Learning Point Associates

REL Midwest Looks Forward to Five More Years

REL Midwest will continue serving the region (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) until 2017 under a new contract between American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

"We appreciate the opportunity to have served the Midwest since 1984," said REL Midwest Director Matt Dawson, Ph.D., referring to the service that began under Learning Point Associates, which merged with AIR in 2010.

Work under the new contract focuses on four priority areas identified through a variety of needs-sensing activities across the Midwest. The four areas are educator effectiveness, college and career readiness, low-performing schools/school improvement, and early childhood education. Underlying all of the priority areas is the need for better understanding and use of the application of data.

"The scope of work is exciting, and we look forward to strengthening the relationships we have built over the last six years and to forging new ones," said Dr. Dawson. "Research alliances are a new feature of this contract, and the alliances are intended to drive research, evaluation, technical assistance, and dissemination strategies that lead not only to increased knowledge and understanding but also to sustained change in practice or policy."

As work gets under way, news and updates will be posted here.