Families Are Key to Building Back Better: Unpacking Elements of Effective Engagement in Remote Learning

Tasked with planning and implementing remote learning for over 55 million children in the U.S. in the wake of COVID-19 school closures, districts and teachers relied heavily on families to support youth learning. SCRI discovered that remote summer programs using the BellXcel model were able to established supportive and consistent relationships between staff and families which empowered families to support their children’s learning. Staff integrated high-quality family engagement strategies throughout the program which included frequent communication and meaningful outreach to support participants.

SCRInsider: Plan for Summer Learning

We distilled lessons from a first-of-its-kind study on summer as a time for teacher professional learning into a companion guide and planning tool that make it easy for districts and youth development providers to zero in on key insights and put the evidence into action. And speaking of summer, we’ve had the privilege of working with nine districts in Texas to help them design intentional and impactful summer learning programs that will be implemented in just a few weeks.

The Promise of Summer as a Time for Teacher Professional Development: Companion Guide & PD Planning Tool

This Companion Guide helps districts and youth development providers identify and apply evidence and insights from the study “The Promise of Summer as a Time for Teacher Professional Development” to ensure meaningful and high-quality summer PD. The PD Planning Tool helps summer learning providers align professional development opportunities with program goals and determine new strategies, techniques, and skills they would like to further develop with their staff.

Designing and Implementing Evidence-Based Summer Learning in Texas: The Additional Days School Year (ADSY) Planning & Execution Program (PEP)

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) selected SCRI and BellXcel (SCRI/BX) to provide technical assistance to school districts and charter schools as part of a landmark education bill. Learn how SCRI/BX is helping ensure those districts and schools are prepared to launch high-quality programs that align to TEA requirements and advance their district goals while engaging and inspiring students, families, and teachers.

SCRInsider: A Year of Turning Evidence Into Action

This month SCRI celebrates its one-year anniversary. In many ways, launching at the start of the pandemic accelerated the importance and value of our work. The education and youth development fields faced unprecedented challenges that required a nimble response.

SCRI’s mission to turn evidence into action propelled us to lean in on our practical expertise, consulting, coaching, research, and evaluation capabilities to support and amplify our partners’ efforts to meet these important challenges. Here are a few highlights of the year:

In Their Own Words, 2nd Edition: What Scholars Say about Social-Emotional Skill Development while Learning Remotely

SCRI conducted a mixed-methods analysis to learn about the scholar experience in a remote learning environment with the revised SEL focus and to see how scholars, in their own words, described their SE growth over the summer. The analysis revealed a wealth of insights about how BellXcel Remote’s SEL programming positively impacted scholars and showed how participation in BellXcel Remote led to improved relationships, increased confidence, strengthened growth mindset, improved self regulation and engagement, and better routines and schedules.