# Boston Charter Research Collaborative ![What paper cover](/sites/g/files/omnuum9881/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/cepr/files/screen_shot_2019-07-29_at_9.35.01_am.png?itok=-B0p2SOs) **Project Status:** [Past](/view-by-project-status/past-projects "Past Projects") **Focus Area:** [School Improvement & Redesign](/school-improvement-and-redesign) **Location:** Boston, MA **Timeline:** 2014–19 **Principal Investigator:** [Martin West](/people/martin-west) **Featured Publication:** [Centering Educators' Expertise: Learning About Innovative Approaches to Social-Emotional Learning from School Partners in the Boston Charter Research Collaborative](/file_url/1841) *In this paper, the Boston Charter Research Collaborative shares recommendations for other researchers and organizational partners interested in facilitating educator-focused convenings with the goal of learning more about educators’ on-the-ground work.* The multi-year partnership between six Boston-area charter schools or charter management organizations (CMOs), CEPR, MIT, and TransformEd, focuses on research and practice to support students’ cognitive and social-emotional development. The project, which began during the 2014-2015 school year, to identify and test promising measures of students’ cognitive skills (such as processing speed, working memory, and fluid reasoning) and social-emotional competencies. Collaborative members have also worked together to test the effectiveness of school-based interventions that aim to improve students’ cognitive and social-emotional outcomes. As we do our work, we draw from research, best practice, and the input of diverse stakeholders; then we apply and share what we’re learning around three key questions: 1\. How can the practices, systems, structures, and environment of a school foster students’ social-emotional development? 2\. How can researchers and practitioners learn from one another in order to accelerate improvements in student outcomes? 3\. What are the most effective ways to prompt a paradigm shift towards schools developing the whole child? **Publications** [Centering Educators' Expertise: Learning About Innovative Approaches to Social-Emotional Learning from School Partners in the Boston Charter Research Collaborative](https://www.transformingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/July-2019-Centering-Educators-Expertise_vF.pdf) [Mindfulness in the Classroom: Learning from a School-based Mindfulness Intervention through the Boston Charter Research Collaborative \[Practitioner Brief\]](https://www.transformingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-BCRC-Mindfulness-Brief.pdf) [Insights from the Field: Facilitating Dialogue and Learning within a Research-Practice Partnership on Social-Emotional Learning \[Working Paper\]](https://www.transformingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TE-White-Paper-June-2018-FINAL.pdf) [Patterns in Student Self-Report and Teacher Report Measures of Social-Emotional Mindsets, Skills, and Habits \[Working Paper\]](https://www.transformingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/TE-BCRCWorkingPaperFINAL.pdf) [Launching a Multi-Year Research-Practice Collaborative: Lessons Learned from Year One \[Working Paper\]](https://www.transformingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/151223_LaunchingaResearchPracticeCollaborative_Release2-1.pdf) ## News [### California schools turn to mindfulness to help students cope with stress ](/news/california-schools-turn-mindfulness-help-students-cope-stress) July 20, 2020 Breathing exercises can help students cope with stress and improve their ability to learn, studies say. As students face cascading uncertainties about school, the pandemic, racial unrest and their futures, some school districts are turning to a simple... [### Bringing Mindfulness into the Classroom ](/news/bringing-mindfulness-classroom) December 02, 2019 Findings from the Boston Charter Research Collaborative, a partnership between CEPR, MIT, and Transforming Education, are cited in this MultiBrief article on the impact of using mindfulness in classrooms. Earlier this year, the Harvard Graduate School of... [### Making Time for Mindfulness ](/news/making-time-mindfulness) January 23, 2019 Findings from the Boston Charter Research Collaborative about the impact of mindfulness in the classroom are featured in the following HGSE Usable Knowledge blog post. Not knowing the answer to a question, when you’re called on in front of the entire... ## You may also like - [Student Achievement in Massachusetts' Charter Schools](/publications/student-achievement-massachusetts-charter-schools) - [Social-Emotional Measures for California Office to Reform Education](/social-emotional-measures-california-office-reform-education) See also:- [ School Improvement & Redesign ](/focus-areas/school-improvement-and-redesign) - [ Project ](/page-type/project) - [ Past ](/project-status/past)