Regional Educational Lab (REL) West partners with key stakeholders in Arizona to develop evidence that can inform consequential decisions about policy, programs, and practice. Key stakeholders include organizations with decision-making authority and the ability to influence education policy and practice, such as state and local education agencies, school boards, institutes of higher education, and student, family, and community organizations. RELs partner with these organizations on applied research and development; training, coaching and technical supports; and dissemination.
Partnerships
Teacher Retention in Maricopa County
Teacher retention continues to be a pressing educational issue nationwide and increased rates of turnover tend to negatively impact student outcomes. Strategic human capital management practices that target improvements in administrative support can be an important mechanism for retaining teachers in schools and districts. This multi-year partnership between REL West and Arizona’s Maricopa County School Superintendent’s office (MCSS) will refine and study MCSS’s Stay Interview strategy, a retention improvement strategy aimed at improving workplace conditions to help districts address teacher attrition.
Arizona Literacy Partnership (Historical)
Arizona’s statewide goal is to increase 3rd grade literacy proficiency from 41 percent in 2016 to 72 percent by 2030 (Expect More Arizona’s Progress Meter). The overarching purpose of the partnership is to contribute to meeting this goal. To accomplish this, the partnership focuses on examining data, embedding evidence-based approaches in everyday practice, and conducting inquiry-based improvement processes. Arizona stakeholders want to know more about student progress in developing early literacy, especially English learners, and the district practices that contribute to students’ early literacy success. To address these questions, REL West partners with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and a local district, Sunnyside Unified (SUSD), in the Arizona Literacy Partnership.
Arizona Partnership for Education and Career Success (Historical)
The Arizona Partnership for Education and Career Success (APECS) was formed to provide practitioners, policymakers, and education leaders in Arizona with technical assistance and research support to achieve the state’s goal of ensuring that 60 percent of Arizonans aged 25 and older have a postsecondary certificate or 2- or 4-year college degree by 2030. REL West provides APECS partners with coaching to develop their capacity for cross-sector collaboration and data use in service of advancing college and career readiness (CCR) for students across the state. As part of this effort, school, district, and community partners within the Flagstaff area have been working with REL West to coordinate CCR strategies, community interest, and data-driven inquiry for a shared college and career agenda.
Educator Effectiveness Alliance (Historical)
The REL West Educator Effectiveness Alliance (EE) is a regional group of state education agency (SEA) leaders, from Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, that originally came together in 2010 to collectively learn about ways to advance federal priorities around educator effectiveness, including strengthening observation and feedback for teachers and administrators. Today, these SEA leaders are seeking to continue to refine and/or expand their systems of professional support for educators, and, in turn, improve retention among their teachers and principals. This is especially salient given shortages in particular schools and/or subject areas. Education leaders are interested in using federal Title II Part A funds more strategically and for greater impact, including understanding ways to design and implement effective, efficient, and technology-enriched supports for teachers and leaders.
Assessing and Improving English Learner Services to Arizona English Learner Policy and Practice Partnership (Historical)
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Supporting Community Outreach for the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools
Arizona State Board for Charter Schools (ASBCS) is the primary charter school authorizer in the state, and one of the largest authorizers in the nation with 550 authorized charter schools. The ASBCS has developed a data-driven, stakeholder-oriented Communication and Engagement Strategic Plan to better address the needs of families and inform ASBCS’s oversight and support of schools. This REL West project would build the capacity of ASBCS to use data to inform the implementation of their Community Outreach Initiative as it relates to their Strategic Plan. REL West would coach ASBCS leadership in developing and implementing data collection strategies and using data to identify targeted regions or audiences for communication and engagement across the state.
Developing Measures for Educator Preparation Program Approval Processes
The Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) sets the state rule for the evaluation and approval of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) to ensure programs effectively prepare Arizona’s future teachers. In this project REL West is helpingASBE and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) develop and implement new TPP evaluation tools/rubrics to guide ADE’s desktop reviews of Arizona TPPs’ coursework and programming in reading, mathematics, and inclusive classroom practices for students with disabilities. REL West is helping ASBE and ADE align the rubrics with evidence-based practices from related What Works Clearinghouse practice guides and resources from other national research centers, pilot the rubrics, and use the resulting data to inform approval processes that will become part of the state rule.
