Regional Education Laboratory Mid-Atlantic (RELMA)

Served as Research Alliance (RA) Task Lead as part of RELMA’s Senior Leadership Team working with regional stakeholders from teachers to government officials to develop, maintain, and grow meaningful partnerships that engage them in the process of using research evidence in educational practice and decision making. The Center's contribution included the creation and maintenance of a comprehensive database and tracking system, leading several research and evaluation efforts wihin the context of professional learning communities (PLCs) and research Alliances (RAs), and active participation in dissemination efforts. Monitored and facilitated the progress of all of RELMA’s RA to maintain focus on the overarching mission of the RA task of addressing education stakeholders’ needs in the following areas: Early Childhood Education, HBCU College Completion, Longitudinal Data Use, Principal Effectiveness, Professional Learning, Teacher Evaluation, Rural Education, and School Completion and Engagement, as well as engaging LEAs and SEAs in this work. This monitoring included active participation in RA meetings, communication with stakeholders to ensure the REL was meeting their needs, collaborating with the RELMA team to develop and coordinate the cross-RA meeting, presenting at Governing Boardmeetings and soliciting input from the members, and ensuring the leadership team was focused on the overarching mission of the RA task. Also served as Coordinator for the Professional Learning Research Alliance (PLRA) which focused on critical needs and issues around systems, processes, and procedures for creating sustainable PLCs, models and measures for assessing the return on investment from PD, and strategies for tailoring professional learning for teachers and schools. Additionally, led research and evaluation efforts on several large-scale projects focusing on the implementation of PLCs and their impact at the district, school, teacher, and student levels. In addition, conducted a technical assistance project that focused on the profiling of PD practices in NJ districts.