RELs have worked in partnership with policymakers and educators to develop a wide variety of research tools. A selected list of resources developed by the REL Program appears below.

Publications

• Program Evaluation Toolkit (REL Central, October 2021). The Program Evaluation Toolkit will provide resources and tools to support users in conducting their own program evaluations. The toolkit will comprise a series of eight modules that begin at the planning stages of an evaluation and progress to the presentation of findings to stakeholders. Each module will cover a critical step in the evaluation process.
• Examination of the Reliability and Validity of the Kansas Clinical Assessment Tool (REL Central, July 2021). Stakeholders from the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) and Kansas educator preparation programs (EPPs) developed the Kansas Clinical Assessment Tool (K-CAT) to provide feedback to teacher candidates and to inform teacher licensure decisions. This study will examine the extent to which the K-CAT demonstrates evidence of validity and reliability and meets the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation requirements for EPP-developed teacher candidate evaluation instruments.
• Measuring Civic Readiness: A Review of Instruments (REL Central, April 2021). As state education agencies reform their accountability systems, interest in identifying instruments to measure civic readiness has grown. The study will identify and review instruments measuring civic readiness. The study report will summarize the content and format of the instruments as well as the associated evidence of the reliability and validity of the instruments.
• The Early Childhood Data Use Assessment (REL Central, March 2021). The Early Childhood Data Use Assessment will provide early childhood education (ECE) data teams with a research-based self-assessment tool designed to improve the use of child assessment and administrative data. Child assessment and administrative information collected by ECE data teams includes, for example, suspension and expulsion data, evaluation and screening data, family outcome data, and satisfaction survey results. The tool will provide guidance on planning for data use, using and communicating data, and self-reflecting and monitoring with data. To help ECE data teams use existing child assessment and administrative data, the tool will include (1) a data use checklist that prompts users to consider how program staff use child assessment and administrative data, (2) a resource guide to help users identify resources aligned to professional growth goals in order to improve data use, (3) an action plan template to support planning for professional growth, and (4) a step-by-step guide to support users of the tool.
• An Approach to Using Teacher and Student Data to Understand and Predict Teacher Shortages (REL Central, December 2020). 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.
• Continuous Improvement Toolkit (REL Northeast & Islands, October 2020). This practitioner-friendly guide is designed to provide an overview of Continuous Improvement processes in education, with a focus on the use of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles (Langley, Moen, Nolan, Nolan & Norman, 2009). It will also offer related tools and resources that educational practitioners can use to implement continuous improvement processes in their own schools, districts, or agencies.
• American Indian Needs Assessment Survey (REL Central, September 2020). The American Indian Needs Assessment Survey will provide a technically sound and culturally appropriate needs assessment tool to help educators better understand the unique strengths and needs of schools serving American Indian students. State and local education agencies will be able to use this tool to identify and monitor the needs and successes of those schools.
• The Appropriateness of a California Student and Staff Survey for Measuring Middle School Climate (REL West, September 2014). The purpose of this study was to examine the appropriateness of using student and staff self-report surveys—the California School Climate, Health, and Learning Survey—to assess school climate in middle schools. The study examined (a) the domains of school climate assessed by the surveys; (b) the reliability of the surveys at both the respondent and school levels; (c) the stability of the survey measures over time; and (d) the relationship of the survey measures to student achievement and discipline.
• The College Readiness Data Catalog Tool: User Guide (REL Northeast and Islands, September 2014) The College Readiness Data Catalog Tool and User Guide enable states, districts and other educational entities to assess the presence of college readiness indicators in extant data sets and identify gaps that may present challenges in developing future indicator systems.
