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Using testing data from 2.1 million students in 10,000 schools in 49 states (plus D.C.), we investigate the role of remote and hybrid instruction in widening gaps in achievement by race and school poverty. We find that remote instruction was a primary driver of widening achievement gaps. Math gaps did not widen in areas that remained in-person (although there was some widening in reading gaps in those areas). We estimate that high-poverty districts that went remote in 2020-21 will need to spend nearly all of their federal aid on academic recovery to help students recover from pandemic-related achievement losses.

Building on the findings of Cedefop/ReferNet thematic perspectives for EU Member States, Norway and Iceland, this synthesis report identifies recent trends and policy developments in Europe on the initial and continuous professional development of VET teachers and trainers. The report points to the different types of VET teachers and trainers in Europe; their evolving and complex role in mastering new technologies, supporting the integration of refugees, identifying and supporting learners at risk of early leaving, and understanding changing labour market needs, to empower and equip students with skills for the future. Their qualifications and opportunities for continuous professional development vary across countries but the challenges policy-makers face in supporting them are shared. The report concludes with key messages for designing effective policies in Europe. [This research paper was produced by Cedefop's Department for VET and skills.]

Before the 2020-21 school year, educators, policymakers, and parents confronted the stark and uncertain trade-offs implied by the health, educational, and economic consequences of offering instruction remotely, in person, or through a hybrid of the two. Most public schools in the U.S. chose remote-only instruction and enrollment fell dramatically (i.e., a loss of roughly 1.1 million K-12 students). We examine the impact of these choices on public-school enrollment using unique panel data that combine district-level enrollment trajectories with information on their instructional modes. We find offering remote-only instead of in-person instruction reduced enrollment by 1.1 percentage points (i.e., a 42 percent increase in disenrollment from -2.6 to -3.7 percent). The disenrollment effects of remote instruction are concentrated in kindergarten and, to a lesser extent, elementary schools. We do not find consistent evidence that remote instruction influenced middle or high-school enrollment or that hybrid instruction had an impact. [Student work on this project was funded by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation.]

The decision about how and when to open schools to in-person instruction has been a key question for policymakers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The instructional modality of schools has implications not only for the health and safety of students and staff, but also student learning and the degree to which parents can engage in job activities. We consider the role of instructional modality (in-person, hybrid, or remote instruction) in disease spread among the wider community. Using a variety of regression modeling strategies to address unobserved heterogeneity, we find that simple correlations show in-person modalities are correlated with increased COVID cases, but accounting for both pre-existing cases and a richer set of covariates brings estimates close to zero on average. In Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) specifications, in-person modality options are not associated with increased spread of COVID at low levels of pre-existing COVID cases, but cases do increase at moderate to high pre-existing COVID rates. A bounding exercise suggests that the OLS findings for in-person modality are likely to represent an upper bound on the true relationship. These findings are robust to the inclusion of county and district fixed effects in terms of the insignificance of the findings, but the models with fixed effects are also somewhat imprecisely estimated.

Due to current public health concerns, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), like many state education agencies, is addressing the challenge of how to provide all prekindergarten through grade 12 students this fall with appropriate, standards-aligned, and evidence-based literacy instruction within the context of remote learning environments. Remote learning can be fully remote or some combination of a traditional in-person classroom setting and remote learning (e.g., a hybrid/blended format). The purpose of this white paper is to provide ODE and regional technical assistance staff with a multidisciplinary perspective on the challenge of providing all prekindergarten through grade 12 students with appropriate, standards-aligned, and evidence-based literacy instruction within the context of blended/hybrid learning environments. It is an initial attempt to integrate multidisciplinary information that may be relevant for addressing this challenge. This white paper also specifies implications for practice across different contexts (state and regional leadership systems, districts and schools, and educators and families) and disciplines (designing and delivering remote literacy instruction, new literacies in online research and reading comprehension, and home-school partnerships for literacy learning, likely impacting remote literacy instruction and learning).

