Identifying and Addressing Regional Education Needs U.S. Department of Education m i t t e e m o o r y C d v i s a l A o n A p p a l a c h i a R e g i 6 0 1 O c t o b e r 2 This page was intentionally left blank. The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs October 5, 2016 Authors Debra Wright Brittany Cunningham Jordan Stangle Submitted to Submitted by U.S. Department of Education Insight Policy Research, Inc. Office of Elementary and Secondary 1901 North Moore Street Education Suite 1100 400 Maryland Avenue SW Arlington, VA 22209 Washington, DC 20202 Program Officer Project Director Kim Okahara Laura Holian Acknowledgements Th is report was prepared by Insight Policy Research under Contract No. ED-ESE-15-A-0010/0001 with the U.S. Department of Education. The results represent a team effort with many individuals making important contributions, and we gratefully acknowledge their assistance. We recognize the sustained help of Kim Okahara, Program Officer; Britt Jung, Group Leader in the Office of School Support and Rural Programs; and Patrice Swann, the Contracting Officer’s Representative from the U.S. Department of Education. We also thank Laura Holian and Jackson Miller from Insight Policy Research for their assistance in preparing the regional profile, developing templates for data collection, and providing logistical and administrative support for the committee’s needs-sensing activities. Finally, we extend particular appreciation to the members of the Appalachian Regional Advisory Committee for their time, effort, persistence, and dedication in collecting constituent input from across the region and thoughtfully preparing their needs assessments and recommendations so we could appropriately represent the Appalachian region in this report. Specifically, we thank Robert Alvey, Tate Gould, Gary Higginbotham, Beverly Kingery, and Sonia Michael. Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................ i Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 A. Legislative Background .................................................................................................................... 1 B. Regional Background Information ................................................................................................... 1 C. Challenges Affecting Regional Needs .............................................................................................. 3 D. Data Collection and Outreach Strategies ......................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2. Educational Needs and Recommendations for Addressing the Needs....................................... 6 References .................................................................................................................................................. 10 Appendix A. Region Educational Profile .................................................................................................... A-1 Appendix B. Needs and Recommendations ............................................................................................... B-1 Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs Tables Table A. Appalachian RAC members .............................................................................................................. i Table 1. Average 4th grade NAEP Reading Assessment Scale score by region and race/ethnicity .............. 2 Table 2. Average 4th grade NAEP Mathematics Assessment Scale score by region and race/ethnicity ...... 3 Table 3. Members of the public submitting comments by state .................................................................. 5 Table 4. Members of the public submitting comments by stakeholder group ............................................ 5 Table 5. Summary of needs and recommendations by committee member ............................................... 6 Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs Executive Summary T his report summarizes the activities and results of the Appalachian Regional Advisory Committee (RAC), 1 of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq.). The RACs were formed to identify the region’s most critical educational needs and develop recommendations for technical assistance to meet those needs. The technical assistance provided to state education agencies (SEAs) aims to build capacity for supporting local education agencies (LEAs) or local education districts and schools, especially low-performing districts and schools; improving educational outcomes for all students; closing achievement gaps; and improving the quality of instruction. The report represents the work of the Appalachian RAC, which includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Committee members convened three times and reached out to their respective constituencies between July 19, 2016, and August 31, 2016. Members of the Appalachian RAC represented a variety of stakeholders, including early childhood specialists, state and local school board members, education researchers and practitioners, school administrators, parents, and representatives from organizations serving educators and federal and state governments. The members collaborated, communicated, and shared resources using Communities360⁰, an interactive online platform hosted within the larger GRADS360⁰ system housed within the secure U.S. Department of Education environment. Table A provides a list of committee members and their affiliations. Table A. Appalachian RAC members Member name Affiliation State Bob Alvey National School Board Association, County Board of Education Tennessee Tate Gould AnLar, Research Policy Analysis and Technical Assistance Virginia Gary Higginbotham School Principal, State Board of Education West Virginia Beverly Kingery State Board of Education West Virginia Sonia Michael Berea Regional Training Center, Early Childhood Specialist Kentucky Members reviewed a regional profile containing educational statistics and other relevant data to inform their individual assessments of the challenges facing their region. While the Appalachian region is diverse in its geographic and socioeconomic makeup, the majority of school districts are situated in rural territories. The region has a substantial percentage of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and serves a higher proportion of students with disabilities than schools nationally. States vary in the proportion of racial ethnic minority students they serve; in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee, the majority of students enrolled are White. In Virginia, in contrast, non-Whites represent nearly 50 percent of the total student population. Overall, educational attainment is generally lower in the region than nationally, with the proportion of students obtaining a bachelor’s degree or higher lower in all but one state. Fewer students are classified as proficient or above proficient on the 4th-grade reading National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) than the national average in two states. For the most part, achievement gaps among White, Black, and Hispanic students mirror those found in other regions, with Black and Hispanic students performing lower than Whites on the NAEP in mathematics and