The Center's Goal
The goal for the Great Lakes Comprehensive Center (GLCC) is to provide high-quality technical assistance that focuses on key initiatives, aligns with the work of the Content Centers, and builds the capacity of State Educational Agencies (SEAs) to implement, support, scale up, and sustain initiatives statewide. GLCC also helps the SEAs to lead and support their districts and school in improving student outcomes while working closely with other technical assistance providers, regional comprehensive centers, national content centers, and the regional educational laboratories.
Technical Assistance in the States
The Great Lakes Comprehensive Center will deliver technical assistance that is based on:
- Research-based practices and emerging promising practices
- Highly relevant and useful to policymakers and practitioners
- Timely and cost efficient strategies for the SEA
This technical assistance must help SEAs build their capacity to implement State-level initiatives and support district- and school-level initiatives that improve educational outcomes for all students, close achievement gaps, and improve the quality of instruction.
Building capacity includes helping SEAs (a) build internal organizational strength through such activities as creating sustainable organizational structures and effective performance management systems, building staff expertise within those structures to ensure that districts and schools are provided high-quality services and supports, and better aligning programs and policies through strengthening connections among different work streams (e.g. divisions or grant programs); and (b) build organizational capacity to support district- and school-level implementation of effective practices to improve student outcomes – for example, by working collaboratively and productively with districts and schools; identifying and implementing a continuum of supports and interventions to address the needs of districts and schools; supporting the implementation and scaling up of innovative and effective strategies; sustaining effective practices; engaging effective external service providers; and involving key stakeholders, including parents, in decision-making.
Working with our States
During the first few months of the grant the state managers, the Director and Deputy Director of the center met with the SEAs in each state to determine their needs and priorities. Each state has developed a five-year technical assistance plan, driven by the needs in each state and also aligned to the priorities of the U.S. Department of Education. This plan will help to guide the work and identifies goals and outcomes desired by the state.
