Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center
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FEDERAL
Our Future, Our Teachers: The Obama Administration’s Plan for Teacher Education Reform and Improvement
The U.S. Department of Education released its strategy to ensure teachers are ready to enter the classroom by proposing a series of initiatives to reward the best teacher preparation programs, improve the quality at schools of education, and remove burdensome regulations. These reforms are part of the Obama Administration's effort to support educators and make government programs work better for teachers and students.
School Improvement Grants: Early Implementation Under Way, but Reforms Affected by Short Time Frames
The School Improvement Grants (SIG) program, which was created in 2002, funds reforms in the country's lowest-performing schools with the goal of improving student outcomes, such as standardized test scores and graduation rates. Congress requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct a broad review of the SIG program. On the basis of congressional request, this report provides preliminary information on the following questions: (1) How have selected states administered the SIG program for grants starting in school year SY 2010–11?
Central SIG Regional Conference Materials
The U.S. Department of Education, in partnership with its Comprehensive Centers and other regional service agencies, hosted four regional capacity building conferences in support of state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and schools awarded and implementing SIGs. The Central SIG Regional Conference, co-sponsored by the Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center, featured sessions focused on the unique needs of rural schools and schools serving American Indians and Alaska Natives.
School Improvement Grant (SIG) Conference Materials
Leading Successful School Turnarounds: Learning from Research and Practice:
- Western SIG Conference Materials
The Western Region SIG conference brought together over 250 participants from nine states, including representatives of state education agencies, local education agencies, and schools implementing SIGs. - Midwest High School SIG Conference Materials
Baseline Analyses: State SIG Policies and Practices and SIG-Eligible and SIG-Awarded School Characteristics
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance released a report examining the implementation of School Improvement Grants (SIG) authorized under Title I section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and supplemented by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Find What Works
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) has created a new tool assisting visitors in finding interventions that address their school or district's needs and summarizes their evidence of effectiveness.
What are the Characteristics, Qualifications, Roles, and Functions of School Support Teams? An Examination of Survey Results for Four Northwest Region States
Support teams work as external facilitators of improvement in schools and districts designated as in need of improvement under the No Child Left Behind Act. REL Northwest has released a study finding that team members in four Northwest region states share many characteristics and qualifications and work primarily in schools, meeting with administrators on school improvement planning and implementation. Team members differ in time spent on the activities that support these functions.
ED Data Express
The U.S. Department of Education's new ED Data Express website is designed to improve the public's ability to access and explore high-value, state-level education data collected by the U.S. Department of Education. The site currently includes data from EDFacts, Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPR), State Accountability Workbooks, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), the College Board, and the Department's Budget Service office.
The Condition of Education 2010
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) annual publication, The Condition of Education 2010, is now available. The publication summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 49 indicators on the status and condition of education, in addition to a special section on high-poverty schools.
Research Behind the Obama Administration's Proposal for Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
The U.S. Department of Education has released research summaries that outline the research base for each section of the publication, A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/blueprint.pdf). The research summaries are meant to inform conversations around ESEA reauthorization and the reforms that research shows are necessary.
