Resources
This classic 1989 brief from researchers Kathleen Cotton and Karen Reed Wikelund remains widely cited and circulated more than 20 years after original publication.
Resources
Learn about the five key principles that all teachers should know about second-language acquisition and the academic challenges English learners face.
Resources
Ensure smooth transitions for all incoming kindergarten students and their families with recommendations in this white paper and "taking action" worksheet.
Resources
English learners need to develop math and reading skills as well as their knowledge of social studies and science—even while learning English.
Resources
The following resources for planning, designing, and implementing a youth mentoring program were developed by our National Mentoring Center project.
Insights
Understanding how to integrate different approaches can go a long way toward helping students of color build a sense of belonging at school.
Insights
Youth program partnerships can help districts and schools accomplish more than what they can do alone. How can you build your capacity to manage them?
Insights
Guest Blogger Jason Younker writes on the challenges colleges face in identifying their American Indian and Alaska Native students and the solution that U of O developed to better serve the community.
Insights
Mandy Smoker Broaddus writes on how Montana is creating language-immersion elementary classrooms as one strategy to restore and revitalize Native languages.
Insights
Mandy Smoker Broaddus writes about Oregon S.B. 13 as a way for tribal peoples to have their presence validated across the state and in classrooms.
Insights
Kindergarten transitions are important for children to succeed in school and later in life. What do principals need to know to help their youngest students thrive?
Insights
Culturally responsive systems are the key to improving outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native students in school and in life.
Insights
Starting college can be stressful for all students but in particular for those who have experienced trauma. How can educators help?
Resources
The ECMC Foundation launched the Basic Needs Initiative in fall 2019. Through the three-year initiative, a group of seven grantees will receive funding and support to build systemic, sustainable solutions for meeting college students’ basic needs.
Resources
States are developing comprehensive educational data systems that contain a wealth of student data spanning the pre-K, K-12, and postsecondary education systems.
Insights
An expert shares how program-level CTE staff can use data they already collect to make programs more equitable and accessible.
Resources
This article in Principal Leadership examines the research on disparities in exclusionary discipline policies and practices.
Resources
An effective and evidence-based way to improve schools, nonprofits, and government agencies is to make decisions in partnership with those being served. This six-page resource provides an overview and tips for educators and youth workers.
Resources
Our librarians recently compiled this list of the latest studies and resources that states, districts and schools can draw from to create and improve CTE programs.
General
Get the resources, insights, and news you need to provide excellent and equitable education for all. Subscribe to our newsletter!
Case Briefs
At Portland Community College (PCC), first-generation and low-income students can receive support to overcome those barriers through Future Connect, a scholarship and advising program.
Case Briefs
CTE can be a powerful tool for preparing students for college and career success. High-quality programs deliver rigorous academic and technical coursework sequenced across high school and postsecondary education.
Resources
This guide provides basic information for families of English learners and helps you talk with your child’s school, ask the right questions, and support your child on their journey as an English learner.
Resources
A well-designed virtual conference can be just as engaging and useful—or lackluster and uninspiring— as an in-person event. Here are some quick tips that can help you up your game immediately.
Case Briefs
Out-of-school time (OST) programs offer critical opportunities for learning related to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Insights
Mandy Smoker Broaddus, Kellie Harry, and Sarah Pierce share reflections from the National Indian Education Association’s annual convention and its theme of Native Control of Native Education.
Insights
Education Northwest announces new Chief Financial Officer, a leader in the education professional services field.
Insights
Kellie Harry is a senior advisor in Native and culturally responsive education and shares her personal story of learning her native Paiute language and advocating for its revitalization.
Insights
In honor of National Mentoring Month, we reflect on the important role mentors play (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic) and provides some mentoring-related resources.
Insights
Jessica Johnson, a highly skilled and experienced leader in the education professional services field, is joining Education Northwest as Chief Program & Development Officer.
Insights
Explore a 2022 report on the lived experiences of superintendents of color in Oregon.
Insights
The Montana State University graduate student centers Native student experiences with financial aid in her work and research. Throughout her life, Twila Miner (Oglala Lakota) has found herself living in two worlds.
Case Briefs
Oregon Senate Bill 13 (Tribal History/Shared History) provided funding to all nine federally recognized Tribes in the state to develop their own Tribally specific curriculum.
Insights
We collaborated with The Ford Family Foundation to study college outcomes for the 42 percent of Oregon’s high school students who attend a rural school.
Insights
Education Northwest’s new Director of School Improvement Systems, Catherine Barbour, helps low-performing schools get better—with equity at the forefront of the effort.
Insights
Black high school students face significant barriers to postsecondary success, including anti-Blackness. Destiny McLennan looks at how they make decisions about their futures despite the obstacles.
Insights
The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) invested in intensive supports for schools to build high-functioning professional learning communities using Solution Tree’s Professional PLC at Work® model.
Insights
Education Northwest welcomes our new senior fellow, Stephanie Krauss, who will support our work in youth development, workforce development, and alternative education.
Insights
Idaho’s Rural Endorsement Development Opportunities (REDO) Project gives teachers scholarships to learn how to support and advocate for the state’s English language learner students.
Insights
Accurate identification can help Native migratory students sustain important cultural practices while thriving in school.
Insights
Approaches to career guidance have swung from focused study to broad experience and back again. So what’s the best way for students to find the work they really want to do?
Insights
At the College of Southern Idaho, Assistant Dean of Enrollment Services Monze Stark leads a personalized approach to retention for Latinx and other students.
Insights
When planning for summer programs, considering students’ full humanity, centering equity, and aiming for well-rounded programs will set students up for success.
Insights
Maegan Rides at the Door of the National Native Children’s Trauma Center spoke with Mandy Smoker Broaddus about making trauma-informed work culturally responsive.
Insights
It’s past time that adults take action to promote youth voice. Here are some ways to get started.
Insights
After-school employment has great potential to reinforce and expand on classroom learning—if students, educators, and employers collaborate.
Insights
The Community Conversation Toolkit helps families, educators, and community members discuss how to make schools welcoming and inclusive to all.
Resources
We're are collaborating with the CCRC to adapt a pilot project at three community colleges in Oregon to test the usefulness of the lesson study professional development model in higher education.
Resources
Lesson Study is a structured, collaborative professional development intervention with evidence showing that it improves mathematics instruction among K-12 teachers.
Insights
As an immigrant and first-generation student, Education Northwest researcher Manuel Vazquez draws on lived experience to identify evidence-based programs and policies that are grounded in equity.
Resources
Need a starting point to make your teaching more inclusive of Latinx communities? See our list of resources for lesson plans, activities, documentaries, art, and more.
Insights
As we move from weeks to months of social distancing, school closures, and remote work—and we envision an education system fundamentally changed by the COVID-19 pandemic—Education Northwest is responding to our partners’ changing needs.
Resources
Assessing Mathematical Understanding is a set of mathematics assessments for kindergarten and first-grade students that provides both cumulative data about students’ progress over time and in-depth diagnostic information.
General
Education Northwest is governed by a board of directors from the Northwest region comprising Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
General
The video clips of teacher-student assessment interviews provide an opportunity for users to discuss and clarify different types of student responses.
Insights
With more English learners in American schools, it's important to equip teachers to make learning accessible for all students. A new tool for coaching teachers can help schools meet this challenge.
Case Briefs
Education Northwest supported Align by conducting an independent evaluation of their $2 million Preschool Development Grant Birth Through 5 implementation.
General
Interested in working with us? Have an idea or suggestion? Need help finding a resource? We’d love to hear from you!
Service Lines or Approaches
CTE can prepare students for college and career success—but not all students have the same access to these important learning experiences. With the help of data and evidence, you can improve your CTE programs so every student can participate and succeed.
