The Federal Network of Support
The U.S. Department of Education has established a network of centers to provide resources and other support to state and local decision makers. The network includes the comprehensive center system made up of seven national content centers and fifteen regional comprehensive centers, the regional educational laboratories (RELs), and other specialized centers. The centers work together to help policymakers and practitioners make evidence-based decisions at all levels of the system with the goal of improving student outcomes.
Content Centers
- Center on Building State Capacity and Productivity
- Center on College and Career Readiness and Success
- Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes
- Center on Great Teachers and Leaders
- Center on Innovations in Learning
- Center on School Turnaround
- Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation
Regional Comprehensive Centers
- Appalachia Regional Center serving: Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia
- California Comprehensive Center serving: California
- Central Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri
- Florida & Islands Comprehensive Center serving: Florida, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands
- Great Lakes Comprehensive Center serving: Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio
- Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center serving: District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
- Midwest Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin
- North Central Comprehensive Center serving: North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming
- Northeast Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont
- Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington
- Pacific Comprehensive Center serving: American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Hawaii, and Palau
- South Central Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma
- Southeast Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina
- Texas Comprehensive Center serving: Texas
- West Regional Comprehensive Center serving: Arizona, Nevada, and Utah
Regional Educational Laboratories
The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) funds ten regional educational laboratories (RELs). Each REL serves a designated region of the country and focuses on the national priority of helping states and districts use data and analysis to address important education policy and practice issues. REL Midwest serves the educational needs of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin and is administered by AIR.
Other Technical Assistance Providers
- The Technical Assistance and Dissemination Network is a network of projects and centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education to provide information and technical assistance to states, schools, educational professionals and families.
- The What Works Clearinghouse is a source of scientific evidence for what works in education. Resources include intervention reports summarizing the most reliable research on a particular program, practice or policy; practice guides making recommendations for addressing challenges in classrooms and schools; and quick reviews of recent research.
- Doing What Works is an online library of practices and programs that have evidence of effectiveness, as well as examples of ways educators might apply such interventions.