• Developing a Coherent Research Agenda: Lessons from the REL Northeast & Islands Research Agenda Workshops (REL Northeast and Islands, July 2014). This report describes the approach that REL Northeast & Islands used to guide its eight research alliances toward collaboratively identifying a shared research agenda. A key feature of their approach was a two-workshop series, during which alliance members created a set of research questions on a shared topic of education policy and/or practice.
• Early childhood educator and administrator surveys (REL Northeast and Islands, April 2014) The Early Childhood Educator Survey and the Early Childhood Administrator Survey allow users to collect consistent data on the use of child assessments and learning standards in early childhood learning settings. Each survey includes modules on educator/administrator background information, assessment use, and learning standards implementation.
• An Educator's Guide to Questionnaire Development (REL Central, January 2016). Educators have many decisions to make and it's important that they have the right data to inform those decisions and access to questionnaires that can gather that data. This guide, developed by REL Central and based on work done through separate projects with the Wyoming Office of Public Instruction and the Nebraska Department of Education, provides educators with a process for developing questionnaires.
• The English Language Learner program survey for principals (REL Northeast and Islands, June 2014) The English Language Learner (ELL) Program Survey for Principals includes survey questions for state education agencies to use to collect data about: 1) school-level policies and practices for educating ELL students; 2) the types of professional development related to ELL education that principals have received and would like to receive; 3) principals' familiarity with state guidelines and standards for ELL student education; and 4) principals' beliefs about the education of ELL students.
• The Examining Evaluator Feedback Survey (REL Central, November 2015). This report presents a survey tool designed to gather information from teachers about their perceptions of and responses to evaluator feedback. District or state administrators can use this survey to systematically collect teacher perceptions on five key aspects of evaluation feedback: (1) feedback usefulness, (2) feedback accuracy, (3) evaluator credibility, (4) access to resources related to feedback, and (5) teacher response to feedback.
• Exploring District-Level Expenditure-to-Performance Ratios (REL Northeast & Islands, March 2017) Using state education department data from an example state in the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands Region, researchers created six different expenditure-to-performance ratios and investigated how districts' inclusion in the highest quartile on districts rankings varied according to the expenditure and performance measures used to calculate each ratio.
• A guide to calculating district expenditure-to-performance ratios using publicly available data (REL Northeast and Islands, February 2017) This guide shows states and districts how to use publicly available data about district-level expenditures and student academic performance to create six expenditure-to-performance ratios, which are often used as proxies for school district efficiency. The guide also provides states and districts with a straightforward strategy for exploring how conclusions about district efficiency may vary, sometimes substantially, depending on which types of expenditures and which measures of performance are considered.
• Guide to the Competency-based Learning Survey for Students (REL Northeast and Islands, August 2016) REL Northeast and Islands developed a survey to collect information regarding high school students' beliefs about, understanding of, and exposure to key elements of competency-based learning. This guide describes (1) why the survey was developed, (2) elements of competency-based learning addressed by the survey, (3) how to adapt and administer the survey, and (4) how to analyze the results. The report includes the complete survey instrument.
• Home Language Survey Data Quality Self-Assessment (REL Northeast & Islands, February 2017) This 15-minute self-assessment is designed for use by state leaders who coordinate programs to support students' English language acquisition and achievement in districts, as well as for district leaders who oversee the English learner student identification process in schools. The tool supports the collection of high-quality home language survey data by gathering information from district English learner student coordinators and prompts self-assessment of key practices that impact the quality of home language survey data.
