[EdTalks] Inside the Riley Institute: 25 Years of Evidence-Based Education in South Carolina

The most effective classroom strategies aren't based on guesswork; they are rooted in hard evidence and applied research. In this episode of Simple Civics EdTalks, Catherine Schumacher sits down with Kelly Gregory and Dr. Brooke Culclasure to explore how the Riley Institute at Furman University is revolutionizing public education in South Carolina and beyond. You will discover how data-driven insights are actively closing opportunity gaps and making teaching more effective without doubling educators' workloads. 

Kelly and Brooke break down the Institute's mission to bridge the gap between high-level educational research and everyday classroom practice. They highlight fascinating frameworks for school improvement, exploring the results of a 15-year study on public Montessori programs and the innovative "pay for success" model driving community-wide education policy. The conversation also unpacks the science of reading to show how evidence-based instructional practices can actively boost teacher self-efficacy, while revealing exactly why a rigid "one-size-fits-all" approach to data might actually backfire in the classroom. 

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Episode Resources:

• Riley Institute Center for Education Policy and Research

• Public Montessori Education Research and Reports

• Riley Institute Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI)

• InformEdsc

• Public Education Partners

Introduction to the Riley Institute at Furman University

Catherine Schumacher:

The most effective classroom practices aren't based on gut feelings, but on research and evidence. Here in Greenville, we are lucky to have a powerful center for public education research and learning right in our own backyard. 

I'm Catherine Schumacher with Public Education Partners, and on today's Simple Civics Ed Talks, we are going to introduce you to the Riley Institute at Furman University, which for the last 25 years has focused on building knowledge and supporting what works in our schools and communities to help all students succeed. 

I'm joined by Kelly Gregory, Director for Public Education Projects and Partnerships, and Dr. Brooke Culclasure, Director of Research and Strategic Learning.

Catherine Schumacher:

I'm excited to be here today with my friends, Brooke Culclasure and Kelly Gregory from the Riley Institute at Furman University. One of the reasons we wanted to do these Ed Talks podcasts was to give an opportunity to highlight some organizations and institutions that walk alongside our public schools, both locally and then more broadly across the state and across the country. 

The Riley Institute is the perfect example of that. Thank you all for making time to be here today and talk about what you do. Brooke, let's start with you. Obviously, the Riley Institute is such a critical element of the fabric of education and especially public education in South Carolina and beyond. 

Could you tell us a little bit of the origin story of the Riley Institute? What do you all do? What are some of the different programs and projects that it houses?

The History, Mission, and Values of the Institute

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

First of all, thank you for having me here. The Institute was founded over a quarter of a century ago in 1999 by Dr. Don Gordon, and it since has embodied Furman University's commitment to public purpose. It is named for former U.S. Secretary of Education and two-term governor of South Carolina, Governor Richard W. Riley. 

Catherine Schumacher:

The best.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

The best. Our mission is driven by him. We call him our chief inspiration officer, and he is. Everything that we do is underpinned by his work and his legacy. Our mission is to broaden access to public education, to expand economic opportunity to all people, and to strengthen civic participation across South Carolina and beyond. 

We primarily work in South Carolina, but our focus does spread beyond the state. To accomplish this mission, we have three centers that organize our work: The Center for Diversity Strategies, the Center for Civic Engagement, and the Center for Education Policy and Research. 

These centers collectively work on cross-sector and specialized leadership, such as our Diversity Leaders Institute, or DLI. We conduct primary and secondary research, which I'll talk about in a moment.

Catherine Schumacher:

That's when you get to nerd out.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

That is where I get to nerd out. 

Catherine Schumacher:

That is your jam. 

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

We also host community conversations on a variety of different topics of interest to our state. We also do work with Furman students as well. But to understand the Institute is to really understand its values. Those values are non-partisanship, evidence, compassion, diversity, and collaboration. 

These values reflect both the foundational principles of Furman and the character of our namesake. Secretary Riley's life and work have been marked by his belief in advancing the greater good over party or self and in fostering an informed, inclusive society. His legacy continues to guide our work.

Catherine Schumacher:

It tears me up. I love Dick Riley so much. Anyone who is listening to this podcast who has had the absolute joy and privilege of spending time with him and getting to know him knows the spirit with which he infuses the striving to make public education more accessible and effective for all students. 

