REL Southeast: VirtualSC Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning

This was an item that came out of the REL Southeast Director’s Email—June 2019 from last week.

VirtualSC Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning

The VirtualSC Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning studies issues specific to improving student outcomes in VirtualSC’s online courses for grades 7-12.

The goal of the partnership is to form a professional learning community around research that informs the improvement of student outcomes in online learning.

Members Bradley Mitchell Director Office of Virtual Education, South Carolina Dept. of Education Beverly Myers Research and Planning Administrator Office of Virtual Education, South Carolina Dept. of Education

Contact Diana Sharp

Podcast: REL Southeast – Tracking Evidence

This scrolled through my Twitter stream late last week.

In this audio interview, Dr. Kathryn Kennedy, co-editor of the freely-available Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning, answers questions about connections between research, policy, and practice in the area of virtual education. This video was prepared by REL Southeast under a contract with the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Contract ED-IES-17-C-0011, administered by Florida State University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

REL Southeast Director’s Email—June 2019

Note the “VirtualSC Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning” item in this month’s newsletter.

June 2019 View this email in your browser

Greetings from REL Southeast! This month I am excited to share information about two upcoming events in our region. We’ve also released several new products that we’re pleased to tell you about. More information about these items can be found below. The REL Southeast continues the development of many more evidence-based products and resources to be released in the coming months.  Thank you for helping to improve education in the Southeast. Dr. Barbara Foorman Director, REL Southeast

Upcoming Events REL Southeast Training on Career Counseling in Rural Schools June 10, 2019 3:35–4:45 p.m. ET Adult and Community Educators of Florida (ACE) Conference Wyndham Grand Jupiter at Harbourside 122 Soundings Ave. Jupiter, FL 33477 This conference breakout session will provide an overview of evidence-based career counseling strategies with a focus on rural schools. Participants will receive an overview and discuss the areas shown from the research to be important to the implementation of career counseling and work to develop an implementation plan. Participants will reflect upon their experience and discuss application of the strategies in their local settings. Click here for more information. Improving Understanding and Instruction of Probability and Statistics for Middle and High School Teachers June 21, 2019 8:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m. ET Viera High School 6103 Stadium Parkway, Lab 4-114 Viera, FL 32940 During this full-day event, in-service teachers will enhance their content knowledge related to key concepts and ideas in statistics. Models of sample problems, student assessments, and resources from the What Works Clearinghouse, the American Statistical Association, and the National Council for the Teachers of Mathematics will be provided. Click here for more information. Partnership Spotlight VirtualSC Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning The VirtualSC Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning studies issues specific to improving student outcomes in VirtualSC’s online courses for grades 7-12. The goal of the partnership is to form a professional learning community around research that informs the improvement of student outcomes in online learning. Learn more here. Product Spotlights School Leader Recruitment and Retention in Rural Schools While there are many barriers to retaining and recruiting high quality principals to rural school districts, there are many ways that these challenges can be overcome. To address the high-leverage need to identify factors that may improve the pipeline and retention of leaders in rural schools, the REL Southeast School Leadership in North Carolina Research Alliance created the infographic, “School Leader Recruitment and Retention in Rural Schools.” This infographic describes evidence-based practices used to recruit and retain leaders, with a specific focus on rural leaders. Download the infographic here. Preparing a School Ready Child: The Ready Family and The Ready Community School readiness is an important issue for stakeholders across the country. Despite increased investments in interventions to support school readiness for children, large achievement gaps exist across income groups at school entry. Research and theory support the need to conceptualize school readiness as more than just children’s readiness for school. Multiple aspects of readiness such as ready children, ready families, ready schools and ready communities should also be included. This video includes information pertaining to school readiness as a whole as well as the ready family and the ready community, both critical components of school readiness. The video contains a short description of each area, topics pertaining to each area, and resources designed to support each topic. Watch the video here. Ask A REL Ask A REL is a collaborative reference desk service provided by the 10 regional educational laboratories (REL) that by design, functions much in the same way as a technical reference library. It provides references, referrals, and brief responses in the form of citations on research-based education questions. To submit your question to Ask A REL, click here. Explore Ask A REL responses here.

