Events

October 27, 2021 | Virtual

This webinar will introduce a new REL Pacific resource, the Getting to Know Pacific Students from the Freely Associated States infographic series, to education leaders, teachers, and other stakeholders working with FAS communities. The infographic series provides information about the Freely Associated States and educational, cultural, and linguistic considerations for students from these islands.

October 14, 2021 | Virtual

This webinar presented research that views learning from a socio-cultural perspective to explain how students' individual, social, and cultural experiences shape the ways in which each individual views the world. This webinar introduced concepts of culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy, discussed the implications of cultural responsiveness for assessment at the state, district, school, and classroom levels, and shared an example of how culturally responsive assessment practice is being used to honor and sustain the social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds of Native Hawaiian students.

October 6, 2021 | Virtual

Professional support for principals is important for fostering high-quality leadership and can produce a positive environment for school communities. However, access to consistent professional support can be difficult for school leaders located in rural or isolated communities. Through the Partnership for the Improvement of Teaching in the Federated States of Micronesia, REL Pacific staff worked collaboratively with stakeholders to organize a multi-year coaching and training project to support school leaders as they mapped out professional learning activities for their respective schools, guided by accountability requirements for accreditation found in the FSM Department of Education Accreditation Manual. This webinar shares the research base from that work and will include stakeholder input on what has made the work successful.

August 16–20, 2021 | Asynchronous | Virtual

This asynchronous virtual poster presentation focused on Guam's research-based approach to their Guam One Stop Data Village (GOSDV)'s stakeholder engagement process, which included three main strategies: leveraging early involvement of political leadership through their Legislative Exposure to GOSDV System (LEGS) plan, engaging a broad stakeholder base through Guam's Education Agenda for Research (GEAR), and ascertaining the data use culture of GOSDV stakeholders.

August 16–20, 2021 | Asynchronous | Virtual

The Palau Partnership for the Improvement of Teaching, a collaborative effort of Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Pacific and educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders in Palau, is focused on designing better research-based system supports for teacher preparation, induction, retention, and instruction. As part of this work, REL Pacific staff and Palau practitioners are co-developing theories of action and metrics on implementation and outcomes to (re)define professional learning. This asynchronous virtual poster session described the ways in which the partnership has designed and adapted strategies for improvement across a range of schools in Palau.

State and local education leaders rely on systems of assessment to provide valid and timely information to monitor student outcomes and address students' learning needs. In this second webinar of the two-part series, REL Pacific will present research on social and emotional learning and indicators of school quality to describe how holistic systems of assessment can extend beyond academic outcomes to ensure that students have equitable opportunities to learn and support whole-child development.

During this second webinar in a two-part series, participants learned about research-based practices related to data use, assessment, and accountability system development to support English learner students. Participants also had an opportunity to engage in small-group discussions to reflect on the data collected in their own assessment and accountability systems, identify gaps and needs in their data, discuss the limits of their data, and consider next steps for their systems.

During this first webinar in a two-part series, participants will learn key elements in data-driven decision making and the appropriate use of data in the accountability cycle.

State and local education leaders rely on systems of assessment to provide valid and timely information to monitor student outcomes and address students' learning needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gaps in many state and local systems of assessment, which fail to support equitable and culturally responsive learning opportunities and conditions for all students. This webinar aims to support REL Pacific stakeholders in developing and using holistic systems of assessment to promote more equitable learning and support student success.

Research has shown that exposure to social and emotional learning (SEL) programming can have a positive impact on student outcomes, and many schools and school systems in the United States and abroad have begun to implement SEL programs and practices. The goal of this presentation was to increase participants' understanding of key strategies for schoolwide SEL implementation and to provide examples of how schools have aligned such strategies to meet their students' needs. The session began by outlining the keys to effective schoolwide SEL implementation, then outlined key considerations for selecting an assessment of students' SECs, including aligning the assessment with school- or district-wide practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a sudden shift to virtual learning, which has implications for how student data are collected, managed, and reported. The goal of this webinar was to support REL Pacific stakeholders and other interested participants in their efforts to modify existing policies and practices of data collection, management, and reporting to accommodate the shift towards virtual education. Presenters provided information from the Forum Guide to Elementary/Secondary Virtual Education Data (NCES, 2016), with a focus on the Pacific region and education systems in geographically remote locations.

Research suggests that promoting teacher voice supports the successful implementation of SEL programs and practices. By implementing teacher voice strategies, leaders may be able to better understand how to identify and support the SEL needs of their teachers, which can also support the implementation of student SEL strategies. During this cross-REL webinar, a researcher and practitioner discussed three potential teacher voice strategies for supporting teacher SEL and engaged in a discussion about how these strategies can be used by school leaders.

Drawing on adult learning theory and principles of high-quality professional learning, this webinar provided information on strategies that can help administrators, staff development coordinators, and others adapt teacher professional learning to an online environment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This webinar provided an overview of research on strategies to support educators in implementing reading across the content areas for all students, including special populations such as English learners and students with disabilities. This webinar examined research-based promising practices for implementing these strategies in schools and districts and featured information on how reading across the content areas is being incorporated into work within the Pacific Region.