You can't overstate his impact. The Riley Institute is such an incredible honor to him. Just carrying on that work is so powerful.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

It is an honor to work for an institute named for him, for sure.

Catherine Schumacher:

When he shows up, I always love that you end up driving him, Kelly. I've seen you driving him a lot. You're always saying it's the best part of your job, getting to hang out with Secretary Riley. 

Bridging Research and Classroom Practice

Kelly, you have a really cool title: Director of Public Education Projects and Partnerships. Obviously, that is very close to PEP's heart and my heart as well. You've been on the podcast before. You were the brain behind our statewide delegation trip to Estonia last year, which was amazing and continues to impact my thinking about our work every single day. 

What are some of the other areas that you focus on in your work? What is the guiding vision that drives your focus? How do you take what you learned as a classroom teacher and use that to inspire what Riley focuses on in that particular area?

Kelly Gregory:

In the Riley Institute, our public education work is always focused on advancing evidence-based practices. We do that in a few different ways. We draw on our own original research in the Riley Institute, but we also draw on research from the state and national level. We are always trying to keep our eyes trained on what has been shown to actually work for all students. 

Particularly, we are interested in the practices that support our under-resourced students and students who perhaps are often underrepresented in different ways.

Catherine Schumacher:

So closing gaps. That's really focusing on how you close gaps.

Kelly Gregory:

That's right. That's our guiding vision: what are the things that we can elevate from a practitioner perspective and a research perspective that are going to close opportunity gaps? 

From my experience as a teacher, I'm particularly interested in the practices that are going to help teachers work smarter and not harder. We all know that teaching is a very hard job. We always want to be careful that we aren't coming in and saying, "Hey, this is a really great thing that you should do, but it's also going to double your workload." 

That's not ultimately going to benefit anyone. We want to elevate things that have been proven to close opportunity gaps for students, but then also by default, ultimately make a teacher's life and job easier. That's the ultimate goal.

Catherine Schumacher:

I know one of the things is the science of reading. I remember talking to you about evolving the way we teach reading long before it became the thing everybody was talking about, which is really interesting. 

Applied Research and Strategic Learning Initiatives

Brooke, you are an educational researcher. That is your bread and butter. You have led research studies both locally and statewide, and you've done some national research. What are some examples of research projects that you've run point on that have positively impacted policy and practice here in South Carolina?

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

Hopefully they have. As a researcher, you do the work over years and years. You hope that your research is put to good use and doesn't just sit on a shelf collecting dust. I do feel like we have made a positive impact. 

We do more in the Riley Institute than just conduct research studies. We also have a strategic learning arm that focuses on elevating the capacity of organizations, schools, and districts in collecting information and using information in appropriate and useful ways. We elevate their capacity to use data in the best way for improvement purposes. 

It is an overwhelming thing when organizations or districts are out there doing good work. This is a different skill set and a different focus. Oftentimes organizations don't have the resources, time, or expertise to do that. That is an important piece of our work in trying to elevate capacity in that arena. 

Speaking to our applied research, we like to use that term because we want it to be useful. We want it to be understandable and usable to those on the ground. I'll talk about two studies in particular. One is our public Montessori education research that we have done for about 15 years. 

South Carolina has made a large investment in public Montessori. Those who were funding or interested in implementing were interested in knowing if the investment in Montessori had paid off. That began our work where we explored academic and behavioral outcomes as a result of participation in Montessori. 

The question was whether that was an investment that would pay off specifically for children in our state. We've done that study and multiple follow-up studies to be able to inform funders, boards of education, and practitioners. A lot of data we collect go right back to the classroom so those implementing have useful data to inform their practice. 

Another study I want to talk about is our Hello Family Spartanburg study. That is upstate-centric and uses a pay for success model. This is a fascinating corner of public sector innovation. It blends government, philanthropy, and private investment in a unique way to fund social programs, but only when they show and demonstrate measurable results. 

It is interesting to take a research-based intervention, put it on the ground, and get investment from a variety of different sources. We test it to see if it's making impact, and then continue to fund it if it does. Our work has been as the independent evaluator verifying results.

Catherine Schumacher:

What's interesting about that is that the Hello Family project is a community-based wraparound. It's not just what's happening in the schools. 

We all know that student outcomes and success aren't just about what happens in the classroom buildings. There are all of these different factors that go into that. I didn't realize you all were working on that project. That's very cool. 

