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
Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices

In partnership with Chicago Public Schools, the Education Lab evaluated the effect of restorative practices implemented in high schools across the district.

Project

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

Alternatives, Inc.: A move towards restorative practices in schools
Media Mention
Sep 2023

Alternatives, Inc.: A move towards restorative practices in schools

Education Lab affiliate Anjali Adukia and Alternatives, Inc.’s Bessie Alcantara joined Gaynor Hall on WGN-TV Weekend Morning News to discuss the impacts of the implementation of restorative practices in Chicago Public Schools high schools.

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons: What’s behind the drop in suspension rate at CPS?
Media Mention
WBEZ Reset
Sep 2023

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons: What’s behind the drop in suspension rate at CPS?

WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons sits down with WBEZ education reporter Sarah Karp to discuss findings from the Education Lab’s study of the impacts of restorative practices in Chicago Public Schools.

Black Chicago Public Schools Students Benefit More From Restorative Practices, Study Says
Media Mention
BET
Sep 2023

Black Chicago Public Schools Students Benefit More From Restorative Practices, Study Says

BET’s Nigel Roberts covers the Education Lab’s latest findings from a study of the impacts of restorative practices in Chicago Public Schools high schools.