By Kevin Majewski
The Promising Practices Project (PPP) is an important New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) initiative aimed at identifying and documenting innovative teaching and learning practices that have successfully accelerated learning in K-12 schools across New Jersey. The unique challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic served as a “crucible of innovation” for educators, prompting schools to develop novel approaches to overcome unprecedented obstacles. This project seeks to catalog and disseminate innovative, impactful, and replicable strategies that can enhance student learning statewide.
Motivation
The PPP was initiated after the NJDOE observed a noteworthy trend: approximately 15% of the state’s public schools managed to increase their math and/or English language arts New Jersey Student Learning Assessments (NJSLA) proficiency rates from the 2018-2019 academic year (pre-pandemic) to the 2021-2022 academic year (post-pandemic). Motivated by this finding, the NJDOE commissioned the New Jersey State Policy Lab to delve deeper using advanced research methods. Partnering with the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies, our combined research team planned a rigorous, mixed methods approach to identify and analyze positive outlier schools – those that exceeded predicted performance levels during this period.
Objectives
- Identify Positive Outlier Schools: Identify schools that have demonstrated notable academic performance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Document Promising Practices: Document the effective educational practices these schools used to accelerate student learning.
- Disseminate Findings: Disseminate innovative and replicable teaching and learning practices widely.
Research Methods
- Quantitatively: The first phase of the PPP involved quantitative analysis to classify positive outlier schools that may have implemented effective learning acceleration practices during the pandemic. We employed hierarchical linear models (HLM) and value-added models (VAM) to predict school math and language arts NJSLA performance based on various socioeconomic and demographic factors. This approach allowed us to focus on schools that performed better than expected schoolwide and for five historically underserved student groups: Black, Hispanic, and economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and English language learners. From the identified positive outliers, we sampled a subset of schools to invite to participate in qualitative research. Sampling from this group was a critical step in our process, designed to ensure that our qualitative focus groups would draw from a diverse and representative cross-section of New Jersey’s public schools. Our sampling plan was rooted in multiple definitions of school success, reflecting the complexity of what it means to serve vulnerable subgroups of students and all students effectively.
- Qualitatively: After naming and obtaining consent from 52 positive outlier schools, we conducted in-depth qualitative focus groups with teachers, staff, and administrators at these schools between February and July 2024. These interviews explored how schools implemented successful practices and the conditions that supported these efforts via semi-structured group interviews. By including schools from diverse communities with varying levels of need and achievement, the PPP hopes to gather a wide range of insights. Qualitative analysis, currently in progress, is identifying innovative practices and conditions that can be replicated to achieve impactful student learning acceleration. Our mixed methods approach integrates school-level quantitative data to contextualize and enrich qualitative findings.
Project Timeline
Initiated in the summer of 2023, PPP researchers will be sharing research findings at regional convenings planned for early spring 2025. The project will publish formal reports and provide resources, including multimedia case studies and an online searchable database to facilitate the dissemination of these practices.
Learn More
The PPP is a vital effort to harness the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and apply them to advance student learning in New Jersey’s K-12 schools. By identifying and sharing innovative strategies, the project aims to equip schools with essential tools and resources to enhance student learning. As this project progresses, we look forward to sharing our findings and contributing to the broader conversation on educational excellence and equity. For more information and forthcoming resources, please visit the Promising Practices Project webpage.