Developing Measures for Educator Preparation Programs
The Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) sets the state rule for the evaluation and approval of teacher preparation programs to ensure programs effectively prepare Arizona’s future teachers. REL West is helping ASBE and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) develop and implement new evidence-based tools and rubrics for evaluating teacher preparation programs. The rubrics and tools will be aligned with evidence-based practices from What Works Clearinghouse practice guides and resources from other national research centers. They will be piloted and refined so they can be used to guide ADE’s review of Arizona teacher preparation program coursework and programming in reading and mathematics and for inclusive classroom practices for students with disabilities.
Regional Educational Lab (REL) West partners with key stakeholders in California to develop evidence that can inform consequential decisions about policy, programs, and practice. Key stakeholders include organizations with decision-making authority and the ability to influence education policy and practice, such as state and local education agencies, school boards, institutes of higher education, and student, family, and community organizations. RELs partner with these organizations on applied research and development; training, coaching and technical supports; and dissemination.
Partnerships
California Adult College Completion Partnership
REL West is partnering with six higher education institutions within the northern region of California —Shasta College, Sierra College, College of the Siskiyous, the Yuba Community College District, California State University Chico, and California State University Sacramento—to advance their efforts to increase the number of individuals with “some college, no degree” or “near completers” who return to college and complete their credentials. Because this population is disproportionately composed of low-income, first-generation college students and people of color, improving degree completion can also help advance educational and workplace equity. Through coaching and applied research, REL West will support the partner institutions to identify and reengage adult learners, learn about evidence-based strategies, gather evidence about their progress, and identify ways to broaden the implementation of evidence-based adult reengagement and support strategies across the California State University and community college systems.
Improving Expanded Learning Programs in Santa Ana Unified School District to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in Middle and High School
REL West is partnering with the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) to decrease chronic absence rates among middle and high school students, by focusing on the district’s Expanded Learning programming as one of several strategies to achieve this goal. The partnership activities will help SAUSD to use data and evidence to understand the extent to which its Expanded Learning programs are meeting the district’s mission and vision, how programming might be improved, how to quantify the benefits of these programs for students and families, and how Expanded Learning programming is contributing – alongside other strategies – to the goal of reducing chronic absence rates.
Improving Math Outcomes for Middle School Multilingual Learners in Santa Clara County
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) and the English Language Development, Dual, and World Language teams at the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) have prioritized improving math achievement among multilingual learners (MLs) in middle school. This is due to the wide and persistent gaps in mathematics assessment scores between MLs and their non-ML peers in Santa Clara County. Through coaching and an applied research project, REL West and SCCOE are supporting districts in the county to strengthen local professional learning for middle school math teachers of MLs and, in turn, expand the local implementation of evidence-based instructional practices that will improve MLs’ language proficiency and math content understanding.
Measuring and Improving the Education Outcomes of K–12 Students in Foster Care in Los Angeles County
The Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) and REL West are partnering to reduce school mobility and absenteeism of K–12 students in foster care. The partnership uses data and evidence to improve education outcomes given that high rates of school mobility and chronic absence are related to disruptions in learning, relationships, and supportive services for these students. Partnership activities focus on examining and strengthening LACOE’s Educational Passport System (EPS), a data system that links information across child welfare and education agencies to better serve students. By building LACOE’s capacity to use the EPS, the partnership will increase its use of data for policy and practice decisionmaking and will generate new evidence to address school mobility and attendance challenges for students in foster care.
