Elementary Grades

The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) is one of ten regional laboratories and has a mission to help pre-K–16 educators use the best available evidence to make decisions leading to improved student achievement and reduced performance gaps. REL-NEI places a special emphasis on helping states, districts, and schools build capacity to use their data effectively; forming and conducting high-quality research and evaluation through new “research alliances”; and helping regional education stakeholders incorporate data-based inquiry practices into their decision-making.

The Mali USAID/ PHARE program (Programme Harmonisé d’Appui au Renforcement de l’Education) supports the Malian Ministry of Education’s efforts to improve the quality of elementary education, with an emphasis on literacy. This five-year program works nationally, reaching over 40,000 classrooms and 500,000 students. Known as “Road to Reading” in English, the program will produce and broadcast Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programs for grades 1–6 with dual instructional objectives for teachers and students.

USAID’s Decentralized Basic Education (DBE) Program Objective 2 seeks to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Indonesia’s public and private sector primary schools. DBE 2 builds upon successful aspects of recent initiatives in Indonesia to improve educational quality through new attention to strengthening teacher training and improving school learning environments. The DBE 2 Partnership works with public and private sector partners to develop a more comprehensive system of teacher professional development.

EDC is conducting a research study of The Writers’ Express (WEX) to learn whether the program—including its curriculum, materials, instructional practices, and embedded professional development—is effective for students in elementary schools. WEX is a year-long writing program for students in third through twelfth grade, supported through professional development for teachers and school administrators. In this study, 70 Massachusetts schools will be randomly assigned to implement the WEX program or to continue with the usual writing instruction in fourth grade.

E-Learning for Educators, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Ready to Teach program, seeks to establish successful, sustainable, statewide online professional development programs that address teacher quality and student achievement goals. Through its EdTech Leaders® Online program, EDC supports this initiative by establishing a cadre of online professional development instructors and course developers within each state.

Malawi primary schools face issues of large classes, high repetition rates, and teachers who resort to lectures and other marginally effective rote learning techniques to teach crowded classrooms. The Malawi Tikwere! (Let’s go up!) program uses interactive radio instruction (IRI) broadcasts to address these issues and bring student-centered instruction to primary schools countrywide.

This project is developing an online course for K–8 mathematics instructional coaches in rural areas and small schools who do not have access to regular district-wide professional development. The course builds participants’ coaching skills through the use of classroom artifacts, for example, student work, videotapes, and transcripts drawn from the classroom. Additionally, the project examines how online learning and instructional coaching change teachers’ instructional practices and increase student achievement.

This project, through a cooperative agreement with the NSF, is establishing and maintaining the Discovery Research (DR) K–12 learning resource network, known as CADRE, with the aim of advancing the state of research and evaluation in STEM education and promoting the goals of the DR K–12 program. CADRE provides support services to grantees of this program, which enhances student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines through the development, implementation, and study of resources, models, and technologies.

The Zambia QUESTT Project aims to improve the quality of basic education delivery systems and to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on children’s educational experiences (both in and out of government schools). To accomplish these objectives, QUESTT is leading several initiatives to improve teacher practice through the integration of Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) in government schools and technology-based interventions. These interventions include the use of video and cell phone communication for both in-service and preservice teacher support.