Education challenges across Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah are as varied as the region’s topography and population. Home to isolated rural schools and large urban districts, REL West’s region includes some of the nation’s fastest-growing districts, and more than 30 percent of its school-age children are English learners.
Districts and schools in the region, like those throughout the nation, are under intense pressure to raise student achievement and to close entrenched achievement gaps. Education policymakers and other decision-makers have never been more in need of trustworthy education research, as well as guidance in how to use it. REL West helps to meet that need by:
- Producing causal evidence about what works,
- Developing and disseminating the best information available to inform regional decision-making and practice, and
- Fostering a culture of evidence-based education throughout the region.
REL West conducts two types of research: short-term, fast-response projects designed to inform immediate action or policy decisions and rigorous, multi-year experimental studies of promising education interventions. Findings are disseminated through IES-published Issues & Answers reports or Technical Briefs;REL West-produced publications, such as the Research Digest; targeted presentations and technical assistance; and face-to-face or online meetings and events.
Meet REL West
In carrying out its work to produce evidence-based information and connect research to policy and practice in the western region, REL West profits from the experience of its parent organization, WestEd, which has operated a regional educational laboratory since the lab program’s inception in 1966.
WestEd is a nonprofit research, development, and service agency that employs more than 500 staff in 16 offices throughout the country, with its headquarters in San Francisco. Among WestEd’s specialties are education assessment and accountability; professional development; early childhood and youth development; program evaluation; community building; and policy analysis.
The REL West team is comprised of staff with broad and deep knowledge of current educational issues in practice and policy, an understanding of the regional context in which the lab operates, and both methodological expertise and the ability to translate research findings into applicable information. REL West staff range from research scientists and content experts to state liaisons who lead outreach and needs assessment efforts in each state. In addition to the REL West Board of Directors, stakeholders that inform the REL West portfolio of work include educators, researchers, and policymakers from the state to local levels.
See below for a list of the key research organizations with which WestEd works to produce high-quality research evidence through REL West’s suite of fast response projects and rigorous experimental studies.Lab Director:
Dr. Gary D. Estes
Governing Board
|
Contractor: REL West at WestEd 730 Harrison Street San Francisco, CA 94107 (866) 853-1831 relwest@wested.org http://www.wested.org/ |
Subcontractors/Partners:
|