Current Bright Spots and Success Stories

I always like to end these conversations on a high note. Kelly, let's start with you. What is really exciting to you about the work that the Riley Institute is doing right now? What's a real bright spot that you want listeners to know about?

Kelly Gregory:

There are a lot of bright spots in my job every day. I'm always encouraged and excited by the fact that so much of what we do in the Riley Institute is in alignment with what we see at the local, state, and national level. 

There is an increased interest in focusing on evidence-based practices and ensuring that what's happening from an instructional practice perspective and an instructional materials perspective in the classroom is aligned with research and evidence. 

We are focused on whether the things happening in classrooms are supported by research. We know we have pretty good evidence that they're going to work for as many kids as possible, versus just doing what we're doing because it feels good. For me personally, that's exciting and enjoyable. 

I've always loved research. My undergraduate degree is in psychology. My favorite place to hang out in college was in the rat lab. As you can imagine, I was really cool.

Catherine Schumacher:

That's weird.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

Right.

Kelly Gregory:

This is also why Brooke and I work really well together, because we can nerd out together. It's wonderful for me to spend my day saying, "Okay, there's research coming out about this topic. How does this align with what's happening on the ground?" 

I'm motivated by wanting to ensure that what's great for students is also great for teachers, because we have to have both of those things in order to be successful. So much of what is happening in the Riley Institute, our research work, and our strategic learning work is focused on how we can improve lives for multiple people from multiple perspectives. 

The science of reading you mentioned earlier is something I'm interested in because it is focused on what we know from research about how the brain learns to read and what instructional practices are most beneficial for most kids. 

Then we look at how can we actually make that happen in the day-to-day work in a way that helps teachers feel more in control of the outcomes in their classroom. There's a ton of research out there about teacher self-efficacy and collective efficacy in schools. 

The more you build that up, the more you're going to have better outcomes. When teachers can go into a reading lesson and know the practices they are implementing and materials they are using have been shown to work, and they see the improvement in the data, they come into work every day feeling in control of the outcome.

Catherine Schumacher:

You make the point that it works for most students. I think that's the challenge when you have the language of "evidence-based." The idea is that it's going to work for everybody, and it doesn't. 

You don't want folks to be so rigid about approaches and practice that they don't understand that you do need some flexibility. It's "both and." Brooke, what about you? What bright spots are you most excited about right now?

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

A lot of stuff, actually. One thing I'm really excited about currently is getting to teach in our poverty studies department at Furman. The Riley Institute has been very involved in creating internships for this minor. It's a multidisciplinary minor. 

I'm used to teaching in the Department of Political Science and teaching research classes, which I love. But it is nice to do something a little bit different and multidisciplinary, bringing a variety of different approaches in. 

There's also a ton of reading that I've been wanting to do for years. Now that I have to teach it, I have to read it.

Catherine Schumacher:

It's forcing you to do that.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

That's been really great. Personally and through the Riley Institute, that has been exciting. We're also doing work with different things that we haven't been involved in in the past. 

For example, we have recent work with SC Competes on the data project for career technical education.

Catherine Schumacher:

Very cool. One of my other obsessions is CTE.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

Exactly. It's so exciting. Our state is really putting a focus on it and doing so much good work. It has been a great partnership with various groups like SREB and SC Competes. Sorry about my acronyms.

Catherine Schumacher:

Welcome to education land.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

That's been really great work for the Riley Institute to be involved in and just personally what I've been really excited about.

Conclusion and Collaborative Impact

Catherine Schumacher:

Thank you both for joining me. I also want to give a shout out to both of you because you really do practice what you preach. Your children are public school kiddos. Brooke, you have three graduates from three different high schools and the Fine Arts Center. 

Kelly, you not only have kiddos in the public schools, but you are the PTA president this year at Summit Drive Elementary. I thank you for living out what you do. 

I want to extend gratitude to you all for everything you do and to the Riley Institute for being such a light for policy and practice in our community here in Greenville, but also statewide. Thanks for being with us today.

Kelly Gregory:

Thank you.

Dr. Brooke Culclasure:

Thank you for having us.

Catherine Schumacher:

Simple Civics Ed Talks is a joint project of Greater Good Greenville, Greenville First Steps, and Public Education Partners Greenville County.