Policy Challenges Conference Brings Together Researchers, Stakeholders

Research about high-risk student populations was the focus of REL Northeast and Islands’ second Policy Challenges Conference, held at the Providence Biltmore Hotel, Providence, RI on March 5 and 6, 2008.  Over 100 educators, researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders representing all states and jurisdictions in the REL Northeast  & Islands region attended the conference. 

Dr. Ron Ferguson, director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University, offered a keynote speech about the role of research in understanding and addressing the specific needs of at risk students in the United States.  “We’ve got to find ways to deliver really high quality instruction to kids at the bottom of the achievement distribution and put just as much thought and energy and enthusiasm into that as we do for the kids…at the top end of the distribution,” said Ferguson.  “We need some research on how you actually make that happen in real schools.”

The event opened with a panel discussion featuring Paula Dominguez, Senior Education Policy Advisor to the Rhode Island legislature, Elizabeth Burke Bryant, Executive Director of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, and Carrie Parker, Research Scientist at EDC.  Dominguez and Burke Bryant described the role that research played in informing a key piece of legislation on dropout prevention in Rhode Island, while Parker explained how she has been working with assessment directors in several states to ensure high-quality assessments are available for all students. 

The conference showcased REL Northeast  & Islands’ research projects that examine issues in high-risk student populations, and offered participants the opportunity to ask project staff about the research during roundtable discussions.  These sessions also helped stakeholders exchange ideas about the potential impact of the findings, and discuss how this research may affect their decisions about state education policies.

Presentations allowed all participants to learn about current research and to share challenges that they faced in their own states and districts, according to Maria Teresa Sanchez, a member of the REL Northeast & Islands research staff.  “For several of the state groups,” she added, “it provided an opportunity to talk about how the REL could be of help to them.”  State teams, comprising educators, policymakers, and state department of education staff, had multiple opportunities during the two-day conference to work together to identify policy challenges and discuss possible new initiatives in their jurisdictions.  Sanchez and three colleagues led one roundtable session, “Making the Best Use of English Language Learning Data.”  In addition to providing an overview of the latest research on assessment of English language learners (ELLs), this forum offered a glimpse of one project that is examining the relationship between test scores of ELLs on English language proficiency assessments and content-based achievement tests.  “For people who were not aware of the state of the current research, the presentation was helpful,” said Sanchez.  “The types of conversations that people were having were interesting, stimulating, and important.”

Conference participant Susan Hayes, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Coordinator for Vermont, found that the ideas presented in this session connected to her work in the state, especially around the issue of students in poverty.  “The ELL piece was relevant because that’s a growing section of our kids,” she said, citing the crossover nature of poverty and ELLs.  More than urban poverty, rural poverty remains a high-priority issue in Vermont.

Other panels focused on issues such as reducing urban minority student dropout rates and addressing the disproportionate representation of high-risk students in special education classes. Jill Weber, Director of REL Northeast  & Islands, hailed the conference as an effective way to convene a group of researchers and decision-makers to examine how research can be applied in different contexts.  “We value these conversations, as they help us get closer to our goal of making education an evidence-based field,” said Weber.  “The Policy Challenges conference was an opportunity for us to learn from practitioners and for them to learn from us.  It allowed REL staff to continue to define the most useful pieces of work we can do in this area, and to focus on ways to bring research to regional policymakers.”