Impact Stories

 

How do we know we’re making an impact? The CCNetwork’s Impact Stories illustrate the results of our work by celebrating ingenuity and collaboration and highlighting moments that sparked change in education. Written by National Comprehensive Center and Regional Comprehensive Center staff, these stories detail key strategies, important lessons, and promising solutions emerging from the CCNetwork's work with SEAs and LEAs across the country. We also share success stories of CCSSO members here as well to elevate additional examples of ways states and jurisdictions are making an impact in education. Filter by topic, Center, or state/jurisdiction to gain new ideas and to cheer for the great work happening in your area.

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Impact Stories
The National Comprehensive Center brought together state education agency teams to function as Communities of Practice to focus on critical educational issues related to equity, out-of-school time programming, and use of American Rescue Plan funds.
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Equitable Access Strategies Increase Literacy Across Alaska
To meet their goal of all students being able to read at grade level by the end of third grade, the Alaska State Board of Education needed to create equitable access to strong professional development in early literacy across the state. Through the support of the Region 16 Comprehensive Center, the state’s Department of Education & Early Development office was able to better equip literacy educators, even in remote communities, through improved systems, approaches, and resources.
  • Topic(s): Equity in Education, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, Teaching & Learning, Early Education, Literacy
  • State(s): Alaska
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 16 Comprehensive Center
Washington State Listens and Learns from Native Students and Families
To better serve American Indian and Alaska Native students in Washington state, the Superintendent and leaders in the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction partnered with Region 16 Comprehensive Center and the National Comprehensive Center to participate in a collaborative process with state education agencies, Tribal education leaders, and school administrators. The “Circles of Reflection” process helped the participants raise awareness, reflect, and create a plan forward to improve services to these students and their families.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, SEA Operations & Performance Management, Specific Population Groups, American Indian/Alaska Native
  • State(s): Washington
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 16 Comprehensive Center
Colorado Map Pinpoints Data and Trends to Address the Teacher Shortage
To address an urgent need for more teachers in the state of Colorado, the Region 12 Comprehensive Center partnered with the Colorado Department of Education and the Regional Education Lab Central for the “Using Place-Based Decision Making to Strengthen the Colorado Educator Workforce Pipeline” project. The partnership resulted in the creation of an interactive map that provides a robust snapshot of local and regional workforce data and trends.
  • Topic(s): Education Workforce, Recruitment, Retention
  • State(s): Colorado
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 12 Comprehensive Center
Integration Guide Proves to be Necessary Kindling, Sparking Curricula Use in South Dakota
South Dakota’s Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards (OSEUS) were approved by the State Board of Education five years ago. However, many teachers were left on their own to figure out how to incorporate these important lessons across their curricula. Beginning in 2020, the Region 11 Comprehensive Center partnered with the South Dakota Department of Education (SDDOE) and the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations, Office of Indian Education (SD DTR-OIE) to help address this challenge.
  • Topic(s): Education Workforce, Professional Development, Specific Population Groups, American Indian/Alaska Native, Rural & Remote, Teaching & Learning, Instructional Practice
  • State(s): South Dakota
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 11 Comprehensive Center
New Mexico Districts Get the Biggest Bang for Their ARP Bucks
The unprecedented infusion of federal relief and recovery funds were provided to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system. The funds presented an opportunity and an urgent need for New Mexico to design and implement new measures to help school districts strategically plan, implement, track, and evaluate the use of these funds.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, Financial Management, Pandemic Relief/ESSER Funds, SEA Operations & Performance Management
  • State(s): New Mexico
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 13 Comprehensive Center
Data Spotlights Absenteeism Solutions for Rural North Dakota
When a North Dakota district leader said, “We’re never going to make academic improvements unless the kids are here to learn,” the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction and the North Dakota Regional Education Association sprung into action. Through support from the Region 11 Comprehensive Center, the district learned how to use improvement science to gain better insight into their core attendance problems resulting in positive changes in attendance as well an improved processes and structures related to attendance tracking and follow up.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, School Improvement, Specific Population Groups, American Indian/Alaska Native, Rural & Remote
  • State(s): North Dakota
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 11 Comprehensive Center
Communication and Data Use Transform School Culture in Palau
