Ideas, Research & Emerging Knowledge

Our research is meant to be shared.

The SchoolWorks Lab publishes papers, reports, essays, research briefs, and working documents that examine how learning develops, how educational evidence can make that development visible, and how educators can use evidence to improve teaching and learning.

Our publications reflect work at different stages of development — from foundational ideas and theoretical papers to pilot reports and research findings. We publish not only what we believe, but what we are learning.

Featured Publications

Our Current Thinking

The Pathfinder Blueprint

Reimagining Learning, Assessment, and Human Intelligence

A comprehensive exploration of the ideas behind Pathfinder and the case for moving from periodic measurement toward a richer, longitudinal understanding of student learning.

Living Intelligence

Rethinking Intelligence as a Developing Human Capacity

An exploration of intelligence not as a fixed quantity or single score, but as a dynamic human capacity that develops through experience, interaction, reflection, and changes in understanding

VIA

A Framework for Understanding Developing Intelligence

An introduction to VIA and its role in examining learning and intelligence as multidimensional, developmental processes.

Toward A Science of Educational Evidence

Understanding Learning Through Evidence, Inference, and Professional Judgment

An exploration of how multiple sources of longitudinal educational evidence might support trustworthy inferences about developing student understanding.

Research From the Field

Pilot Reports & Findings

Research in progress. Findings will be published as evidence becomes available

St. James Parish Primary School Pilot Research Report

Forthcoming

Seabrook Middle School Pilot Research Report

Forthcoming

Winnacunnet High School Pilot Research Report

Forthcoming

India Research Partnership Pilot Research Report

Forthcoming

Research Briefs

Making the Research Accessible

Not every important research question requires a lengthy academic paper. SchoolWorks Research Briefs translate emerging research and scholarship into concise resources for educators, researchers, school leaders, policymakers, and partners. Topics will include:

Recognizing Learning Patterns

What might changes in student thinking look like across time?

Coming Soon

Teacher Professional Judgment

How do educators make trustworthy inferences from multiple forms of evidence?

Coming Soon

Student Learning Portfolios

What happens when students participate in documenting their own development?

Coming Soon

Teacher Workload

Can better evidence systems reduce rather than increase the burden on educators?

Coming Soon

AI and Human Judgment

Where can artificial intelligence assist educators — and where should human judgment remain decisive?

Coming Soon

Interoperability

Can schools make better use of the evidence already distributed across their existing systems?

Coming Soon

Essays & Perspectives

Ideas That Invite Conversation

Some SchoolWorks publications are intentionally exploratory.

These essays allow us to examine larger questions surrounding learning, intelligence, assessment, technology, and the changing role of educators.

They provide a place to ask questions before research has necessarily provided definitive answers.

Because important research often begins with an idea worth questioning.

Our Publication Standard

“Ideas should be identified as ideas. Evidence should be identified as evidence. Findings should be earned.”

We believe readers should always be able to tell what kind of knowledge they are reading. For that reason, SchoolWorks publications are clearly identified as:

Foundational
The ideas and propositions underlying our work.

Conceptual
Frameworks and models we are developing.

Working Paper
Research and thinking still being refined.

Research Brief
Concise synthesis of evidence or scholarship.

Pilot Report
Documentation and analysis from a research site.

Research Finding
A conclusion supported by systematic analysis of evidence.

Essay / Perspective
Interpretation, argument, or emerging thinking intended to invite discussion.

An Open Research Record

The SchoolWorks Lab is engaged in work that is still developing. That means some of our most important publications will change as we learn. New evidence may strengthen an idea. It may complicate it. It may require us to revise it. And occasionally, it may require us to abandon it. That is how knowledge advances.

Where appropriate, we will preserve versions and publication dates so readers can see how our thinking has developed alongside the research.

Go Deeper

Publications present the work of SchoolWorks. Our Research Library provides the scholarship behind it. There, readers can explore the researchers, theories, studies, evidence, and sources informing our investigation of learning.