You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or provided your information at a REL Southeast sponsored event. Our mailing address is: REL Southeast at Florida State University 2010 Levy Avenue Suite 100 Tallahassee, FL 32310

REL Southeast Director’s Email—May 2019

Note the item below entitled “Tracking the Evidence, Guiding the Future: How Can SEAs and LEAs Apply Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning to Policy and Practice? .”

May 2019 View this email in your browser

Greetings from REL Southeast! This month I am excited to share information in our “On the road with REL Southeast” feature about two wonderfully successful events we recently hosted in our region. We’ve also released several new products that we’re pleased to tell you about. More information about these items can be found below. The REL Southeast continues the development of many more evidence-based products and resources to be released in the coming months.  Thank you for helping to improve education in the Southeast. Dr. Barbara Foorman Director, REL Southeast

On the road with REL Southeast Florida On April 18, in partnership with Hillsborough County Public Schools, REL Southeast hosted the Early Learning Symposium in Tampa, Florida. Over 200 early childhood and K–12 educators and leaders convened with a common focus on early learning and school readiness. Dr. Nicole Patton Terry’s energizing keynote presentation, Are the Children Ready? The Challenges and Opportunities of Early Childhood Education, preceded an informative panel discussion with Superintendent Eakins of Hillsborough County Public Schools, Gordon Gillette, Executive Director of the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County, Kelley Parris, Executive Director of the Children’s Board Hillsborough County, and Jane Murphy, Executive Director of the Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County. Afternoon breakout sessions – The Ready Child, The Ready Family, The Ready Community, and The Ready School – were based on the infographics in the Preparing a School-Ready Child series. Tracye Brown, Hillsborough County Public Schools’ Assistant Superintendent for Academic Support and Federal Programs, delivered an inspirational speech to close the symposium. The event’s success can be attributed largely to Lynn Dougherty-Underwood and Linda Gaughan of Hillsborough County Public Schools. Lynn and Linda are also members of the REL Southeast Improving Literacy Research Alliance. South Carolina In late March, REL Southeast staff presented multiple sessions for South Carolina Department of Education administrators and literacy specialists at the South Carolina Department of Education Literacy Specialist Coaching Conference. Literacy specialists from throughout the state participated in several activities throughout the three-day professional development training sessions. REL Southeast staff shared literacy tools based on rigorous research to be shared with district- and school-level practitioners. These interactive sessions focused on the research-based roles of literacy coaches and tools for coaches such as the Foundational Skills to Support Reading for Understanding in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade practice guide and accompanying Professional Learning Communities Facilitator’s Guide. Additional sessions focused on the School Leader’s Literacy Walk Through Tool for Grades K-3, the Self-Study Guide for Implementing Literacy Interventions in Grades 3-8, and the Rubric for Evaluating Reading/Language Arts Instructional Materials for Kindergarten to Grade 5. Ask A REL Ask A REL is a collaborative reference desk service provided by the 10 regional educational laboratories (REL) that by design, functions much in the same way as a technical reference library. It provides references, referrals, and brief responses in the form of citations on research-based education questions. To submit your question to Ask A REL, click here. Explore Ask A REL responses here. Product Spotlights Considerations for Scheduling Early Literacy Interventions Members of the REL Southeast Governing Board recently suggested the development of an infographic addressing evidence-based considerations for scheduling early literacy interventions to assist stakeholders when scheduling time blocks for instructional interventions. Therefore, we developed the infographic, Considerations for Scheduling Early Literacy Interventions, based on the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance resource Self-Study Guide for Implementing Early Literacy Interventions. Download the infographic here. The Ready School Through the collaborative effort of the Cross-REL School Readiness Working Group, the REL Southeast has designed a suite of infographics to provide state-, district-, and school-level educators with information on evidence-based research and resources related to school readiness. The first infographic of the suite, Preparing a School-Ready Child, focuses on school readiness as a whole and answers the question of “What is school readiness?” The other infographics explore the components of school readiness: the ready child, the ready school, the ready community, and the ready family. This month we’re spotlighting The Ready School. Explore resources embedded within the infographic that will help prepare families and educators to support a successful school-ready child. Download the infographic here. Tracking the Evidence, Guiding the Future: How Can SEAs and LEAs Apply Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning to Policy and Practice? It is critical for states to have access to current research about online learning’s impact on students with different needs and maximizing virtual education’s quality and effectiveness. The REL Southeast region is home to the nation’s largest state virtual school (Florida Virtual School), and every state served by the REL Southeast has a state virtual school that is facilitated by the SEA. States and districts also need resources that are geared toward applying research to policy and practice as they continue to work toward improving their online offerings and policy decisions related to virtual education. REL Southeast produced the audio file, Tracking the Evidence, Guiding the Future: How Can SEAs and LEAs Apply Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning to Policy and Practice?, to address this need. This audio file is moderated by Dr. Diana Sharp, manager of the REL Southeast’s partnerships with Florida Virtual School and South Carolina’s state virtual school (VirtualSC). Featured is Dr. Kathryn Kennedy, co-editor of the freely-available Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning, and a member of the REL Southeast’s Technical Working Group for a project of the Florida Virtual School Partnership on Student Success in Online Learning. Dr. Kennedy answers questions about the need for explicit connections between research, policy, and practice in the area of virtual education, especially for state and district staff, and how her team approached this need. Listen to the audio file here.