reading. However, Hispanic students in the Appalachian region score higher than their peers nationally in contrast to White students, who perform below average in three of the four states. See appendix A for detailed tables on the educational Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs i characteristics of the region. Primary challenges cited by RAC members in the Appalachian region include high rates of poverty; recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers; and preparing students for science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) careers and/or college. Committee members also collaborated to develop a plan for soliciting information on the region’s educational needs. Members engaged stakeholders and disseminated information using the following strategies: (1) administered an online survey and (2) collected feedback from parent and teacher meetings. Members focused their efforts on distributing the survey to the widest possible group of stakeholders. As a result of the committee’s outreach efforts, a total of 891 individuals responded to the survey. Of the respondents, 318 represented schools (principals, librarians, curriculum specialists, parents, or others), 239 represented local or regional stakeholders (superintendents, school board members, LEAs or central offices, or education service agencies), 203 were classroom teachers, 74 were community members (higher education, business, or other community members), 54 represented SEAs and state education organizations (state board of education, or other state or local government organizations), and 3 listed other roles. Each committee member prepared a report containing a needs assessment and specific recommendations for future technical assistance based on his or her assessment of the region’s unique educational environment, the survey results, and the results of other data collection efforts. Committee members of the Appalachian RAC identified the following five needs. They are listed in ranked average order of priority as listed by RAC members:  preparing students to be college and career ready;  supporting the lowest performing schools and closing achievement gaps;  developing and ensuring equitable distribution of highly effective teachers and leaders;  improving access to early childhood education and engaging families; and  improving assessment and accountability systems. Committee members also developed the following recommendations for technical assistance to better address these educational needs:  Facilitate stakeholder committees. Committee members recommended bringing together stakeholders with different perspectives to assess needs, define concepts, and identify benchmarks to support career and college readiness.  Facilitate communities of practice. Committee members recommended creating or supporting communities of practice for districts around improving low performing schools and for SEAs around implementing the ESSA.  Identify and disseminate successful models. To support low performing schools, improve early childhood education, and boost student achievement, educators need examples of what works in different contexts. Committee members recommended assisting SEAs in identifying and disseminating models of strengthening family-school partnerships and closing achievement gaps. Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs ii  Provide technical assistance to help recruit effective teachers. Committee members recommended technical assistance in establishing incentive systems for recruiting and retaining teachers, and compiling a database of effective teacher training in targeted areas. See appendix B for each committee member’s individual needs assessment and recommendations for addressing those needs. Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs iii Chapter 1. Introduction T his report represents the regional needs assessment from the Appalachian Regional Advisory Committee (RAC). The Appalachian region includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The RAC members used statistical data from the Appalachian regional profile (appendix A); conducted data collection and outreach activities to obtain input from various constituencies; and met three times between July 16, 2016, and August 31, 2016, to assess regional needs and how to address those needs. A. Legislative Background The RACs are authorized by the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq.). Section 203 of Title II of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107–279) directs the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education to not less than 20 comprehensive centers to provide technical assistance to state, local, and regional educational agencies and to schools. The technical assistance is to be directed toward implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act and to achieving goals through the use of scientifically valid teaching methods and assessment tools for use by teachers and administrators in the following areas:  core academic subjects of mathematics, science, and reading or language arts;  English language acquisition;  education technology;  communication among education experts, school officials, teachers, parents, and librarians;  information that can be used to improve academic achievement; closing achievement gaps; and encouraging and sustaining improvement to schools, educators, parents, and policymakers within the region where the center is located; and  teacher and school leader in-service and preservice training models that illustrate best practices in the use of technology in different content areas. B. Regional Background Information A variety of educational data sources informed the development of the Appalachian regional profile, which provides a descriptive snapshot of the educational landscape in the region. The RAC members used these data to inform their individual assessments of the region’s most pressing needs. The regional profiles include sections on demographics; SEA capacity; educational resources; teacher preparation, qualifications, and certification; and student educational attainment. Summaries of the data presented in each section of the profiles appear below. See appendix A for the descriptive tables and charts that represent this regional profile, summarized below. While the Appalachian region is diverse in its geographic and socioeconomic makeup, the majority of school districts in Appalachia are situated in small towns or rural areas. Virginia has the highest number of suburban and urban school districts (32 percent). Overall, the region has a substantial percentage of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Three of the four states have a higher proportion of Title I schools than the national average, and two of the four have a higher proportion of children living below the poverty level and a higher proportion of students receiving free and reduced-price lunches daily than the national average. In West Virginia and Kentucky in particular, 1 in every 10 children live in extreme poverty or below 50 percent of the poverty line (The Southern Education Foundation, 2010). Insight ▪ The Appalachian Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Region’s Educational Needs 1