Success Stories

School Improvement

2013 Effective Leadership for the Common Core State Standards
Four math teachers confer over student work. Do the students’ solutions indicate mastery of the standard? What would? How can they help students not getting the concept? These “teachers” are actually principals participating in a “fish bowl” activity as fellow administrators look on and a SEDL consultant facilitates. The exercise is one way our Center for High-Performing Schools is helping five New Mexico districts implement the Common Core State Standards for English language arts and math.
2013 Evaluation Methods to Cultivate Change
Change can be hard. Just ask Vicky Butler, who oversees improvement efforts for Cullman County Schools in Alabama. School culture in this large rural district remains steeped in tradition. To support district programs, Butler needed a way to break through resistance, ensure quality implementation across multiple schools and classrooms, and assess effectiveness. SEDL is helping open the way to change.
2012 Increased Capacity for Texas Virtual Learning
By building state capacity to develop virtual learning courses, the Texas Comprehensive Center is helping Texas strengthen its statewide system of support for schools in need of improvement.
2012 Evaluating Texas Educator Preparation Programs
The Texas Comprehensive Center assisted the Texas Education Agency in developing tools to evaluate educator preparation programs and the readiness of future teachers.
2012 Mississippi School Improvement Grants
The Southeast Comprehensive Center and the Center on Innovation and Improvement are providing Mississippi education leaders with customized support so they can better guide school and district improvement efforts.
2011 Promoting High-Flying Leaders and Teachers
We help districts and schools achieve new heights. Whether a school requires a rapid turnaround or simply seeks to rise to the next level, SEDL provides intensive, tailored support grounded in research and practical experience to improve leadership, teaching, and student achievement.
2010 Stronger State Support for Improving Performance
Our Southeast and Texas Comprehensive Centers work closely with education leaders in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas to strengthen their capacity to drive school improvement and meet federal expectations.
2009 Helping Texas Educators Work Systemically
The Texas Comprehensive Center works with education leaders to support two school districts in implementing systemic changes for school improvement.
2009 Promoting School Improvement at the Classroom Level in South Carolina

In Georgetown County School District, SEDL staff are using the Professional Teaching and Learning Cycle to foster a culture of collaboration and continuous learning to improve teaching.

2008 A Culture of Systemic Change
The Texas Comprehensive Center helps the state's regional education service centers adopt a more comprehensive approach to school improvement.
2008 School Improvement
The Southeast Comprehensive Center works closely with education leaders in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, providing technical assistance to help them improve the schools in their states.

Education Research

2010 Better Methods for Learning What Works.
SEDL conducts rigorous research studies and translates the findings to improve teaching and learning. And we are blazing new paths to advance the field of education research and provide better ways to learn what works.
2009 Promoting Literacy Through Research
SEDL researchers are advancing literacy research through two randomized controlled trials of well-known reading programs.
2008 Measuring Standards for Professional Development
SEDL researchers explore the relationship between schools' alignment with NSDC staff development standards and student achievement.

Disability Research

2013 Better Methods for Moving Disability Research Into Practice
Women with mobility impairments face unique challenges in managing their weight. To address this issue, Dr. Peg Nosek and her team are developing GoWoman, an online weight-loss tool that serves the particular needs of women with mobility impairments. Nosek wants to establish a community of practice to involve researchers, weight-loss practitioners, women with disabilities, and others in shaping, piloting, and promoting the tool. She found the expert guidance she needs through SEDL’s new Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (KTDRR).
2010 Employment for Individuals with Autism
SEDL works to improve the quality, relevance, and use of disability research and services—including those for increasing employment. We accomplish this mission through research, technical assistance, training, and information dissemination.
2009 Providing Training and Resources to Improve Disability Research
SEDL's National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research works with researchers to improve the quality and use of disability research.
2008 Increasing Access to Disability Research
SEDL’s Disability Research to Practice program works to ensure that high-quality disability research reaches the people who need it the most.

