1. REL Southwest Louisiana Teacher Preparation and Professional Development Research Partnership
Drs. Shannon Lasserre-Cortez, Robyn Madison-Harris, and Ginger Stoker, REL Southwest
June 2019

2. Agenda
Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest Teacher Preparation and Professional Development Overview and Resources
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Mapping
Believe and Prepare Participant Survey Development and Analysis

3. Session Outcomes Participants will:
Be aware of how to access REL Southwest Teacher Preparation and Professional Development projects and resources.
Identify ways to use GIS mapping in classroom instruction and district administration.
Understand Believe and Prepare participant survey development and analysis processes.

4. Icebreaker
Let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves. Please share your:
Name
Where you work
Your role
Name a tip that will make it easier for others to work with you (this may be difficult to do as we seldom stop and reflect on our work habits. Take a minute to think about what’s really important to you when you work in a group. It may be helpful to think about something that stops your participation.

5. Icebreaker
Share your ego (true identity/role) with your left shoulder neighbor.
Share your alter ego (desired identity) with your right shoulder neighbor.
What is a question you’d like to research related to your work if you had the time and resources?

6. Regional Educational Laboratories
Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southwest is part of a network of 10 regional educational laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). REL Southwest serves the following states: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

7. Regional Educational Laboratory Program
The RELs
Work in partnership with school districts, state education agencies, and other organizations to conduct applied research that seeks to solve practical problems and advance understanding of education challenges and processes.
Provide training, coaching, and technical support related to the application and use of data and research evidence.
Translate research into relevant and actionable resources for practitioners using various communication methods.
Overarching goal of REL program: Improve academic outcomes for students
The RELs work in partnership with school districts, state education agencies, and other organizations to conduct applied research that seeks to solve practical problems and advance understanding of education challenges and processes. The RELs also provide training, coaching, and technical support related to the application and use of data and research evidence. In addition, the RELs translate research into relevant and actionable resources for practitioners using various communication methods.

8. Research Partnerships
College and Career Readiness
Early Childhood Education
English Learners
Networked Improvement Communities
School Improvement
Teacher Preparation and Professional Development
Collaborative research alliances:
The members of our research alliances include state education agency (SEA) staff, district staff, university faculty, community members, and others. We consult with our alliance members to identify priority education issues in their states and then conduct research and support the use of data and evidence to address those issues.
REL Southwest conducts its work through six collaborative research partnerships with stakeholders in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The work of these partnerships is developed in consultation with key stakeholders, including SEA and local education agency (LEA) staff, and informed by partners’ expertise and knowledge of the priorities of their states and districts.
Each partnership primarily focuses its work in one state, allowing researchers and practitioners to build connections and dive deeply into problems of practice. However, all states in the region can participate in REL-facilitated communities of practice that share best practices and explore research findings from the partnerships. REL Southwest also conducts shorter term and more focused collaborations in response to SEA and LEA requests outside of the partnership structure.

9. Connect With Us Visit our website
Finally, don’t forget to connect with us.
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive:
REL Southwest Spotlight e-bulletin
Notifications of upcoming and archived events
Notifications of new products and resources
And for the social media-inclined, follow us on Twitter to receive updates on our resources, events, and latest news.
Follow us on Twitter!
@ RELSouthwest
This presentation was prepared under Contract C0002 by Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest, administered by American Institutes for Research. The content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Institute of Education Sciences or the U.S. Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

10. Resources for Teachers and Teacher Leaders

11. Research-Based, Trauma-Responsive Education Practices
Webinar archives saved as Parts 1, 2, and 3 on the REL Southwest website
Part 1: 
Part 2: 
Part 3: 

12. Professional Learning Communities Facilitator's Guide for the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide Teaching Academic Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School
Facilitator’s Guide
Accompanying Handouts
Infographic

13. Indicators of Successful Teacher Recruitment and Retention in Oklahoma Rural School Districts
Report
Poster

14. Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development in Oklahoma Rural and Nonrural Schools
Report
Infographic

15. Teacher Certification and Academic Growth Among English Learner Students in the Houston Independent School District
Report

16. Impact of a Checklist on Principal- Teacher Feedback Conferences Following Classroom Observations
Report

17. Trends in Teacher Mobility in Texas and Associations With Teacher, Student, and School Characteristics
Report

18. Presentation Title (added from Insert tab, Header & Footer icon)
(added from Insert tab, Header & Footer icon, Fixed Date and time) 9/28/2015
Ask A REL Service
Note that this really is a reference desk service – it does not provide literature reviews or any interpretation; just what is there. Can provide workshops to discuss literature as a follow-up.
Ask A REL is a publicly available reference desk service that provides requestors with references, referrals, and brief responses in the form of citations on research-based questions.

19. Geographical Analyses to Understand Workforce Patterns of Early Career Teachers in Louisiana
This project will:
Generate evidence on career pathways for participants in Believe and Prepare full-year residencies.
Graphically display early career teacher outcomes associated with Believe and Prepare participation.

20. Project Outline
Work with Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) staff to develop interactive GIS maps that show specific pipeline challenges. Possible questions include:
How often are new teachers hired in the districts where they complete their residencies?
When teachers leave a particular school, are they moving to schools within the same district, transferring to different districts, or leaving Louisiana schools altogether?
Help stakeholders use GIS maps to explore data and use information gathered to develop local policy actions that improve and strengthen the teacher pipeline.

