Elevating Classroom Learning Conditions

The authors present the results of an efficacy analysis of Elevate, a tool created by the Project for Education Research That Scales, that teachers can use to improve the learning conditions in their classrooms. Teachers use Elevate to gather insights from students in their classroom, reflect on the provided feedback, select instructional practices to support desired classroom experiences, and then assess changes in student perceptions to inform future practices. This analysis uncovered whether and to what extent the use of Elevate, under the 2023 Direct Support Implementation Model, shaped experiences and outcomes for students and teachers. The authors investigated the relationship of Elevate with students' course grades, academic dispositions, and perceptions of school climate and with teachers' well-being, perceptions of school climate, and self-reported classroom learning conditions. The authors also examined how these relationships vary by student characteristics and subject.

Although the authors found no evidence that use of Elevate was associated with the main student and teacher outcomes of interest, they found evidence of promise that teachers' use of Elevate might have positively influenced student ratings of teachers' valuing of student voice and teacher caring in their classes. Given that Elevate's mechanism for improving learning conditions is to help teachers gather student feedback and perspectives and use that feedback to shape their classroom practices, these promising results align with the tool's approach.