Research

In partnership with state and local education agencies, education service providers, and non-profit organizations, WEPC researchers study the efficacy of educational policies and practices in order to improve opportunities and holistic outcomes for traditionally marginalized students. WEPC’s research areas are concerned with equalizing educational opportunity. studying the efficacy of specialized services, and progressing the education workforce.

 

Teacher helping a student

Research Areas

Equalizing Educational Opportunity

Disparities in student opportunities and outcomes from kindergarten through higher education arshaped by a complex set of school, community, governance, and non-education sector factors. WEPC researchers evaluate the impact of policies and practices both within and outside of schools on student educational and life outcomes. 

Specialized Services

In many cases, students with specialized needs, such as English language learners and students with disabilities, are not receiving the supports they need to succeed academically. WEPC researchers leverage large-scale administrative datasets and rigorous causal research designs to evaluate the efficacy of policies and commonly used practices targeted for these students who benefit from targeted supports. 

Effective Educators

Schools are only as effective as the teachers, administrators, and staff working within them. WEPC researchers seek to better understand the educator pipeline and to measure the impact of policies designed to improve the education workforce, from teacher preparation to professional development to increasing the diversity of the education profession. 

Featured Papers

Service Delivery Models: Impacts for Students With and Without Disabilities

Service Delivery Models: Impacts for Students With and Without Disabilities

Authors: Nathan Jones, Lindsey Kaler, Jessica Markham, Josefina Senese, Marcus A. Winters  Project Summary When a student is identified with a disability, their school faces many decisions about how best to support their academic and developmental progress. One key decision point is how and where the student will receive needed services. Will they remain in a general education classroom all the time, be "pulled out" to a different environment for part of the day, or be placed in a separate...

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English Learners’ Access to Massachusetts Early College Programs

English Learners’ Access to Massachusetts Early College Programs

Authors: Yasuko Kanno, Andrew Bacher-Hicks, Pierre Lucien  Project Summary Early college programs (ECPs) are an increasingly common approach for promoting college enrollment and degree/credential completion, particularly for historically marginalized students. In Massachusetts, ECPs launched in 2017 and have since scaled rapidly. To better understand whether English learners (ELs) are taking advantage of these promising programs, the authors of this study examined the extent to which ELs are...

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Reclassifying English Learners

Reclassifying English Learners

Authors: Mingyan Ma & Marcus A. Winters  Project Summary English learners (ELs) represent a large and rapidly growing proportion of U.S. public school students. Once ELs demonstrate sufficient English language proficiency, they are reclassified and begin receiving general education instruction without supplemental language supports in place. The reclassification process has major implications for policymakers, educators, and the families of ELs. To better understand how this process...

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