REL Midwest will provide grade 6 mathematics teachers with support and coaching to integrate computational thinking and student-focused practices into their mathematics teaching. Teachers will participate in a 2-day summer institute followed by a series of seven coaching sessions throughout the school year. Resources provided to teachers will include 20 videos modeling integration of computational thinking and student-focused practices into mathematics lessons, viewing guides to support teachers in interpreting the videos, lesson planning templates, and observational rubrics for reflection and to guide instructional practice.

REL Midwest is developing a measure of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for computational thinking in middle school mathematics. During an initial pilot, partnering districts administered the measure to a small sample of teachers during the 2023/2024 school year. REL Midwest will conduct additional validation analyses to determine the measure’s reliability and validity with a larger sample of teachers in the fall of 2024.

REL Midwest is testing the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of the ENACT professional development, which is designed to support teachers with integrating computational thinking and student-focused practices into grade 6 mathematics instruction. The team is analyzing data from teacher surveys and interviews to identify opportunities to refine the ENACT intervention to ensure it can be implemented with fidelity. REL Midwest is also conducting quasi-experimental analyses with administrative data to examine the impact of the ENACT intervention on student mathematics grades and test scores.

REL Midwest will provide coaching to staff in the Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) at the Illinois State Board of Education through structured opportunities for thought partnership. REL Midwest will provide subject-area expertise related to departmental needs and support ORE in developing quality assurance practices.

REL Midwest is working with school districts to develop, implement, test, and refine an approach designed to address inequities in school discipline. This approach will bring together school community members to examine data, openly discuss equity gaps, explore solutions, and develop a plan to promote equitable discipline. The research team is conducting interviews and observations and analyzing data from stakeholder feedback surveys to address research questions related to the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of the approach. The usability/feasibility study will provide information that improves the implementation of the MESA approach to improve student academic and social and emotional outcomes. In addition, the study includes quasi-experimental design analyses with a sample of schools to examine the impact of the MESA approach on student outcomes.

REL Midwest is supporting district and school staff to collect, analyze, and interpret data related to school disciplinary policies and practices. REL Midwest is facilitating an equity audit to examine data, discuss equity gaps, explore solutions, and develop plans to promote equitable discipline. Following the equity audit, REL Midwest will provide 6 months of supportive coaching focused on discussing audit team recommendations, developing an implementation plan and timeline, and creating a plan to track implementation and results.

REL Midwest will coordinate with state and district staff to cultivate and sustain working conditions and school cultures that increase the retention of Indigenous educators and educators of color. This work will focus on areas of cultural proficiency training identified through REL Midwest–facilitated needs assessments and co-design planning meetings with state, district, and school personnel. Support will entail schoolwide training, leadership coaching, mentor coaching for Indigenous mentors and mentors of color, and affinity groups for Indigenous educators and educators of color. Each of these components will also incorporate resources focused on topics elevated by the schools.

REL Midwest examined the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of SIDEE’s four intervention components designed to improve school climate for Indigenous educators and educators of color. REL Midwest analyzed survey data and interviews with participants during the 2022/2023 school year to inform continuous improvement.

REL Midwest is testing the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of a package of professional learning opportunities for kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2 teachers called Strategies to Improve Reading (STIR). STIR has multiple components, including (a) a summer institute; (b) a facilitated professional learning community; and (c) on-site, job-embedded coaching. STIR is designed to support effective instruction in phonics and phonological awareness; data collection and use to inform literacy instruction and intervention; and effective leadership practices for literacy for kindergarten and grade 1 teachers and school leaders. To understand whether STIR is usable, feasible, and acceptable to educators, the research team will conduct surveys and interviews with teachers, school leaders, and district leaders; collect data from artifacts used during the professional learning opportunities; and collect student test scores. The research team will produce multiple deliverables, including a report, a blog post, an infographic, and presentations to district stakeholders.

