J-PAL North America joins the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute to improve math outcomes for middle school students
In October 2023 the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) North America joined the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) whose mission is to double the rate of middle school mathematics learning within five years, with a particular focus on students from low-income backgrounds and on developing learning products that harness the potential of AI and machine learning. J-PAL North America is serving as the evaluation hub to prepare seven teams engaged in LEVI—Carnegie Learning, Carnegie Mellon University, Eedi, Khan Academy, Rising Academies, the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Florida—to launch randomised evaluations of their learning products.
Covid-19 has severely impacted learning across the United States. School closures and other disruptions have led to significant test score declines, particularly among students from low-income households, those in schools with high poverty rates, and Black and Latino/a students.
Math scores reflect some of the largest test score declines—this is of particular concern to policymakers as middle school math scores are a strong indicator of future academic success. Nationally, only 26 percent of all eighth-grade students scored proficient on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math assessment in 2022. The same year, thirteen percent of eighth-grade students who qualified for free or reduced price lunch scored proficient compared to 38 percent of students who didn’t qualify. This growing challenge requires evidence-based solutions that don’t place further burdens on an already strained education system.
The mission of the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI) is to double the rate of middle school math learning within five years with a focus on students from low-income backgrounds. To achieve this mission, teams across the region are developing learning products that harness the potential of AI and machine learning. LEVI is an ongoing, multiyear collaboration across institutions and disciplines and we are thrilled to have joined this effort in October 2023. J-PAL North America is serving as the Evaluation Hub to prepare seven teams to launch randomized evaluations of their learning products.