Creating Equitable Educator Practices and Improved Discipline Outcomes for Black Students in San Francisco Unified School District (Historical)
REL West and the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) worked to accelerate the necessary conditions for Black students to learn and succeed, and to address disparities in disciplinary treatment of Black students in the district. Through the partnership projects, REL West helped SFUSD create a systematic process for identifying, testing, and refining evidence-based practices to achieve equitable discipline outcomes for Black students.
Sacramento County Partnership for Joyful Literacy in Preschool through First Grade (Historical)
This partnership addressed student underperformance in grade 3 literacy with a group of local education agencies in the Sacramento County Office of Education’s (SCOE’s) jurisdiction. The partnership integrated evidence-based practices from What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) practice guides through a “Joyful Literacy” approach that is grounded in culturally and linguistically sustaining, whole-child strategies. REL West provided coaching and resources that incorporate practices from the WWC practice guides, and evidence-based social-emotional learning and creative expression strategies. This partnership aligned with, complemented, and amplified efforts already underway at SCOE to improve literacy performance across the county.
California Rural Partnerships Alliance (Historical)
The California Rural Partnerships (CRP) Alliance was designed to support and strengthen the ability of rural and rural-serving California cross-sector career pathways partnerships to gather, share, and use data. The alliance included rural and rural-serving partnerships that are comprised of K–12, higher education, and industry or labor force development representatives. These consortia were designed to support students in grades 9 through 14 (community college) to prepare for jobs in the regional economy. REL West provided support for data sharing, data use, and capacity development to CRP Alliance members through research and coaching.
Central Valley Rural Education and Health Alliance (Historical)
The Central Valley Rural Education and Health Alliance (REHA) brought together rural elementary school educators, district and county administrators, and school-based health professionals to strengthen and expand collaborative approaches to improve student education and health outcomes. The children and families that live, work, and go to school in California’s rural Central Valley experience some of the state’s worst education and health outcomes and some of the nation’s most entrenched poverty. Improving these outcomes, especially for young children, is a regional priority. REHA specifically focused on ways that schools and school-based health centers can collaborate to promote academic success. As a cross-sector effort, REHA worked with partners from Parlier Unified School District, Tulare City School District, the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, and the California School-Based Health Alliance to use evidence, promising approaches, and data to address school readiness, chronic absence, school culture and climate, and student health and behavioral interventions.
Improving the Success of Transfer Students in Higher Education
The purpose of the project is to build the capacity of Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) to develop, maintain, or make better use of a regionally focused transfer student data consortium. The consortium will bring together community colleges and universities to share, analyze, and interpret data on transfer students’ coursetaking pathways and their outcomes. The project will institute data collection processes, integrate data across systems; develop data-sharing infrastructure; and produce analytic plans, data visualizations, and reports on transfer student enrollment, stop-out, and reenrollment.
Regional Educational Lab (REL) West partners with key stakeholders in Nevada to develop evidence that can inform consequential decisions about policy, programs, and practice. Key stakeholders include organizations with decision-making authority and the ability to influence education policy and practice, such as state and local education agencies, school boards, institutes of higher education, and student, family, and community organizations. RELs partner with these organizations on applied research and development; training, coaching and technical supports; and dissemination.
Partnerships
Reducing Chronic Absence in Washoe County School District by Strengthening the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support
REL West has partnered with Washoe County School District (WCSD), working with and through three of the districts’ departments: the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Department, the Intervention Department, and the Research and Evaluation Department. In the district’s Office of Strategies, REL West will launch its coaching work with leadership staff in the MTSS and SEL Department. This department is charged with developing the district’s capacity to create, support, and sustain school climates that are safe and engaging to optimize student learning, which starts with regular school attendance.
Clark County Professional Learning Partnership (Historical)
The Clark County Professional Learning Partnership (CCPL) was formed to support data use and professional learning in the central office and schools of the Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada. CCSD is the nation’s 5th largest school district and serves a large and diverse population of students. As part of a continuing partnership, staff from the CCSD superintendent’s office, instructional office, and research department are working with REL West to support the effective dissemination and use of data, tools, and evidence to improve student outcomes. Central office staff are interested in better understanding which types of information will best help principals and teachers deliver effective student supports and help improve student outcomes, and in understanding and enacting optimal strategies for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating this information to schools. As part of this effort, a key strategy is building on previous collaborative research conducted by REL West and CCSD to develop a system for identifying and supporting students at risk of falling off track for high school graduation before they actually fall behind.