Individual teachers, administrators, and parents made tremendous efforts to continue educating the Commonwealth's children between March and June of this year. But no amount of dedicated individual effort could have overcome fundamental challenges: weak guidance to districts from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) against a backdrop of deficient knowledge and sophistication statewide with regard to virtual learning. Digital education has been empirically proven to be most successful when schools prepare and follow best distance learning practices. However, the Commonwealth lacks even the minimum technological infrastructure for virtual learning, as exemplified by districts scrambling to obtain electronic devices and internet connections during the school closure. It is encouraging that Governor Baker and the DESE have described a fall 2020 return to brick-and-mortar schooling--with appropriate health measures to maximize safety--as a significant priority. The present challenge is how to implement this much-needed return to school, optimally balancing the importance of in-person schooling with the countervailing importance of protecting against the virus. The following paper contributes important insights, based upon careful review of other countries that have already successfully reopened their schools. [Foreword written by David S. Clancy and Dr. John G. Flores.]

We are living in an era of artificial intelligence (AI). There is wide discussion about and experimentation with the impact of AI on education/higher education. In this paper, we give a discussion of how AI is evolving, explore the ways AI is changing education/higher education, give a concise account of the skills universities need to teach their students to prepare them for an AI world of work, and talk succinctly about the changing nature of jobs and the workforce.

As education systems around the world begin to emerge from COVID-19-related lockdown, governments are facing the difficult decision of when and how to reopen schools, balancing the risks of widespread learning loss -- and the impact this will have on a generation of learners -- with the risks of virus transmission, which are more significant in low-income settings. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Education Development Trust has sought to be highly responsive to the changing needs of educators, system leaders and partners around the world. In doing so, Education Development Trust has developed an evidence base from which new thinking has been developed, called 'Learning Renewed', which reimagines what more effective, equitable and resilient education systems might look like, and how they might better withstand future shocks. This programme of work will be continuing in the coming months, but this report is the first major think piece in this series. In it, a vision for 'flexible reopening' of schools is outlined, supplemented by community-based learning. A 'middle way' is proposed between full closure and full reopening, featuring smaller, tutorial-style classes attending school on a part-time basis, supplemented by community-based learning. The flexible opening model is not without challenges, but it offers the real potential to ensure higher quality education provision for some of the world's most vulnerable children. [For "Maintaining Learning Continuity during School Closure: Community Health Volunteer Support for Marginalised Girls in Kenya. Paper 2 of the Learning Renewed Series," see ED614319.]

Innovation in instructional technology has contributed to the rapid implementation of technology-driven instructional platforms, particularly in developmental math coursework. Prior research has shown that instructional environment and classroom experience influence student development and outcomes. Consequently, when courses transition to technology-driven instruction, a logical concern on the part of faculty and administrators is the effect on the quality of the academic experience among students. Under a hybrid emporium model, students primarily receive instruction from a computer-based platform rather than from a faculty member delivering content in front of the classroom. This paper examines how students experience a newly adopted, hybrid emporium model for developmental math coursework. We conducted focus groups with students at six public colleges in Tennessee and find that students enrolled in hybrid emporium developmental math courses reported that the instructional model contributes to lowered barriers to math by increasing cognitive and social accessibility. In spite of prior academic challenges, students perceived math content and their faculty to be more accessible in the computer-driven model than in traditional lecture classes. We discuss these findings in light of recent research suggesting technology-driven instruction does not improve math performance.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has solicited public comment on pandemic-related revisions to its important "Learning Time" regulation, 603 CMR 27.00. The revisions establish baseline procedural and substantive requirements for in-person, hybrid, and remote learning. Appreciating that the regulation is meant to set forth only the most fundamental matters, with many other matters contained in a parallel guidance document. The revised regulation states that remote learning must be "aligned to state standards." This policy brief responds to the DESE's solicitation of public comments on the regulation. The Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research continues to advocate for those recommendations, and for maximum preparedness and rigor in the actual delivery of remote learning. At this moment, Pioneer emphasizes these important areas: training for teachers and parents, which addresses both technical and substantive aspects of remote learning; highly accessible lines of communication between school personnel and families--such as online or audio hotlines--so technological and other problems can be resolved quickly and during as much of the day as reasonably possible; and a constant process of critical self-evaluation, resolving problems and making improvements wherever possible.

In low- and middle-income countries, institutions of higher education are turning to online models of instruction to reduce costs and broaden their educational reach. While a growing body of causal research can speak to the effectiveness of online models in the United States, there is little rigorous evidence about the use of online models in lower income countries. To fill this gap in the research, I use a randomized design to examine the effectiveness of a blended model in undergraduate STEM courses in Mongolia. On average, students assigned to the online instructional format withdraw from courses at a higher rate; this finding is not observed among the highest achieving students, suggesting lower-ability students may encounter barriers to persistence under new online learning models. Nevertheless, overall course performance is equivalent between treatment and control, suggesting the online model may be as effective as face-to-face instruction at a lower cost.

