Summit to Expand Research Use in Education

September 8th, 2016 – Redwood City, California 

Digital Promise convened a summit to explore how education leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs can work together to address some of the greatest challenges in K-12 education, and ultimately improve learning outcomes for all students.

In panel presentations, researchers and experienced practitioners shared innovative approaches for connecting research and practice. In interactive challenge sessions, participants identified ways important learning science findings can inform the design of programs, products, and practices in four challenge areas, which were identified by K-12 district leaders in our February 2016 survey:

• Improving students’ skills in reading
• Improving mathematics learning
• Supporting English Language Learners (ELL students)
• Improving students’ motivation

The agenda and session descriptions are available here.

Read our summary of the discussions and ideas from the summit.

This event was made possible through the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Featured Speakers/Facilitators

Keynote Speaker: Karen Cator, President & CEO, Digital Promise

Research Use in Schools Panel:

• Elizabeth Farley Ripple, Associate Director & Associate Professor, University of Delaware School of Education
• Shelley Goldman, Professor, Stanford University
• Guadalupe Guerrero, Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, Innovation, and Social Justice, San Francisco Unified School District

Research Use in Ed-Tech Panel: 

• Kara Carpenter, Co-Founder of Teachley
• Bart Epstein, Founding CEO, Jefferson Education Accelerator
• Bror Saxberg, Chief Learning Officer, Kaplan, Inc.
• Benjamin N. York, Co-Founder & CEO, ParentPowered Technologies

Challenge Session Facilitators: 

• Improving Mathematics Learning (handout)
  • Jeremy Roschelle, Co-Director, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI
  • Phil Vahey, Director of Mathematics Learning Systems, Center for Technology in Learning, SRI
• Improving Students’ Motivation (handout) (graphic recording)
  • Dave Paunesku, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Stanford University Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS)
• Improving Students’ Skills in Reading (handout) (graphic recording)
  • Carol Connor, Chancellor’s Professor, University of California, Irvine School of Education
• Supporting English Language Learners (handout)
  • Pamela Spycher, Project Director, Leading with Learning, WestEd
• Building Research Partnerships: Schools (handout)
  • Anu Malipatil, Director, Education: Overdeck Family Foundation
  • Laura Wentworth, Director of Learning and Research Practice Partnerships, California Education Partners
• Building Research Partnerships: Educational Technology (handout)
  • Aubrey Francisco, Director of Research, Digital Promise
  • Christina Luke, Project Director, Research, Digital Promise

Participant List 

100 participants, including educators, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and product developers attended the summit. Thank you for your participation!

Post-Event Survey: 

We invite all participants to complete our short post-event survey. Your feedback will help us plan future events.

Continue the conversation: 

Join us on Twitter at #researchatwork, and email us at research@digitalpromise.org.