Our Blog
Year-round, we keep our ears to the ground to identify new and interesting research that can spark ideas and deepen our understanding of the education landscape. Here, Meghan McCormick reflects on the past year of evidence in education, highlighting five standout research studies that inspired our thinking in 2025.
Chronic absenteeism remains one of the most pressing challenges facing schools today, but the field lacks rigorous evidence on the key drivers and potential solutions to reduce it. Here, we share early lessons from five studies focused on generating actionable insights to boost attendance from Pre-K through high school.
As schools grapple with increased teacher burnout and stalled student achievement, strategic staffing models may offer a path forward. Meghan McCormick details the current evidence base and our Foundation’s commitment to unlocking evidence to fuel a stronger, more sustainable teaching profession.
We believe in the importance of high-quality research to drive evidence-based decision-making and, ultimately, improve educational outcomes for all children. Here, Jessica Siegel highlights the latest findings from three grantees, which underscore the role of dosage and implementation fidelity in student impact.
A new whitepaper from EdWeek Market Brief examines how for-profits and nonprofits are navigating decision-making in today’s K-12 market—and where they diverge. Anthony Lucchino highlights key findings and their implications for education leaders and the philanthropic sector.
There’s broad scientific agreement that Pre-K programs can have positive impacts on children’s learning and development, but simply providing access to Pre-K isn’t enough—the quality of the program and the teaching matter. Meghan McCormick examines what we know about the important role high-quality instructional materials and professional learning play in strengthening Pre-K programs.
Our foundation has invested in formative assessments since 2022, aligned with our hypothesis that they are critical tools for delivering on the promise of truly personalized learning. In this spotlight, Meghan McCormick outlines the body of evidence behind high-quality formative assessments and what we know about their impact on student learning.
As an impact-focused education funder, we’re committed to studying programs, interventions, and approaches that show promise in supporting students and educators. In 2025, we’re continuing to make targeted investments in rigorous evaluations, field-building research, and large-scale data projects that can help guide the field.
Here, we highlight stories of how our funding helped unlock evidence in 2024 to advance field knowledge or validate program models in the areas of high-impact tutoring and curriculum-based professional learning.
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.