Press Releases

Several Details of School Bullying Linked to Increased Reporting to Officials
31 August 2010
Boston, Mass. — Bullying often goes unreported in U.S. schools, making the problem difficult for school officials to identify and manage. In a new Issues & Answers Report published by the Institute of Education Sciences—“What Characteristics of Bullying, Bullying Victims, and Schools Are Associated with Increased Reporting of Bullying to School Officials?”—REL Northeast and Islands researchers identified several details associated with bullying incidents that are linked to increased reporting to school officials.

Report Examines How States Train General Education Teachers to Teach Students with Disabilities
2 August 2010
Boston, Mass. — A new Issues & Answers Report from the Institute of Education Sciences examines how the nine states and territories served by the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) prepare their general education teachers to teach students with disabilities. The report describes existing certification requirements for special education coursework and/or fieldwork for general education teachers in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

New Research Examines How School Districts Identify Learning Disabilities Among ELLs
16 February 2010
Boston, Mass. — A new Issues & Answers Report produced by the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) describes how three midsize school districts in New York State identify learning disabilities among students who are English language learners (ELLs). The report presents similarities and differences in the districts’ practices and lists eight challenges these educators faced in identifying learning disabilities among ELLs. It also describes five conditions that appear to be important for avoiding misidentification.

National Dropout-Prevention Expert and Virgin Islands Education Stakeholders Convene to “Keep Our Kids in School”
2 February 2010
Boston, Mass. — The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Education will co-host a Policy Challenges Conference on dropout prevention —“Bridging Research and Practice: Keeping Our Kids in School” — with national education expert Dr. Russell Rumberger at the University of the Virgin Islands on February 9, 2010.

Study Finds Support for Response to Intervention in New England and New York States
8 December 2009
Boston, Mass. — A new REL Northeast and Islands Issues & Answers Report published by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) finds that the six New England states and New York support Response to Intervention (RTI) as an overall school instructional improvement approach or as an approach to determining special-education eligibility at the local level. The report also finds that documents collected from the states’ education agency websites address the eight core features of RTI as defined by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities.

Report Links Hispanic Students’ MCAS Scores and School and Student Factors

1 June 2009

Boston, Mass. — New research from the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) points to links between student and school variables and 10th-grade Hispanic students’ scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) English language arts (ELA) and mathematics tests from 2002 to 2006. The study also found that Hispanic students’ average scores on the language arts and math tests increased over the four years, narrowing the performance gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students.

State Education Agencies Show Initiative on Data-Driven Decision-Making, Use Service Providers

18 May 2009

Boston, Mass. — A new Issues & Answers Report from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) details how state education agencies (SEAs) in the Northeast and Islands Region support data-driven decision-making in districts and schools and describes the service providers hired to help do this work.

New Report Highlights District Efforts to Involve Parents in Older Students’ Education

27 April 2009

Boston, Mass. — A new Issues & Answers Report from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) describes the varied policies, practices, and programs implemented by nine urban school districts across the Northeast to engage parents in their adolescent children’s education.

Report Details Leading Adolescent Literacy Programs in Five U.S. States

6 April 2009

Boston, Mass. — A new Issues & Answers Report published by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) describes efforts by five states—Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Rhode Island—to improve adolescent literacy. Highlighting common challenges and lessons, the report examines how each state has engaged key stakeholders, set rigorous goals and standards, aligned resources to support adolescent literacy goals, built educator capacity, and used data to measure progress.

Report Examines State Supports for Low-Performing Schools and Districts in the Region
2 March 2009
Boston, Mass. — A new Issues & Answers Report published by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) describes and analyzes how eight state education agencies (SEAs) work with low-performing schools and districts under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) produced the report, which includes information from SEAs in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York State, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Database Details Dropout Prevention Programs in Nine Northeast Urban School Districts
18 February 2009
Boston, Mass. — To inform education leaders about district-level approaches to curbing high school dropout rates, the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) has published a searchable database of dropout prevention strategies used in nine urban school districts in four Northeastern states. The database is accompanied by a REL-NEI Issues & Answers Report published by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in 2008.

English Reading, Writing Scores on Language Exam a Stronger Predictor than Oral Skills of English Language Learners’ Performance on State-Level Content Tests
26 January 2009
Boston, Mass. — An Issues & Answers Report published this week by the Institute of Education Sciences finds that fifth- and eighth-grade English language learners’ (ELLs) scores in reading and writing on an English-language proficiency exam predict their performance on state assessments of reading, writing, and math. The findings suggest that English literacy appears to be a stronger predictor than English listening and speaking skills of ELLs’ performance on state-level subject matter tests.