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Lacy Wood
Project Director

Lacy Wood is a Project Director with SEDL's Afterschool, Family, and Community program. She supports the nation’s Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) through SEDL’s National PIRC Coordination Center, which she operates. In this role, she coordinates technical assistance for the PIRCs as well as national conferences and webinars for the U.S. Department of Education and other groups. Ms. Wood also provides family engagement expertise and information management and dissemination for SEDL's National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools. In this role, Ms. Wood conducts training sessions and workshops on family and community involvement; gathers and disseminates family involvement research and resources; and develops and manages information management tools and services, including a database of family and community engagement research.

Contact Information
You may contact Lacy Wood at 512-391-6567

or by using SEDL's contact form.

Areas of Expertise
Ms. Wood’s areas of expertise include family and community engagement, federal grant program coordination, information management and dissemination, and technology tools to support school improvement.

• Family and Community: Since 2000, Ms. Wood has been working on initiatives to promote family and community engagement, specifically by identifying and disseminating research findings and best practices and assisting practitioners with interpreting, communicating, and applying this information. Her expertise in this area includes developing publications, databases, and Web sites; presenting at national conferences; and providing technical assistance and professional development to the PIRCs, practitioners, parents, families, and community groups.
• Improving School Performance: From 1997 to 2009, Ms. Wood provided resources and information to support school improvement, specifically by designing information clearinghouses and databases, managing publications, and informing practitioners and schools on federal funds and reporting requirements for school improvement programs.
• Technology and Information Management: Much of Ms. Wood’s career at SEDL has involved using technology and other information management tools to support school improvement, family and community engagement, and U.S. Department of Education programs. Her experience includes creating electronic information management tools, designing and managing database and Web-based tools for information dissemination, and using technology tools to track federal education grant programs.

Experience
Previously at SEDL, Ms. Wood served as the liaison to the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement, operated by Learning Point Associates (LPA), for which she managed the online information clearinghouse. She also provided database development and information dissemination for SEDL’s Reading First program and Smaller Learning Communities program and served as an information specialist on SEDL’s Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program and Facilitating Implementation of Reform Strategies and Tactics (FIRST) project.

Prior to joining SEDL in December 1997, Ms. Wood worked for the Development Office in the Research Services Department of the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. She also worked as an Internet consultant at the UT Undergraduate Library providing instruction for electronic information resources to students and faculty.

In 2004, Ms. Wood received SEDL's Rogers L. Barton Award, a Presidential Award given annually to honor outstanding contributions to SEDL’s educational research and development.

Education
Ms. Wood holds a bachelor of arts in history from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

SEDL Publications

• Introduction to the Handbook on Family and Community Engagement (2011)
• Webinar Series: Achieving Excellence and Innovation in Family, School, and Community Engagement (2011)
• National Policy Forum for Family, School, and Community Engagement (2010)
• Science After School (SAS) Consumers Guide (2010)
• Working Systemically in Action: Engaging Family & Community (2010)
• 2009 National PIRC Project Directors' Conference (2009)
• Connection Collection (2009)
• Beyond the Building: A Facilitation Guide for School, Family, and Community Connections (2006)
• Easing the Transition from PreK to Kindergarten: What Schools and Families Can Do to Address Child Readiness (2005)
• Readiness: School, Family, & Community Connections (2004)
• Diversity: School, Family, and Community Connections (2003)
• A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement (2002)
• Emerging Issues in School, Family, & Community Connections (2001)
• CSRD Connections: Whatever it Takes: The Challenge of Comprehensive Reform (2000)
• Resources for Facilities Design and Planning, SEDL Letter, Volume X, Number 4 (1998)

Selected Presentations

• Wood, L., & Jordan, C. (2008, December). Building effective parent involvement for your school or program. U.S. Department of Education, Parental Options and Information Project Directors Conference, Washington, DC.
• Wood, L. (2006, May). New features of the SEDL database. Reading First State Directors Meeting, Boston, MA.
• Wood, L., & Ferguson, C. (2006, April). Learning outside of school: Involving families in supporting classroom instruction. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
• Wood, L., & Ferguson, C. (2006, April). When the rubber meets the road: Can users effectively implement research-based strategies to foster school, family, and community partnerships? 13th International Roundtable on School, Family, and Community Partnerships, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L., Ferguson, C., & Chavkin, N. (2006, April). Using research to make the case: Facilitating school, family, and community connections. 13th International Roundtable on School, Family, and Community Partnerships, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L. (2006, March). Small learning communities: Online resources from SEDL. National Career Academy Coalition, 2006 Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) Technical Assistance Conference, Orlando, FL.
• Wood, L. (2006, February). Learning outside of the classroom: How to involve families in supporting student learning. Regional Afterschool Conference, Las Vegas, NV.
• Wood, L. (2005, September). Readiness: School, family, and community connections. National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) meeting, Washington, DC.
• Wood, L., & Ferguson, C. (2005, May). Readiness: School, family, and community connections. National Head Start Association Annual Training Conference, Orlando, FL.
• Wood, L., & Ferguson, C. (2005, March). Family and community connections with schools: NCLB and the school-parent compact, research to practice. Coalition for Community Schools 4th National Forum, Chicago, IL.
• Wood, L. (2005, March). Smaller learning community resources: SLC awards database. National Career Academy Coalition’s Technical Assistance Conference on Writing the Next Smaller Learning Communities Grant, Orlando, FL.
• Wood, L., & Rodriguez, V. (2004, November). Readiness: School, family, and community connections. National Community Education Association (NCEA) Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.
• Wood, L. (2004, April). Family involvement: Critical to the success of diverse populations. National Association of Elementary and School Principals (NAESP) Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L., & Donnelly, D. (2004, April). The impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement. National Association of Elementary and School Principals (NAESP) Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L., & Rodriguez, V. (2004, March). Diversity: School, family, and community connections. ASCD Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
• Wood, L. (2004, March). SLC resources: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory Smaller Learning Communities Awards Database. National Career Academy Coalition’s Technical Assistance Conference on Writing the Next Smaller Learning Communities Grant, Miami, FL.
• Wood, L. (2004, February). Advice from the research for school administrators: Involving families to support achievement among diverse student populations. American Association of School Administrators (AASA) Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L., & Rodriguez, V. (2004, February). How can we support the involvement of language-minority families in their children’s education? National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Annual Conference, Albuquerque, NM.
• Wood, L., & Jordan, C. (2003, December). Diversity: School, family, and community connections that lead to student achievement. National Community Education Association (NCEA) Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA.
• Wood, L. (2003, April). More than muffins: Parent programs that work. National Association of Elementary and School Principals (NAESP) Conference, Anaheim, CA.
• Wood, L. (2003, March). More than muffins: Family learning events and other parent involvement programs that work. ASCD Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L., Jordan, C. J., et al. (2002, April). New waves of evidence: Family and community impact on student achievement. National School Boards Association (NSBA) Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• Wood, L. (2001, October). Creating family learning events. Annual National Dropout Prevention Conference, Orlando, FL.