The second meeting of the Texas Consortium on School Research (TCSR), held last month, focused on improving College Readiness using data. Representatives from 21 public schools (school districts) in the state participated.
TCSR(tcsr.edvanceresearch.com) is looking to build momentum as participating schools share peer data and develop and enhance district practices. The consortium continues its primary focus on the use of data to improve College Readiness and is actively identifying plans with the schools to expand topic areas in the near future. Two more such meetings are scheduled for 2010 with additional schools joining the consortium.
The theme of the meeting centered around four primary areas: Understanding Research and its Practical Application; Use of Longitudinal Data Sets; Building a Community of Practice; and Developing District Capacity.
TCSR is managed by the Regional Educational Laboratory - Southwest (REL Southwest) at Edvance Research (Managing Partner) in partnership with the University of Texas at Dallas Education Research Center (UTD-ERC) and Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR). It creates a forum which allows participating member schools across the state to collaborate in building research capacity to address critical issues to support school improvement efforts.
Education representatives and researchers are looking to understand data and find the most effective methods to utilise this knowledge in their daily work. TCSR member schools are seeking to build a cohesive plan for identifying and sharing best practices; conducting research to know what works and what doesn’t work in their schools; and analysing data to find new ways to address issues. The consortium offers a venue for its members to interact and share data, ideas, successes and challenges that lead to collective and ongoing improvements in the interpretation and application of data. The members of TCSR are building a Community of Practice around school research.
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