• Logic Models for Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation: Workshop Toolkit (REL Northeast and Islands, May 2015). The Practitioner Data Use Workshop Toolkit is designed to help practitioners systematically and accurately use data to inform their teaching practice. The toolkit includes an agenda, slide deck, participant workbook, and facilitator's guide and covers the following topics: developing data literacy, engaging in a cycle of inquiry, accessing and analyzing available data, identifying and creating student goals, and using data to make action plans about instructional decisions.
• Measuring the "I" in QRIS: A Survey to Measure Quality Improvement Activities for Early Childhood Education Programs (REL Midwest, February 2017). This survey tool—the "I in QRIS" Survey—was designed to help states collect data on quality improvement activities and strategies used by early childhood education programs that participate in a quality rating and improvement system.
• Reflections from a Professional Learning Community for Researchers Working in Research-Practice Partnerships (REL Midwest, March 2017). This report describes how and why a professional learning community helped REL Midwest researchers shift from a traditional research paradigm, with the researcher as expert, to the collaborative research world, with the researcher as partner. It summarizes the lessons learned about the common challenges that REL Midwest researchers brought to the PLC, details the strategies they identified to address the challenges, and describes the tools used to ultimately overcome those shared challenges.
• A Review of Instruments for Measuring Social and Emotional Learning Skills among Secondary School Students (REL Northeast and Islands, October 2019). The purpose of this resource is to support state and local education agencies in identifying reliable and valid instruments that measure collaboration, perseverance, and self-regulated learning among secondary school students. It presents social and emotional learning instruments and the reliability and validity information available for those instruments.
• Survey Development Methods for Educators (Part One); Sampling Respondents and Survey Administration (Part Two); and Analysis and Reporting of Survey Data (Part Three) (REL Northeast and Islands, August 2016). Educators at the state and local levels are increasingly using data to inform policy decisions. While student achievement data is often used to inform instructional or programmatic decisions, educators may also need additional sources of data, some of which may not be housed in their existing data systems. Creating and administering surveys is one way to collect such data. However, documentation available to educators about administering surveys may provide insufficient guidance about the survey development process. In response to this need, REL Northeast & Islands created a series of three complementary guides that provide an overview of the survey research process designed for educators.
• Survey methods in education research: Facilitator guide and workshop resources (REL Midwest, April 2017). This guidebook and corresponding modules are designed as a training re-source for individuals who create or administer education-related surveys. The materials are drawn from evidence-based research from the field of survey research methodology and offer guidance on designing and administering high-quality surveys. The materials provide practical advice and examples drawn from experiences developing surveys for local, state, and national education applications.
• Instructional Improvement Cycle: A Teacher's Toolkit for Collecting and Analyzing Data on Instructional Strategies (REL Central, May 2015). This toolkit, developed by REL Central in collaboration with York Public Schools in Nebraska, provides a process and tools to help teachers use data from their classroom assessments to evaluate promising practices. The toolkit provides teachers with guidance on how to deliberately apply and study one classroom strategy over the course of one unit and systematically document and compare results to consider the effects of a given instructional strategy on student learning.
• A Guide for Monitoring District Implementation of Educator Evaluation Systems (REL Central, April 2015). This guide was developed to provide guidance to states or districts wishing to monitor implementation of educator evaluation systems. It describes a three-step process: develop state guidelines for educator evaluation systems; develop data collection methods; and determine adherence criteria and review data against criteria.
• Using Evidence-Based Decision Trees Instead of Formulas to Identify At-Risk Readers (REL Southeast, June 2014). The purpose of this study was to examine whether the early identification of students who are at-risk for reading comprehension difficulties is improved using logistic regression or classification and regression tree (CART). This research question was motivated by state education leaders' interest in maintaining high classification accuracy while simultaneously improving practitioner understanding of the rules by which students are identified as at-risk or not at-risk readers.

