Office of Research & Promising Practices

Mission

The mission of the Office of Research and Promising Practices (ORPP) is to serve public school units (PSUs) by providing the research and support needed to make evidence-based decisions for improving educational outcomes in North Carolina.

What We Do

ORPP leads a broad portfolio of work designed to inform state-level decision-making, support district innovation, and strengthen educational equity. Our efforts are grounded in four major goals:

1. Coordinate and Oversee Research Projects Across NCDPI and Partner Agencies

ORPP manages a wide range of research initiatives in collaboration with internal program offices, external researchers, and partners across the PreK–12 and higher education systems.

Key Projects:

• Skills for the Future: Administers a U.S. Department of Education CGSA grant to pilot a Portrait of a Graduate-aligned durable skills suite in three districts, including professional learning, rubrics, assessments, and stakeholder engagement through Networked Improvement Communities (NICs).

• Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS): Coordinates development of data infrastructure to track students’ postsecondary transitions and support long-term outcomes research using National Student Clearinghouse data.

• Postsecondary Outcome Dashboard: Develops a cross-sector, user-centered dashboard to inform statewide policy and investment in postsecondary readiness and transitions.

2. Evaluate the Effectiveness of Academic Programs and Policies

ORPP supports the design, implementation, and reporting of rigorous evaluations of North Carolina’s academic programs and legislative mandates.

Featured Studies:

• Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR): Collaborates on the evaluation of the ATR program and its impact on teacher retention and student outcomes, and supports research on the selection and evaluation of Advanced Teachers.

• Teacher Working Conditions: Conducts analyses for this biennial survey to determine strengths and improvement opportunities in schools and districts.

• Phones in Focus: Partners on a nonpartisan research initiative led by Angela Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania) to provide evidence-based recommendations for school phone policies.

• Annual Reports: Helps prepares statutorily required reports including the Teacher Bonus Program, Discipline & Dropout, and the State of the Teaching Profession reports.

3. Identify and Scale Promising Practices in Schools and Districts

ORPP collaborates with PSUs, internal NCDPI teams, and national partners to uncover, evaluate, and scale locally effective strategies to address persistent challenges.

Flagship Initiatives:

• Chronic Absenteeism: Leads research and fieldwork identifying root causes, successful interventions, and policy recommendations for improving student attendance.

• Positive Deviance (PD): Pilots a structured, multi-year approach to identifying and studying schools that outperform their peers under similar conditions, aiming to scale what works across the state.

• School Typologies: Adapts Carolina Demography’s district-level typologies to the school level to identify statistical outliers and support targeted improvement strategies.

4. Communicate Research and Share Evidence-Based Best Practices

ORPP works to bridge research and practice by synthesizing findings and sharing them with decision-makers, practitioners, and the public.

Ongoing Activities:

• Annual Compendium of Research: Publishes a curated collection of internal and external research studies to inform PSU and agency planning.

• Promising Practices Showcase: Maintains the Promising Practices Clearinghouse and supports statewide events to elevate school and district-led innovations backed by local evidence.

• Statewide and Interstate Networks Conference: Convenes partners to share scalable models, facilitate site visits, and expand access to effective practices.

Who We Are

Led by the Senior Director and housed within the Office of Accountability and Testing, the ORPP team includes researchers, policy analysts, project coordinators, and specialists with expertise in mixed-methods research, education data, and school improvement.

Stay Connected

To learn more, collaborate, or access our latest reports and resources:

• Contact: Shaun Kellogg