The STIR partnership works with educators and instructional coaches to improve the implementation of instructional routines and data-based decision making related to phonological awareness and phonics in K-2 classrooms. Improving students' skills in phonological awareness and phonics will help them become fluent readers capable of making meaning from text. REL Midwest implemented and tested the STIR approach with Lansing Public Schools and Battle Creek Public Schools in the initial phase of this project and is currently partnering with Battle Creek Public Schools and Fruitport Public Schools to implement and test a refined version of the STIR approach.

The DILE approach is incorporating professional learning in culturally responsive practices as well as training and tools specifically designed to support the systemic use of data to act on racial and other group inequities in student experiences and outcomes in middle school. The DILE approach includes four components: Action-based monitoring (ABM) to facilitate the monitoring of students’ sense of belonging and engagement (i.e., attendance, discipline) over across time; a protocol to guide school leaders and staff in identifying and addressing the school policies, practices, and initiatives that might be leading to differences in student sense of belonging and engagement; training for school leaders and staff in culturally responsive practices, ABM and the protocol; and coaching to support implementation.

REL Midwest is partnering with school districts to develop, pilot, and refine the DILE approach, which aims to support educators with knowledge and skills to use real-time data and make decisions that lead to the reduction of disparities between student groups in sense of belonging, disciplinary actions, and attendance. The research team will conduct interviews and stakeholder feedback surveys to address research questions related to the usability, feasibility, and acceptability of the components for the approach. The study will provide information that improves the implementation of the DILE approach. This work began with partners at Iowa City Community School District (ICCSD) and has now expanded to additional districts across the region.

REL Midwest is developing the Teaching Fractions Toolkit to support teachers to enact evidence-based practices summarized in the What Works Clearinghouse practice guide, Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for Kindergarten Through 8th Grade. Drawing on the recommendations and implementation steps outlined in the practice guide, the toolkit will address both teacher understanding of fraction computation, rates, and ratios as well as implications for classroom practice related to fractions content for grade 6 teachers. The Teaching Fractions Toolkit will include teacher supports for grade 6 teachers—six professional development modules as well as tools to monitor instruction—and supports to develop the knowledge of leaders who support these teachers, including informational videos, infographics, and checklists for monitoring conditions for successful use of the toolkit.

REL Midwest will work with Indianapolis Public Schools to strengthen the career pathways and programs of study offered to students in the district, with the goal of increasing the percentage of students engaged in high-quality work-based learning (WBL). Planned activities include gathering information through surveys and process mapping to inform the development of action plans to increase WBL offerings and student participation.

REL Midwest is conducting an efficacy evaluation to rigorously test the efficacy of the Teaching Fractions Toolkit in improving teacher self-efficacy and practices for fraction computation and rate and ratio instruction as well as student learning outcomes in grade 6 mathematics. The evaluation is using a blocked randomized controlled trial (RCT) design in which schools are randomly assigned to receive the toolkit. The evaluation will be conducted in 40 schools during the 2024/25 school year.

REL Midwest staff will support the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) in analyzing survey data on Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) spending in the state’s elementary and middle schools. REL Midwest will explore if there are any differences in how schools allocated ESSER funds between schools that demonstrated declines and schools that demonstrated recovery in academic outcomes since the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, REL Midwest will examine the relationship between postpandemic recovery strategies and student academic achievement growth in English Language Arts and math. Finally, REL Midwest will conduct interviews with school administrators to further understand the practices and strategies that were implemented and seem to be promising in the schools that demonstrated postpandemic recovery in academic outcomes.

REL Midwest is conducting an efficacy study of ENACT’s training and instructional coaching. This teacher-level randomized controlled trial study will provide rigorous evidence of ENACT’s impact on teachers’ knowledge of how to integrate computational thinking practices in their math classrooms as well as on students’ math achievement and students’ self-efficacy and engagement in math. In addition, this study will investigate the factors that facilitate or hinder the implementation of ENACT.

REL Midwest is conducting a study to identify factors that are associated with the completion of traditional four-year undergraduate teacher preparation programs to address teacher preparation needs in Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota. REL Midwest is using administrative, survey, and interview data to examine how demographic and academic characteristics differ between those who complete and don’t complete these programs, and what personal and contextual factors are associated with program completion.