You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or provided your information at a REL Southeast sponsored event. Our mailing address is: REL Southeast at Florida State University 2010 Levy Avenue Suite 100 Tallahassee, FL 32310

REL Southeast Director’s Email—December 2018

Note the personalized learning item from North Carolina below.

December 2018 View this email in your browser

Greetings from REL Southeast! This month I am pleased to share exciting work the REL Southeast is conducting in regards to our Improving Low-Performing Schools in Alabama Research Alliance. The Alliance has been conducting coaching sessions in the state centered around the study of differentiated learning supports. Details about these sessions may be found in the article below. The REL Southeast is working on the development of many more evidence-based products and resources that will be released in the coming months.  Thank you for helping to improve education in the Southeast. We hope you have a very safe and happy holiday season. Dr. Barbara Foorman Director, REL Southeast

Project Spotlight Coaching on the Study of Differentiated Learning Supports Initiative Since the winter of 2017, REL Southeast has presented two coaching sessions as part of the regularly scheduled alliance meetings. Several topics of interest were discussed, from using mixed methods research in school improvement initiatives to the Center for School Turnaround at WestEd’s framework for rapid school improvement.In these coaching sessions, alliance members were eager to learn how to use mixed methods research to examine low-performing schools and inform their state-wide approach to school turnaround. Members discussed how states can assist local education agencies in building capacity to sustain their improvement efforts and how to create a set of expectations for student outcomes that are clear, measurable, and adaptable. REL Southeast invited Dr. Carlas McCauley, Director of the Center on School Turnaround at WestEd, to discuss the framework for rapid school improvement and facilitate a conversation around Alabama State Department of Education’s challenges in turning around low-performing schools. Dr. McCauley highlighted the importance of developing an improvement cycle theory of action to establish alignment of practices across the state, districts, and schools to improve student achievement. The REL Southeast convened a strategy session with 10 VirtualSC leaders to begin outlining VirtualSC’s vision for its personalized learning work and formulating a research-based approach to implementing and evaluating changes to VirtualSC courses. The REL Southeast and the Southeast Comprehensive Center then hosted a collaborative workshop to review research on personalized learning and gather additional ideas from VirtualSC lead teachers and instructional designers. Learn more, read testimonials about the project, and discover relevant resources at: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/southeast/differentiated_learning.asp Product Spotlight Implementing Personalized Learning District-Wide in Johnston County With personalized learning taking a prominent position in North Carolina’s ESSA plan, many schools and districts across the state are exploring the possibility of implementing personalized learning initiatives. In February, 2018, REL Southeast convened a group of more than 40 educators, administrators, and policy makers from across North Carolina to discuss the benefits and challenges of transitioning to a personalized learning model. This podcast allows additional educators, administrators, and policy makers to learn about the goals, accomplishments, and challenges experienced by Johnston County Public Schools staff. Listen to the complete audio file at: https://youtu.be/XymBlOyXWpA Ask A REL Ask A REL is a collaborative reference desk service provided by the 10 regional educational laboratories (REL) that by design, functions much in the same way as a technical reference library. It provides references, referrals, and brief responses in the form of citations on research-based education questions. To submit your question to Ask A REL, click here. Explore Ask A REL responses here.

You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or provided your information at a REL Southeast sponsored event. Our mailing address is: REL Southeast at Florida State University 2010 Levy Avenue Suite 100 Tallahassee, FL 32310