Insights
Learn strategies for developing an online community with EL students, such as leveraging their digital skills, creating buddy systems, holding breakfast meetings, and checking in with families.
Insights
Using trauma-informed practices helps create a foundation of safety and support. As students work through their own trauma, together we build a community focused on healing, resilience, growth, learning, and success.
Insights
Karen joined Education Northwest as a leader in equity and systems improvement. She brings an asset-based, community-centered approach that helps leaders achieve equity for marginalized groups.
Insights
Education Northwest researcher Diana Serrano experienced the power of education firsthand. Today, she gives back to English learners and educators through research grounded in practical application.
Insights
The sudden pivot to online teaching comes with plenty of challenges, but teachers may be further ahead than they realize because they have already built relationships with their students.
Insights
The killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have again exposed the systemic nature of racism. As an organization that is committed to rooting out inequities in our education system, we have an obligation to speak out.
Insights
How can we make sure that the stories we teach in our schools not only honor the histories of Indigenous peoples but also respect them as diverse, thriving communities?
Insights
Native communities have been showing up for education during the COVID-19 pandemic—tribal elders, leaders, advocates, and educators have been finding creative ways to engage learners.
Insights
Today, we have an unprecedented opportunity to develop and implement innovative solutions that address long-standing educational challenges. One example is accountability testing.
Insights
As more states extend their school closures and remote learning becomes a new reality, teachers have less time for instruction, as well as less control over when and how students work.
Resources
Math has its own language, and English learners often struggle to understand math concepts in this language. What can math teachers do to help their English learner students succeed?
Insights
As schools, districts, and other educational entities identify their needs during this unprecedented time, Education Northwest is here to provide customized services and resources.
Insights
As a self-identifying “brown-skinned Latina, first-generation immigrant,” Karen Pérez reflects on the meaning of Hispanic Heritage Month and how we can celebrate Latinx heritage.
Insights
The U.S. educational system is now experiencing a test run for the future. COVID-19 has demonstrated that despite the widespread use of online learning in many educational settings, we are still woefully unprepared to meet the needs of all students in such an environment.
Insights
Learn how Montana’s Hays Lodgepole School is weaving students’ Assiniboine and Gros Ventre culture into its curriculum.
Insights
Dr. Ivory Toldson of Howard University shares how to filter out “bad stats” about Black students, find good data, and center student voice in our schools.
Insights
Education Northwest researchers recently completed a REL Northwest study that provides a landscape scan of secondary CTE programming in Oregon.
Insights
ECMC Foundation’s Basic Needs Initiative is helping colleges and nonprofit partners connect students to food, housing, and more.
Insights
The Nelson Scholarship Program strives to increase Native representation in education by supporting Native students in the Northwest who are pursuing a master’s degree in a related field.
Insights
REL Northwest has designed a toolkit to help educators identify and use research-based policies and procedures for supporting newcomer immigrant students who are attending secondary schools in the United States.
Insights
We partnered with the CCRC and three community colleges to adapt lesson study, a professional development strategy proven to be effective in K–12 classrooms, to the postsecondary context.
Case Briefs
When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the K–12 education system, new complications in teaching and learning piled onto existing challenges caused by systemic racism.
Insights
Centering cultural responsiveness on youth, families and elders and making cultural connections across the curriculum are two of the family engagement strategies shared in this blog post.
Insights
Our researchers write about how they used a methodology developed by medical researchers to create a useful tool for determining how long it will take students to pass a language proficiency test and exit English learner services.
Insights
Going to college makes a significant difference in students' future earnings. Read about how CTE could help energize more Oregon students to pursue a postsecondary path.
Insights
Jacob Williams looks at the role educators can play in supporting youth to help keep them out of trouble and discusses several risk domains associated with young people based on a new, comprehensive literature review.
Insights
Math success for students with learning disabilities and struggling learners starts with solid teaching practices combined with necessary, specially designed teaching adjustments.
Insights
For many Americans, high tuition costs are a primary barrier to attending college and earning a postsecondary credential.
Insights
Reauthorization of federal CTE legislation offers states an opportunity to rethink their CTE performance indicators. Steve Klein provides a set of principles to help guide states' work.
Insights
Financial aid helps expand college access but not all eligible students apply. This post explores the barriers students face in applying for aid and provides FAFSA-completion strategies for educators.
Insights
Researcher Vicki Nishioka frames alarming statistics for out-of-school suspensions and discipline disparities in preschool programs with a set of practices that can help schools end the problem.
Insights
English learners entering high school have to learn both English and grade-level content to begin accumulating credits to graduate.
Insights
Mandy Smoker Broaddus shares a set of steps that can make an immediate impact in helping American Indian students and community members feel welcome at school.
Insights
What skills can teachers learn to relate better to their students across cultures? Researcher Vicki Nishioka offers strategies to build teacher-student relationships and close the racial discipline gap.
Insights
How can teachers reach all their students—including students from cultural backgrounds different from their own?
Resources
Want to learn the basics of social and emotional learning? Download this primer to learn concepts you can use to help students develop “nonacademic skills” and reach their full potential.
Resources
This report explores the implementation and signs of progress of Oregon Promise in its first year.
Resources
Find out about the progress community colleges in Oregon are making to support students who are traditionally required to take developmental education courses and face a high risk for not graduating from college.
Resources
The presence of traumatized children in our schools is nothing new, but research now shows us how we, as educators, can moderate the effects of trauma on students' ability to learn.
Resources
Roughly one-third of students who did not file a FAFSA, would have been eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, which provides aid for low-income undergraduate students and lowers the costs of college.
Resources
Intermediary organizations that serve as the backbone of an education network can be integral to a network’s success. Use this checklist to assess whether a potential intermediary partner can fulfill the core capacities to your emerging network.
Resources
This brief provides educators with the background, rationale and evidence for implementing an uninterrupted, 90-minute literacy block as part of a comprehensive approach to teaching reading in elementary schools.
Resources
Think through important decisions on why to measure SEL, how to use SEL data and which skills, mindsets and capacities are appropriate to measure with this informative two-page guide.
Resources
When forming a professional learning network, how do you ensure your efforts are meaningful and sustainable? This resource will help you start your network with a clear purpose and solid direction.
Resources
What does a high-performing education network look like, and what steps can emerging networks take to get there?
Resources
Cyberbullying, or electronic aggression, is unwanted behavior by a student or group of students that occurs through email, chat rooms, instant message, websites or social media.
Resources
Summer melt is even more prevalent for low-income students, students in large urban districts, and community-college bound students—with attrition rates as high as 40 percent.
Resources
Designed to help districts assess and optimize their EL services, this tool contains 71 items organized into eight sections that address key components of a district’s program for English learners.
Resources
How Future Connect is Improving College Success Through Comprehensive Advising and Financial Support
This report is the first external evaluation of Future Connect. It examines the program’s impact on college performance, progression, persistence, transfer, and completion.
Resources
This brief serves as a resource for K–12 districts, state education agencies, higher education institutions and district Title VI Indian education offices.
Resources
This booklet presents some research-based ideas as a starting place for those who want to develop better policies and practices to support student attendance.
Resources
Program evaluation is an increasingly important area of operations for all youth mentoring programs. These resources can help youth mentoring programs evaluate the quality of the mentoring relationships they are building
Resources
This classic brief reviews research on the relationship between teachers' classroom questioning behaviors and a variety of student outcomes, including achievement, retention and participation.
Insights
Accountability indicators contained within the federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act have a profound effect on career and technical education (CTE).
Insights
Our new study highlights creative solutions to encourage educators to earn dual credit teaching credentials.
Resources
Poor writing skills are a barrier to hiring and promotion for many individuals, and remediation of problems with writing imposes significant operational and training costs on public and private organizations.
