Consumers of Research

REL-NEI Researcher Brings Evidence-Based Information to Puerto Rico School Principals

On January 29th, 2010, REL-NEI Researcher Sonia Caus Gleason led a vigorous discussion with Puerto Rico school principals about academic activities and strategies to improve student achievement. Participants included principals of schools designated by the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) as at risk for low performance. Gleason presented two Issues & Answers reports, “How Eight State Education Agencies (SEAs) in the Northeast and Islands Region Identify and Support Low-Performing Schools and Districts” and “How State Education Agencies in the Northeast and Islands Region Support Data-Driven Decision-Making in Districts and Schools.” The first focuses on direct state supports and interventions for low-performing schools and districts under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The second describes the local capacities needed to work with data effectively and profiles service providers that support educators in their DDDM practices.

Puerto Rico principals discuss evidence-based resources to help turn around low-performing schools during a January conference in San Juan.

Gleason also introduced participants to the research-based recommendations found in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Practice Guide, “Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools.” The four recommendations work together to help failing schools make adequate yearly progress (AYP). Participants identified resources to share with their communities and discussed what can be done in their schools to improve student performance, using the IES publications. Professors and doctoral students of the University of Puerto Rico’s Centers for Education Leadership and Education Research guided small groups, which reported out in an afternoon plenary session.

Mass District Uses IES Practice Guide on Classroom Behavior as a PD Tool for Teachers

Dr. Krista Kutash, Professor and Deputy Director of the Research and Training Center for Children’s Mental Health at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, presented the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Practice Guide on behavior management to district teams of educators at a January 2010 Policy Challenges Conference in Framingham, Mass. Following the conference, Karen McNamara, Director of of Student Services for Wrentham Public Schools, told REL-NEI how she had shared evidence-based recommendations in the Guide with teachers in her district: “We have used the Practice Guide as a professional development tool for both general-education and special-education staff. Our Student Support Team is working on developing an integrated response-to-intervention model, so I immediately gave a copy of the guide to each member of the team. I plan to follow up with additional training on behavior strategies.”

Mass DOE Relies on Research to Inform District Accountability Standards

Policymakers at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) turned to REL-NEI in spring 2009 to provide top-line research on school effectiveness as they updated the state’s regulations for monitoring underperforming schools. Center for School and District Accountability staff were drafting district standards and indicators for use in conducting district reviews, and their advisory council requested evidence supporting what they were doing. “It was important to us to make sure we had an independent body of researchers to verify these indicators, rather than conduct the research ourselves to sort of prove our own point,” Center Manager Eva Mitchell told the REL-NEI Governing Board at its February 2010 meeting in Boston. “We can now be confident, since we have the research, that these are the right things to put into regulations.”

Reference Desk Response on Academic Tracking Informs Policy Change in Meriden, Connecticut

At the fall 2009 REL-NEI Governing Board meeting, Robert Angeli, associate commissioner of instruction for Connecticut’s Meriden School District, described the role research played in informing a school board decision to replace a longtime, multilevel academic tracking system with a two-tiered plan. Among the data Angeli shared with his board was a REL-NEI Reference Desk Response that delivered more than a dozen evidence-based books and journal articles suggesting that tracking benefits those in the higher tracks and hurts those in the lower tracks. While gathering research, Angeli recalled, he sent lists of resources to his principals and their staff, saying, “If you find research counter to the research in my proposal, send it to me. I never received anything.”

Rhode Island ELL Specialist Says REL-NEI Report Informs Criteria for Data Collection

During a September 2009 webinar, Robert Measel, Literacy and English Language Learners Specialist at the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), said an Issues & Answers Report on the relationship between English language learners’ (ELLs) performance on the ACCESS for ELLs language-proficiency exam and their performance on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) can inform his department’s data collection: “This study is helping to give us some criteria for identifying data that we need to be collecting that will help us understand these variables a little bit better.” He also praised the report for providing concrete evidence to help understand ELLs’ academic achievement. “We know that there’s an achievement gap for ELLs on these academic achievement assessments,” Measel said. “What this study does for us is it helps us quantify that relationship. It gives us some evidence to explain the relationship between language proficiency and outcomes on our academic achievement assessments.”

