The Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes examines how some schools have provided opportunities for students to acquire deeper learning skills and how these opportunities are related to student outcomes. The deeper learning theory of action assumes that opportunities to engage in deeper learning activities help students to develop three types of deeper learning competencies: cognitive (mastery of core content, critical thinking skills), interpersonal (collaboration skills, communication skills), and intrapersonal (learning-how-to-learn skills, academic mindsets).
Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the study includes 20 high schools that focus on deeper learning skills (“network schools”) as well as a matched sample of comparison (“non-network”) schools. All twenty schools belonged to one of ten deeper learning networks and had a mature and at least moderately well-implemented approach to promoting deeper learning.
In a series of reports, AIR researchers compare the strategies and cultures, students’ deeper learning opportunities, and student outcomes between students who attended network schools and non-network schools. Exploratory analyses also cover relationships among opportunities for deeper learning, deeper learning competencies, and students’ on-time high school graduation.
Brief: Summary of Study Results - Does Deeper Learning Improve Student Outcomes? Results from the Study of Deeper Learning (August 2016)
An overview of research findings from the study, as of August 2016 (PDF).
The Shape of Deeper Learning: Strategies, Structures, and Cultures in Deeper Learning Network High Schools (Report #1, September 2014)
Research question: What strategies, structures, and cultures are common among deeper learning network schools, and how do they differ from those observed in non-network schools?
Providing Opportunities for Deeper Learning (Report #2, September 2014)
Research question: Do students attending deeper learning network schools experience more opportunities for deeper learning than they would have experienced in similar non-network schools?
Evidence of Deeper Learning Outcomes (Report #3, September 2014)
Research question: Do students attending deeper learning network schools experience better outcomes than similar students in matched non-network schools?
UPDATED FINDINGS: Are students attending deeper learning network schools more likely to graduate from high school than similar students in matched non-network schools?
UPDATED FINDINGS: Are students attending deeper learning network schools more likely to enroll in college than similar students in matched non-network schools?
Deeper Learning and High School Graduation: Is There a Relationship? (Report #4, August 2016)
Research question: How are opportunities for deeper learning, deeper learning competencies, and on-time high school graduation interrelated?
School Features and Student Opportunities for Deeper Learning: What Makes a Difference? (Report #5, October 2016)
Research question: Which school features (such as teacher beliefs, teacher professional community, and leadership) make a difference in providing students opportunities to engage in deeper learning?
Are there certain school features that facilitate a school’s ability to provide deeper learning opportunities?
____________________
Creative Commons License
The Study of Deeper Learning: Opportunities and Outcomes Student Survey Documentation and Teacher Survey Documentation by American Institutes for Research is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at copyright_PS@air.org.