February 19, 2025
The recent cancellation of contracts to operate the federal Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) halts many education projects conducted by the Congressionally mandated centers that were aimed at directly benefiting students.
For nearly 60 years, RELs partnered with state and local education agencies to address the issues those agencies identified as most pressing, like math, literacy, student engagement, teacher retention, and career readiness. The RELs have a track record of helping these agencies improve student outcomes. They provided research, research-based tools, and technical support to improve teaching and learning and outcomes for students. That support was specifically tailored to local and state requests, priorities, and needs.
State and local leaders need high-quality research and development resources and expertise to inform decision-making. Conducting applied research and data analysis is both costly and time-consuming, making the RELs an essential partner in advancing innovation and improvement in education.
WestEd managed REL Northwest and REL West and served as a partner to two other RELs. The cancellation notices sent to RELs on February 13 suspended numerous important projects, many of which were already having tangible positive effects on educators’ knowledge and skills and student learning and outcomes.
A project with the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development and a consortium of schools to support student mental health. At the request of the state, REL Northwest was conducting multiple research studies and providing technical support to help the Department and the consortium implement a state initiative to support student mental health, wellness, and school engagement. A study and technical support work related to these state-developed tools and strategies will now not be completed.
A project with the Washoe County School District (WCSD) in Nevada to address chronic absence. REL West was working with the district to support the implementation of research-based approaches to reducing chronic absence by researching schools’ practices for managing absenteeism. The cancellation means that a preliminary report from this work cannot be completed and shared, and a second study, on a potentially successful approach to reducing absenteeism, had to be halted.
A project in Oregon to strengthen literacy instruction statewide. The Oregon Department of Education was working with REL Northwest to implement the Oregon Literacy Framework and evaluate efforts related to recent state literacy legislation, which focused on teaching reading based on what research shows are the best methods. The Framework would have helped ensure that teachers were using proven methods to teach reading in every school district in the state. Now, Oregon teachers and students will not benefit from that work. Similar REL Northwest projects focused on literacy were underway in Alaska, Montana, and Washington State.
A project with the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) to address early career teacher attrition. REL West was working with the USBE to identify and review data on early career teachers, identify the reasons why they leave teaching, and select and pilot research-based interventions to improve early career teacher retention. REL West was also working with the USBE to study the impact of funding from the Utah legislature to improve teacher retention in 2025 and 2026. REL West had already helped state staff and local policymakers use data and research-based strategies to address teacher attrition and were on track to revise local policies and practices using that knowledge to support the retention of early career teachers. This second phase of the work will now not be completed.
This represents a handful of the exciting and important projects REL Northwest and REL West were conducting to help schools and districts improve education to better serve students, families, and communities.
These cancellations are a great loss for our nation’s students, families, and communities. It is our hope that the important work of the RELs will eventually be allowed to continue and that our states, school districts, schools, teachers, and students will again be able to benefit from the rigorous research; thoughtful, research-based counsel and projects; and expert technical support that have served them so well.