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Missouri Equity Research Partnership

About the Partnership

The Missouri Equity Research Partnership (MO Equity RP) comprises a group of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who share the common goal of examining the implementation and outcomes of initiatives stemming from the Missouri Equity Plan. The plan focuses on the supply, distribution, and development of effective educators, which in turn result in improvements in student outcomes across the state. To meet the goal, the MO Equity RP advances work within two focus areas of the partnership: Access to Quality Teachers; and Leadership Development. Partnership members share project resources and challenges in order to further practices and policies in Missouri.

Focus Areas

Access to Quality Teachers Icon

Access to Quality Teachers: focuses on improving student access to excellent educators.

Leadership Development Icon

Leadership Development: focuses on empowering education leaders to support the success of their students.


Summary of Related Projects

Tools

 Infographic: Grow Your Own: Fostering a Diverse Teacher Workforce in Missouri
This infographic describes one of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s strategies to identify, recruit, and develop a diverse and high-quality teacher workforce through Grow Your Own programs.

Research Reports

An Approach to Using Teacher and Student Data to Understand and Predict Teacher Shortages
Closed Project
REL Central worked with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) to develop the Teacher Predictor Model (TPM), a model that can be used to predict teacher shortages. The TPM uses current and historical teacher and student data to make predictions about future student enrollment trends and the teacher workforce demands. This applied research methods report will document the collaborative efforts of REL Central and MO DESE partners to develop and implement the TPM, detailing an approach that other stakeholders may adopt or adapt to understand and predict teacher shortages. The report will describe the decisions that potential users need to make when adopting or adapting the TPM and demonstrate how the model makes predictions, using the model that MO DESE partners developed with support from REL Central as an example. The report will also describe MO DESE partners’ decisions in selecting a final approach.
Report: An Approach to Using Student and Teacher Data to Understand and Predict Teacher Shortages

Technical Support

Missouri Equity Labs
Closed Project
To ensure that students have equitable access to excellent educators, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) is implementing equity labs that bring together district teams to explore data related to inequities, identify potential causes of those inequities, and develop strategies and district-level plans to address the inequities. REL Central is guiding partners in evaluating the equity labs to gauge the extent to which intended outcomes are met, identify areas for improvement, and inform future plans for equity lab implementation with additional schools.

Missouri Teacher Predictor Model Review
Closed Project
In an effort to address education inequities, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) staff has created a Teacher Predictor Model (TPM) to highlight patterns of teacher shortages across the state, including retirement rates, teacher education pipelines, and vacancy trends in content and certification areas. REL Central is partnering with MO DESE partners in reviewing, refining, and pilot-testing the TPM in order to determine the most relevant and rigorous approach to describing the current and historical teacher labor market and predicting shortage areas. The project will build the partners’ capacity to identify teacher shortage trends and pipeline issues.

Understanding Interdistrict Transfer in Missouri
Closed Project
This project addresses the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) need to develop a process to examine a student transfer program. Under current Missouri state law, students have the option to transfer out of a school district if it becomes unaccredited, with the unaccredited district holding responsibility for tuition and transportation. REL Central is partnering with MO DESE to develop a plan to better understand student transfer activity in two unaccredited Missouri districts from the 2014/15 through 2016/17 school years. We are supporting MO DESE partners in identifying research questions and developing processes for cleaning and analyzing data. The project will increase MO DESE staff capacity to clean, code, and analyze data, to interpret findings, and to create summary reports in order to inform program and policy improvement.


Technical Support

Missouri Leadership Development Research Support
Closed Project
A primary Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MO DESE) strategy for ensuring equitable access to excellent educators is the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS), which is designed to improve principal leadership across the state. MO DESE seeks to develop plans for monitoring the implementation and outcomes of the MLDS in order to inform continuous improvement and identify successes. REL Central provides assistance with refining and prioritizing research questions, developing procedures for data collection and analysis, and reviewing resources to address the questions. The project will build MO DESE’s capacity to conduct ongoing evaluations of the MLDS.