Works in Progress

REL AP is partnering with stakeholders from state and local education agencies, community-based organizations, and universities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia to form a collaborative focused on addressing trauma-related consequences of the opioid epidemic in schools. The collaborative members from the four states will meet virtually to share promising and evidence-based practices and implementation methods and discuss unmet needs.

REL Appalachia is partnering with the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the Virginia Community College System, and Virginia Department of Education to co-develop and pilot a practitioner-friendly data collection protocol that the agencies and other stakeholders can use to examine college access providers' adoption of evidence-based postsecondary transition support strategies, the rigor with which they are evaluating new and innovative strategies, and indicators of program effectiveness. The team will also engage other stakeholders in the development, such as college access providers who may be interested to use the protocol as a self-assessment tool.

REL AP is partnering with districts in Kentucky to strengthen educators' understanding and use of evidence-based, non-academic interventions that improve the transition to postsecondary education and training programs. Through a series of training events, educators will learn how to apply such evidence in practice and explore opportunities to collaborate with higher education providers in the region.

REL Appalachia is partnering with the West Virginia Department of Education to foster student empowerment and support the overall improvement of school culture in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs across the state. Our coaching includes support for enhancing statewide school culture surveys, the development of school-level implementation guides to help administrators and educators improve their school culture, and the development of facilitator guides that state-level coaches can use to support administrators and educators through this process.

REL AP is partnering with Virginia state education agencies to strengthen educators' understanding and use of evidence-based, non-academic interventions that improve the transition to postsecondary education and training programs. Through a series of training events, educators will learn how to apply such evidence in practice and explore opportunities to collaborate with higher education providers in the region.

REL AP is partnering with districts in eastern Kentucky to expand knowledge on nonacademic interventions that can improve postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and attainment by conducting a structured review of the literature, with particular emphasis on the extent to which that literature applies to high-poverty rural contexts.

REL Appalachia is partnering with Virginia state education agencies to conduct a study describing CTE credential attainment and postsecondary enrollment outcomes. The study examines the period leading up to and after a new statewide policy that requires students who earn Virginia's Standard Diploma to earn a CTE credential as well.

REL AP is developing a report that will show state and local educators how classification and regression tree (CART) analysis can provide insights into relevant policy questions by describing factors that educators need to consider when developing research questions that are answerable using CART and how to communicate these questions to data analysts.

REL AP is partnering with the West Virginia Department of Education to develop data tools and support schools and districts to use the data tools to monitor program participation and associated outcomes, and to continuously improve programs aimed at supporting students experiencing trauma. Representatives from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia engage with REL AP and West Virginia leaders to provide input on the plans and activities and to learn from the tool development process.

REL Appalachia is partnering with educators across the region to develop a toolkit that will equip educators with the knowledge, tools, activities, and resources for planning and implementing a community math night that engages children, families, and other community members in evidence-based math activities.

REL Appalachia is partnering with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) to support the next generation of students to succeed in reading and math by supporting KDE's researchers in efforts to analytically identify schools performing better than predicted, and subsequently determine the mechanisms leading to these successes. The analysis will inform activities of a professional learning community that will provide opportunities for educators to learn about and adapt promising and effective practices in their schools and districts.

REL AP is partnering with elementary school educators in West Virginia to develop community math nights. The math night events will engage children, families, and community leaders in understanding the importance of mathematics and applying evidence-based strategies to support children in mathematics learning.

REL AP is partnering with leaders in five Virginia divisions to support mathematics teachers' professional learning and build teacher capacity to improve students' readiness for algebra I by deepening understanding of the components of successful PLMs and coaching leaders to provide and support evidence-based PLMs in their divisions.

REL AP is partnering with the Virginia Department of Education to provide in-depth coaching and consultation to help develop a comprehensive process to rigorously evaluate the impact and cost of the Virtual Virginia program.

REL AP is partnering with the Virginia Department of Education to conduct a Just in Time study to better understand the outcomes of the 10,000 students a year who participate in online courses through the Virtual Virginia program.

REL AP is partnering with Virginia state education agencies to conduct a study to describe CTE credential attainment and postsecondary enrollment outcomes leading up to and after a new policy that requires students who earn Virginia's Standard Diploma to earn a CTE credential as well.

REL AP is partnering with educators in Virginia school divisions to select, enhance, and implement high-quality performance assessments in grade 4–8 science classrooms. REL AP will coach educators from several divisions in using evidence-based strategies to implement performance assessments and share lessons learned from this coaching activity in a series of training webinars available for educators across Virginia and nationwide.