The Region 2 Comprehensive Center (R2CC) led by WestEd, in partnership with its technical assistance partner, the Education Development Center, is part of the national Comprehensive Center Network (CC Network). The R2CC works closely with its evaluation partner, Mathematica, to provide capacity-building technical assistance to effectively support state education agencies (SEAs) and their regional and local constituents. R2CC staff provide individualized state support and facilitate regional collaboration among the three states (Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island).
A key focus for R2CC is promoting collaboration among federally funded centers to ensure coordination of efforts and more seamless delivery of services and supports. To achieve this goal, the R2CC has collaborated with the Regional Educational Laboratory-Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) to leverage its data and research capacity to achieve project milestones and outcomes. In addition, R2CC convenes a Regional Coordinating Council to facilitate communication and resource sharing and to share information about the evolving needs and context of states in the region.
Featured Projects
The projects listed below are a sampling of R2CC’s work in the region.
Connecticut
Increasing Educator Diversity in Connecticut
R2CC staff have collaborated with the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE), as well as regional and local education agencies, to identify strategies for teacher recruitment and retention that specifically increase educator diversity so that the educators are more reflective of the racial and ethnic diversity of students in schools across the state and to eliminate shortages in every school. To this end, the R2CC team developed a toolkit and other training materials that complement the CSDE’s guidebook Creating a District Plan to Increase the Racial, Ethnic and Linguistic Diversity of Your Educator Workforce. The R2CC has provided training and intensive coaching to both CSDE and Regional Educational Service Center (RESC) staff to strengthen their understanding, knowledge, and skills of using materials in the toolkit, as well as previously developed resources, in their work to support hiring and selection practices at the school and district levels.
Supporting Connecticut in Implementing a Statewide Social and Emotional Learning Framework
Aligned with the Connecticut State Department of Education’s (CSDE) commitment to provide integrated support services to meet every student’s social and emotional, mental health, and academic needs, the R2CC team has worked with CSDE to develop the Social, Emotional, and Intellectual Habits (SEIH) for grades 4 through 12. This research-based and grade-level-aligned framework was adopted by the State Board of Education in March 2023. R2CC staff have also worked to build capacity within CSDE, the regional educational service centers, and other relevant partners to disseminate and implement the SEIH in schools.
New York
Supporting New York by Reviewing High School Graduation Measures
To support the New York Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) Graduation Measures initiative—intended to ensure that every student in the state is college, career, and civic ready upon graduation—the R2CC conducted a multifaceted research project resulting in Graduation Requirements and Measures. This report, presented to the Board, NYSED, and its Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on graduation measures in November 2022, includes a comprehensive literature review, a state and international scan of college and career readiness policies and practices, and a summary of input from thousands of stakeholders across the state.
The R2CC is continuing to support the Board, NYSED, and the BRC by conducting a national scan to better understand the research, policy, and practices regarding the use of performance assessments in high school. This scan will further inform the Board, NYSED, and the BRC as they consider policy and practice changes regarding gradation.
Strengthening Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education in New York
R2CC staff are providing technical assistance to support the New York State Education Department (NYSED) in efforts to strategically and systematically implement the Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework statewide as part of focused efforts to achieve equitable educational outcomes for students through access to high-quality, culturally responsive educational opportunities. To increase awareness of the framework and build capacity to support implementation within schools and districts, the R2CC staff collaborated with NSYED and engaged educators to develop and deliver a robust webinar series focused on principles outlined in the framework. R2CC is supporting NYSED in engaging educators to develop a second webinar series focused on student voice.
Rhode Island
Supporting Development and Implementation of Rhode Island’s Blueprint for Multilingual Learner Success
R2CC staff worked closely with the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to develop the RIDE Blueprint for Multilingual Learner (MLL) Success and the accompanying Strategic Plan. R2CC continues to collaborate with RIDE to support the implementation of high-leverage strategies and key action steps related to the blueprint and strategic plan. In addition, R2CC staff are supporting RIDE to engage shareholders to inform revisions to state MLL regulations, to align the state’s teacher preparation requirements with newly created MLL educator competencies, and to collect data to determine the extent to which teachers across the state are prepared to provide students a pathway to multilingualism.
Strengthening Coherence Among RIDE’s Curriculum Frameworks and Blueprints for Success
In response to legislation requiring that the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) develop curriculum frameworks for each content area (e.g., English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, world languages, early learning, and art), R2CC staff have provided technical assistance to support the development of those frameworks and strengthen coherence across multiple instructional blueprints. R2CC staff supported multiple RIDE departments in working together to develop a common vision for instructional coherence along with tools and resources to assist LEAs in utilizing the instructional materials that have been developed by RIDE (e.g., curriculum frameworks, Blueprint for Multilingual Learner Success, etc.). This model will assist LEAs in connecting these resources to ensure effective teaching and learning practices are implemented in their schools.
Collaboration Across Centers
Collaborative for Strengthening the Educator Workforce
The Region 1 and Region 2 Comprehensive Centers are partnering to facilitate a Regional Collaborative for Strengthening the Educator Workforce. The Collaborative supports state education agency (SEA) teams across the Northeast to address educator workforce challenges—including teacher shortages—to ensure all students have equitable access to effective, qualified personnel. At an in-person convening in 2022, participants identified their states’ most pressing challenges, heard from peers about strategies being developed and implemented in each other’s states, and learned about evidence-based and promising talent management policies and practices. Informed by this exploration, teams were supported to craft a policy agenda, an implementation plan, or both for selected strategies to address identified challenges. Following the in-person convening, the Collaborative continued to support state teams by engaging them in a series of virtual cafés to address a common problem of practice—collecting, analyzing, and using data to inform their approaches to strengthening the educator workforce.
COVID-19 Recovery and the Strategic Use of Funds From the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
This virtual workshop was cosponsored by the Region 2, 13, and 15 Regional Comprehensive Centers in collaboration with the National Comprehensive Network. Attended by SEAs from across the country, the workshop was designed to discuss the implications of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, assist SEAs in strategic planning with featured examples of states and territories’ approaches, and provide opportunities for SEA-specific and cross-SEA planning and discussion. A discussion and planning tool was provided for SEA use.
The content of this webpage was developed under a grant from the Department of Education through the Office of Program and Grantee Support Services (PGSS) within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), by the Region 2 Comprehensive Center at WestEd under Award #S283B190057. This contains resources that are provided for the reader’s convenience. These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses, and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information included in these materials. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service, enterprise, curriculum, or program of instruction mentioned in this document is intended or should be inferred.
