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.

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 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.