Recent trends in higher education, including online learning and the flipped classroom, have led to a large increase in the creation and use of video lectures in college teaching. Although the literature suggests that video lectures can be an essential pedagogical tool in 21st-century teaching, research is still emerging regarding best practices to maximize their effectiveness for student learning. The authors provide a broad overview of the research that is currently available and practical applications for these findings. They discuss common recording methods, as well as appropriate contexts for each, then synthesize the research to identify five strategies that increase the effectiveness of video lectures.

During the past year, Wisconsin state legislators debated a series of bills aimed at closing low-performing public schools and replacing them with privately run charter schools. These proposals were particularly targeted at Milwaukee, the state's largest and poorest school district. Ultimately, the only legislation enacted was a bill that modestly increases school reporting requirements, without stipulating consequences for low performance. Nevertheless, the more ambitious proposals will likely remain at the core of Wisconsin's debates over education policy, and legislative leaders have made clear their desire to revisit them in next year's session. To help inform these deliberations, this report addresses the most comprehensive set of reforms put forward in the 2013-2014 legislative session. Backers of these reforms are particularly enamored of a new type of charter school represented by the Rocketship chain of schools--a low-budget operation that relies on young and inexperienced teachers rather than more veteran and expensive faculty, that reduces the curriculum to a near-exclusive focus on reading and math, and that replaces teachers with online learning and digital applications for a significant portion of the day. Rocketship proposes that its model--dubbed "blended learning" for its combination of in-person and computerized instruction--can cut costs while raising low-income students' test scores (Rocketship Education 2011). The call for public schools to be replaced by such tech-heavy, teacher-light operations comes from some of the most powerful actors in local and national politics: the major corporate lobbies, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Americans for Prosperity, and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC). It is these groups, rather than parents or community organizations, that provided the impetus for legislators to consider proposals for mass school closure and privatization in Milwaukee. This report evaluates the "blended learning" model of education exemplified by Rocketship and seeks to understand how the "school accountability" legislation debated during the most recent legislative session would likely affect Milwaukee schools. This briefing paper also explains how such proposals might fit within the broader economic agenda of both local and national corporate lobbies. Above all, the report questions why an educational model deemed substandard for more privileged suburban children is being so vigorously promoted--perhaps even forced--on poor children in Milwaukee.

Use of the word "flipped" has become the latest buzzword in the educational world. This paper explores the different uses of the term "flipped," examines the research to date, and discusses how and why teachers are starting to use the new model. It offers suggestions for activities both inside and outside of the classroom to encourage deeper learning and greater conceptual understanding.

Online learning and our current system of local education governance are at odds with one another, to say the least. In this paper, John Chubb examines how local school district control retards the widespread use of instructional technologies. He argues that the surest way to break down the system's inherent resistance to technology is to shift control from the local district--and thus the school board--and put it in the hands of states. He then outlines ten steps to get us to this brave new governance system: (1) Set K-12 Online-Learning Policy at the State Level; (2) Create a Public Market for K-12 Online Learning; (3) Provide Students the Right to Choose Online Learning Full Time; (4) Provide Students the Right to Choose Online Learning Part Time; (5) Authorize Statewide Online Charter Schools, Overseen by Statewide Charter Authorizers; (6) License Supplementary Online Providers; (7) Fund All Learning Opportunities Equally Per Pupil; (8) Exempt Online and Blended Teaching from Traditional Teacher Requirements Including Certification and Class Size; (9) Establish Student Learning as the Foundation of Accountability for Online Schools and Providers; and (10) Address Market Imperfections by Providing Abundant Information to Students, Families, Schools, and Districts. (Contains 42 endnotes.) [For a review of this paper, "Review of 'Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning'", see ED530436.]

