McREL awarded North Central Regional Comprehensive Center contract
October 5, 2005
Aurora, Colo.— Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, an Aurora, Colo.-based, nonprofit education research and development organization, has been awarded a $6.3 million, five-year contract from the U.S. Department of Education to serve as regional comprehensive center for the newly configured North Central region of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The new center will provide research-based services help states improve student achievement in high-poverty schools in this region starting in October 2005.
Dr. Audrey Cotherman will serve as director of the center, which will be headquartered on the campus of Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. Learning Point Associates of Naperville, Ill. will serve as a subcontractor. "I am excited about this opportunity to continue to assist states, districts, and schools with the No Child Left Behind Act's efforts to help all children achieve high goals," said Dr. Cotherman, who served as director of the previous Comprehensive Center located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which served the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Some of the specific services the Center will provide to each state in the region are as follows:
Iowa - helping the state's Department of Education use technology to provide high-quality professional development to educators across Iowa;
Minnesota - working with the state's Department of Education to plan a forward-thinking high school reform initiative that focuses on what students will need to know to be successful in the 21st century;
Nebraska - working with the state's Department of Education to implement a consistent school improvement process across Nebraska that is based on McREL's Success in Sight program, a comprehensive, research-based approach to school improvement;
North Dakota - helping the state's new intermediate service agencies provide effective school improvement services to schools from across North Dakota;
South Dakota - helping the state's Department of Education provide school improvement services to struggling schools across South Dakota.
"McREL has been making a difference in the lives of students in the nation's heartland for nearly 40 years," said Tim Waters, President and CEO of McREL, which currently serves as the regional educational laboratory for the Central Region states of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. "We look forward to building on existing, and developing new, relationships with educators in the North Central region to help ensure that no child in this region is left behind."
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McREL is a nationally recognized, private, nonprofit organization
located in Aurora, Colo., dedicated to improving education for all
students through applied research, product development and service.
Its staff of highly respected educators and researchers focuses
on providing educators and policymakers with the highest quality,
field-tested, research-based products and services available in
PreK–16 education.
