Regional Needs  |  Projects

Appalachia: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, & West Virginia

REL Appalachia conducts an ongoing assessment of educational needs across the region through discussions and data collection across a broad range of stakeholders. The following summarizes the challenges facing the region and is an important element for guiding the laboratory's initial fast response research and technical assistance plans.

• Improving the quality of teachers and teaching strategies-There is the need in the REL Appalachia region to identify and retain highly qualified teachers for all classrooms. All four states are engaged in implementing new policies and programs and designing policy systems to ensure that every student has access to a qualified teacher and that all teachers receive adequate and relevant professional development support. State initiatives include the implementation of new and rigorous standards and assurance that teachers are prepared to teach to the respective state student achievement standards for mathematics, reading and science.
• Alignment of curriculum, testing and instruction-All states in the region are dealing with the challenge to align curriculum standards, classroom instructional lessons and tests (i.e., alignment of what should be taught, what is being taught and what students are learning). This is a response to the NCLB requirement that successful implementation of systemic school reform initiatives requires the states to redefine their curriculum standards for reading, math and science, and to assess the alignment between their revised curriculum standards and state assessment systems. Thus, each state is required to assess curriculum alignment as part of its curriculum reform initiatives under NCLB.
• Educational services that foster students' academic success-State officials in this region indicate that NCLB's goal of having all students reaching the academic proficiency standards set by the state represents a formidable challenge. State leaders recognize the difficulty of having to reach academic proficiency standards for all students and the consequences of having large numbers of schools failing to meet the standards. A related issue pertains to the extent to which state tests of reading, math and science achievement evaluate student achievement similarly to tests developed for assessing children nationally. Therefore, there is interest in studies that examine the alignment between state tests and the tests that were developed for use at the national level.
• Allocation and impact of state resources and support services-Each SEA in REL Appalachia has a need to develop and analyze data relating to choosing and assessing statewide education policies and school intervention strategies. In particular, state-elected and program officials recognize the need to develop better methods for tracking school progress and student achievement. States want to improve the impact of federal and state funds that are specifically authorized to supplement regular school and classroom-based educational services. This need involves the identification of programs that actually contribute to academic improvement, are cost effective and best leverage existing resources.