This webinar provided an overview of research on social and emotional learning, school climate, and student voice, and examined how these strategies can help promote student success in school, college, and careers. The webinar also examined how REL Pacific's stakeholders are supporting the use of social and emotional learning, school climate, and student voice in schools and districts.

This presentation examined the role of biases and downfalls in using linear regression analyses and presented alternate analysis methods used in research that may allow for emergent patterns and categories from the data. The presentation included an overview of multiple machine-learning analytic models, including classification and regression trees (CART) and cluster analysis, that can be applied to student college placements in the Pacific Region and other contexts in which researchers need to examine emergent data structures that may be invisible with traditional analyses.

This presentation examined the role of biases and downfalls in using linear regression analyses and presented alternate analysis methods used in research that may allow for emergent patterns and categories from the data. The presentation included an overview of multiple machine-learning analytic models, including classification and regression trees (CART) and cluster analysis, that can be applied to student college placements in the Pacific Region and other contexts in which researchers need to examine emergent data structures that may be invisible with traditional analyses.

This panel presentation examined how professional learning supports in Palau and the FSM are being developed and adapted and provided an overview of the characteristics that constitute high-quality professional learning. Additionally, the presentation discussed the challenges Pacific region stakeholders may face in implementing high-quality professional learning.

This presentation and panel discussion provided an overview of REL Pacific's prior work and current support of data readiness in the Pacific Region, and explored how jurisdictions in the Pacific Region have developed local readiness and capacity for implementation and use of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) within the past 10 years. The discussion included representatives from the Hawai'i Department of Education, the American Samoa Department of Education, Hawaii P–20 Partnerships for Education, and REL Pacific, and provided STATS-DC participants with an overview of current progress of SLDS development in the Pacific, local challenges in developing readiness for implementation of an SLDS, and strategies implemented to increase readiness. In addition, the panel discussed significant drivers of progress, how they are addressing data governance, and potential future barriers to implementation.

This presentation provided an overview of current social and emotional learning (SEL) frameworks and practices within schools and will discuss evidence-based research that links SEL with positive academic and life outcomes for students. In addition, this presentation included strategies local educators and stakeholders can use to promote SEL across various levels of the school system within the Pacific Region.

This presentation identified evidence-based research on the high-leverage need and importance of early literacy in the Pacific Region for student success. In addition, this presentation examined evidence-based successful practices and strategies for educators to support their students in achieving early literacy and early reading proficiency, with particular consideration given to specific challenges students may face in the Pacific Region.

This presentation focused on REL Pacific's current work in Kosrae, FSM, regarding the design and implementation of an education language policy that better aligns to national standardized assessments. In addition, this presentation will address the high-leverage need for language policy in Kosrae and will provide information on evidence-based research on language policy and bilingual education programs. The presentation also identified language policy design and implementation science strategies that have the potential to help improve student outcomes.

This presentation focused on how REL Pacific is supporting CNMI in developing a mathematics transition course, and described key activities and processes used to bring college faculty and high school teachers together to co-design a mathematics transition course and identify major design features of college preparatory mathematics.

This webinar examined what social and emotional learning is, how it can be used to inform best practice in schools, and its potential impact on academic outcomes, including college and career readiness.

The goal of this webinar was to inform stakeholders about research-based promising practices for effective transition course development intended to improve college and career readiness for high school graduates and ease the transition from high school to college.

This presentation provided participants at the CIES Annual Conference with information about REL Pacific's approach to research-focused partnerships in the REL Pacific service region and discuss the theoretical components of the partnerships and how they are implemented in the region to address high-leverage problems that could result in sustainable improvements in education outcomes.

The presentation provided participants at the Insular Areas and Palau Technical Assistance Meeting with information on needs-sensing, an overview of REL Pacific's Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families and the Community as Partners in Education, and an example of how the toolkit was implemented in Guam.

This presentation focused on how stakeholders in Kosrae are approaching the development of a language education policy through the use of an implementation science framework.

This webinar provided participants with information on teaching academic content and literacy to English learners at the elementary school level, presenting recommendations from a What Works Clearinghouse practice guide, Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School.

This poster presented information on how to build an understanding of the evidence-based characteristics of high-quality professional learning, define characteristics of high-quality professional learning in their own contexts, and monitor and develop specific professional learning opportunities appropriate for their unique teaching force.

In this roundtable conversation, REL Pacific discussed the process of planning for implementation of practical measurement approaches for a mathematics transition course currently being designed in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

This webinar explored opportunities and challenges in engaging Micronesian migrant families in their students' education and approaches to strengthening collaborations among families, schools, and community partners. Participants learned from a national expert on family engagement, alongside a panel of Hawai'i-based partners who currently focus on supporting Micronesian students in Hawai'i schools.

This webinar, hosted by REL Pacific and presented by Dr. Louise Yarnall, senior research social scientist at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning, was the second of two REL Pacific webinars on alignment and focused on the developmental aspects of engaging students in making career decisions, along with concrete examples of how this can work in practice.

This webinar, the first of two REL Pacific webinars on aligning K-12, college, and workforce systems, was presented by Dr. Louise Yarnall, senior research social scientist at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning. The webinar provided an overview of education-workforce alignment, including current and pending legislation, the benefits of alignment, and the problems stemming from misalignment.