Resources
This classic research synthesis by Researcher Kathleen Cotton cites classroom, school, and district practices that research has shown to foster positive student achievement, attitudes and social behavior.
Resources
This list of available recent studies and articles on time to reclassification for English learners can help inform processes such as program planning and resource allocation.
Resources
The School Improvement Research Series was produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory under a contract with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement U.S. Department of Education.
Resources
We compiled this list of resources containing information on what changes schools can make to create a more welcoming school climate and increase the engagement of American Indian and Alaska Native families in schools.
Resources
This classic brief looks at the research on activities pursued by teachers to keep track of student learning for purposes of making instructional decisions and providing student feedback.
Resources
Placing students into small groups can be a powerful approach to stimulate learning. This resource serves educators looking to improve classroom instruction through small-group student learning.
Resources
Research shows that programs that support students’ development in communicating effectively, negotiating conflict, managing their emotions and behavior and other social and emotional skills can lead to better academic and life outcomes.
Resources
A publications that provides training for use of the Indigenous Culture-Based Education Rubrics, which were originally developed to measure culture-based education (CBE) program levels in partner schools.
General
Our mission is to use evidence to help partners solve educational challenges and improve learning.
Resources
Partners from CCSSO, AIR and Education Northwest adapted two widely used teacher evaluation and support systems into new resources for teachers with English learners in their classrooms.
Resources
The density and complexity of social science textbooks and other texts can be particularly challenging for English learners. What principles and strategies can social studies teachers employ?
Resources
Based on research, we identified key principles that teachers with English learner students in their classrooms should know. These principles are “big ideas” or concepts about second language acquisition and the academic challenges English learners face.
Resources
Science inquiry poses particular linguistic challenges for English learners. Learn a few principles and strategies for effectively teaching science to students learning English.
Resources
Our librarians compiled this list of readily available, recent studies and articles that leaders can draw from when forming new collaboratives or enhancing existing ones.
Resources
The following resources, developed by our National Mentoring Center project, can help mentoring programs prepare both volunteer mentors and the youth they serve for their mentoring experience.
Resources
Addressing the unique needs of students from diverse backgrounds is one of the major challenges facing public education today because many teachers are inadequately prepared.
Resources
What can district leaders do to create schools that support success for English learners?
Resources
Spearheaded by GEAR UP Hawai'i, the Step Up Scholars program was a statewide campaign that encouraged Hawai'i public school students to earn a more-rigorous high school diploma.
Insights
Accelerated learning can improve students’ postsecondary outcomes, and a new study finds that one in three Oregon public high school students participated in this kind of coursework.
Insights
With ESSA placing states and districts in the driver’s seat when it comes to school improvement, what lessons can be learned from the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program?
Insights
According to Karen Martin, a teacher and instructional coach in Alaska, the Northwest Rural Innovation and Student Engagement (NW RISE) Network builds connections.
Insights
Bringing people together Is an investment that pays off—but how do you cover costs to build educator networks?
Insights
For Black History Month, we recognize the leadership of nine role models from the Pacific Northwest connected to our public schools, higher education and the development of young people.
Insights
“The health of my community, and of Indian Country in general, depends on policymakers with personal experience.”
Insights
Intermediary partners can have a strong, positive impact on education networks. What are the qualities that make a good intermediary?
Insights
Sonta Hamilton Roach writes about creating an education system that embraces culture and fits the needs of students, families and community members.
Insights
When schools get an influx of English learners, what can principals do to help ensure their academic success?
Insights
Looking at the assets (rather than the deficits) of English learners is a way of reframing the conversation.
Insights
When students are struggling in reading and writing, a promising approach is to emphasize the connections through strategies like sentence starters and mentor texts. Our author gives insights.
Insights
Hiring more teachers of color benefits all students academically and builds the school community—and it's the right thing to do.
Insights
Teachers can create a rich learning experience for everyone by providing the necessary accommodations for students with dyslexia, while also embracing their unique skills and perspectives.
Insights
Incorporating youth voice into academic settings requires educators and other adults to be mindful and think critically about when they need to step up (and step out) to best support youth.
Insights
Belonging is a fundamental human need. What strategies that educators can use to help students feel more secure in their school experiences?
Insights
Jacqueline Raphael highlights a set of best practices that emerging networks can follow and makes a case for using an experienced intermediary organization to serve as the network's “backbone.”
Insights
"For me, learning about my own culture is a lifelong process, but I definitely believe we should be telling our own story whenever possible.”
Insights
Education Northwest’s board of directors announced that it has unanimously chosen Patty Wood as the organization’s chief executive officer.
Insights
Discover what's new in a statewide curriculum on the Native American experience in Oregon.
Insights
As we observe Hispanic Heritage Month, we are deeply inspired by the five Latine educators who are sharing their stories with us in 2019.
Resources
English Language Learner (ELL) students bring substantial assets such as bilingualism and biculturalism to communities and classrooms, yet their educational achievement is often lower than that of their non-ELL peers.
Insights
Collective impact initiatives have data at the core of their efforts to improve communities, but when partners don’t collect or have access to the same data, it’s a challenge that calls for creative solutions.
Insights
Doing research in a school district is not primarily about researchers. The best way to start is by thinking about what’s in it for the district, because that’s what they’ll want to hear first.
Resources
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 states have districts operating on a four-day schedule.
Resources
School leadership is complex and requires wisdom, informed judgment, and choosing among multiple options. Should leaders push for fast results or incremental improvements over time?
Insights
As our global society grows ever more diverse, the challenge of effectively educating students to participate is greater than ever.
Insights
Advisory programs (or advisories) are frequently implemented by schools as a way to strengthen connectedness between adults and students and foster a personalized and supportive school culture.
Insights
According to recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics, one in three students in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington is now a member of a racial/ethnic minority group.
Insights
Shirley Araiza's blog post originated as a speech given to education leaders at the Oregon Leadership Network Spring Leadership Institute in Salem, Oregon.
Insights
This study has found that high school GPA was better than college entrance exam scores at predicting college course grades for recent Alaska high school graduates.
Insights
The Alaska Statewide Mentor Project has positive effects on the retention of new teachers and student achievement. What can other states take away from what Alaska is doing?
Insights
On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 24 percent of students in grades 8 and 12 scored at or above proficient level, lower than our students’ performance in reading and mathematics.
Insights
Students with dyslexia are intelligent but struggle to "crack the code" of written language. What can educators do to best support them in the classroom?
Resources
The use of research and data in decision making has become a popular mantra in education circles, but putting it into practice presents some real challenges
Insights
Myrna Muñoz invites everyone to join in her ancestors’ Mexican way of understanding community—affirming, supporting, and empowering one another.
General
We use evidence to help partners solve educational challenges and improve learning.
Insights
From September 15 to October 15, the United States celebrates Latine Heritage Month to spotlight the achievements and contributions of Latinx Americans.
Resources
Examining the issue of trust within the context of school improvement, looking specifically at teacher-teacher and teacher-principal relationships.
Insights
Like many educators, I try to take time in the summer to reflect and recharge. For many of you, a new school year is about to begin—or already has.
Insights
Once schools are using data to identify the students at risk of falling through the cracks, what’s the next step? Graduation coaches who help kids cross the graduation stage is one potential solution.
Insights
English learner students face significant challenges in meeting the new Common Core State Standards.
Insights
We wrestle with these issues of privilege, dominant culture, and expectations in North Clackamas schools. We’ve found that there is a strong interplay among instructional practices, equity, and leadership.
Insights
This paper looks at reading performance and the achievement gaps between Native Hawaiian students and their white peers with an eye toward informing policy.
Insights
When you approach a district with a request to conduct research or receive data, you probably won’t be the first.
