Identifying and Addressing Priority Education Needs

1 A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis October 2016 Identifying and Addressing PriorityEducation Department of EducationAlaskaNorthwestMidwestNortheast & IslandsMid-AtlanticAppalachiaWestSouthwe stCentralSoutheastPacif cThis page was intentionally left blank. Identifying and Addressing Priority Education Needs A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis October 12, 2016 Author Laura Holian Submitted to Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education 400 Maryland Avenue SW Washington, DC 20202 Program Officer Kim Okahara Submitted by Insight Policy Research, Inc. 1901 North Moore Street Suite 1100 Arlington, VA 22209 Project Director Laura Holian Acknowledgements his report was prepared by Insight Policy Research under Contract No.

2 ED-ESE-15-A-0010/0001 with the Department of Education . The report represents a team effort with many individuals making important contributions, and I gratefully acknowledge their assistance. I recognize the sustained help of Kim Okahara, Program Officer; Britt Jung, Group Leader in the Office of School Support and Rural Programs; and Patrice Swann, the Contracting Officer s Representative from the Department of Education . I thank Jackson Miller, Brittany Cunningham, Rachel Holzwart, Anne Peterson, and Dominick Esposito from Insight Policy Research for their assistance collecting data, responding to requests for information, and making sure all the moving parts stayed on track. I also thank Kim Kerson and Daven Ralston for their production support. I thank all the facilitators and support personnel from Insight Policy Research, the Applied Engineering Management Corporation, and ICF International.

3 Their work with the 10 regional committees made this report possible. Lastly I would like to thank all the individual Regional Advisory Committee members for taking the time to conduct Needs assessments and provide thoughtful suggestions for how to address those Needs . T Insight Identifying and Addressing Regional Needs : A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis Contents Executive Summary .. i Overview of the Regional Advisory Committees .. 1 A. Purpose .. 1 B. Members .. 1 Regional Advisory Committee Activities .. 2 A. Outreach .. 2 B. Meetings and Collaboration .. 3 C. Individual Needs Assessment Reports .. 4 Needs and Recommendations .. 5 A. Preparing Students To Be College and Career Ready .. 8 B. Ensuring Equity and Addressing Disproportionality .. 11 C. Supporting the Lowest Performing Schools and Closing Achievement Gaps.

4 12 Conclusion .. 14 Appendix A .. A-1 Insight Identifying and Addressing Regional Needs : A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis Tables Table 1. Number of RAC members Identifying each need as a Priority .. 5 Table A-1. Number of individuals nominated, recommended, and serving on each RAC .. A-1 Table A-2. Percentage of survey respondents rating each need area as the top Priority in their region, by region .. A-3 Table A-3. Percentage of survey respondents rating each need area as the top Priority in their region, by stakeholder group .. A-4 Table A-4. Number of RAC members Identifying each need as a Priority .. A-5 Table A-5. Recommendations to support the need to prepare students to be college and career ready .. A-5 Table A-6. Recommendations to support the need to ensure equity and address disproportionality.

5 A-8 Table A-7. Recommendations to support the lowest performing schools and reduce achievement gaps .. A-11 Table A-8. Recommendations to help recruit, retain, and equitably distribute effective teachers and leaders .. A-13 Table A-9. Recommendations to improve access to early childhood A-16 Table A-10. Recommendations to improve accountability and assessments .. A-17 Table A-11. Recommendations to assist in implementation of Every Student Succeeds Act .. A-18 Table A-12. Recommendations to promote personalized learning and innovative use of technology . A-19 Insight Identifying and Addressing Regional Needs : A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis Figures Figure 1. Distribution of responses from the public .. 3 Figure A-1. Priority Needs identified through online survey.

6 A-2 Insight Identifying and Addressing Regional Needs : A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis Executive Summary his report summarizes the activities and results of the ten 2016 Regional Advisory Committees (RACs), established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 9601 et seq.). The RACs were formed to identify each region s most critical educational Needs and develop recommendations for technical assistance to meet those Needs . The technical assistance provided to state Education agencies (SEAs) aims to build capacity for local Education agencies (LEAs or districts) and schools, especially low-performing districts and schools; improve educational outcomes for all students; close achievement gaps; and improve the quality of instruction. Members of the committees were nominated by themselves or others and represented a variety of stakeholders, including the business community, LEAs and SEAs, institutions of higher Education , and practicing educators.

7 Ninety-three individuals were invited to participate in the RACs, of which 85 agreed to Overall, 66 of these members submitted Needs assessment Committee members met virtually three times and reached out to their respective constituencies between July 19, 2016, and August 26, 2016. The members collaborated, communicated, and shared resources using Communities360 , an interactive online platform hosted within the larger GRADS360 system housed within the secure Department of Education environment. Members reviewed a regional profile containing educational statistics and other relevant data to inform their individual assessments of the challenges facing their region. They conducted a Needs assessment using an online survey, interviews, focus groups, and environmental scans. Members solicited feedback from more than 80,000 stakeholders and received direct feedback from 13,187 individuals.

8 The majority of the feedback (92 percent) came through the online survey. Members reviewed responses in their regions and identified up to five Priority need areas. For each need area, the members suggested at least one strategy for Comprehensive Centers to provide technical assistance or support to SEAs. While the Needs and recommendations varied by region, preparing students for college and careers was the highest Priority across all ten regions. Many regions emphasized Needs around career and workforce readiness. Others emphasized reducing the need for remediation in college, and improving the academic rigor for all students. Members described the need for librarians3 to teach research and critical thinking skills, for counselors to support students in exploring career paths or college applications, and for more opportunities for high school students to be exposed to workplace settings and college level courses.

9 To prepare students for college and careers, members made the following recommendations: define college and career readiness standards and identify measures; facilitate partnerships between SEAs and higher Education to expand dual enrollment opportunities; form alliances between Education and industry; facilitate communities of practice among educators who work with rural and first generation college students; 1 Over the course of the project, six members would not have been able to participate fully so declined to participate. 2 Sixty-four individual reports were received because two pairs of respondents submitted joint reports. Thirteen members did not submit individual Needs assessments reports. 3 Members received comments from 1,758 librarians through the online survey used to solicit public comments.

10 T Insight Identifying and Addressing Regional Needs : A Cross-Regional Advisory Committee Analysis i create exemplar practice guides for integrating critical thinking and problem solving in instruction, establishing dual enrollment or dual credit programs, and counseling students; and share and disseminate results of longitudinal studies. The two other highest Priority Needs were (1) ensuring equity, including issues of disproportionality, and (2) supporting the lowest performing schools. Similar to preparing students for college and careers, the meaning behind ensuring equity differed by member, stakeholder, and region. In some instances, members highlighted the need for an equitable distribution of effective teachers. In others, members discussed equitable access to services such as early childhood Education , special Education , or advanced instruction (gifted or college level courses).