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<rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Regional Educational Laboritory What's New</title><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/whatsnew/</link><description>For the latest in events, developments, and updates to the Regional Educational Laboratory Program website, check back here often.</description><language>en-us</language><category>education</category><category>statistics</category><category>data access tools</category><category>libraries</category><category>schools</category><category>colleges</category><item><title>REL Northwest releases report on &amp;quot;New and experienced teachers in a school reform initiative: the example of Reading First&amp;quot;</title><description><![CDATA[This study compares the experiences and perceptions of new and experienced teachers in 235 schools in six western states (Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming) that have adopted the Reading First school reform initiative. Using previously collected data from surveys and interviews, the study considers four areas of the reform initiative for bringing all K-3 students up to grade level in reading by grade 3: instructional coaches, teacher collaboration, use of student assessment data, and support for reform. The study found three differences in new teachers' experiences with their reading coach (in amount of feedback, requested help, and belief that interactions with coaches changed their instruction practices), but not in overall perceptions of support from reading coaches. It also found that new teachers' confidence in their ability to use data for tasks such as grouping students and understanding schoolwide trends was significantly lower than that of experienced teachers. The study found no differences between the two groups in their perceptions of collaborative grade-level meetings--both agreed that the meetings were a good use of their time--or in their overall support for Reading First.]]></description><pubDate>11/9/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=182</link></item><item><title>REL Northwest releases report on &amp;quot;Indian Education Policies in Five Northwest Region States&amp;quot;</title><description><![CDATA[In this comprehensive effort to study Indian education policies, the report categorizes the policies of five Northwest Region states based on 13 key policies identified in the literature and describes the legal methods used to adopt them, such as statutes, regulations, and executive orders. The study found that six of the key policies had been adopted by all five states: adopting academic standards for teaching students about the history and culture of America&#8217;s indigenous peoples, involving Native Americans on advisory boards, promoting Native American languages through teacher certification, allowing students to learn their native language as part of their education program, and providing tuition assistance for college-bound Native American students.]]></description><pubDate>10/26/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=187</link></item><item><title>Methodologies Used by Midwest Region States for Studying Teacher Supply and Demand </title><description><![CDATA[This report describes how state education agencies in the Midwest Region monitor teacher supply, demand, and shortage; details why they monitor these data; and offers estimates of the monetary costs incurred in performing such studies.
]]></description><pubDate>9/28/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=198</link></item><item><title>NCEE Releases a REL Report on Models of Response to Intervention in the Northwest Region States</title><description><![CDATA[This report provides information on the response to intervention (RTI) models supported by state education agencies in the Northwest Region and identifies states' RTI-related resources, policies, and activities. The information will help the Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center focus its technical assistance for RTI and identify areas for cross-state collaboration, while enabling states to learn from each other's experience.]]></description><pubDate>9/8/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=180</link></item><item><title>Analysis of the Developmental Functioning of Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education Populations in Oregon</title><description><![CDATA[This study reports on the developmental functioning levels of children from birth through age 2 in early intervention services and children ages 3&mdash;5 in early childhood special education services at the time of entry into services, using data from the Oregon Early Childhood Assessment System.]]></description><pubDate>8/24/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=183</link></item><item><title>The Status of State-level Response to Intervention Policies and Procedures in the West Region States and Five Other States</title><description><![CDATA[Response to intervention (RTI) can be both a system for providing early interventions to struggling students and a special education diagnostic tool for evaluating and identifying students with specific learning disabilities. Contributing to the very limited literature on state-level approaches, this report describes how nine states define and support RTI at the state level. ]]></description><pubDate>8/3/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=175</link></item><item><title>Reducing Stereotype Threat in Classrooms: A Review of Social-Psychological Intervention Studies on Improving the Achievement of Black Students</title><description><![CDATA[Stereotype threat arises from a fear among members of a group of reinforcing negative stereotypes concerning the intellectual ability of the group. The report identifies three randomized controlled trial studies that use classroom-based strategies to reduce stereotype threat and improve the academic performance of Black students, narrowing their achievement gap with White students.]]