Rennie Testifies on "An Act fulfilling the promise of education reform"

On November 12, 2025, Rennie Center Director of Policy Alexis Lian testified to the Massachusetts Legislature's Joint Committee on Education regarding bills H.734 and S.343, An Act fulfilling the promise of education reform. Her remarks are below.

"Good morning, Chairs and members of the Committee. My name is Alexis Lian, and I’m here on behalf of the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing evidence-based improvement in Massachusetts public education.

This bill offers a moment to pause and think collectively about how we build an education system designed for continuous learning and improvement—one that looks beyond any single reform toward a coordinated, future-oriented vision.

As we engage in that conversation, it’s essential to strengthen the state’s research and development infrastructure within public education, so that any innovation we pursue—including many discussed today—is grounded in data, tested in classrooms, refined based on what works, and scaled only when proven effective.

In other sectors, R&D is part of daily operations—hospitals, for instance, test new practices alongside patient care. Education deserves the same rigor.

Our Rennie R&D Labs initiative is one effort to build that capacity. Over the past three years, we’ve developed a structured process to help schools design, test, and scale improvement strategies: in year one, we co-create a plan and pilot ideas; in year two, we test and refine them; and in year three, we scale what works. This approach not only addresses immediate challenges but fosters sustainable, long-term improvement.

It creates the infrastructure districts need to harness R&D methods as an engine for continuous learning—enabling them to investigate, understand, and overcome the many challenges schools face, and to apply this disciplined approach to any problem they encounter.

For example, through our partnership with the Springfield Empowerment Zone, we’ve helped develop internship models now expanding with Harvard Med Science, offering students new pathways into healthcare careers—regardless of their zip code.

The vision behind this bill aligns closely with that approach: creating a system that learns from itself, values evidence over impulse, and builds reform not around silver bullets, but around practices research shows help students thrive.

We encourage state efforts that lay the groundwork for scaling isolated R&D initiatives into a coordinated, statewide system of continuous improvement. Thank you."

**Please note that the Rennie Center does not advocate for this or any other specific bill. Instead, this testimony is intended to share research and best practices to support legislators in their decision-making process.**