21. Progress So Far
Filter by:
School district (pull-down menu)
High-need certification area (Toggle button)
(This section estimates where REL Southwest will be in the project at the time of the conference in June 2019.)
REL Southwest is currently building the initial GIS to be used by LDOE to examine workforce and teacher pipeline patterns. Data to be included in the initial maps are school locations; district boundaries; school-level teacher information, such as percent certified and percent minority; and school information, such as percent receiving free and reduced-price meals and percent English learners. The system will be refined to include information that is most important to LDOE in helping to ensure that all Louisiana students are provided with high-quality teachers.

22. “GIS-based questions begin with the ‘whys of where.’”
What is a GIS?
“GIS-based questions begin with the ‘whys of where.’”
-Esri.com/education
Today, maps are used to help understand relationships across areas and regions.
In a GIS framework, rather than static documents, the maps are dynamic. They can be combined with other maps and data, as well as charts, databases, and multimedia.”
A GIS is a computer-based system that collects, stores, displays, manipulates, and analyzes data, and then links the information to locations on a map. The GIS stores the map-based data in layers, with each layer containing a single specific type of data. Those data layers can then be manipulated and analyzed, either individually or in combination with other layers.
In other words, a GIS stores layers of information about a place, combines and analyzes the information to provide a better understanding of that place, and then displays the information graphically--using a map, chart, or table, for example--on a computer screen.

23. How a GIS is Used
GIS maps are currently used in many contexts. In this example from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, areas of the state where corn, soybeans, cotton, and wheat are grown can be shown for any year from 1997 to Users of this particular map also can choose to layer parishes, water collection, and roads. The interactive aspect of GIS maps makes them particularly useful for analysis.

24. How Districts Can Use a GIS
Some parishes in Louisiana are already using GIS maps for informational purposes. This map from Tangipahoa Parish allows users to search roads, property owners, and certain property assessment information. School districts also can take advantage of these capabilities. The next slide gives some examples.

25. How Districts Can Use a GIS
Policymakers can use a GIS to uncover patterns and target new programs.
Administrators can use a GIS to visualize and analyze campus safety, infrastructure, bus routing, recruitment, and so on.
Teachers can use a GIS to help students understand content across subjects, such as
Epidemiology
Climate change
Business development
Education systems can use GIS maps at all levels. At the district and school administrative levels, GIS maps can be used for planning and policymaking decisions.
Teachers also can use GIS maps in classroom instruction. A GIS can encourage critical thinking, promote global awareness, strengthen and extend technology skills, extend and expand curriculum, introduce students to real-world technology applications, instill students with a sense of place, and create in them a sense of community.
Best of all, using a GIS is fun, challenging, and motivating for students and teachers alike.

26. GIS Mapping Table Activity
Use your device to explore the resource link provided.
Talk at your tables about:
How you can use GIS mapping to inform English language arts or math instruction
How you can use GIS mapping to inform district policy

27. GIS Resources
ArcGIS—make customized maps, analyze data sets, and create map-based presentations:
Geocaching—reality-based treasure hunting using hidden containers and requiring GPS to discover them:
NASA Earth Observations—geo-referenced images for the planet, including oceans, atmosphere, energy, land, and life over space and time:
Esri Story Maps—stories from around the world presented through maps, movies, and text:
This slide includes several resources for teachers interested in incorporating GISs into their instruction. GISs can be used in all subjects, including geography, science, math, and English language arts.

28. Training to Develop Believe and Prepare Principal, Mentor Teacher, and Teacher Resident Surveys
Collect high-quality data on mentor, mentee, and principal experiences with the Believe and Prepare mentor program.
Analyze survey data using state-of-the-art analytic methods.
Use survey findings to identify actionable areas for improvement.

29. Project Outline
Work with LDOE staff to develop surveys for Believe and Prepare mentors, mentees, and school principals.
Assist LDOE with administration of an online survey to collect data from Believe and Prepare mentors, mentees, and school principals.
Work with LDOE to develop a survey analysis plan for each survey.
Help LDOE use survey findings to identify ways to enable mentors to better support their mentees.

30. Survey Activity
Talk at your tables about your experience developing and administering surveys.
Share about how you use information gathered from surveys.

31. Other Data Resources
U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Census Common Core of Data (National Center for Education Statistics) Louisiana Department of Education

32. Survey Development

33. Survey Administration

34. Survey Analysis
Descriptive analyses
Rasch modeling

35. Survey Data Use
Assist LDOE to use survey findings to identify ways to enable mentors to better support their mentees. Finalize surveys to be used in future administrations.

36. Progress So Far
Developed surveys for teacher mentors, teacher residents, and principals regarding the Believe and Prepare program Completion date: May 2019 Administered online surveys to mentors, mentees, and principals Administration date: June 2019 Will work with LDOE to develop the analysis plan for survey data Completion date: July 2019 Will work with LDOE to analyze survey data and discuss implications of survey findings Completion date: September 2019

37. Other Resources for Districts and Teachers
American Institutes for Research
How GIS Mapping Can Help Improve Schools
Regional Educational Laboratories

38. Connect with us!
Shannon Lasserre-Cortez, Ph.D. Senior Researcher Robyn Madison-Harris, Ed.D. Senior Technical Assistance Consultant Ginger Stoker, Ph.D.
This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) under contract C0002, administered by American Institutes for Research. The content of the presentation does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.