Evidence

The research behind the model.

The case is not that one study proves Moreana works. It is that separate lines of research keep pointing at the same mix: close academic help, a small community, strong adult relationships, real-world work, getting out of the building, physical challenge, and belonging.

If you are looking for one study that proves this academy, there isn’t one. What exists is better: the research keeps endorsing the same ingredients — intensive coaching, real relationships, a small community, practical work, and belonging — which is the program we already run, with the same boys and the same coaches.

Featured

Three studies worth starting with

Small-group academic coaching · Very strong

The Impressive Effects of Tutoring on PreK–12 Learning

Nickow, Oreopoulos & Quan · 2020

Researchers looked at 96 careful studies of tutoring. “Tutoring” here means one adult with one student, or with a small group — much closer to a Moreana coach than to a conventional classroom. Students learned substantially more. Programs led by trained adults during the school day helped the most.

This is the academic engine of Moreana: see the gap, help immediately, teach it again. Not merely “small.” Close coaching, all day.

Read the study

Mentorship · Very strong

The Effects of Youth Mentoring Programs

Raposa, Rhodes, Stams et al. · 2019

This review pulled together 70 mentoring programs and more than 25,000 young people, most around age 12. Mentoring helped — in school, in behavior, and in how young people were doing. Programs with more boys, and more men as mentors, tended to help even more.

A known adult, not a rotating staff. That is a Moreana commitment, and the research is on our side.

Read the study

Academics + real-world work · Exceptional

Career Academies: Long-Term Impacts on Work and Education

Kemple · MDRC · 2008

Students were placed by lottery into programs that mixed classroom learning with job skills, a small community, and real work. Eight years after high school, they earned about 11% more per year. Young men earned about 17% more — nearly $30,000 extra over eight years (in 2006 dollars). They were no less likely to go to college.

Hands, tools, and careers do not mean lowering the academic bar. College, a trade, and work can be prepared at the same time. The pay gains were largest for young men.

Read the study

What this means for Moreana

6:1 coaching
When an adult teaches one student or a handful of students — not a crowded classroom — kids learn substantially more. That is one of the most consistent findings in education research.
Small, personal community
In New York, students who got into small high schools built around known teachers and personalized teaching were far more likely to graduate — about ten extra graduates out of every hundred. Years later they were also more likely to start college and finish a degree.
Coaches who know the boy
Having a mentor helps. Having a mentor who actually knows him helps about twice as much. Kindergarten relationships with a teacher predicted grades and behavior through eighth grade — especially for boys.
Trades and career exploration
Serious trade and career programs in Massachusetts helped more students finish high school on time — on the order of seven to ten extra graduates per hundred.
College and career together
Programs that mixed classroom work with real jobs produced higher pay years later — especially for young men, about 17% more — without making college less likely.
Projects and making
Learning by making and finishing real projects helps students think harder and do better in school.
Friday Excursions
Taking students out of the building, on purpose, has been shown to sharpen thinking. Repeated trips were also followed by better attendance, behavior, and grades — especially as students entered middle school.
Jiu-Jitsu and movement
Martial arts training is linked to better attention, self-control, and wellbeing. Moving the body during the school day, week after week, also helps thinking and schoolwork.
Brotherhood
When students feel they belong, they tend to work harder, do better, and miss fewer days. Brotherhood is not a side activity. It is part of how learning happens.
Outdoor challenge
Outdoor and adventure programs have been shown to build confidence, leadership, and the sense that a boy can affect his own life — including after the trip is over.

Academics

A small group is not the same as a small class.

A famous Tennessee study found that smaller classes helped students learn. We keep groups small so a coach can actually teach the boy in front of him — see the gap, step in, and stay with it.

The whole environment

A small school as a whole, not a headcount.

New York City opened small high schools built around knowing teachers, serious academics, real-world work, and close relationships. When more students wanted in than there were seats, a lottery decided who got a place — so researchers could make a fair comparison. They followed more than 21,000 students. About ten extra students out of every hundred finished high school. Years later, more of them started college, and more finished a degree. Personalized learning and respect between teachers and students were part of why it worked.

Read the New York small-schools research

Relationships

Knowing a boy’s name is not the same as knowing the boy.

Hamre and Pianta followed 179 children from kindergarten through eighth grade. How the kindergarten teacher described that relationship predicted grades and behavior years later. Conflict and clinginess in that first year showed up through eighth grade — especially for boys, and especially for children who already had a hard time with behavior. A later review of 30 mentoring studies found that simply having a mentor helps, and that the quality of the relationship helps about twice as much. Another review, covering about 249,000 students, found that a good teacher-student relationship predicts both effort and grades, more strongly in middle and high school than in the early grades.

Read the Hamre & Pianta study

Work

Working with your hands is not the opposite of serious school.

In Massachusetts, students who got into strong trade and technical programs were more likely to finish high school on time — about seven to ten extra graduates per hundred, with signs of even more help for lower-income students. Put that next to the Career Academies findings and the point is simple: trades, tools, and careers are not a consolation prize. They can sit beside college preparation.

Read the Massachusetts trades study

Fridays

Leaving campus is not a day off.

Researchers sent thousands of students on a museum trip, or not, by chance. The students who went later thought more clearly about a work of art they had never seen — especially students from harder backgrounds. Another study sent students on several arts trips over a school year. Those students had fewer discipline problems, better attendance, and higher test scores and grades, especially as they entered middle school.

Read the field-trip study

The mat

The mat is part of the academic case.

Reviews of martial-arts training find better wellbeing, attention, and self-control. Moving the body during the school day, week after week, also helps thinking and schoolwork. We train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu twice a week because the work is hard, physical, and coachable.

Read the martial-arts research

Brotherhood

Belonging is part of how learning happens.

A review of 82 studies and more than 200,000 secondary students found that when young people feel they belong at school, they tend to do better, try harder, and miss fewer days. A predictable place where boys know one another and their coaches is part of how learning happens.

Read the belonging research

Challenge

Challenge leaves a mark.

A large review of outdoor and adventure programs found gains in confidence, leadership, and the sense that a young person can affect his own life — including after the trip ended.

Read the adventure-education research

The whole program

The evidence is in the mix.

Coaching, known adults, a small community, real work, movement, challenge, and belonging — that is the program, and that is what the studies on this page keep finding.

These studies measured the same kinds of practices Moreana runs. Each link goes to the original paper or the research group that did the work.

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