Archive

• Season's Greetings — December 30, 2011
• Class Size — November 11, 2011
• Functional School Consolidation — October 28, 2011
• Effective Professional Development — October 14, 2011
• Kindergarten Readiness — September 30, 2011
• Social Media — September 16, 2011
• Magnet Schools — August 26, 2011
• Teacher Induction Programs — August 12, 2011
• Social-Emotional Learning — July 29, 2011
• College Faculty and Student Success — July 15, 2011
• School Turnaround Models — July 1, 2011
• Language Testing and ELLs — June 10, 2011
• Math Teacher Educational Background — May 27, 2011
• Urban Inclusion Models — May 13, 2011

The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.

Question of the Week

Season’s Greetings from the REL-NEI Reference Desk

Thank you for your questions!

Happy Holidays! This is the final edition of the REL-NEI Reference Desk Digest for the 2006–2011 Regional Educational Laboratory contract.

But be of good cheer. We will still address your questions with clear, concise research summaries and links to relevant resources. Check this website regularly for our new service and for our many other offerings.

Meanwhile, REL-NEI would like to thank you for your interest in—and for your wonderful questions to—the Reference Desk. We have enjoyed providing this service, and we hope you have benefited as well. You may have noted the amazing range of topics  that we’ve covered. For example, our Digest on functional school consolidation might interest rural education policymakers, whereas our inquiry into urban elementary schools would appeal to city educators. And where else might you read about the pros and cons of replacing student chairs with balance balls? Or about the educational effects of social media or social-emotional learning? The list goes on, as you can see in the left-side column.

Thanks to all the researchers, reviewers, liaisons, and technical staff from Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), Empirical Education, and Learning Innovations at WestEd who have promoted and contributed to the Reference Desk over the years, and to Jessica Brett, Kathryn Thomas, Natalie Lacireno-Paquet, Ruthie Chang, Joe Townsend, Melissa Campbell, Margit Zsolnay, and Charlie Rockman for their supreme work in administrating it. REL-NEI could not have provided this invaluable service without you all.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a question to the Reference Desk or read about them here. We hope to see you online again soon.

Sincerely,

Heidi Larson
Reference Desk Manager
REL Northeast and Islands