></description><pubDate>7/27/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=135</link></item><item><title>Snapshots of Indiana's Full-Day Kindergarten Programs Before and After the State's Funding Increase for the Program </title><description><![CDATA[The Indiana General Assembly increased the state grant funds for full-day kindergarten from $8.5 million for 2006/07 to $33.5 million for 2007/08. Following the increase in funding, the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana State Board of Education requested assistance from Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest to analyze Indiana administrative data so that the agencies could report to the legislature on changes in full-day kindergarten enrollment and funding. This technical brief describes Indiana&#8217;s full-day kindergarten enrollment patterns before and after the legislation (in 2006/07 and 2007/08) both in the state at large and in individual school corporations (equivalent to school districts) for all kindergarten students and disaggregated by student and school characteristics.]]></description><pubDate>7/20/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=197</link></item><item><title>A Multistate Review of Professional Teaching Standards</title><description><![CDATA[This review of teaching standards in six states&mdash;California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas&mdash;focuses on the structure, target audience, and selected content of the standards to inform California's revision of its teaching standards. The report was developed at the request of key education agencies in California.]]></description><pubDate>7/6/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=178</link></item><item><title>Achievement Gap Patterns of Grade 8 American Indian and Alaska Native Students in Reading and Mathematics</title><description><![CDATA[Focusing on student proficiency in reading and math from 2003/04 to 2006/07, this report compares gaps in performance on state achievement tests between grade 8 American Indian and Alaska Native students and all other grade 8 students in 26 states serving large populations of American Indian and Alaska Native students. ]]></description><pubDate>7/6/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=185</link></item><item><title>Examining Independent Study High Schools in California</title><description><![CDATA[This examination of California's independent study high schools&mdash;alternative schools in which 75 percent or more of students in grades 9&ndash;12 are enrolled in full-time independent study&mdash;describes enrollment trends since 2001/02 and the number and characteristics of schools and students as well as teacher qualifications in 2006/07.]]></description><pubDate>6/15/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=173</link></item><item><title>Analyzing Performance by Hispanic High School Students on the Massachusetts State Assessment </title><description><![CDATA[The report examines Hispanic high school students' performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests in English language arts and mathematics over 2002/03&ndash;2005/06. It compares the scores of grade 10 Hispanic and non-Hispanic students and uses multilevel regressions to examine associations between the Hispanic students' scores and student- and school-level characteristics. ]]></description><pubDate>6/1/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=114</link></item><item><title>How State Education Agencies in the Northeast and Islands Region Support Data-Driven Decisionmaking in Districts and Schools</title><description><![CDATA[The report examines the initiatives of state education agencies in the Northeast and Islands Region to support data-driven decision making in districts and schools and describes the service providers hired to support this work. The report identifies four components of data-driven decision making initiatives and finds that not all initiatives include all four.]]></description><pubDate>5/18/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=112</link></item><item><title>Parent Involvement Strategies in Urban Middle and High Schools in the Northeast and Island Region </title><description><![CDATA[This report summarizes efforts to develop and pilot test a protocol for collecting information about parent involvement policies, practices, and programs being implemented at the middle and high school levels. The protocol can be used to expand documentation of strategies selected, adapted, and sustained in future years.]]></description><pubDate>4/27/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=117</link></item><item><title>Report: West Virginia's Progress Toward Universal Prekindergarten</title><description><![CDATA[REL Appalachia has released a new report: "West Virginia's Progress Toward Universal Prekindergarten." The report examines rates of participation in West Virginia's universal, voluntary prekindergarten program from 2002/03 to 2006/07. It describes the share of seats provided by collaborative partners and public school systems and analyzes participation rates by demographic and socioeconomic subgroup and county characteristics.]]></description><pubDate>4/13/2009</pubDate><link>http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=98</link></item></channel></rss>
