Wallace Statement in Response to Report from Parents Defending Education

​​​​​​​​Lucas Held, 
lheld@wallacefoundation.org
(646) 942-1894

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Wallace statement in response to report from Parents Defending Education

The Wallace Foundation shares with Parents Defending Education a concern for academic achievement, the well-being of all students, and the negative impact of the pandemic.

The work we support is designed to benefit students academically, both drawing on and generating evidence that we post on our website. 

Our work in social and emotional learning aims to help school districts and their partners use data and evidence in their own approaches to promoting student success, based on their own definition of equity. A 2017 review of evidence on social and emotional learning by the RAND Corporation suggests that “an emphasis on SEL can enhance, rather than detract from, schools’ core mission of promoting academic achievement and attainment.”

Further, in the area of school leadership, strong evidence links improved training and support for principals to benefits for all students in reading and math in elementary and middle school, and in math in high school, according to a 2019 RAND Corporation study.  “Our findings suggest that when districts focused attention on activities related to principal pipelines, principals, schools and students benefitted,” the study found. In reviewing other studies, the researchers noted that “we found no other comprehensive district-wide initiatives wit​h demonstrated positive effects of this magnitude on achievement.”