Research
All CEE data-gathering tools and surveys are rooted in our own validated research.
And our seminal research project was backed by generous grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
CEE’s deep work with districts, schools, and organizations of all sizes for more than 2 decades means you can completely trust our research-based strategies. And you can act with conviction on our recommendations and best-in-class practices for improvement across your school, district, or nonprofit.
A window into the why of our formative data:
Shows what’s right with your district (not what’s wrong), so you can do more of what works
Reveals what you can act upon
Helps you avoid basing actions and decisions on anecdotes or hearsay
Supports leaders in leveraging feedback to generate new ways of thinking and doing
Improves schools and districts by analyzing stakeholder perceptions, developing customized approaches, and implementing tools for research-backed strategies
Studies include:
Characteristics of Positive Outlier Schools
Illuminating the Strengths of American Indian/Alaska Native, Black, Latino/a, and Students Experiencing Poverty
With the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, in 2021 we released this seminal study. Notably, seven performance measures were analyzed for over 2,100 schools in Washington State to identify true outliers for systemic performance and improvement.
Using student-level academic and engagement data from 2014-2019, this study identified schools in Washington State that have successfully removed barriers and created the conditions that amplified the existing strengths of Black, Latino/a, American Indian/Alaska Native, and students experiencing poverty.
District and building administrators in the 38 schools identified as beating the odds embrace the responsibility to create the conditions for illuminating and building on students’ strengths.
MEASURES
Attendance
Progress for English learners
English-language arts performance
Mathematics performance
Readiness for high school
High school course rigor (obtaining college credits)
Graduation rates
Outlier Study Continuing Work
With the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, CEE engaged 14 outlier high school principals and six rural superintendents to create a Community of Practice (CoP). Participants in this inclusive professional development cohort shared success strategies centered on research findings from our original Outlier Schools study (noted above).
CEE has translated and now shares the principals’ and superintendents’ solutions. Now, more schools and districts can benefit from the community’s insights for improving student learning.
RESOURCES
Podcasts showcasing participants’ best practices
Artifacts from the group’s exploration that illustrate the range of current problems of practice
Video vignette about student voice to highlight school-based practices and success
Educational Landscape and Systems Analysis of Washington State
Phase I of this 2019-2021 study, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed to generate a deep understanding of the highly effective continuous improvement efforts that positively influence outcomes for Black, Latino, Native American, and low income students within Washington’s 295 school districts.
Phase II revealed 34 schools’ stories and histories about how they created the conditions to become outliers. CEE will conduct an additional analysis of district-level support on 10 of these case studies.
Product Research
9 Characteristics of High Performing Schools
Since the original publication, the nine characteristics of high-performing schools have become a widely-used framework for school improvement in Washington. Experiences in schools and among school leaders have reinforced the appropriateness of all nine characteristics and their basic definitions. The original research base has not changed. Research conducted by the Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) for OSPI and more than 400 Washington schools supports the use of the nine characteristics as a “rigorous framework for staff to view attributes which research has shown have a positive impact on student learning and achievement.” The framework provides “common language and consistent practice” to assist staff in “focusing their school improvement conversations around a solid research basis” (Lobdell, 2007).
Road Map Project
In 2012, the Youth Development for Education Results (YDER) work group of the Road Map Project, in partnership with the Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE), developed and piloted a Student Engagement and Motivation (SEMS) Survey to measure the ways that students’ beliefs about themselves and their abilities relate to their school attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes.
An initial version of the survey was pilot tested with 6,000 students in the Renton School District in December 2012. This pilot provided preliminary evidence of the survey’s reliability, and of its potential to increase our understanding of student motivation and engagement at the school, district, and aggregate levels. We found that asking students to assess their individual skills and dispositions could yield valuable insights into student behaviors (attendance, discipline and course work). Students who reported having low grades and being absent frequently scored lower on skill and dispositions measures than did their peers. A revised version of the student survey was developed in the spring of 2013 based on findings from the Renton pilot, and on a smaller-scale pilot of a similar survey in after-school settings. In fall of 2013, the Student Engagement and Motivation Survey, Version 2.0 was made available to other Road Map districts for use on its own, or in conjunction with existing climate surveys.