South SFV Today

A decade ago, Professor Susanna Loeb and her team launched a text messaging program in San Francisco to support early literacy among preschoolers. The initiative, known as Tips by Text, provided parents with evidence-based advice to enhance their children's language and reading skills. This program has since expanded beyond its initial scope to reach families across the United States, China, the UK, Denmark, and Singapore.

Loeb's work aims to scale research-based educational solutions that improve academic achievement and engagement. "Our students deserve this work," Loeb said. "From our research, we learn so much about how to engage students and accelerate their learning."

To address educational inequities worsened by the pandemic, Loeb's team launched the National Student Support Accelerator (NSSA). NSSA researches effective tutoring practices and collaborates with district leaders to implement high-impact tutoring. "Leaders of each school and the leaders of each district are making a lot of the key education decisions," Loeb stated.

The Stanford Accelerator for Learning supports these initiatives through SCALE, which collaborates with decision-makers to apply evidence-based practices in education. SCALE also fosters partnerships between researchers and educators. "Partnerships are so important because they give us insight into what the real questions are," said Loeb.

High-impact tutoring emerged as a key intervention during the pandemic. NSSA's strategies include researching effective tutoring methods, providing tools for stakeholders, and facilitating engagement opportunities within the tutoring ecosystem.

Looking forward, SCALE is exploring generative AI's potential in education. Chris Agnew leads this effort by engaging with educators about their needs regarding AI technology. "Generative AI is still early days right now," Agnew noted.

Loeb expressed hope that SCALE can help reach a broad range of students: "We could do so much more to have their childhoods be rewarding and happy."