Serving State Education Leaders

Intensive capacity-building

The Region 12 Comprehensive Center (R12CC), serving Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri, is one of 19 regional centers across the nation that help state education agencies (SEAs) to implement, scale, and sustain evidence-based programs, practices, and interventions that support improved educator and student outcomes.

In partnership with McREL International, CTAC collaborates with these SEAs through the R12CC to provide high quality technical assistance, build collaborative relationships, support local educational agencies to make systemic changes, and disseminate research-based practices.

Highlighted examples of our work in Kansas and Missouri include:

“Even with all the challenges facing school leaders during the pandemic, the forums have provided us a time each month to reconnect and refocus on our daily mission of providing world-class learning opportunities to all students. I would highly recommend this unique leadership development program to any school leader.”
—Superintendent

  • Executive Leadership Forum

    In response to the rapidly changing context of delivering education during COVID-19, we convene and engage Kansas school superintendents in monthly sessions about leading change in times of uncertainty. Forums focus on connecting research to application, reflecting on executive leadership practice, and developing solutions to complex education problems.

  • Redesign Training Cadre

    We assist the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) with implementing and scaling the Kansans Can Redesign Initiative. Our team facilitated Kansas Redesign Training Cadre sessions to a cohort of Kansas education stakeholders to develop a shared understanding across the state of personalized learning, competency-based education, and their intersection with the Kansans Can Redesign Initiative. Training materials guide KSDE, the Cadre cohort, and the R12CC in aligning professional learning with redesign in the state.

  • Missouri Leadership Development System

    We are collaborating with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to refine and expand the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS). This includes conducting ongoing assessments of superintendents’ needs for principal leadership development, monitoring and reporting on the perspectives of principals, superintendents, and other educators on MLDS implementation, and providing evidence-based recommendations and pathways for making continuous improvements to MLDS.

  • Common Formative Assessments

    CTAC is assisting DESE to better understand and select evidence-based practices in formative assessments, create a plan for implementing a formative assessment strategy in Missouri, and integrate the Common Formative Assessment (CFA) system into the state’s comprehensive assessment approach. This will build the capacity of state leaders to develop an informed framework for a statewide system of formative assessment—both in practice and in policy—that increases equitable access to common formative assessments for student learning in all content areas.

  • District Continuous Improvement Process

    Missouri’s District Continuous Improvement (DCI) Framework integrates effective academic and behavioral practices into a framework for achieving exceptional student outcomes. Districts using the DCI Framework receive guidance, professional development, and networking opportunities which focus on building district capacity to select, implement, and evaluate evidence-based teaching practices; improve school-based coaching; and engage in data-driven decision-making.

    We conducted an evaluation to determine the differences in the processes and outcomes for Missouri school districts using the state’s DCI Framework and those using internally-developed approaches. Based on the findings in the evaluation, we recommended and are supporting the development of a quality rating rubric to strengthen and align the DCI implementation action plans to Comprehensive School Improvement Plans. Simultaneously, we are developing a resource library of annotated DCI implementation action plans using the quality rubric to increase the effectiveness of district improvement.