Insights
Our schools exist because of our students. As educators we have the awesome responsibility and unique opportunity to reach, teach and prepare our students for tomorrow.
Insights
This year we will mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
General
Whether we’re bolstering literacy instruction, training antipoverty workers, evaluating English learner interventions, or researching equitable school policies and practices, our work is making an impact in our region and across the country.
Insights
A common request from principals, teachers, parents, and policymakers is for research that will help determine what grade configuration is best for students in various grade levels.
Insights
Learn how to support schools and districts on preventing harassment and bullying by emphasizing the victim’s perspective.
Resources
Learn strategies, raise consciousness, and begin to critically examine school practices that provide the opportunity for Latinx students and families to thrive in our schools.
Resources
To gather information about the field of out-of-school time science, technology, engineering, and math (OST STEM), Education Northwest recently conducted a national scan of OST STEM programs for the Overdeck Family Foundation
Resources
How do past boarding school practices and policies affect our Native students and families today? Learn from several educators in the Western region who are successfully partnering with our Native communities.
Resources
Learn about two new studies that address the research gap on Indigenous English learners.
Resources
This webinar introduced lesson study, showcased new implementation resources, and reviewed research findings from the project.
Resources
"Changing the Conversation,” a new study from Education Northwest, looks at Highline Public Schools’ participation in the Road Map Project.
Insights
Oregon Promise, a program that covers most tuition at Oregon community colleges, appears to be having an impact on the college-going decisions of students—particularly first-generation students.
General
Our mission is to use evidence to help partners solve educational challenges and improve learning.
Insights
We are inspired by the people we are honoring as we observe Hispanic Heritage Month. We are focusing on people who are doing meaningful work and have the potential to create wonderful legacies as leaders and role models.
Insights
English learners benefit when they have opportunities for language practice throughout the day. What does it take for schools to make this happen?
Insights
Education Northwest is recognizing the contributions of African American educators and community leaders in our region who are doing exceptional work to improve public education and make a difference in students’ lives.
Resources
Equitable learning environments support positive outcomes for students, educators, and entire school communities.
Insights
SEL is critical to student success, but how do you know your supports are working? On our blog, Researcher Karyn Lewis walks you through key considerations on how to measure SEL.
Insights
Part 3 of our blog series offers considerations for selecting an SEL measurement tool that works best for your needs.
Insights
With all the student skills, mindsets and competencies that fall under the SEL umbrella (including impulse control, perspective-taking and problem-solving), how do you decide which SEL skills should be measured?
Resources
Small learning community and small school reform efforts have begun to falter in light of evaluations showing stalled implementation and limited impacts.
Resources
Creating and enforcing a clear and equitable discipline policy plays an important role in ensuring that all students are afforded the opportunity to reach their full potential.
Resources
What truly characterizes a professional learning community? And, more important, How can PLCs improve teacher practice and student learning?
Resources
The Institute for Youth Success (IYS) has been supporting youth programs since our inception as the Oregon Mentoring Initiative in 2002.
Insights
It’s easy to understand why teachers are not always thrilled when they learn their district is considering using value-added models to help evaluate their effectiveness.
Insights
Social and emotional learning is critical for students, but the concepts can be confusing. In this article, Education Northwest's experts weigh in on the best places for educators to start.
Insights
In 2013, the Oregon Legislature made substantial changes to state school discipline statutes that guide the policies of the state’s 196 districts
Insights
Nanci Schneider gives a districts a school improvement formula for juggling local mandates and meeting state standards: Stay focused on student achievement and build a network.
Insights
Offering a few key strategies taken from the preschool years for educators to help promote family involvement in students’ education.
Resources
A major challenge facing students as they pursue a postsecondary degree is a lack of academic preparedness for college-level math.
Insights
This month, Education Northwest has much to celebrate as we welcome eight new team members from six different states!
Areas of Work
Transform English language learning for your students with effective and equitable practices that build on their strengths.
Insights
Education Northwest is taking an opportunity to look at Black History Month through the lens of the future by honoring six outstanding student leaders from across the region.
Insights
Based on their experiences working with districts in Washington state, our researchers offer three recommendations for districts on using data to help ensure equitable educational experiences for students.
Insights
What strategies promote teacher collaboration across a school and provide English learners more opportunities for academic success?
Insights
How well do students feel they get along with their teachers? Three students from Portland YouthBuilders share experiences on the role that teacher-student relationships have played in their high school education.
Insights
For students in a writing class in a rural Idaho high school, sharing writing with peers in other states pushed their comfort zones. What did the students learn from this networking experience?
Insights
A study of college readiness of first-time students at the University of Alaska found that high school GPA was more predictive of students’ success in college English and math courses than standardized test scores.
Insights
Have you taken a tour of our new website? With redesigned, content-rich pages, we invite you to discover how we can support you in using evidence to solve educational challenges and improve learning.
Resources
The following resources on recruiting and screening volunteer mentors were been developed by our National Mentoring Center project.
Insights
Providing students with structure and boundaries doesn't have to take a big effort and can help young people learn more effectively.
Insights
When it comes to CTE, what teaching models make a difference? Our bloggers make a case for combining project-based and blended learning models into a powerful CTE teaching approach.
General
In addition to competitive salaries, Education Northwest offers an attractive benefit package that includes a robust retirement plan and generous vacation and personal leave.
Insights
Joyce Harris won the 2016 award for public service given annually by the University of Oregon Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management and the department’s advisory council.
Resources
Bullying presents one of the greatest health risks to children, youth, and young adults in U.S. society.
Insights
From the beginning, our partnership with the Ontario School District in Eastern Oregon has focused on improving outcomes for English learner students.
Insights
One reason that hate groups are on the rise may be that they provide their members a sense of belonging they are not finding elsewhere. What can educators do to help reverse this trend?
Insights
For districts and schools hit hard by teacher shortages, there's only so much you can do alone in hiring and keeping high-quality teachers.
Insights
As economic forces shift in rural areas, how can creating expanded educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math make a difference for rural students?
Insights
Students of color held out of class at a high rate even as overall suspensions are decreasing but also that as schools reduced suspensions, rates of unsafe behavior decreased and students reported feeling safer.
Resources
This booklet summarizes research on best practices for implementing successful small learning communities and career academies.
Insights
In the classroom, the ability of students to provide explanations while talking to the teacher is an important skill.
Insights
Bob Rath, our executive director for 15 years until his retirement in 1995, believed that working directly with children, schools, and communities truly made a difference.
General
This scholarship strives to increase Native representation in the field of education by providing financial support, mentoring, and internships for Native students in the Northwest.
Insights
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month we celebrate the careers and service of four leaders from our region who are making a difference in the lives of Latino students and families.
Insights
Teachers can engage in self-education and open up their classrooms to culture in forming strategies to end persistent and damaging stereotypes.
Insights
A major hurdle to postsecondary success is students’ lack of academic preparedness for college-level math and a number of studies show that referral rates for developmental math far outpace those for developmental English.
Insights
This REL Northwest study explores the relationship between students’ participation in dual-credit programs and their education outcomes.
Insights
As a researcher working with English language learners (ELLs) and their families, Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica draws from her own experiences in learning English while in school.
Insights
In a three-minute video, educators from small rural schools in the Pacific Northwest talk about the value of participating in a network.
Insights
Education Northwest has launched a new scholarship program for Native educators called The Steven R. Nelson Native Educator Scholarship Program.
Resources
There’s growing recognition that communities of practice—peer-to-peer learning groups—offer an effective way to work together on a common problem, share strategies, and deepen members’ knowledge.
Insights
In our region—Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington—young people between the ages of 13 and 17 are more than twice as likely to be foreign-born immigrants than children from birth to the age of 12.
Insights
For the past 13 years I’ve served as the principal at Pasco High School, a large public school in a small city in Southeastern Washington.
