Profiles of the Regional Educational Laboratories

Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning

Mission

To make a difference in the quality of education and learning for all through excellence in applied research, product development, and service. In carrying out its mission, McREL works collaboratively with its clients to improve educational policy and practice through the application of knowledge from research, development, and experience.

Regional Problem Areas to be Addressed

McREL is engaged in applied research, development, service, and dissemination initiatives designed to provide educators with the procedural ("how-to") knowledge they need to create high-performing learning communities. McREL's work in the Central Region is organized to address four critical problems:

• the lack of capacity to use standards to reform classroom practice;
• the declining availability of quality teachers;
• the lack of leadership capacity to build high-performing learning systems; and
• the failure to adequately support reform efforts.

Lack of capacity to use standards to reform classroom practice (staff contact: Lou Cicchinelli). McREL is helping states and districts in the Central Region develop and adopt standards-based curricula, instruction methods, and classroom assessments. Specifically, McREL is developing a process that districts and states can use to create grade-level benchmarks. McREL is also creating exemplary standards and instructional units linked to the standards to help teachers address more than one standard or benchmark with a single lesson unit. In addition, McREL is researching what practices and structures are most effective in creating standards-based classrooms in "beat-the-odds" schools.

At the state level, McREL is designing a process for evaluating the structure of state assessments and accountability systems against new national standards for accountability created by the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing and the Center for Policy Research in Education. As an outgrowth of this work, we will begin designing guidelines and models for comprehensive state accountability systems that balance local and state responsibility as appropriate to the region. Furthermore, we will continue to provide training and technical assistance in accountability and assessment systems to local education agencies.

The declining availability of quality teachers (staff contact: Lou Cicchinelli). The work in this problem area is designed to address two broad elements of teacher quality: teacher qualifications and preparation, (including preservice learning and in-service teacher learning), and support in the workplace; and teacher instructional practices. McREL is identifying the necessary elements to prepare teachers who positively affect K-12 student learning in standards-based classrooms. In addition, McREL is analyzing the incentives states are using to encourage districts to adopt effective professional development programs and studying the impact of these policies on the quality and availability of teachers in the region. McREL also plans to research teacher compensation issues and needs prior to developing a pilot, exemplary teacher compensation system. Finally, McREL will provide technical assistance to build the capacity of intermediate service agency staff in the region to provide professional development on topics related to standards-based education.

The lack of leadership capacity to build high-performing learning systems (staff contact: Lou Cicchinelli). To foster increased leadership capacity in districts and schools in the region, McREL is hosting academies providing follow-up training for leaders of high-needs schools in the region. McREL is also bringing together networks of urban superintendents, rural educators, and chief state school officers to facilitate the sharing of best practices, procedural knowledge, and the creation of learning communities. In addition, through its rural initiative, McREL will be creating a Web site providing resources designed specifically to address the needs of rural schools. Finally, McREL will conduct research studies to examine the relationships among different variables of leadership capacity and student achievement.

The failure to adequately support reform efforts (staff contact: Lou Cicchinelli). McREL's fourth problem area focuses on helping states and schools develop capacity to transform low-performing schools into high-performing learning communities. To this end, McREL is working with state education agencies to help them address issues of organizational policy and program structures, fragmentation, and lack of focus at the state level. At the local level, McREL is providing technical assistance to schools that have adopted comprehensive school reform models to help them successfully implement and sustain these programs. Likewise, McREL is forming consortia of low-performing schools in South Dakota and Kansas. These schools will share lessons learned and receive technical assistance from McREL to help them become high-performing learning communities. Lastly, McREL is continuing to develop and field test a comprehensive process for integrating technology into school curriculum, which in turn, becomes an avenue for districts to improve instruction and foster systemic reform.

National Leadership Area

Standards-based instructional practice (staff contact: Lou Cicchinelli). The cornerstone of McREL's strategy for developing the national leadership area of standards-based instructional practice is facilitating a media-supported and technologically sustained national dialogue on education, known as the National Dialogue, in collaboration with strategic partners from across the nation. Given the backdrop of the current environment surrounding standards--where a movement that arose from concern for children often has been mired in division, polarization, and politicization--we are attempting to raise the quality and productivity of public discourse on education reform. The purpose of the National Dialogue is to move the country beyond debate and contention to a point where the public can begin to share success stories and ways to use standards-based reforms to benefit all students.

The National Dialogue will take place over the next 2 years and will be a collective, cumulative process. In other words, no single event is "the Dialogue." The first of a series of national, regional, state, and local opportunities for dialogue took place in April of 2001 at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri. The National Dialogue Web Site (http://www.nationaldialogue.org) serves as both an information repository for the Dialogue and a forum where participants take part in ongoing, real time "virtual" dialogues.

In addition to the Dialogue project, McREL is monitoring and synthesizing research literature related to standards-based instruction. We will compile this data into a research report as a well as a user-friendly publication, which will be disseminated across the region and nation.

Key Accomplishments

Two accomplishments from the last contract help set the stage for McREL's current focus on procedural knowledge and improving low-performing schools.

Online standards database. This database (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/) helps to address the regional problem area of the lack of capacity to use standards to reform classroom practice. It makes accessible the work in Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education, which synthesizes information from more than 137 documents and reports that address what students should know and be able to do. During 2000, over 280,000 people connected to the standards database. In addition, many organizations--including Achieve, Inc.; Scholastic, Inc.; and the New York Times--use the database to support their work to improve educational practice. The site also provides classroom activities linked to standards and benchmarks. They are designed to help educators implement standards by providing them with exemplary lesson and unit plan ideas. During 2000, over 44,000 educators accessed these activities.

Research into Practice Series. This program prepares staff development providers to conduct a series of workshops to improve classroom practice and thus, student achievement. The trainings focus on four key areas: Implementing Standards in the Classroom; Classroom Assessment, Grading, and Record Keeping; Effective Instructional Practices; and Enhancing Reading Development. Collectively, the series helps to address the problem area of the failure to adequately support reform efforts by providing low-performing schools with research-based training on how to boost reading achievement and use assessment data to guide instruction. The modules were pilot tested with over 300 regional educators--75 percent of whom said they increased their understanding of the subject area as a result; more than 90 percent said they planned to use the information in their schools or districts.

Upcoming Products and Events

Policy forum. McREL continues to host annual forums bringing together key policymakers from the Central Region. Participants share experiences and gain insights from education research on issues of mutual concern (Summer 2001, Denver, Colorado).

Online toolkit for school leaders. This site (http://www.mcrel.org/toolkit/) provides information about systems theory as well as brief discussions of key education topics and a list of related resources. The site will be expanded and reoriented to better meet the needs of low-performing schools in transition (Winter 2001).

Leadership academies. McREL is working with nationally recognized principals to develop and provide leadership academies for principals, teachers, and other leaders in low-performing schools and districts in Kansas and South Dakota (the initial academy is scheduled for the Summer 2001).

Meta-analysis of classroom management strategies. To employ effective instructional techniques, teachers also need to know how to effectively manage student behavior in the classroom. In response to this need, McREL is conducting a meta-analysis of classroom management strategies that have been shown to have positive impacts on student achievement. A final report will be available after the conclusion of this study (Winter 2001).

[Laboratory for Student Success] [North Central Regional Educational Laboratory]

This page last modified August 29, 2001 (jer)