The top priority for the U.S. Department of Education's new Race to the Top-District (RTT-D) competition is to create personalized-learning environments to bolster student achievement: "Absolute Priority 1: Personalized Learning Environments. To meet this priority, an applicant must coherently and comprehensively address how it will build on the core educational assurance areas (as defined in the notice) to create learning environments that are designed to significantly improve learning and teaching through the personalization of strategies, tools, and supports for students and educators that are aligned with college- and career-ready standards (as defined in the notice) or college- and career-ready graduation requirements (as defined in the notice); accelerate student achievement and deepen student learning by meeting the academic needs of each student; increase the effectiveness of educators; expand student access to the most effective educators; decrease achievement gaps across student groups; and increase the rates at which students graduate from high school prepared for college and careers." Using online learning in blended-learning environments will be critical for most Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to realize this priority. As Innosight Institute has written in several reports, there are a growing number of schools and districts across the country that are implementing blended-learning models. Innosight Institute has collected dozens of case studies of blended-learning programs on its website. These profiles may be an important resource for those LEAs seeking to apply to the competition, as the profiles chronicle the history of how schools and districts started their blended-learning programs, the effect of these programs on student achievement, the blended-learning models they use, and the software or Internet tools that power these programs. This paper describes how personalized learning looks like in practice and discusses the essential elements of an effective transformation. (Contains 2 figures.)

The latest installment of the Fordham Institute's "Creating Sound Policy for Digital Learning" series investigates one of the more controversial aspects of digital learning: How much does it cost? In this paper, the Parthenon Group uses interviews with more than fifty vendors and online-schooling experts to estimate today's average per-pupil cost for a variety of schooling models, traditional and online, and presents a nuanced analysis of the important variance in cost between different school designs. These ranges--from $5,100 to $7,700 for full-time virtual schools, and $7,600 to $10,200 for the blended version--highlight both the potential for low-cost online schooling and the need for better data on costs and outcomes in order for policymakers to reach confident conclusions related to the productivity and efficiency of these promising new models. (Contains 2 figures and 4 endnotes.)

As digital tools proliferate and improve, solid instruction in the basics will eventually become "flat"--available anywhere globally--and the elements of excellent teaching that are most difficult for technology to replace will increasingly differentiate student outcomes. As a result, teacher effectiveness may matter even more than it does today, as the selectivity and prevalence of the teachers-in-charge who will leverage technology--and be leveraged by it--will be the distinguisher of learning outcomes among schools and nations. But in order to allow for such a drastic reshaping of the education system in the U.S., myriad policies affecting teachers--from professional development to compensation--will need to be revamped. This paper outlines how. (Contains 46 endnotes.)

With the tuition cost of traditional colleges and universities soaring and education technology advancing, online courses and degree programs are becoming more common. Some critics argue that an online degree cannot provide all the important features of a traditional college education, from extracurricular activities to new professional networks, but the evidence disputes much of that criticism, especially for certain groups of students. Indeed, some aspects of online education may provide a better experience than a traditional brick-and-mortar college for some students. (Contains 49 footnotes.)

America's system for financing K-12 education is not neutral about innovation and the use of new technologies. Indeed, that system is stacked against them. To remedy this, our education-funding system needs to shift dramatically. Instead of today's model--which rigidly funds programs, staff positions, and administrative structures, instead of schools and students--we need an approach in which funding follows the student. At present, America's charter school finance structure provides the best prototype, but even it does not go far enough. An appropriate school-finance system must also be able to defend ineffective schools and provide space and incentives for online providers to bring their products to the marketplace. (Contains 1 table and 13 endnotes.)

This report investigates enrollment patterns and academic outcomes in online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses among students who enrolled in Washington State community and technical colleges in the fall of 2004. Students were tracked for nearly five years, until the spring of 2009. Results were similar to those found in a parallel study in Virginia (Jaggars & Xu, 2010). Students who were employed for more hours and students who had demographic characteristics associated with stronger academic preparation were more likely to enroll in online courses; however, students who enrolled in hybrid courses were quite similar to those who enrolled in a purely face-to-face curriculum. After controlling for student characteristics using multilevel regression techniques, results indicated that students were more likely to fail or withdraw from online courses than from face-to-face courses. In addition, students who took online coursework in early terms were slightly but significantly less likely to return to school in subsequent terms, and students who took a higher proportion of credits online were slightly but significantly less likely to attain an educational award or transfer to a four-year institution. In contrast, students were equally likely to complete a hybrid course as to complete a face-to-face course. Additional analyses with a new cohort of students entering in 2008 showed short-term results consistent with those of the 2004 cohort. Given the importance of online learning in terms of student convenience and institutional flexibility, current system supports for online learning should be bolstered and strengthened in order to improve completion rates among online learners. Specific recommendations are discussed in the report's conclusion. (Contains 9 tables, 4 figures and 23 footnotes.)