Education Insights, Real-World Impact

The Latest
Personalized Learning Initiative

Personalized Learning Initiative

The Personalized Learning Initiative (PLI) is a moonshot to overcome pandemic learning loss and aims to bring high-dosage tutoring to students nationwide.

Project
Realizing the Promise of High Dosage Tutoring at Scale: Preliminary Evidence for the Field

Realizing the Promise of High Dosage Tutoring at Scale: Preliminary Evidence for the Field

This technical report outlines preliminary results from the Personalized Learning Initiative showing that high dosage tutoring can be scaled and can work–even when delivered in the aftermath of the pandemic and in diverse academic settings.

Resource

Watch our latest video about the Education Lab’s history and vision for the future.

Watch our latest video about the Education Lab’s history and vision for the future.

The Education Lab partners with school districts to design, test, and scale programs to ensure all students have the opportunity for future success. By generating cutting-edge evidence in a real-world setting, our insights are not theoretical; they are designed to be applied in the classroom and to reach students at scale – translating into maximum impact for students nationwide.

The Education Lab conducts research on promising programs and policies for government agencies and nonprofits. We provide these research and data analysis services at no cost by partnering with philanthropic funders.

Topics

The Education Lab’s research has helped generate more than $120 million in public investment for highly effective, evidence-based programs that ensure all students have the opportunity for future success.

Explore Our Approach

Mentoring and Counseling Interventions

Mentoring and Counseling Interventions

We partner with community-based organizations to identify and evaluate trauma-informed interventions, including mentorship and counseling programs, that surface and strengthen skills in students that help them navigate difficult situations and succeed in school.

Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning

We work in partnership with school districts to understand whether and how we can scale high-impact tutoring programs to reach tens of thousands more students without compromising effectiveness.

Post-Secondary Pathways

Post-Secondary Pathways

We work in partnership with CPS and college success providers in Chicago to identify and co-design supports to support CPS students to achieve their post-secondary aspirations in college and career.

Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices

We partnered with CPS to evaluate the effects of RP on student behavior and provide a model of classroom management and a disciplinary system that works for interested school districts across the nation.

Student Re-Engagement

Student Re-Engagement

We work with school communities to reach youth who have become disengaged from school, reconnect them to school programming, and ensure they have the trauma-informed supports needed to thrive.

Latest Updates

National Study Finds In-School High Dosage Tutoring Is Successfully Accelerating Student Learning, Reversing Pandemic-Era Learning Loss
Press Release
UChicago Education Lab
Mar 2024

National Study Finds In-School High Dosage Tutoring Is Successfully Accelerating Student Learning, Reversing Pandemic-Era Learning Loss

Initial findings from the Personalized Learning Initiative show that in-school high dosage tutoring meaningfully increased math learning for students in Chicago Public Schools and Fulton County Schools.

The Economic Ripple of Learning Loss and its Impact on Chicago’s Future
Event
City Club of Chicago
Feb 2024

The Economic Ripple of Learning Loss and its Impact on Chicago’s Future

In this City Club of Chicago event, Education Lab Faculty Co-Director Jens Ludwig participated in a panel discussion on the importance of addressing the learning loss crisis to ensure Chicago’s students thrive.

America’s Students Need an Operation Warp Speed
Op-Ed
The Hill
Oct 2023

America’s Students Need an Operation Warp Speed

The Education Lab’s faculty co-directors, Dr. Jens Ludwig, professor at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Jon Guryan, professor at Northwestern University, make the case for a large-scale tutoring program designed to compensate for pandemic-era learning loss and equalize educational opportunities in the long-term.