Database of Federally Funded Technical Assistance and Research Centers

The CEEDAR Center: Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center (CEEDAR) is designed to help State Education Agencies (SEAs), Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) create aligned professional learning systems that provide teachers and leaders effective opportunities to learn how to improve core and specialized instruction in inclusive settings that enable students with disabilities to achieve college and career ready standards. The technical assistance (TA) effort is organized around universal, targeted, and intensive TA supports. AIR, as subcontractor to University of Florida, is taking the lead in intensive TA.

The Center provides intensive TA supports to 20 states. Intensive TA services, tailored to the needs of each state, seek to reform and align the areas of licensure standards, teacher and leader preparation and induction, and personnel evaluation data systems to inform preparation program improvement. CEEDAR provides responsive technical assistance through knowledge building of evidence-based research and practice. CEEDAR also supports implementation of the research into school-based instruction and practices through online tools and resources, leadership development, collaborative teams of stakeholders, and ongoing learning opportunities.

The Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic (REL Mid-Atlantic) is one of 10 research centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to partner with stakeholders in using evidence to improve teaching, learning, and school leadership. REL Mid-Atlantic translates research to practice in partnership with policymakers and practitioners in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Based on regional needs they provide training, coaching, and technical support to help apply high-quality evidence to education improvement initiatives. The lab also conducts, applies, and disseminates research and research-based technical assistance in collaboration with stakeholders in the region to promote continuous improvement of educational practice.

Based on the input from the region the work takes many forms:

• Partnerships and alliances are formed and evolve
• Conduct research studies to answer pressing questions for stakeholders in the region
• Publications are released based on research studies conducted
• Coaching and technical support workshops are collaborative activities conducted with stakeholders
• Events are designed and supported to meet the needs of the region
• Tools are developed through the work with stakeholders
• Ask A REL responses are provided to inquiries from the region

Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) West serves four states: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. To address the priorities and interests in these states, REL West works in partnership with school districts, state departments of education, and others to use data and research to improve academic outcomes for students. Each partnership focuses on one or more of the following four regional priority topics: educator development, early learning, postsecondary pathways, and support of the whole child.

While schools, districts, state and local support agencies, and other education stakeholders in REL West’s four-state region share many priorities, their specific challenges and needs for research and support can vary. Accordingly, REL West engages in systematic, ongoing assessment of regional education needs to determine how best to target research and provide research-based information, analysis, and analytic support. 

REL West's needs-sensing approaches include:
•    Actively soliciting input from state and local decisionmakers.
•    Analyzing data and policy trends.
•    Examining educator and policymaker requests for assistance.
•    Collaborating with regional Comprehensive Centers.
•    Working with our partners to determine unmet needs.

In response to the diverse needs and priorities of our nine partnerships, REL West engages in a broad range of work. Through in-depth training, coaching, and analytic support, we build the capacity of our partners to address a variety of issues. These include: tackling the complexities of cross-sector data sharing and data use; learning to make evidence-based policy and practice decisions; and addressing challenges that are context- and region-specific, including those unique to rural entities. In addition, REL West conducts applied research that is integrated with the training, coaching, and analytic support we conduct with our partners.