The South West Regional Laboratory, a southern California branch of WestEd, is bringing the Success for All program into 17 linguistically diverse schools in California and Arizona. The Lab adopted the program for Spanish-speaking students in its region and aids the schools with planning, budgeting, training, coaching, and other supports. Two important goals of Laboratory reform efforts are to generate school improvements that can be sustained over the long term and to produce strategies that can be transferred or adapted to a wide variety of sites. Often Laboratories will test an approach in a few schools or districts, obtaining important feedback from practicing educators, modifying the projects, and producing lessons and new knowledge that will help other districts interested in similar reforms. Once the pilot is completed, Laboratory staff often launch wider-scale training activities to introduce the program or process to educators across their region.
Laboratories use various strategies to promote school improvement and reforms.
Developing and implementing field-based research and demonstration projects in partnership with schools or districts is one such strategy. Training teachers, administrators, or other key people who can make or break education reform is another common strategy. Many projects also produce innovative curricula, instructional materials, new forms of assessment, teacher training materials, and other tools. Reading, the Gateway to All Learning Buddy reading time at Dana Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio. Fifth-graders and first graders pair off and find comfortable spots in the classroom, the younger children clutching colorful books, the older ones holding survey forms.