Lessons Learned
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LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE NORTHWEST AND BEYOND 2010 ANNUAL REPORT Founded in 1966 as the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Education Northwest works alongside educators, administrators, policymakers, and community members to transform teaching and learning. Four priorities frame our work: • Supporting educators • Strengthening schools and districts • Engaging families and communities • Conducting research, evaluation, and assessment Our mission is to improve learning by building capacity in schools, families, and communities through applied research and development. LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE NORTHWEST AND BEYOND 2010 ANNUAL REPORT 1 A Message to Our Members 2 A Year of Accomplishments 4 Lessons Learned Choosing a School Turnaround Provider Creating Schools That Support Success for English Language Learners Leveraging the Unique Features of Small, Rural Schools for Improvement Planning a School-Based Mentoring Program Lessons Learned From High School SLC and Small School Reform Efforts 16 Organizational Structure 17 Governance 18 Financial Highlights 20 Contracts Funded 22 Members A Message to Our Members To borrow a phrase from Charles than 300,000 students out of 2.1 • Leading and sustaining school Dickens, 2010 was “the best of times million total). Of the nearly 1,100 improvement e"orts, particu- [and] the worst of times.” While the districts in the region, 240 have larly in schools identi%ed as in economic downturn continued to a greater than 10 percent His- need of improvement by federal force states and schools to slash panic population and 33 exceed 50 and/or state mandates budgets and make painful choices, percent Hispanic enrollment. #e • Improving secondary education, the federal government cushioned overall student minority rate now including increasing academic some of the blow with American stands at 28 percent, but less than performance, graduation rates, Recovery and Reinvestment Act 5 percent of Northwest teachers are and readiness for postsecondary (ARRA) money that was used from racial or ethnic minorities. success by many districts to fund sta" #e number of children in the As this annual report demon- positions. As our evaluation of Northwest eligible for free and strates, Education Northwest is Idaho’s ARRA educational spend- reduced-price lunch has increased working alongside Northwest ing found, 79 percent of funds by 14 percent in the last two years. educators, policymakers, parents, were used to save jobs that would Nearly one in %ve children in the students, and communities to have otherwise been reduced or region live in families receiving address these issues. In spite of eliminated. #e Race to the Top public assistance—about the same the %nancial barriers and other and Investing in Innovation grant number as the national average. obstacles we face, we remain com- programs helped to promote out- In the Northwest, educational mitted to improving education for of-the-box educational reforms, priorities remain focused on clos- all students. while School Improvement Grants ing the achievement gap. #rough provided targeted support for the analysis of client requests, student nation’s chronically lowest per- assessment results, and various forming schools. state and federal data sources, Both the nation and the region Education Northwest identi%ed Dr. Carol "omas continued to experience demo- the following needs as most salient Chief Executive O&cer graphic shi$s that have impacted to educators and policymakers in the classroom. All %ve Northwest our region in 2010: states represented on our board • Reducing the great disparities (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, in educational participation and and Washington) have seen an performance among student increase in Hispanic student enroll- groups, based on race and ethnic ment, which reached 14 percent origin, family income, and Eng- of all students in the region (more lish language pro%ciency 1 A Year of Accomplishments Fiscal year 2010 was marked by part of that work, we produced Strengthening schools and historic challenges in the regional, a 15-minute video and accom- districts national, and global economies. panying professional develop- • Education Northwest was #e infusion of more than $100 ment guide on how successful named a partner in the Race billion in American Recovery and schools around Alaska are using to the Top (RTT) National Reinvestment Act funds helped principal walk-throughs to Technical Assistance Network, ameliorate the situation, but states, improve instruction. #e video a $40 million project led by ICF districts, and schools continued to was distributed to every district International. We will serve as struggle with shrinking budgets in the state. the technical assistance provider and rising costs. Despite the bleak to support RTT implementation %nancial situation, Education • Teaming up with Corwin, we throughout the nation. Northwest succeeded in securing published Culturally Respon- 155 new and continuing contracts sive, Standards-Based Teaching: • #e Oregon Department of and grants, earning $19.3 mil- Classroom to Community and Education chose Education lion. We supported educational Back. To reach a broader reader- Northwest to direct the Oregon improvement e"orts throughout ship, the authors updated their Leadership Network (OLN), the region and the nation with 2005 book that was originally a 10-year partnership among almost 1,200 workshops, train- developed for Northwest audi- 19 of the state’s school districts ing institutes, and other services ences. #e new edition includes that collectively educate about for close to 20,000 participants. national examples, up-to-date half of the state’s students. Two #e following is a sampling of our resources, and tools to help OLN institutes organized by wide-ranging work: schools and districts incor- Education Northwest attracted porate their students’ cultural 300 participants each. Founded Supporting educators traditions into standards-based with support from the Wallace • As part of our Regional Edu- instruction. Foundation, the OLN is the only cational Laboratory work, we national network that focuses on hosted 10 Bridge Events across • We successfully completed key building educational leadership the region. #ese forums are federal initiatives, including for equity. designed to promote a dia- work by the Northwest Regional logue among nationally known Comprehensive Assistance Cen- • We created a clearinghouse for researchers and local practitio- ter (NWRCC) and the Region X information and resources on ners and policymakers. Topics Equity Assistance Center (EAC). the American Recovery and ranged from dropout prevention In the coming year, NWRCC Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to to adolescent literacy, data use, will focus on three of the admin- help our Northwest stakehold- charter school e"ects, turn- istration’s reform priorities: ers stay current on this unprec- ing around chronically low- Great Teachers/Great Leaders; edented federal investment in performing schools, and early Statewide Systems of Sup- education. With weekly news childhood development. port; and Common Core State <ashes, we updated ARRA Standards. #e EAC continues developments in each of our %ve • #rough an expanded subcon- to serve the region’s desegrega- states and new funding opportu- tract with the Alaska Compre- tion and equity needs and has nities that states, tribes, schools, hensive Center, we continued to recently focused on supporting and districts could access. provide high-quality services to federal regulations for reducing the Alaska Department of Edu- bullying and harassment. cation & Early Development. As 2 • We began work to enhance Conducting research, Oregon’s State System of Support evaluation, and assessment to include screening, hiring, and • A team of Education North- placing 48 coaches in 68 schools. west evaluators received a Our ongoing professional highly competitive $2.8 mil- development is giving coaches lion research grant from the and principals research-based Institute of Education Sciences strategies to increase student to study the impact of Proj- achievement. Engaging families and ect GLAD (Guided Language communities Acquisition Design). Although • Our third annual national • An e-learning course developed Project GLAD is widely used, institute on high school reform, by Education Northwest was one our randomized controlled trial From Structure to Instruction, of 13 award winners recognized is the %rst rigorous study of this attracted a capacity crowd of by the International E-Learning model of instruction for English nearly 600 educators to Las Association. #e interactive language learners. #e three- Vegas, NV. Teams from school course, created for the Corpora- year study will involve %$h- districts around the country had tion for National and Commu- grade teachers and students in high praise for practitioner-led nity Service, focuses on VISTA 25 Idaho elementary schools. presentations on a wide range of Civil Rights and Responsibili- high school reform topics and ties. VISTA is Volunteers in Ser- • Idaho education o&cials com- sessions designed to help inter- vice to America, a program that missioned Education North- ested participants respond to the deploys volunteers as capacity- west to conduct a three-phase U.S. Department of Education’s builders in low-income commu- evaluation of how school Smaller Learning Communities nities. Education Northwest has districts in the state used $280 Program 2010 RFP. long been a national leader in million in ARRA funds. #e online and