Research
Education is constantly faced with generating, interpreting and evaluating evidence regarding the effects of interventions focused on improved student learning. PREL’s research team provides technical assistance and capacity building in understanding evidence about treatment effects as well as designing and implementing rigorous research designs to test the impact of educational interventions. PREL staff design rigorous studies to investigate questions about the efficacy of curricula and instructional approaches. These are important issues in the current educational enterprise. PREL staff also have experience in studying efficacy questions in virtually all interventions found in schools: reading, mathematics, science, drug prevention, the use of technology, and professional development, to mention a few. PREL’s research team designs and conducts rigorous studies such as randomized control trials and quasi-experimental designs. An important function of these kinds of research designs is to understand how conditions (e.g., having teachers volunteer for treatment groups, having treatment and control groups in the same school, and attrition of subjects) can negatively impact methodological rigor and estimates of effects and how alternative methodological strategies might reduce their impact on research findings. We ensure that all our studies meet technical standards of rigor that are found in the criteria used by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse.
Workshops
Using Data for Improved Decision Making in Education
Audience: Data Managers, Administrators
Workshop participants will become familiar with the issues around data and the role that high-quality information can play in effective decision making. An interactive process using locally relevant exercises will be used to demonstrate the importance of accurate and careful data collection and data analysis issues. Areas that will be explored through lecture and interactive exercises will be: (a) different types of data (quantitative, qualitative); (b) ways to analyze data; (c) challenges one might encounter in the collection and utilization of data; and (d) recommendations for improving data quality in the Pacific region.
Research and Evaluation Cadre Bi-Annual Training Institutes
Audience: Data Managers of MOEs/DOEs in the Pacific region
This training institute is held twice a year and is designed to provide participants from each of the 10 Pacific entities with basic principles in research and evaluation techniques and also to assist them with ways of collecting high quality information that will lead to improvements in the use of data in decision-making for each entity’s educational system.
Programs
Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific (REL Pacific)
Products
Papers:
At-Risk Teachers
Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program: The Third Wave and Its Preliminary Effects
Diversity in Action: Improving Educational Research in the Pacific Region
Retention and Attrition of Pacific School Teachers and Administrators (RAPSTA) Study - American Samoa
Educational Needs in the Pacific Region: The REL Client Interview Report
Effect of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) on Reading Achievement: A Meta-Analysis
Evaluation of the Outcomes and Impact of the Pacific CHILD Professional Development Model
Evaluation of the Pacific CHILD Professional Development Program
Family Involvement in Education: A Synthesis of Research for Pacific Educators
Language Use at Home and School: A Synthesis of Research for Pacific Educators
Measuring the Effectiveness of Professional Development in Early Literacy: Lessons Learned
Pacific Megatrends in Education
Retention and Attrition of Pacific School Teachers and Administrators (RAPSTA) Study
Synthesis of the Research on Educational Change—Parts 1–3
Synthesis of the Research on Educational Change—Part 4
Where Are the Teachers? A Policy Report on Teacher Attendance in the Pacific Region
Contact PREL
Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
Phone:
(808) 441-1300
U.S. Toll-free Phone:
(800) 377-4773
AskPREL
Phone:
(808) 441-1300
U.S. Toll-free Phone:
(800) 377-4773
AskPREL
Service Request
For further information about PREL services, or to explore a solution customized to suit your needs, please contact us directly through our Service Request Form.