The Research and Development Exchange (RDx) is a network of eight regional educational laboratories, one university-based research and development center, and a consortium of seven state education agencies working to support state and local school improvement efforts. The RDx has four goals, designed to support dissemination and school improvement…

This paper describes the need for a regional dissemination system; the conceptualization of the Southwest Educational Development Labortory (SEDL) Regional Exchange as part of the nation-wide Research and Development Exchange (RDx); and the operation of the SEDL Regional Exchange (RX). It emphasizes that the Research and Development Exchange is…

This report was prompted by a request from the National Institute of Education (NIE), which in turn stemmed from internal discussion about what to do about the fact that some regions of the country are unserved, or only partially served, by existing educational laboratories. This report was directed to be a description of current laboratories'…

Regional Educational Laboratories were created in the early 1960s as a federally funded link between research and development efforts in education and school districts. The labs were conceived to be sensitive to the practical needs of administrators and teachers for educational innovations that could be implemented locally. However, over a quarter…

This study describes the nine regional educational laboratories supported by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). The labs are operating under 5-year contracts for 1986-1990. The study analyzed lab-produced documents, describing lab operation for the first 2 years of this period, highlighting the status of the program at the…

Commencing as a reasonably funded research and development enterprise, the Regional Educational Laboratory Program has become an undercapitalized knowledge transfer operation, an "information utility," responsible for improving schools but constrained by inadequate funds and restrictive policies which confine the labs to working…

This document reports on the 1987 external review of the nine Regional Educational Laboratories which evaluated lab performance during the first 18-20 months of their contracts and evaluated their plans for the remaining 3 years of the contracts. Observations about lab plans are presented on a program-wide basis. It is reported that the 3-5 year…

To further the National Institute of Education's goal of ensuring a coordinated and nationally linked outreach capability for providing schools with the knowledge and services generated through research and development (R&D), the nation's R&D centers developed an interorganizational and collaborative school improvement program known as the…

The structure and functions of the National Laboratory on Early Childhood Education are discussed. The National Laboratory was designed to assume a leadership role by actually conducting a coordinated research and development (R&D) program and by continuously analyzing the field to identify problem areas and solutions. The National Laboratory…

As a background for recommendations made in this paper on the program of regional educational laboratories, three contextual facts are highlighted. The first is the increasingly prominent role and responsibility of the individual states in the definition and delivery of elementary/secondary education. The second is that, while historically public…

This report addresses what the Laboratory Review Panel believes to be the most critical issues the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) must consider in the 1990 recompetition for Educational Research Laboratories. For each set of issues, recommendations are offered regarding desirable OERI policy. The following issues and panel…

A number of research studies have shown that the factors important to academic achievement are time allocated to instruction, the amount of time students actively engage in learning, and the degree of success they experience while learning. To put this into practice, personnel with the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) have…

This document is a compilation of separate papers concerning the planned 1990 recompetition for the nine Regional Educational Laboratories, sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) of the U.S. Department of Education, as follows: (1) "Report of the Laboratory Review Panel on the 1987 Review of Laboratories"…

This document provides an overview of the Regional Educational Laboratory operated by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) during 1986-1990. AEL staff works with educators in ongoing research and development-based efforts to improve education and educational opportunity in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Part I of the…