Videos

• Collaborative Research with the New Mexico Achievement Gap Research Alliance (REL Southwest). The following members of the New Mexico Achievement Gap Research Alliance with the REL Southwest are featured in this video as they discuss their experiences developing a collaborative research agenda with the research alliance.
• Developing a Research Agenda: Experiences of REL Northeast & Islands (REL Northeast & Islands) REL Northeast & Islands creates research alliances for researchers and practitioners to work collaboratively on developing research agendas.
• An Educator's Guide to Questionnaire Development (REL Central). This short video describes a guide offering a five-step process to design effective questionnaires that follow research-based guidelines and can be used to survey students, teachers, or parents. The guide also lists resources on sample selection, questionnaire administration, and data collection, analysis, and presentation.
• Education Partnerships: The Power of Researchers, Practitioners, and Students (REL Appalachia). REL Appalachia has been working to incorporate multiple perspectives in its research and technical assistance projects around the region. As part of this effort, in July 2016, REL Appalachia partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic and REL Northwest to hold a conference on postsecondary readiness in rural communities. The conference featured perspectives of researchers, practitioners, and students.
• Embedding Evaluations in Every Day Activities. The REL Program has released a new video series that explains how schools, districts, states, and their research partners can use a cost-effective approach, known as "opportunistic experiments," to test the effectiveness of programs. Under the right circumstances, this type of research study can generate evidence for informing your education decisions.
• A Guide for Monitoring District Implementation of Educator Evaluation Systems (REL Central). This short video describes a guide providing a three-step process for state departments of education to monitor district implementation of state- or district-developed educator evaluation systems.
• Implementing the Instructional Improvement Cycle Toolkit: Teachers Reflect on Their Action Research (REL Central). Teachers reflect on their action research. The Instructional Improvement Cycle Toolkit guides teachers through the process of selecting, testing, and adjusting instructional strategies. The toolkit was created in collaboration with teachers from York Public Schools in York, Nebraska.
• An Introduction to the Instructional Improvement Cycle: A Teacher's Toolkit (REL Central). REL Central's new toolkit developed in collaboration with York Public Schools in Nebraska, provides teachers with a process and tools to deliberately study a single classroom teaching strategy. The toolkit includes a preprogrammed spreadsheet that determines the significance of test results between classes taught with and without a new instructional strategy.
• REL Southwest: A Dynamic, Responsive Approach (REL Southwest). In this video, filmed in late 2017, six of REL Southwest's Governing Board members discuss the importance of the REL work in their states and the impacts they have seen.
• Recognizing Opportunities for Rigorous Evaluation. The REL Program has released a new video series that explains how schools, districts, states, and their research partners can use a cost-effective approach, known as "opportunistic experiments," to test the effectiveness of programs. Under the right circumstances, this type of research study can generate evidence for informing your education decisions.
• Studying the Validity of New Mexico's Kindergarten Observation Tool (REL Southwest). Children's knowledge, skills, and experience vary widely when they enter school. Many states support kindergarten entry assessments to help teachers better understand each child's individual competencies when they enter school so teachers can tailor instruction accordingly. New Mexico developed the Kindergarten Observation Tool (the KOT) as their kindergarten entry assessment. REL Southwest's New Mexico Prekindergarten Research Alliance wanted scientific evidence to determine if the KOT measured the dimensions of children's knowledge and skill that it was intended to measure. Additionally, they wanted to identify potential opportunities to strengthen the KOT for future use. REL Southwest worked with the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) and the Central Region Educational Cooperative to examine the validity of the 2015 KOT field test. This video provides an overview of the study findings.
• Understanding Research Findings (REL Central). In an effort to help educators increase their research literary, REL Central has created Understanding Research Findings, Part 2: Research Designs. This brief video explains three basic types of research designs through a description, examples, and limitations. These three types of research designs are descriptive research, correlational research, and experimental research.
• Why Use Experiments to Evaluate Programs? The REL Program has released a new video series that explains how schools, districts, states, and their research partners can use a cost-effective approach, known as "opportunistic experiments," to test the effectiveness of programs. Under the right circumstances, this type of research study can generate evidence for informing your education decisions.

