.