Educator Effectiveness Alliance (Historical)
The REL West Educator Effectiveness Alliance (EE) is a regional group of state education agency (SEA) leaders, from Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, that originally came together in 2010 to collectively learn about ways to advance federal priorities around educator effectiveness, including strengthening observation and feedback for teachers and administrators. Today, these SEA leaders are seeking to continue to refine and/or expand their systems of professional support for educators, and, in turn, improve retention among their teachers and principals. This is especially salient given shortages in particular schools and/or subject areas. Education leaders are interested in using federal Title II Part A funds more strategically and for greater impact, including understanding ways to design and implement effective, efficient, and technology-enriched supports for teachers and leaders.
K-6 Literacy Improvement Partnership (Historical)
The K–6 Literacy Improvement Partnership (LP) aims to enable educators to improve literacy instruction and outcomes for K–6 students in Nevada’s Washoe County School District. With a focus on literacy instruction, the district is interested in implementing more systematic supports for teacher development, strengthening the connections between what happens in teacher meetings and what happens in the classroom, and seeing specific results from professional learning activities. REL West is partnering with Washoe County School District and the Northwestern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program to leverage improvement science methods, in which teachers test new practices and examine data together to improve instruction. Partners at both the district and school levels are learning together how an improvement science approach can support the conditions required for teacher learning, teacher collaboration, and instructional shifts in the context of curriculum implementation.
Helping the Nevada Department of Education Harness Machine Learning for Risk Identification and Resource Allocation
The purpose of this six-part training series is to provide professional development to the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) on the fundamentals of machine learning algorithms that could be used to identify students at risk of academic failure.
Regional Educational Lab (REL) West partners with key stakeholders in Utah to develop evidence that can inform consequential decisions about policy, programs, and practice. Key stakeholders include organizations with decision-making authority and the ability to influence education policy and practice, such as state and local education agencies, school boards, institutes of higher education, and student, family, and community organizations. RELs partner with these organizations on applied research and development; training, coaching and technical supports; and dissemination.
Partnerships
Utah Early Career Teacher Retention Partnership
Teacher turnover is fiscally and academically costly, and attrition from the profession is highest in teachers’ initial years on the job. More than 40 percent of Utah teachers leave the profession within their first five years with patterns varying regionally across the state. This multi-year partnership between REL West and the Utah State Board of Education will engage a set of Utah school districts to understand and address the root causes of early career teacher attrition through new local data collection, and analysis and applied research.
Educator Effectiveness Alliance (Historical)
The REL West Educator Effectiveness Alliance (EE) is a regional group of state education agency (SEA) leaders, from Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, that originally came together in 2010 to collectively learn about ways to advance federal priorities around educator effectiveness, including strengthening observation and feedback for teachers and administrators. Today, these SEA leaders are seeking to continue to refine and/or expand their systems of professional support for educators, and, in turn, improve retention among their teachers and principals. This is especially salient given shortages in particular schools and/or subject areas. Education leaders are interested in using federal Title II Part A funds more strategically and for greater impact, including understanding ways to design and implement effective, efficient, and technology-enriched supports for teachers and leaders.
Evidence-Based Practices for Strengthening Applied Career-Technical Education Experiences in Rural Areas.
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) is committed to supporting Career Technical Education (CTE) across the state. Currently, CTE is a graduation requirement, and approved CTE programs are offered at almost every middle and high school in Utah. The USBE is interested in expanding offerings in rural communities. For this request, REL West will identify examples of evidence-based models for CTE in rural communities and examine whether any of the models are viable options for USBE to further explore. REL West will provide two 90-minute consultations for USBE staff members focused on CTE.
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