Insights
As we honor Latine contributions to our country during National Hispanic Heritage Month, it’s also important to reflect on what Latine culture brings—and can bring—to our kids’ education.
Insights
Steve Fleischman recommends Wildflowers, by Jonathan P. Raymond—a book that illuminates how a district put its whole-child credo into action and may inspire you to do more and better.
Insights
For students whose home language is not English, properly recording their information can be more difficult for school personnel who are not familiar with naming conventions from other cultural backgrounds.
Insights
Collective impact has emerged as a popular model in the Northwest, and nationally, for addressing long-standing challenges in reaching community-level educational goals and achieving of success for children and families.
Insights
As we approach our 50th anniversary, we are running a series on the work we do with the five states that make up our region. This post looks at how Idaho is changing and what’s needed to meet the demands of an evolving workforce.
Resources
This brief provides educators with the background, rationale and evidence for implementing an uninterrupted, 90-minute literacy block as part of a comprehensive approach to teaching reading in elementary schools.
Resources
This study spotlights the promises and challenges of a high school-community college collaboration in Hawaii, the goal of which is to better prepare secondary students for postsecondary success.
Insights
Practices and programs that help educators engage English learners with compelling, grade-appropriate language and content.
Insights
What’s helping to close the gap in our students’ writing ability at Roosevelt High School, Oregon’s most diverse high school, is extending writing beyond the classroom.
Insights
Education Northwest’s adult learning team works with organizations to help strengthen the delivery and effectiveness of their training programs.
Insights
New study that uncovers challenges faced by rural schools with School Improvement Grants and shows the promise of technical assistance when it comes to implementing evidence-based strategies.
Insights
What is social and emotional learning (SEL)? What about nonacademic skills; workplace-essential skills; 21st-century skills; and mindsets, essential skills and habits (MESH)?
Resources
The process of selecting a school turnaround provider can seem overwhelming, with so many choices and so little time and information.
Resources
Our always-on digital world presents both the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity to reframe what learning can and should look like today.
Insights
The first in a brand new monthly series, this post shines a light on the connection between literacy and equity and why the beginning of the school year is a chance to start fresh.
Insights
Music plays a powerful role in the lives of Latine college students, as uncovered by Education Northwest’s Marbella Uriostegui and a team of researchers.
Insights
West Valley School District students can earn industry certificates in seventh grade and journeyman credentials in high school. What can other districts learn from West Valley's thriving CTE model?
Insights
Networks are a promising strategy for rural teachers to overcome the challenges of isolation. Danette Parsley provides three takeaways from our role in establishing a rural network in the Northwest.
Resources
Findings show that completing developmental education courses in reading and writing leads to an increase in earnings, suggesting that developmental education English credits may improve individuals’ employability.
Resources
This brief outlines steps district and school leaders can take to expand science, technology, engineering and mathematics opportunities for students through school-community partnerships.
Resources
According to the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, two-thirds of eighth-grade students performed at or below a basic level of proficiency in mathematics.
Insights
Preparing students for their next steps in life is at the core of every high school’s mission. In this post we feature programs and practices that help educators empower students toward their next steps.
Resources
The following resources, developed by our National Mentoring Center project can help school administrators and staff, as well as their community partners, design and implement effective mentoring services in K-12 school settings.
Insights
As a parent who also works for an organization specializing in education research, I see schools working hard to stop exclusionary discipline practices and have seen research that shows that students who fall behind are most at risk for not graduating.
Insights
Education Northwest announces it has been awarded $5 million over five years to lead a collaborative effort establishing a Washington Statewide Family Engagement Center.
Insights
Oregon's teacher of the year writes about how he came to place students' cultures front and center in his classroom and in the community and encourages more teachers to promote equity.
Insights
Building the academic vocabulary of English learner students while teaching math or history can be a heavy lift for teachers. Tim Blackburn writes about an approach a California high school is adopting.
Insights
Here is a sampling of the research-based resources and conversations we shared on social and emotional learning.
Insights
Read how the NW RISE network that connects educators in rural schools across the Northwest inspired a new network in a remote Alaska school district the size of West Virginia.
Insights
Schools alone can’t do everything when it comes to reaching out to underserved students and empowering them to succeed. Collective impact initiatives that focus on student success bring everyone together to align their efforts to better serve youth.
Insights
Do English learner students miss more class time due to discipline than their non-English learner peers? Art Burke examines this and other questions in his newly published REL Northwest study.
Insights
A substantial body of research shows the knowledge, skills, habits, and dispositions toward school and learning that students bring with them on their first day of ninth grade have a large impact on their success throughout their high school career.
Insights
Oregon’s Education Innovation Officer writes about the necessity to improve the state’s graduation rate and a few of the promising practices that could help Oregon reach its goal.
Insights
Collective impact initiatives thrive on meaty problems—problems worth the attention, energy, and resources of the community that cannot be solved by the efforts of single organizations or sectors.
Insights
Improving schools is about more than just improving academic performance. It’s also about creating a level playing field so that students from poor families have the same opportunities to succeed as those from more privileged backgrounds.
Insights
Alaska's Superintendent of the Year breaks down the three principles that have helped shape his district: attention, building, and collaboration.
Insights
Attracting and keeping teachers in our hard-to-serve schools can help prepare all our students to be productive members of society in the 21st century.
Insights
The second installment in Dr. Mikkaka Overstreet’s new literacy blog looks at the crucial role school leaders play in supporting the implementation of evidence-based literacy practices.
Insights
English learner students who were enrolled in Washington state public high schools between 2009-2010 and 2012-2013 took fewer advanced courses per school year than never-English learner students.
Insights
Collective impact involves bringing together a wide range of partners—schools, community-based organizations, government, businesses, foundations, and individuals—to address a critical community issue.
Insights
A study found disparities in advanced course enrollment among students from different language groups. What can schools do to increase advanced course enrollment and success for English learners?
Insights
Jason Neiffer of the Montana Digital Academy writes about research from REL Northwest that confirms what he's long believed to be a key element for student success in online credit recovery programs.
Insights
Laura John writes about how Montana's graduation rates for American Indian students are rising and the state's various programs and initiatives that are helping close the achievement gap in Indian Country.
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Education Northwest Senior Fellow and former Montana State Superintendent Denise Juneau talks about the lasting legacy of Indian Education for All and the power of culturally responsive education.
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Meet the 2022 Nelson Scholars, a group of Native educators working to infuse traditional knowledge into our schools.
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Dr. Overstreet explores the power of literacy instruction that deliberately and authentically connects to students’ diverse cultural identities and real-life experiences.
Insights
Native American students have the lowest graduation rate among all racial and ethnic groups in the Northwest, a dire fact that fueled the conversation at a recent meeting convened by the Northwest Comprehensive Center.
Insights
What skills can preschoolers learn that will ultimately help them get into college? It may sound surprising, but research suggests even very young children are already developing skills that will help them later in life.
Case Briefs
In partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education, we addressed inequities facing students who are emergent bilingual and strengthened instructional practice across the state.
Insights
When your goal is to make expanded opportunities for English learners to practice language skills throughout the school day a reality, how do you go about it?
Insights
Although discipline disparities along racial and gender lines have gained increasing attention in recent years, students with disabilities are not always a part of the conversation.
Insights
I recently had the privilege of assisting the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University with a study of expanded learning time, which included an exploration of this practice in Oregon.
Insights
U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici—whose Congressional district stretches from the west side of Portland all the way to the Oregon coast—spoke with Education Northwest staff.
Insights
Spanish-speaking students—the largest group of language minority students in Washington state—take fewer advanced courses and earn lower grades in those courses than other language minority students and English-only speakers, regardless of whether they are classified as English learners.
Services
Put research to work for you—engaging in inquiry and solving specific problems of practice.
