2025

This study examined the quality of two special education teacher preparation pathways in Utah: the Alternate Pathway to Professional Educator License – Special Education (APPEL-SpEd) and traditional university programs. Surveys of 68 newly licensed teachers (20 from APPEL-SpEd, 48 from traditional programs) and their supervisors found virtually no differences between pathways in terms of preparation quality, mentoring experiences, or supervisor assessments of teaching effectiveness. The single significant difference was that APPEL-SpEd teachers reported significantly stronger agreement that “being a teacher is an important part of my identity.” These findings align with previous research showing minimal differences between alternative and traditional teacher preparation routes.

This report provides findings from the Utah Education Policy Center’s 2024-2025 evaluation of STEM Action Center’s AmeriCorps Math Mentors Program for the 2024-2025 school year. The report summarizes results related to program implementation, mentors’ perceptions of training and support, and changes in student attitudes and performance.

This report shares findings from the Utah Education Policy Center’s 2024–2025 evaluation of Volunteer for Good, a four-year pilot program (2024–2028) developed by the Utah Commission on Service and Volunteerism (UServeUtah). The program promotes volunteerism and seeks to strengthen high school students’ well-being, civic engagement, and academic and social success. Operating in five Local Education Agencies (Garfield, Granite, Nebo, and Sevier School Districts, and Mountain Heights Academy), the Year 1 evaluation summarizes key implementation metrics, highlights facilitators and barriers to implementation, and provides preliminary insights into how participation relates to students’ perceptions of social connectedness and emotional well-being.

This report presents findings from an independent evaluation of Beast Academy Online, a digital mathematics learning platform, conducted by the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) in partnership with Art of Problem Solving. The findings indicate that regular use of Beast Academy Online supports mathematics achievement for high-ability elementary students, a group often overlooked in remediation-focused recovery efforts. Based on its correlational design with statistical controls for selection bias, this study provides Promising Evidence under ESSA Tier 3.

The Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC), in a research practice partnership with the Utah State Board of Education (USBE), conducted a survey study to examine why preservice teachers in Utah choose careers in special vs. general education, how they perceive the special education teaching profession, and what factors influence these perceptions.