Mathematics and Science

2011 Integrating Math, Science, Technology, and Language
SEDL’s new supplemental program, Mosaic: An Integrated Approach to Mathematics, Science, Technology, and Language, is helping K–5 teachers integrate math and science while building academic vocabulary and language skills, with a focus on English learners.
2010 High-Performance Math and Science Instruction
SEDL works directly with educators to build their knowledge and instructional skills in core content areas, such as science and mathematics. We don’t stop there, either. We also guide educators in using technology to promote learning and 21st century skills.

Reading and Literacy

2013 Literacy Strategies for Career and Technical Education
In Narleski Young’s class, students work at computers to reframe the headings in a document as questions. The students are learning the SQ3R literacy strategy—not unusual for language arts, but a first for Automotive Service Technology. The course is one of many offered at the Leflore County Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center in Mississippi. CTE provides a valuable career path for students, but the highly technical content can prove a challenge. In Mississippi, SEDL is helping to ensure that CTE students gain the literacy skills required for a 21st century career.
2013 Evidence of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs
Some two-thirds of U.S. eighth graders failed to achieve proficient reading levels in 2011. Struggling readers face mounting difficulties at higher grades and often fall increasingly behind. Educators badly need effective measures to target teen reading problems, yet few of the available programs have been rigorously tested. In 2012, SEDL completed a rigorous study of one popular program to expand the evidence base and help ensure that struggling adolescent readers get the support they need.
2012 Alabama Instructional Reading Support
The Southeast Comprehensive Center and the Center on Instruction are strengthening support for reading instruction in Alabama by providing technical assistance on the Instructional Partners Pilot Program.
2008 Bright Futures in Madison Parish
SEDL partners with Madison Parish and the Delta Community Action Association Head Start in Louisiana to form the Bright Futures Early Reading First project.

English Language Learners

2013 A Strong Start for Texas Migrant Children
The Medina family lives by the rhythms of the seasons. In spring, they take to the road, heading north from farm to farm to pick crops. In autumn, they return home to South Texas, not far from the Mexico border. As in many migrant families, the children attend school when and where they can. Such disjointed schooling, coupled with language barriers and poverty, poses a critical challenge for migrant students, who drop out at a rate 3 to 4 times higher than the national average. In Texas, SEDL is addressing this need by helping the state give migrant children a strong start.
2009 Supporting English Language Learners in Texas
The Texas Comprehensive Center provides online solutions to help Texas educators effectively modify instruction and assessments to boost academic success for English language learners.

Response to Intervention

2010 Support for the Needs of Diverse Learners
SEDL assists states, districts, and schools in implementing Response to Intervention. This framework involves using data, tiered interventions, and evidence-based strategies to meet diverse learners’ needs and improve achievement and behavior.

Technology

2012 Increased Capacity for Texas Virtual Learning
By building state capacity to develop virtual learning courses, the Texas Comprehensive Center is helping Texas strengthen its statewide system of support for schools in need of improvement.
2008 New Mexico Rural Partnership for Technology
SEDL staff show teachers how to use technology to improve students' literacy skills in rural New Mexico schools.

Afterschool and Expanded Learning

2011 Making Afterschool More Effective With Evaluation
SEDL provides evaluation services informed by high-quality research and data analysis to monitor and assess program implementation and effectiveness. Working with organizations from state departments of education to afterschool providers, we help educators keep programs on track, achieve their goals, and aim even higher.
2009 Providing Solutions for Afterschool Leaders
An innovative new publication provides afterschool leaders with practical tools for implementing research-based practices.
2008 Meeting Professional Development Needs of the Afterschool Community
SEDL delivers solutions for providing academic enrichment in afterschool programs through its publications and online Afterschool Training Toolkit.

Family and Community

2010 Robust Partnerships that Boost Student Learning

SEDL helps engage families and communities to improve student and school success. We do this work at every level of the education system. For instance, we assist the Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) through our National PIRC Coordination Center.

2008 Promoting Parental Involvement Nationwide
SEDL supports the work of the 62 Parental Information and Resource Centers through the National PIRC Coordination Center.