Insights
We are proud to partner with organizations across the country in pursuit of excellent and equitable education for all. Join us as we reflect on a few highlights from the past year.
Insights
All students benefit from access to a diverse and inclusive literature. Dr. Overstreet looks at the concept of books as both windows and mirrors.
Insights
Education Northwest’s Board of Directors is excited to share that it has appointed Jessica Johnson as the organization’s next chief executive officer.
Insights
Senior researcher Ming Yin brings a diverse set of skills, knowledge, and experiences to her new role at Education Northwest.
Insights
Sara Goldrick-Rab, an award-winning scholar-activist focused on making higher education more accessible, affordable, and supportive of students, has joined Education Northwest as a senior fellow.
Insights
Bringing the families of low-income students into discussions of how to pay for college is one of the key messages Sara Goldrick-Rab shared at the Oregon GEAR UP SUCCESS Retreat.
Areas of Work
Through research and deep collaboration, we improve early learning opportunities so children and their families can access a brighter future.
Insights
To stay focused on goals and ensure strategies and practices are working, educators need to review, reflect, and revise from time to time—engaging in a cycle of continuous improvement to meet student needs.
Case Briefs
To address Oregon’s equity goals, Education Northwest developed a pair of data dashboards, one for accelerated learning and the other for CTE.
Case Briefs
The Colorado Department of Early Childhood partnered with Education Northwest to develop a library of self-paced e-learning courses for early childhood educators.
Insights
Students benefit from having teachers that reflect their cultural background. But while nearly 50 percent of U.S. students are people of color, only about 20 percent of teachers are.
Case Briefs
Career and technical education (CTE) programs help high school students make informed decisions about postsecondary education and careers.
Case Briefs
Beaverton School District has Oregon’s third largest population of multilingual students, including English learners, who bring valuable cultural, linguistic, and individual strengths, assets, and diversity to the classroom.
Case Briefs
Many college students struggle to afford the full cost of college attendance, which includes tuition and fees as well as food, housing, transportation, access to the internet, and other living expenses.
Case Briefs
Education Northwest partnered with Stone Child College to help them better understand the educational and career outcomes its students, many of whom are members of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, experienced after they left the school.
Case Briefs
Education Northwest partnered with CCBUTI to develop a Tribal curriculum to enable students and educators in South Umpqua to learn about the Tribe, its history, its culture, and its continuing importance in the local community.
Insights
Women still do not have equal access and outcomes in areas of education, health, economics, and more. The disparities are even starker when race and other demographics are considered.
Insights
Educators, schools, districts, and researchers all have a role to play in building our knowledge about effective dual language programs.
Insights
The public library remains one of the few spaces in our society that offers access to vital resources, without the requirement of spending money.
Service Lines or Approaches
When schools focus on literacy, they help students lay the foundation for a successful future. Literacy skills equip young people to succeed academically in all subjects, excel in the workplace, and participate meaningfully in civic life.
Case Briefs
More than four million U.S. young adults have disengaged from the K–12 education system. We partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation to study reengagement programs’ goals and effectiveness.
Insights
Basic needs security is critical for ensuring strong academic performance, persistence and graduation, and improving well-being among students pursuing postsecondary education.
Case Briefs
In spring and summer 2022, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) partnered with Education Northwest to deliver the Alaska Science of Reading Leadership Academy.
Resources
This presentation featured findings from the ECMC Foundation Basic Needs Initiative evaluation report. This report provides lessons for implementing comprehensive, student-centered basic needs services.
Insights
In the United States today, more than four million young adults have disengaged from the K–12 education system without graduating or entering the workforce.
Areas of Work
Improve outcomes for Native students with educational practices that sustain Indigenous cultures and honor Tribal sovereignty.
Case Briefs
An increasing number of U.S. students are multilingual learners, but teachers prepared to serve these students are almost always in short supply. A five-year partnership trains teachers to meet multilingual students' needs.
Insights
To help revitalize the Wadatika dialect of the Northern Paiute language, the Burns Paiute Tribe established its Language House. Senior consultant Kellie Harry worked with the Tribe to maximize the program’s impact.
Insights
Improving literacy outcomes for all students starts with consistently implementing evidence-based practices—and that requires strong leadership.
Insights
Teachers are more likely to use new literacy initiatives they believe will help students. Principals can use data to get that critical educator buy-in.
Insights
We look back on our first 50 years with a video featuring the voices of Education Northwest staff members describing how their work connects to civil rights by striving to create equitable opportunities for all.
Resources
Quality tutoring programs center equity, uplift student voice, involve families, equip staff and volunteers with essential skills, and use data to evaluate success. Check out these eight research-based principles to make your tutoring program more effective.
Insights
Engaging parents and other caregivers as true partners in their children’s literacy development and overall education is an essential part of building a collaborative literacy culture.
Resources
To address the impacts of COVID, the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction have provided resources to help implement high-quality, equity-focused, and culturally responsive education.
Areas of Work
Together, we build pathways and supports that guide any learner, at any age, to college success.
Insights
Leanne Davis’ expertise in using data on student experiences and basic needs to promote change will help advance our work toward equity in education.
Insights
Lymaris Santana, senior consultant in literacy, reflects on the diverse facets of her Puerto Rican heritage and how they inspire her in work and life.
Insights
Reversing the nationwide decline in reading achievement requires systemic and individual change. Here are four ways to approach the challenge.
Insights
Education Northwest researchers Marbella Uriostegui and Camila Cigarroa Kennedy share how Latina identity informs and strengthens their research.
Case Briefs
Education Northwest has helped SkillsUSA build a suite of career readiness and leadership development offerings aligned with best practices in online and blended learning.
Areas of Work
Build stronger schools for students and educators alike with an asset-based, data-driven approach to school improvement.
Resources
The National Center for Education Statistics asked students if they had enough to eat and a safe place to sleep and the data shows that students across the nation are enduring food and housing insecurity.
Insights
Meet the next generation of Native education leaders, the 2023 Nelson Scholarship recipients.
Insights
RunningHorse Livingston specializes in coaching teachers in culturally responsive mathematics instruction. Education Northwest welcomes him to our Native Education team!
General
Please tell us a little about yourself to access this download.
General
Many basic needs practitioners work in isolation at their college or university. To build a network of support, in early 2024 we will launch a free national community of practice.
Insights
So far, 31 states have adopted the science of reading approach to literacy in grades K–3. Dr. Mikkaka Overstreet looks at how some of these states are applying two implementation strategies.
Resources
This guide outlines asset-based, culturally and linguistically responsive practices for engaging young immigrants and connecting them to education and career resources.
Insights
We worked with dozens of partners in 2023 to use evidence to solve educational challenges and improve learning. Here are some highlights!
Case Briefs
Youth development programs in rural areas often lack high quality professional development opportunities for members of their staff. Ford Family Foundation partnered with us to help.
Areas of Work
Set students up to excel in school and life through effective, engaging, and culturally responsive youth programs.
Case Briefs
The diversity of programs makes it difficult to arrive at a single definition of a high school alternative. We took an asset-based approach offering supportive adult relationships, and providing wraparound services.
Case Briefs
Education Northwest created a suite of on-demand online training modules to help Washington state educators support learners experiencing homelessness.
Insights
Researcher Grace Gowdy explores how informal mentoring relationships offer important lessons about promoting equity and youth voice.
Insights
Supportive, affirming preschool experiences pave the way for children’s positive perceptions of school and trusting relationships with teachers.
Case Briefs
Wenatchee Valley College in Washington state partnered with Education Northwest on a new strategic plan focused on equity and diversity.
Areas of Work
Empower students and communities with a data-driven approach to career and technical education.
Case Briefs
Colleges and universities are partnering with community-based organizations to support students holistically—including their basic needs. We looked at what makes these partnerships successful.
