1. XXXX Partnership Kickoff Meeting
Please fill in the information for your meeting.
XXXX Partnership Kickoff Meeting

2. Agenda
Introductions
REL Southwest Overview

3. Introductions Name Where you work Your role
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.
Introductions
Name
Where you work
Your role
Share a tip for working with you

4. The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Program
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5. REL Mission
To support the use of research and evidence to help states and school districts improve their education programs and ultimately, student performance.
This is accomplished by increasing individual and organizational capacity to access, understand, interpret, critique, apply, and/or conduct research within SEAs, LEAs, and other educational organizations.

6. REL Program Structure
10 RELs, each of which serves a legislatively designated region.
Operated under contract to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), U.S. Department of Education
Five‐year contracts. Currently in the 2017‐2022 contract cycle.

7. By law, RELs are charged with 3 main activities:
3 Main REL Activities
Some notes for the Task 5 Coaching and Training explanation, #2.
From the IES Updated Annual Plan Guidance
Training, coaching, and technical support (TCTS) activities involve an ongoing, especially intensive, methodologically sophisticated, or customized service provided to partners.
TCTS activities under Task 5 take partners’ institutional knowledge and context into account, go in-depth, and/or provide stakeholders with tools for self-directed, ongoing, and/or in-depth engagement with a particular topic.
Under this task, all RELs are encouraged to provide support to stakeholders related to disaggregating data for subgroups of students.
RELs are encouraged to propose projects that are high-leverage and fit the needs of the region.
Training is similar to traditional professional development, in that the REL is serving as an expert and providing sustained training that increases partners’ capacity to effectively use research evidence to inform decisions in education.
Facilitate access to research findings and educator participation in the research process
Training in effective communication of research and data
Support the professional development of practitioners and other applied researchers
Support the use of the WWC and other similar resources
Coaching: REL is serving as a thought-partner to provide sustained coaching and consultation with partners to solve problems of practice. These partners are in a position to use the information to develop or make changes to policy or practice; in some cases the REL is helping stakeholders make a decision.
Provide support for adapting interventions to new contexts
Support for conducting evaluations of the effectiveness of policies, programs, or practices
Consult with SEAs that are required under ESSA to conduct effectiveness studies of interventions they are implementing
By law, RELs are charged with 3 main activities:
Conducting applied research
Coaching and training for the application of research to education issues, policies and practices
Disseminating credible, up‐to‐date research
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8. Focus on High-Leverage Problems
High‐leverage problems are those that:
if addressed could result in substantial improvements in education outcomes for many students or for key subgroups of students;
are priorities for regional policymakers, particularly at the state level; and
require research or research‐related support.
Focusing on high‐leverage problems increases the likelihood that REL support ultimately will contribute to improved student outcomes.

9. About REL Southwest

10. Six REL Southwest Partnerships
Southwest College and Career Readiness Research Partnership Southwest Teacher Preparation and Professional Development Research Partnership Southwest English Language Learners Research Partnership
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11. Six REL Southwest Partnerships (continued)
Southwest Early Childhood Education Research Partnership Southwest Mathematics Educators Networked Improvement Community Southwest School Improvement Research Partnership
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