Districts and schools in Palau are seeing positive changes in teaching and learning from implementing the "Circles of Success" model, created in partnership with the Palau Ministry of Education and the Region 18 Comprehensive Center. The model focuses on student-centered instruction, data-driven teaching and decisionmaking, and improving organizational structures and practices.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, Data & Continuous Improvement, SEA Operations & Performance Management
  • State(s): Palau
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 18 Comprehensive Center
Illinois Embraces Data to See and Solve their Teacher Recruitment Problem
To identify where and how to target efforts to strengthen and diversify the teacher workforce in Illinois, the Illinois State Board of Education enlisted help from the Region 9 Comprehensive Center to use data visualization strategies to identify loss points in the state’s teacher pipeline and create effective initiatives to support and diversify the teacher pipeline.
  • Topic(s): Education Workforce, Recruitment, Retention, Workforce Diversity
  • State(s): Illinois
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 9 Comprehensive Center
Bureau of Indian Education Targets Principal Needs with Three-Tiered System
The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) identified a need to better support school leaders to better transform education in their schools. Through a partnership with the Region 13 Region Comprehensive Center, the BIE planned and implemented a tiered system of support for school leaders that includes ongoing differentiated professional development opportunities for all types of school leader needs.
  • Topic(s): Education Workforce, Leadership Development, Specific Population Groups, American Indian/Alaska Native
  • State(s): Bureau of Indian Education
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 13 Comprehensive Center
Grant Offers Flexibility for Maine Districts, Sparking Innovation
Districts in Maine had the opportunity to creatively meet their ongoing educational challenges through the Rethinking Responsive Education Ventures grant but needed help to do it strategically. With the support of the Region 1 Comprehensive Center, the Maine Department of Education has established the necessary infrastructure to implement the grant, developed resources to support districts in successfully applying for grant funds, and designed and facilitated professional development support for innovation coaches charged with supporting district implementation.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, SEA Operations & Performance Management, Education Workforce, Professional Development
  • State(s): Maine
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 1 Comprehensive Center
Team Effort Launches Comprehensive Collection of Mental Health Supports for Texas Students
The need for mental health resources in Texas has outpaced what is currently available. To meet that need, the Region 14 Comprehensive Center is supporting the Texas Education agency in building statewide, school-based mental health supports to ensure students, families, schools, and districts have access to the tools and resources necessary to address mental and behavioral health needs effectively.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, SEA Operations & Performance Management, Student & Staff Well-Being, School-Based Mental & Behavioral Health
  • State(s): Texas
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 14 Comprehensive Center
Guam’s Social-Emotional Learning Program for PreK Students Inspires a Ripple Effect
The Region 18 Comprehensive Center (R18CC) partnered with the Guam Department of Education to institute a pre-kindergarten program focused on social-emotional learning. So far, the technical assistance being provided by R18CC has benefited students, teachers, the community, and curriculum.
  • Topic(s): Student & Staff Well-Being, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Teaching & Learning, Early Education
  • State(s): Guam
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 18 Comprehensive Center
Illinois Targets School Improvement by Empowering Staff
The Illinois State Board of Education strengthened resources and support provided to schools identified as in need of improvement through a partnership with the Region 9 Comprehensive Center. The collaboration has produced key resources, collaboration, and professionalism for school improvement coordinators and increased access to resources for schools.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, School Improvement
  • State(s): Illinois
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 9 Comprehensive Center
North Carolina Engineers STEM Opportunities for Its Youngest Learners
Educators in 16 North Carolina school districts are implementing high-quality STEM education programs to K–5 students thanks to a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the Region 6 Comprehensive Center. The project is focused on creating capacity at both the state and district levels to ensure their initial success can be scaled and sustained.
  • Topic(s): Education Systems & Federal Requirements, SEA Operations & Performance Management, Education Workforce, Professional Development, Teaching & Learning, Instructional Practice, Mathematics/STEM/Computer Science
Effort to Support Early Learners Connects Wisconsin to New Community
Wisconsin’s Circles of Reflection (CoR) aimed to address early learning challenges and opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native children and families. Developed by National Comprehensive Center’s Native Education Collaborative, CoR engages state education agencies, Tribal agencies, and local education agencies in cycles of issue discovery, stakeholder engagement, and implementation planning to provide high-quality, motivating educational experiences that improve Native students’ academic attainment.
  • Topic(s): Specific Population Groups, American Indian/Alaska Native, Teaching & Learning, Early Education
  • State(s): Wisconsin
  • Center or Affiliate: Region 10 Comprehensive Center