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Robert Slavin Ph.D. @RobertSlavin

Co-Founder of Success for All, Director of Hopkins Center for Research & Reform in Education, ed research & reform blogger (RTs & follows are not endorsements)

Joined June 2011
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It is with deep sadness that I must inform you that Robert Slavin passed away suddenly Saturday evening. Bob was committed to changing the face of education, and did so with intelligence, heart, and humor. We have lost a great friend and visionary whose impact will continue.
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Today, my colleagues & I are launching ProvenTutoring.org. The purpose of this website is to help make certain that the opportunities made available by the American Rescue Plan and other funding actually have their intended impact on the school success of America’s children.

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Subscribe! Sign up for our newsletter, which provides updates about our work and real-life examples of highly-effective tutoring efforts. From Robert Slavin’s Blog Archive Message From NorthBay: All...

proventutoring.org
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Lessons for educational research from the COVID-19 vaccines: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Lessons for Educational Research from the COVID-19 Vaccines

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 130 biotech companies have launched major efforts to develop and test vaccines. Only four have been approved so far (Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson…

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Bob shares a tutoring experience where kids grade levels behind in reading learned to read, suggesting that they always could have learned to read under the right circumstances robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Message From NorthBay: All Students Can Learn to Read

Last July, I wrote a blog about a Year 6 (fifth grade) student in England, “Richard,” who just happened to transfer to one of our Success for All schools in spring, 2020. The school staff tested hi…

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Make certain that every single child in America who needs it gets enough tutoring to be proficient in phonics: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Prioritize Tutoring for Low-Achieving Readers

In speaking and writing about tutoring, I am often asked about where limited tutoring resources should be concentrated.  My answer is this: “Make certain that every single child in America who…

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14 proven tutoring programs for reading and math have formed a coalition, which we call ProvenTutoring.org, to make the case for proven tutoring programs, and then provide schools, districts, and states a choice of proven programs. robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…
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Another way to understand effect sizes, in today's blog: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Another Way to Understand Effect Sizes

Whenever I talk to educators and mention effect sizes, someone inevitably complains. “We don’t understand effect sizes,” they say. I always explain that you don’t have to understand exactly what ef…

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The damage Covid has done will have long-lasting impacts, and even if schools use proven tutoring methods to help the students at the greatest risk, it is also important to build for the long haul for all students, using proven programs of all kinds. robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

The American Rescue Plan Can Rescue Education, If We Use It to Fund What Works

The American Rescue Plan was passed in the U.S. Congress this week. This $1.9 trillion bill provides funding for a lot of things I care about as a citizen, but as an educator, I’d like to focus on …

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The best instructional use of summer may be to provide one-to-one or small-group tutoring to struggling students.: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Summer 2021 Re-Imagined: A Grand Opening to a Successful Year

If you follow my blogs, you’ll note that I have been writing recently about the ineffectiveness of summer school (here, here, and here). Along with colleagues, I wrote a review of research on summe…

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Research in education should focus on urgent practical solutions that could have a significant impact within the next year or two on students who are far below grade level in essential skills because of Covid school closures, or for other reasons. robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

The Role of Research and Development in Post-Covid Education

Everyone knows that during World War II, the pace of innovation greatly accelerated. Computers, rocketry, jets, sonar, radar, microwaves, aerosol cans, penicillin, and morphine were among the many …

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Could after school or summer school programs work better if we took into account the evidence on why they usually fail? robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Getting Below the Surface to Understand Disappointing Outcomes

Long ago, I toured West Germany, visiting some family friends near Hanover. They suggested I go see Duderstadt, a picturesque town nearby (see picture of it below). My wife, Nancy, and I drove into…

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The Learning Recovery Act can avoid the errors made using Supplemental Education Services years ago by providing tutoring during the school day using programs proven to be effective in rigorous research: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Avoiding the Errors of Supplemental Educational Services (SES)

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.” –Albert Einstein Last Friday, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a $1.9 t…

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After-school and summer-school efforts have not had much impact on reading or math learning in studies done before Covid, and are not likely to have much impact now. Discussed at robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Why Isn’t Achievement Whirled Enough by Time? (Why Summer School, After School, and Extended Day Do...

“Had we but world enough and time…” wrote Andrew Marvell, an English poet in the late 1600s (He also had another job, highly relevant to this blog, which I will reveal at the end. No peeking!). Mar…

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I was delighted to see the relief bill before Congress provide $130 billion to help schools re-open safely, and to fund efforts to remedy learning losses. Highlight tutoring among post-Covid solutions: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Highlight Tutoring Among Post-Covid Solutions

I recently saw a summary of the education section of the giant, $1.9 trillion proposed relief bill now before Congress. Like all educators, I was delighted to see the plan to provide $130 billion t…

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We have a long, long way to go to get back to normal, especially with disadvantaged students. I discuss several things that would greatly transform education for disadvantaged students. robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Building Back Better

Yesterday, President Joe Biden took his oath of office. He is taking office at one of the lowest points in all of American history. Every American, whatever their political beliefs, should be wishi…

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Tutoring could change everything: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Tutoring Could Change Everything

Starting in the 1990s, futurists and technology fans began to say, “The Internet changes everything.” And eventually, it did. The Internet has certainly changed education, although it is unclear wh…

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Is a National Tutoring Corps affordable? Moreso than previously thought: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Is a National Tutoring Corps Affordable?

Tutoring is certainly in the news these days. The December 30 Washington Post asked its journalists to predict what the top policy issues will be for the coming year. In education, Laura Meckler fo…

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How to ensure that large-scale tutoring does not fail: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

Large-Scale Tutoring Could Fail. Here’s How to Ensure It Does Not.

I’m delighted to see that the idea of large-scale tutoring to combat Covid-19 losses has gotten so important in the policy world that it is attracting scoffers and doubters. Michael Goldstein and B…

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The Details Matter. That’s Why Proven Tutoring Programs Work Better than General Guidelines. robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

The Details Matter. That’s Why Proven Tutoring Programs Work Better than General Guidelines.

When I was in first grade, my beloved teacher, Mrs. Adelson, introduced a new activity. She called it “phonics.”  In “phonics,” we were given tiny pieces of paper with letters on them to paste…

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In Meta-Analyses, Weak Inclusion Standards Lead to Misleading Conclusions. Here’s Proof: robertslavinsblog.wordpress.…

In Meta-Analyses, Weak Inclusion Standards Lead to Misleading Conclusions. Here’s Proof.

By Robert Slavin and Amanda Neitzel, Johns Hopkins University In two recent blogs (here and here), I’ve written about Baltimore’s culinary glories: crabs and oysters. My point was just that in both…

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