Our Blog
We take evidence seriously at Overdeck Family Foundation: our grantmaking focuses explicitly on helping to scale evidence-based approaches, and we use the latest research to inform our investment strategies and the field at large. As we reflect on 2024, Meghan McCormick highlights five studies from the past year that significantly impacted our team’s vision for the future and influenced our thinking.
Our funding will support five studies designed to produce data and research that collectively inform the work of policymakers and practitioners in the hope of increasing student attendance from Pre-K to high school.
In our interview series, “Spotlight On,” Innovative Schools portfolio manager Pete Lavorini sits down with research and impact officer Meghan McCormick. Together, they discuss the current evidence base on the potential of high-impact tutoring to support student achievement and what school and district leaders need to know as they consider tutoring investments ahead of the new school year.
Research points to the potential value of high-impact tutoring for supporting learning recovery at scale, but key challenges remain. Meghan McCormick examines the current body of evidence on the impact of hybrid, virtual, and AI-fueled tutoring models, and how these models are poised to reduce costs, strengthen the tutoring workforce, and more effectively allocate tutoring supports.
Play is a critical component of healthy cognitive and social-emotional development. However, young children’s opportunities for play are declining. Carly Roberts and Katelyn Fletcher outline the benefits of incorporating a research-based Playful Learning approach into the school day.
Overdeck Family Foundation has granted the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL) $900,000 to manage three studies focused on identifying the features and traits of genAI tools that show potential to improve teacher quality and student learning, and disseminate those results to the education community at large.
Teachers and students are increasingly experimenting with generative AI tools, both in and out of the classroom. But, rapid changes in technology and the speed of adoption are far outpacing the field’s understanding of impacts on teaching and learning. Meghan McCormick examines what we know about the impact of genAI on education, calling for rigorous, evidence-based evaluation of what’s being used in schools.
As schools face increased student disengagement and uneven academic recovery, there’s a critical need to identify effective approaches to strengthen family-school partnerships—starting with investments in evidence-based solutions. Meghan McCormick details the evidence base guiding our Foundation's decision-making for investments in this space.
High-quality instructional materials (HQIM) matter for student learning, but these materials alone are not enough—how they are implemented matters. Jessica Fredston-Hermann and Meghan McCormick dive into the evidence on the importance of pairing HQIM with curriculum-based professional learning to ensure educators have the support they need for impactful instruction.
Decades of research have demonstrated the positive impact of Pre-K, yet critics argue that much of this evidence is old and that the impacts of modern-day programs are smaller and unlikely to be sustained—ignoring the research we do have on what works to strengthen Pre-K quality. Meghan McCormick dives into the current body of evidence, urging states and districts to follow the research when investing in early childhood education.