This spring many local education agencies will be applying for School Improvement Grants (SIGs) ranging from $50,000 to $2 million per year. Education Northwest can help your district assess needs and match them to appropriate support and services for low-performing schools. Specific services include:

Building Staff Capacity in Literacy and Mathematics
As the original developer of the 6+1 Trait® Writing Model of Instruction & Assessment, we’ve helped tens of thousands of teachers learn how to combine assessment and instruction to develop a common vision of what “good” writing looks like. Our mathematics experts have helped districts improve achievement scores by working with teachers to build their confidence in their own math understanding and their ability to formatively assess students’ understanding and then adjust instruction accordingly. While all of our professional development builds content knowledge of the instructional program, we also focus on helping staff effectively collaborate to improve instruction through strategies such as lesson study, professional learning teams, and video study groups. Contact for literacy: Jan Littlebear, 800.547.6339, ext. 581; Contact for mathematics: Claire Gates, 800.547.6339, ext. 173.

Creating Rigorous and Relevant Secondary Schools
Our Recreating Secondary Schools Program has helped more than 1,200 schools and districts—including Miami-Dade, Atlanta, and Memphis—strengthen their core curriculum, vertically align curricula, and increase teacher effectiveness through embedded professional learning, distributed leadership, and increased collaboration. Through our customized coaching, we train school and district staff to carry on improvement efforts long after our technical assistance has ended. Contact: Katie Luers, 800.547.6339, ext. 689.

Conducting School Turnaround Capacity Reviews
We recently developed a self-study tool to help schools conduct an internal review as part of their school improvement effort. A new K–12 school turnaround review process builds on this work and also draws on School Improvement Grant requirements and recommendations in the Institute of Education Sciences practice guide: Turning Around Chronically Low-Performing Schools. For more information contact Deborah Davis, 800.547.6339, ext. 644. We also offer facilitated ELL, math, and literacy reviews that are research-based and tailored to specific content areas. All reviews are designed to assess needs and help staff build capacity to carry on continuous improvement. For content-specific reviews, contact Melinda Leong, 800.547.6339, ext. 172.

Providing Mechanisms for Family and Community Engagement
As the Oregon Parental Information & Resource Center (PIRC) we are skilled at providing resources, information, and training to educators and family members, with a focus on Hispanic and low-income families, to create meaningful school-family partnerships for youth success. Our Volunteer Leadership Center trains thousands of national service volunteers each year, preparing young and old volunteers to meet the needs of their schools and communities. Many of those volunteers serve in schools in economically distressed neighborhoods. We’re also one of the nation's premier training and technical assistance providers for youth mentoring programs and initiatives Contact: Eve McDermott, 800.547.6339, ext. 757.

Establishing Strategies for Increased Learning Time in High Schools
Our nationally recognized staff works with secondary school leadership teams to reallocate resources so that time in the classroom and in teacher planning sessions is used more efficiently. We also have expertise in developing academic out-of-school time programs. Contact: Diana Oxley, 800.547.6339, ext. 613.

Implementing Effective Pre-Kindergarten Academic Practices
We can help you design and implement high-quality early childhood education programs and curricula, including literacy and numeracy development and self-regulation. Contact: Steffen Saifer, 800.547.6339, ext. 150.

Evaluating Charter School Proposals
Our recent work in this area includes a detailed evaluation of more than three dozen “brick and mortar” charter schools in Idaho, as well as virtual charter schools. Idaho’s school superintendent is using our reports to guide policies to further strengthen and expand the state’s charter school network. Contact: Changhua Wang, 800.547.6339, ext. 567.

Using Data Continuously to Inform/Differentiate Instruction
Our evaluation and assessment experts can help you collect, analyze, and use data to make instructional decisions. We provide technical assistance and research on the development and implementation of formative assessment processes by teachers, schools, and districts. We also offer assistance in assessing how well a school’s services match the needs of new and diverse students. As a longtime evaluator of reading interventions, we’ve worked across the region observing classrooms and collecting and analyzing data to help schools improve reading proficiency, particularly for English language learners. Contact: Edith Gummer, 800.547.6339, ext. 171.

Ensuring Compliance with Civil Rights Considerations
As the Region X Equity Assistance Center and the Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center, we have extensive experience in working with schools and districts to identify and eliminate inequitable policies and practices. This includes remedying practices that result in over-representation of diverse students in special education and disciplinary referrals, as well as technical assistance in complying with federal anti-discrimination laws. Contact: Joyce Harris, 800.547.6339, ext. 664.