A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

From Promise to Practice

Are you an educator, policymaker, parent or community member interested or currently involved in school improvement efforts? If so, a recent publication about the U.S. Department of Education's Regional Educational Laboratories can provide you with useful background and insight into an important source. From Promise to Practice: Stories from the Regional Educational Laboratories brings together examples that illustrate the work of the laboratories. The stories give a flavor of variety, inventiveness, and value of the programs and services that have emerged from the labs.

The network of 10 Regional Educational Laboratories, funded by the Department to serve particular geographic regions of the United States and its territories, carries out research and development-designed in partnership with state and local educators-that seek solutions to the most persistent education problems within their regions.

The laboratory stories are organized around four high-priority areas: (1) fostering school reform and improvement; (2) helping teachers and administrators grow professionally; (3) linking school, home, and community; and (4) helping policymakers reach informed decisions. Examples of the work of the laboratories, and their results, include:

• a program that effectively trains teachers to use questions to stimulate better student thinking.

• a strategic teaching and reading program that improves instruction not only in reading but other subjects as well. Students in the program performed at more advanced levels on authentic assessments of reading comprehension than those not in the program.

• "Onward to Excellence," a school improvement process that supports schools' reform initiatives. Schools using the process reported stronger cooperation among school staff, improved school climate, and higher school performance.

• a popular publication that summarizes current national and state efforts to develop standards in content areas which include math, science, and the arts. Districts and schools are using the document as a reference point to design their own standards.

• an on-line telecommunications network as a tool for teachers and administrators to share ideas and obtain education information. In its fourth year, the network has some 25,000 users.

• a how-to professional development guide for starting and maintaining mentoring programs that pair veteran teachers with new teachers. To help spread mentoring programs throughout the region, the lab formed a regional mentoring network with the states in its region.

• weekly take-home guides for parents of young children, Family Connections, containing educational activities parents and children can do together at home. Guides for parents of young children reached more than 60,000 homes in 45 states.

• a community-based activity program sponsored jointly by a lab and school system. Students who participated in the program had higher grades, more positive attitues toward school, and fewer absences.

For descriptions of each laboratory, its current work, and contact information, a companion publication, Profiles of the Regional Educational Laboratories, is available. Single copies of Profiles and From Promise to Practice are available free from OERI's National Library of Education (1-800-424-1616).
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