Archived Webinars

• The College Access Evidence Matrix: Interventions to Support Postsecondary Transitions (REL Appalachia, September 28, 2021). This session introduced the College Access Evidence Matrix, an informational resource designed to help college-access providers and educational leaders find proven interventions, aligned to the highest Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) evidence standards, that can increase the likelihood that students successfully transition to postsecondary education and training. REL Appalachia staff provided an orientation to the evidence matrix and demonstrated how it can be used for a variety of purposes, including identifying college access programs that have shown positive outcomes and exploring the evidence base for existing interventions.
• Analyzing Student-Level Disciplinary Data (REL Northeast and Islands, May 31, 2017). Research has shown that exclusionary discipline actions (e.g., out-of-school suspensions) are linked to negative outcomes for students. In addition, researchers have found that exclusionary discipline actions are sometimes disproportionately administered to subgroups of students, such as racial/ethnic minority students or students with disabilities. During this webinar, co-authors of the IES Applied Research Methods report, "Analyzing student-level disciplinary data: A guide for districts" present an overview of designing and carrying out analyses of student-level disciplinary data.
• Cost-Analysis Methods: What Are These Methods? And How Can School Districts Benefit from Using Them? (REL Central, September 26, 2017). This webinar introduces cost-benefit, cost-feasibility, and cost-effectiveness analysis methods that decisionmakers can use to guide decisions on selecting instructional strategies, interventions, and curricula that are not only effective but also fiscally more efficient.
• Developing Surveys Using the Collaborative Survey Development Process (REL Northeast and Islands, October 18, 2016) This virtual workshop guides participants through a five-step process of collaborative survey development outlined in a report from REL Northeast & Islands.
• From Logic Model to Program Evaluation (REL Northeast and Islands, January 29, 2014) In this workshop webinar, participants were reintroduced to logic models, specifically as a tool in developing a program or policy evaluation. Presenters provided guidance on how to determine the appropriate evaluation for a specific program or policy and invited participants to practice using logic models to develop evaluation questions and indicators of success.
• Learning Together: Translating Research to Practice, Session 1 (REL Northeast and Islands, May 17, 2018) In Session 1 of this two-part virtual workshop series, REL Northeast & Islands researchers discuss how to collaborate with stakeholders to share and present research findings in meaningful and useful ways. A presenter from the Vermont Agency of Education also discusses some of her experience sharing research with policymakers to inform decision-making.
• Learning Together: Translating Research to Practice, Session 2 (REL Northeast and Islands, June 13, 2018) In Session 2 of this two-part virtual workshop series, REL Northeast & Islands researchers discuss how to collaborate with stakeholders to use research to support decision-making. Presenters from Boston Public Schools also share their experiences with using research to inform action.
• Logic Models to Support Effective Program Development and Evaluation (REL Northeast and Islands, October 24, 2013). This Skill-Builder Workshop webinar introduces logic models as an effective tool for program design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
• A Practical Approach to Continuous Improvement in Education (REL Northeast & Islands, October 4, 2016) Facilitators Sheila Rodriguez and Karen Shakman introduce the continuous improvement process and the tools that guide its implementation. Participants learn about the model and six core principles of improvement, illustrated in an educational context by a real-world case example.
• A Research Partnership to Support High-Quality Professional Learning (REL Southwest, September 19, 2017). This webinar highlights the findings from a REL Southwest report on professional development practices in rural and nonrural schools in Oklahoma and how the state is using the information to support high-quality professional learning.
• Root Cause Analysis Webinar (REL Mid-Atlantic, April 30, 2014). Root cause analysis is a powerful method schools use to analyze data to solve problems; it aims to identify and correct the root causes of problems or events, rather than simply addressing their symptoms. In this interactive REL Mid-Atlantic webinar, Roni S. Silverstein, principal of Fallsmead Elementary School in Montgomery County, Maryland, and a skilled practitioner of root cause analysis, describes the use of the method and responds to questions from participants.
• Survey Methods Workshop Developing (REL Midwest, September 3, 2014). Researchers from REL Midwest discuss the process of survey administration with a focus on early childhood education. This webinar aligns to the Early Childhood Education Research Alliance.

Infographics

• Accessing & Assessing Research and Evidence (REL West)
• Applicability of Evidence-Based Interventions (REL West)
• By the Numbers (REL Midwest)
• Fostering Excellent Teaching and Learning Practices Through Networked Improvement Communities: Ensuring Every Child, Teacher, and Leader Has a Champion (REL Southwest)
• How can we increase quality educational opportunities for Black students? Consider conducting a gap analysis (REL Midwest)
• Using Improvement Cycles to Promote Equitable Instructional Practices: Oklahoma Excel (REL Southwest)

For more resources in ERIC on the topic of Research Tools, click here.