Resources
This brief provides strategies for making systems-level changes to promote learning and well-being among newcomer immigrant youth.
Resources
This brief provides strategies and resources to support educators in learning and implementing trauma-informed practices for newcomer immigrant youth.
Insights
Dr. Mikkaka Overstreet was determined to make an impact on students’ lives—without leaving parts of herself at the door.
General
Please tell us a little about yourself to access this download.
Resources
Learn how to use the #RealCollege Survey to assess which basic needs services your students use, which they don’t, and why.
Insights
How can states ensure their literacy frameworks and strategic plans include the entire K–12 spectrum?
Case Briefs
Oregon Promise is a financial aid program for community college students. We used data to study which students the program reaches and how they are impacted.
Case Briefs
Student success in introductory community college math courses, also called gateway math, influences transfer and degree completion.
Case Briefs
How can we support rural students’ decision making about life after high school? The Ford Family Foundation partnered with us to collect and analyze the data.
Insights
Wyoming is using data from its Preschool Development Grant evaluation to strengthen education systems for the state’s youngest residents.
Insights
Senior Fellow Christine Pitts reflects on the importance of thinking of accountability in education as an asset—one that serves students, teachers, and the entire community.
Resources
Ten recommendations for supporting college students who are parents—plus statistics to help you advocate for systems change to scale that assistance.
Resources
The integrated English language development model combines content and language instruction so all students, regardless of English proficiency, can access learning and meet standards.
Insights
Strong, trusting relationships between educators and families are foundational to educational equity. Indeed, students, families, schools, and communities benefit from strong family-school partnerships.
Publications
This report highlights opportunities to help students with disabilities succeed in community college, from policy to advocacy to future research.
Insights
Denise Juneau brings expertise in Native and culturally responsive education, equity, and student voice to Education Northwest.
Case Briefs
Together, Benefits Data Trust and Education Northwest leveraged student voice in applied research to improve college students’ access to SNAP benefits.
Insights
Education Northwest instructional designer Ciera Carr leverages her past career in teaching to make learning experiences relevant for people of all ages.
Publications
Two reports on the ECMC Foundation’s Basic Needs Initiative, which supported basic needs services at over 70 colleges and universities.
Publications
How can partnerships between colleges and community-based organizations be leveraged to support students?
Service Lines or Approaches
Cycles of improvement build better systems and programs for English learners and multilingual students using iterative stages of development, professional learning, implementation, and evaluation.
Publications
Evaluating the College Housing Assistance Program in Tacoma, which provided housing vouchers to students experiencing homelessness.
Resources
Learn about the first longitudinal evaluation of a housing choice voucher program—Tacoma’s College Housing Assistance Program.
Insights
How can we support Black students in entering the teaching profession? Dr. Mikkaka Overstreet invited a few teachers-in-training to tell us.
Insights
Learn, teach, and celebrate the diversity of Asian American and Pacific Islander culture, history, and heritage.
Insights
Wyoming’s collaborative, grassroots process led to early learning standards that have practical relevance for educators across the state.
Publications
Achieving the Dream’s Building Resiliency in Rural Communities initiative supports a cohort of seven rural colleges in helping students build digital skills.
Resources
A growing number of professionals working on and around college campuses are using case management to support students’ basic needs. Doing that work well requires a way to capture, track, and assess multiple types of data.
Case Briefs
Through a research partnership, we helped Washington state address its teacher shortage and increase teacher diversity.
Publications
We studied how Washington state school districts implemented the state’s new high school graduation requirements.
Publications
How can states like Washington overcome teacher shortages? We looked at the data on what teachers need to become fully certificated.
Insights
Working with academic courses, career and technical education gives students the real-world skills they need to excel in a wide range of industries.
Publications
Which Oregon students participate in career and technical education programs—and what are the outcomes? We analyzed over ten years of data to find out.
Publications
The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northwest at Education Northwest studied data to help Alaska improve educator turnover and retention rates.
Publications
School districts in Idaho and other states are struggling with a growing student population and a declining teacher workforce. What can we learn from the data?
Publications
How does participation in accelerated learning help Oregon high school students? We analyzed K–12 records to find out.
Publications
What were the reach and impacts of Oregon Promise—the second statewide promise program in the nation—on students’ postsecondary success?
Publications
Alaska created its Pre-Elementary Grants in 2016 to support locally designed preschool options. We studied the program and its outcomes.
Publications
Montana is one of many states facing teacher shortages. The Montana Rural Recruitment and Retention Task Force partnered with us to study data that might inform solutions.
Publications
To support diversity in the workforce, we looked at where candidates tend to leave the six steps of the Washington state educator career pathway.
Press Release
The NSF has awarded Education Northwest a $3 million grant to produce information about how publicly funded housing, health, and human services can better support low-income students’ access to STEM postsecondary pathways.
Resources
An infographic that offers strategies for educators to build their awareness of these cultural traditions and address the needs of this often-overlooked student population.
Areas of Work
Recruit, prepare, and retain highly effective educators using research and evaluation, technical assistance, and learning design.
Insights
Dr. Manuel Vazquez Cano reflects on his experiences in bilingual education—as a student and researcher.
Insights
Queer youth often seek out chosen family to help them in school and life. What can we learn from this part of queer culture about how to support young people?
Insights
Strategic Data Project Fellows Annie Hemphill and Chasya Hiebert reflect on what data is, why it matters, and how we can use it to help all learners.
Insights
Natalie Orozco brings a wealth of professional research and evaluation experience to her new role as a leader at Education Northwest.
General
We designed and developed a suite of mobile-responsive, on-demand training modules on career readiness and leadership development to help SkillsUSA extend its reach and make its trainings more engaging and accessible.
General
We designed and developed a robust learning series that includes self-paced eLearning modules, instructor-led virtual workshops, 1:1 virtual coaching, and offline follow-up activities.
Press Release
Education Northwest received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to manage the Limitless Learning Network.
Insights
Plank brings more than 25 years of experience of research and evaluation in the education field.
Service Lines or Approaches
Equity reviews are a tool for identifying and addressing opportunity gaps faced by diverse groups in your education community.
Areas of Work
Students are humans first. They deserve access to basic needs—food, housing, child care, transportation, and other financial support—that allow them to learn and succeed.
Areas of Work
Leverage the expertise of parents and caregivers with evidence-based family engagement.
Insights
Dr. Mikkaka Overstreet and guest co-author Dr. Christine Pitts look at a crucial part of maintaining momentum in early literacy reform—implementation.
Resources
This presentation featured findings from the ECMC Foundation Basic Needs Initiative second evaluation report that examined student access to basic needs services at 20 institutions supported by BNI grantees.
Insights
The 2024 recipients of the Steven R. Nelson scholarship reflect on their experiences and the future of Native education.
General
Limitless, a Postsecondary Enrollment Learning Network, brings together practitioners across Washington state who are leading the implementation of programs that support students’ transitions from high school to postsecondary education.
Insights
The Equity Model for Youth Mentoring—developed by Dr. Kristian Jones, EDNW’s Dr. Grace Gowdy, and Dr. Aisha Griffith—is guided by consideration of social justice and structural oppression.
Insights
When educators build authentic relationships with Latine students, we can honor their culture and set students up for academic success.
Insights
Our Indigenous Framework for Self-Determined Pedagogy engages Tribes and education systems to improve learning experiences for Native students.
Insights
Researcher Sarah Asson explains the equity implications of attendance zone boundaries—the lines on a map that determine which child attends which school in a district.
Insights
How can states support school improvement? Senior Director Catherine Barbour outlines a formula for successful leadership.
Publications
To support multilingual learners, Beaverton School District partnered with us to assess the impact of its dual language programs.
