1. What is the relationship between math achievement and the Elevate learning conditions?
The Elevate framework provides evidence-based recommendations for improving learning conditions side-by-side with practical measures that educators can use to monitor those conditions in real time. The learning conditions measures play a crucial role in the framework because they equip educators to make data-driven decisions about what practices to adopt, adapt, or abandon in the service of building an optimal environment for students. An educator, for example, could use Elevate’s meaningful work measure to learn that only 40% of their students find assignments to be meaningful. The same educator could then reassess meaningful work to test the impact of a new practice that was implemented to make work relevant. This research brief quantifies the relationship between math achievement and the Elevate learning conditions, as well as variability in conditions over time.
Key Findings
- Learning conditions are important leading indicators of B or better math grades for middle and high school students.
- Learning conditions matter for students across racial and socioeconomic lines, and that when learning conditions improve, so does students’ likelihood of earning a B or better in math.
- Learning conditions tend to get worse over time in the absence of intentional efforts on the part of schools to improve them. But when schools do make such efforts, they can move the needle in a positive direction, while helping the field amass wisdom about how to create outstanding learning environments and experiences for all students.
