Spotlight

Saga Education

Approximately 38 percent of eighth-grade students performed below NAEP Basic in math in 2022—an increase from already-low performance in 2019.

Saga Education is an evidence-based, personalized tutoring model that embeds tutors within the school day to support students struggling with math. Tutors work with small groups of students for a minimum of two hours per week, focusing attention on the areas in which students need the most support. Saga also helps districts develop and implement high-quality tutoring models by offering technical assistance and quality assurance along with learning technology resources.

In 2022, Saga increased the number of students it serves with its Direct model by 50 percent, and the organization’s technical assistance and consultative projects led to an increase in overall reach by 85 percent. Further supporting this continued growth, Saga received a grant of six million dollars over three years from AmeriCorps to expand their Direct model and help offset the costs to districts looking to partner with Saga for high-impact tutoring support.

Saga’s rapid growth helps students accelerate their math learning. Research suggests that students who participate in Saga gain roughly one additional year of math learning per year in the program, putting them on the path to proficiency.

Overdeck Family Foundation has played a crucial role in helping Saga scale its impact, encouraging the organization to develop a more cost-effective approach that combines small-group tutoring with technology. The Foundation also co-funded a five-year randomized controlled trial to measure the impact of Saga and was an early backer of Saga’s decision to help districts and states develop their own high-quality tutoring programs. In 2022, Melanie Dukes, Associate Program Director of K-9 Education at Overdeck Family Foundation, became a member of Saga’s Board of Directors, advising the organization on strategic growth.

Research Repository

A collection of research funded by Overdeck Family Foundation.

Summaries of Research Grants

Student looks in telescope

Courtesy of BEAM

As a leading education funder, we are dedicated to advancing the belief that “evidence matters” through novel, methodologically sound, and actionable research that uncovers programs and models with the potential to positively improve outcomes for all children. We believe research is a key way to increase awareness of what’s effective and to impact evidence-based decision-making and practice across our main grantmaking areas: early childhood, informal STEM education, and K-9 programs that include supporting educators and student-centered learning environments.

Aligned with our core value of “learn better, together,” Overdeck Family Foundation is committed to promoting transparent research practices by lifting up timely findings of the research we fund. We update this page as research is concluded and published, ensuring transparency for the field and our grantees.

Research Areas

Early Childhood

Validation and knowledge generation studies in the field of early childhood.

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K-9 Education

Research into what works for students and educators in the classroom.

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Out-of-School STEM

Validation and knowledge generation studies on the impact of out-of-school STEM.

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Other

Research into cross-cutting topics across the education sector.

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Early Childhood

COVID-19 Relief Bolstered U.S. Child Care Programs in Crisis

Effect of Family Connects' Universal Postpartum Nurse Home Visiting Program on Child Maltreatment and Emergency Medical Care at 5 Years of Age: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Effect of Nurse-Family Partnership's Intensive Nurse Home Visiting Program on Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Medicaid-Eligible Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial

I-LABS - Dual-MEG Interbrain Synchronization During Turn-Taking Verbal Interactions Between Mothers and Children

I-LABS - Language Experience During Infancy Predicts White Matter Myelination at Age Two

I-LABS & LENA - Language Input in Late Infancy Scaffolds Emergent Literacy Skills and Predicts Reading-Related White Matter Development

Implementing CenteringParenting Model With an Urban Pediatric Population to Measure and Improve Clinical Outcomes and Parent Satisfaction

LENA - The Impact of a Language-Based Intervention, a Two-Part Study

LENA - The Relationship Between Conversational Turns and Student Achievement

University of Nebraska - Nebraska Spotlight: Key Findings That Highlight Connections Among Early Childhood Development, Families and Communities

Bright by Text - Sparking Connections: Evaluations of Mobile Messaging on Response Caregiving

Young Mathematicians in Worcester Evaluation

K-9 Education

Does Teacher Professional Development Improve Student Learning? Evidence from Leading Educators' Teacher Fellowship Model

Efficacy Analysis of Zearn Math in DC Public Schools

EdTech Evidence Exchange - EdTech Context Inventory: Factor Analyses for Ten Instruments to Measure EdTech Implementation Context Features

Engaging Families Leads to Student Academic Gains and Increased Attendance: How TalkingPoints Improved Outcomes in a Large Urban School District

Examining PowerMyLearning's Family Playlists' Impact on Student Social Emotional Learning and Science Mastery through Short-Cycle RCTs

Impact of PowerMyLearning's Social Emotional Learning Program: 2021-2022 Mid-Year and School Year Analysis

Khan Academy - Use of MAP Accelerator Associated With Better-Than-Projected Gains in MAP Growth Scores

Study of CommonLit 360 Shows Gains on Reading Achievement

The Impact and Implementation of Leading Educators' Chicago Collaborative Teacher Professional Development Program

The Next Education Workforce - Team-Based Staffing Models Can Make Schools Work Better for Both Learners and Educators

TNTP - Unlocking Acceleration: How Below-Grade Level Work is Holding Students Back in Literacy

UPchieve - Report on Impact of Online Tutoring on Math Achievement

Zearn - Catching Up and Moving Forward: Accelerating Math Learning for Every Student

Out-of-School STEM

Camp Invention - Invention Education as a Context for Children's Identity Exploration

DiscoverE - Messages Matter

Museum Digital Engagement: Before, During, and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

Other

Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge for Many Families

Afterschool Rising to the Challenges Brought on by the Pandemic

Learning Heroes' Parents 2022 - Hidden in Plain Sight: A Way Forward for Equity-Centered Family Engagement

Opportunity Insights - Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobility