Region 2 Comprehensive Center

Challenge

State education agency (SEA) and local education agency (LEA) leaders are dedicated to improving outcomes for students. Yet they lack research on effective strategies to help them meet their goals to strengthen systems.

EDC partnered with WestEd on the Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC), an initiative that supported SEA and LEA leaders in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island in using data and effective strategies to achieve sustainable improvements in education systems. Working closely with leaders, R2CC provided technical assistance and content expertise—including guidance in using continuous improvement processes—to help leaders enhance education to better support students.

Key Activities

EDC’s R2CC team provided capacity-building support on a variety of high-priority initiatives. Our activities include:

• Supported RIDE staff to understand districts’ levels of implementation and anticipated challenges with meeting new legislative requirements of financial literacy policies
• Conducted a research and policy scan of graduation requirements in other states and countries and analyzing feedback from leading regional stakeholder meetings and an online survey for the New York State Education Department (NYSED)
• Supported development and implementation of the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) curriculum frameworks
• Advanced Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) priority objectives to strengthen systems and improve outcomes for students
• Engaged RIDE stakeholders in a process to revise the state’s teacher preparation requirements
• Facilitated strategic and organizational planning for the New York State Education Department (NYSED) Office of Teacher and Leader Development

Our Impact

EDC’s R2CC team achieved the following impacts:

• Strengthened instruction by working with RIDE staff to design curriculum frameworks for multiple content areas, update early learning standards, revise the state’s social studies standards, and develop related curriculum frameworks.
• Collaborated with RIDE to develop the Financial Literacy Implementation Guide to support implementation of new legislative requirements.
• Delivered the report Graduation Requirements and Measures to the NYSED and the Board of Regents’ Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures to inform the Commission’s discussions and recommendations regarding graduation requirements and policies to all New York State students for success in college, career, and civic life.
• Worked with CSDE to develop the Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Habits (SEIH) Framework for Grades 4 through 12. This research-based and grade-level-aligned framework was adopted by the State Board of Education in March 2023.
• Advanced NYSED’s goals to ensure all students have access to great teachers and leaders by conducting a needs assessment to gather input on organizational strengths, areas for improvement, needs, assets, and priorities related to educator talent.
• Developed organizational improvement recommendations for NYSED that informed the establishment of their newly formed Office of Teacher & Leader Development.