Resources
One form of bullying, harassment, or discrimination often can lead to another. This guide uncovers similarities in the causes, types and responses to different forms of bias and the legal aspects of this problem.
Insights
Learning by Design, brought to you by our instructional design team at Education Northwest. Instructional designers, like architects, must construct an environment that is functional, safe, and engaging.
Insights
These strategies and resources for inclusive learning design can improve equity and unlock the potential of neurodivergent learners.
Press Release
The Region 11 Comprehensive Center at EDNW works to strengthen education systems and improve student outcomes in the Northwest region.
Publications
Louisiana State University’s Introduction to Computational Thinking course builds skills in problem solving, programming, and mathematics.
Areas of Work
Design, implement, and evaluate programs, systems, and policies that engage and prioritize young people in your community.
Case Briefs
Education Northwest partners with Washington state’s Open Doors program to help the youth furthest from justice to reengage with learning and pursue their goals.
Insights
Some of the creators of the Indian Reading Series—140 stories from nearly two dozen Tribes around the Northwest—reflect on how it came to be and why it remains a valuable resource today.
General
We partnered with the Washington Traffic Safety Commission to design and develop three self-paced, interactive e-learning modules focusing on Advanced Driver-Assistance Technology for driver education instructors in Washington State.
Insights
People process information in different ways. Flexible environments, engagement options, and assessments can create effective learning for all.
Areas of Work
Dual language programs build the linguistic and academic skills of all students, especially English learners.
Resources
Using strategies in this guide, you can build a campus community that mitigates the negative impacts of trauma while promoting students’ resilience and long-term success.
Case Briefs
Working with the National Association of Counties, Education Northwest created tools to help local leaders promote cross-sector partnerships for education and employment.
Insights
Educator preparation programs play an important role in state literacy reform plans. In Oregon, a community of practice is helping enable statewide changes in how children learn to read.
Insights
Gamification elements can inspire and engage learners, especially those who do not connect with traditional teaching strategies.
Insights
Allison will lead the research and evaluation team, drawing on her experience directing research and evidence-based technical assistance efforts at Westat, including the National Summer Learning and Enrichment Study and the National Comprehensive Center.
General
Resources and updates from our NSF S-STEM Hub, which is examining how public benefits can help low-income students succeed in college STEM programs.
Case Briefs
The Oregon Department of Education partnered with us—with input from over 400 individuals in 60 focus groups—to develop a new Multilingual Strategic Plan for the state.
Resources
To help achieve Oregon’s high school and postsecondary education completion goals, the state has been expanding its investment in accelerated learning options that give students the opportunity to earn college credit.
Insights
Federal performance indicators for career and technical education programs can support continuous improvement. But to expand access and participation, educators should look to other data points.
Insights
Adults learn differently from children. In this post, we explore principles, strategies, and resources to support adult learning, training, and coaching.
Publications
What factors contribute to the success of school reengagement programs for young adults? The Annie E. Casey Foundation partnered with us to find out.
Insights
Building trust and collaboratively designing projects are key to effective and sustainable technical assistance.
Publications
Learn about Oregon’s unique dual enrollment model, designed to address challenges in the number of high school teachers qualified to teach dual credit.
Insights
Learning environments informed by consideration of trauma benefit all students. Our updated guide offers strategies and resources for educators.
Case Briefs
Edmonds School District—one of the most diverse in Washington state—partnered with us to help implement a multi-tiered system of support aligned with its strategic plan.
Insights
States across the country are improving literacy rates using a combination of funding, strategic policies, monitoring, and implementation support.
Case Briefs
North Thurston School District partnered with us to evaluate two of its programs—one for multilingual learners and the other for students receiving supplemental intervention services.
Case Briefs
Seattle’s Department of Education and Early Learning partnered with us and AIR to evaluate three Seattle Preschool Program classroom models.
General
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Resources
Learn about evidence-based ways for parents to reduce their child’s anxiety around math and foster skills and resilience for math success.
Resources
What is math anxiety, and how can we stop it from spreading? This video demonstrates two evidence-based strategies for reducing elementary students’ math anxiety.
Resources
Help young children recognize, practice, and appreciate math in their daily lives with these two strategies.
Insights
Sponsored dual credit uses flexible teacher qualification standards that local schools and colleges can adapt to their context.
Insights
eLearning is a convenient, customizable and cost-effective tool for state agencies looking to deliver high-impact training on any topic.
Insights
Learn about phase 2 of the Education Northwest technical assistance approach: collaborative implementation.
Publications
Can increasing financial knowledge among college students reduce basic needs insecurity? Explore our findings from nationally representative data.
Areas of Work
Support newcomer students to thrive in their new school—and new country—with asset-based systems and services.
Press Release
The Overdeck Family Foundation awarded Education Northwest $1.25 million to conduct a randomized controlled trial to study the efficacy of Springboard’s after-school model.
Insights
An independent evaluation of Arkansas’ PLC at Work project determined that the program has positively impacted student achievement on the ACT Aspire assessment.
General
Education Northwest and The Ford Family Foundation are convening Oregon community colleges and universities to discuss how to improve transfer outcomes.
General
We look forward to seeing you on September 11, 2025.
Service Lines or Approaches
Our unique approach is grounded in implementation science, our team’s lived experiences, and our organizational values.
Publications
Can a high school computational thinking course improve STEM achievement and outcomes? Explore findings from our multiyear impact study of a course developed by LSU.
Insights
States like Oregon are using targeted funds, evidence-based approaches, partnership, and community engagement to build and sustain literacy gains over the summer.
Resources
The report describes strategies to build better systems to support high school alternatives that empower young people to transform their lives and build momentum for their future.
General
Jessica is an accomplished and passionate leader committed to improving outcomes and opportunities for underserved families, especially kids.
Resources
CTE and accelerated learning courses are associated with positive outcomes for students, including high school graduation, college enrollment, and college persistence.
Insights
A collective, holistic approach to well-being in schools can lead to better working conditions for educators and better learning conditions for students.
Resources
As schools and districts increasingly take a cross-curricular approach to improving student writing skills, it’s more important than ever that students get clear, consistent feedback from all their teachers.
Resources
Education Northwest has refined and updated the 6+1 Trait® rubrics that that specify how to assess the quality of student writing and tailor instruction to students’ needs.
General
Education Northwest developed the 6+1 Trait Writing Model of Instruction & Assessment to help educators provide clear, consistent, and evidence-based feedback on student writing.
Insights
Transferring from a community college to a university can be challenging. Without adequate support, community college students may struggle to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree.
Insights
As we enter uncharted waters and learn as a society how to cope with the realities and requirements of living through the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to share what we are doing at Education Northwest.
Resources
Download a visual representation that describes the stages in a lesson study cycle and see interviews with three college instructors about their experience with each stage.
Resources
In 1972, Education Northwest received funding from the National Institute of Education for the development of a community-based reading and language arts program especially for Indian children.
Services
Engage in long-term collaborations that generate new knowledge to improve education.
Services
Through strategic planning and improvement, we help you assess where you are and build the goals, action plan, and buy-in you need to move toward better outcomes for students.
Services
We coach educators at all levels to develop the capacity to transform systems, support their colleagues, and create opportunities for students.
Services
Improve educational equity at scale with effective, evidence-based technical assistance.
Services
Transform student learning with meaningful, relevant educator professional development.
Services
Deepen your impact with high-quality, customized training services.
Services
Engage, educate, and empower your audience with interactive virtual learning.
Insights
We discuss a new research-based tool designed to help districts assess their English learner programs—and optimize their support for English learner students.
Resources
Research, data, and resources to help practitioners and policymakers make important decisions about schools and students
Resources
Many Native students do not receive the services they are entitled to, simply because they are not identified as Native when they enroll in school.