Colorado District Administrator Says Adolescent Literacy Report Provides a ‘Focus for Reform’

A June 2009 webinar presented findings from two Issues & Answers Reports that address adolescent literacy, including a REL-NEI report on five different states’ policies to help struggling older readers. “Reports like the ‘Five States’ Efforts’ have such benefits for local districts by providing a focus for reform,” said Deborah Backus, Chief Academic Officer, Jefferson County Public Schools, Colorado. “When we know what the five common policy features are from the five states, they’re so applicable to best-practice instruction and program development in the school districts. It sets expectations for school districts, for schools, and for teachers who are reluctant to make the shift from literature to literacy.”

REL-NEI Researchers Take Evidence to New York Regents

New York State Researcher Nicole Breslow supported a Regents Work Group on Improving the Recruitment, Preparation, and Retention of Teachers for Urban Education by providing research findings on teacher turnover, induction programs, pre-service clinical training experiences, teacher certification requirements, and more. “Just having Nicole and the REL’s voice on the committee was a great opportunity for us,” said Stan Hanson, Executive Coordinator, Office of K-16 Initiatives and Access Programs, New York State Education Department (NYSED). “The analysis the REL provided with the New York Comprehensive Center on New York City teacher-preparation programs really assisted us with providing the group information about the type of quality programs we need.”

NH Superintendent Finds Policy Challenges Webinar on Dropout Prevention Practice Guide to be ‘Practical and Purposeful’

At a May 2009 Policy Challenges webinar, Dr. Jay Smink, Director of the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network at Clemson University, presented six evidence-based recommendations for dropout prevention and linked them to a statewide New Hampshire initiative to redesign high schools and raise graduation rates. Newfound Area Schools Superintendent and REL-NEI Governing Board Member Marie Ross had this to say: “The dropout prevention dialogue is an important one to have, and this webinar was practical and purposeful. I found the crosswalk with the New Hampshire Vision for Redesign to be most helpful. In my role as a superintendent, many documents come across my desk, and it was very helpful to have a personal tour guide to help discover the rich treasure that this one is.”

Research on Growth Models Helps Inform Decision-Making at Mass DOE

At the request of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), a team of REL-NEI researchers examined the applicability of three distinct growth model methodologies for tracking Massachusetts’ students progress toward proficiency on the MCAS over time. “REL-NEI’s work helped our agency identify the challenges we would encounter with using our state assessment data to calculate growth,” said Carrie Conaway, Director of Planning, Research, and Evaluation at the Department. “Although we ultimately adopted a different model than the ones the REL tested, the work was helpful in setting the foundation for our further research.”

Mass Official Appreciates Timeliness of Report on Help for Low-Performing Schools and Districts

A March 2009 webinar highlighted findings from a new REL-NEI report on state supports for low-performing schools and districts. Attendee Lise Zeig, Director of the Office of Urban District Assistance, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE), commented on the timeliness of the report: “We’re once again updating and revitalizing our entire accountability and support framework and system. Thanks for sharing this report; it will help us as we’re continuing to think about the structures of our supports.”

Maine DOE Assesses Teacher Retention Strategies Using REL-NEI Database

At a December 2008 webinar, Maine Distinguished Educator Dan Conley and Title II Coordinator Barbara Moody talked about how they’re using REL-NEI’s Compendium of Teacher Retention Strategies to see how Maine compares with other states in the region on teacher retention programs and policies. The compendium gathers information on district size, per-participant cost, target grade level, and program type across several states. “Looking at the research in other states is helpful in figuring out how we fit into the national issues,” Moody said. “The individual reports on each program are nice little snippets without having to wade through a whole lot of anecdotal information,” Conley said.

Vermont Superintendent Sees REL-NEI Study of Online Algebra Access Building Appetite for Data

At a February 2009 webinar presenting REL-NEI’s Pathways to Math Achievement randomized controlled trial study, Chittenden South Superintendent Elaine Pinckney told participants that findings from the study will help with building an appetite for data in her district. “If you’re working on building data-driven professional learning communities, I think when you have data like this that everybody can wrap their heads around, it really helps move that forward,” she said.