Database of Federally Funded Technical Assistance and Research Centers

The National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL), operated by Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development with funding from the United States Department of Education, is a partnership among literacy experts, university researchers, and technical assistance providers from the University of Oregon, Florida State University, and RMC Research Corporation.

NCILs mission is to increase access to, and use of, evidence-based approaches to screen, identify, and teach students with literacy-related disabilities, including dyslexia.  They also work to build individual and organizational capacity to assess students’ literacy-related skill, identify students with disabilities or those at risk of disabilities, and fully implement evidence-based literacy programs and professional development.

The National Center on Inclusion Toward Rightful Presence (SWIFT Education Center) offers products and services across the nation that foster rightful presence and true belonging for students once on the margins of their schools.  At SWIFT, we take a systems-level approach to transforming education by entering into formal partnerships with state education agencies, service centers, districts, and schools to create the types of educational ecosystems that help students thrive. 

SWIFT increases your capacity to implement or advance Equity-based Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), which improves academic, behavioral, social, and emotional student outcomes.

National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC) offers products and services are deaf-centered, evidence-based, and developed in response to community needs.

NDC offers online courses, online gaming tools for youth, data reports, research summaries, evidence-based resources, webinars, and more. They also provide individualized consultation, training, and resources that help community members, organizations, and schools improve outcomes for deaf people in continuing education and training. 

The Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR) is your central “Hub” of information and products created for the network of Parent Centers serving families of children with disabilities.

All the materials found on the CPIR Hub have been created and archived for Parent Centers around the country to help them provide support and services to the families they serve. The CPIR employs a user-centered process, gathering the perspectives of our experienced audience—Parent Center staff members and other experts—every step of the way, to create products and services that increase Parent Centers’ knowledge and capacity in specific domains.

The ECTA Center supports state IDEA Part C and Part B, Section 619 programs in developing more equitable, effective, and sustainable state and local systems, that support access and full participation for each and every young child with a disability, and their family.

ECTA Center provides a variety of technical assistance opportunities to support states including:

• Coaching systems change efforts
• Developing critical new resources for the field
• Facilitating peer learning communities
• Co-sponsoring conferences on important national issues
• Responding to individual state requests for assistance

The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) focuses on the inclusion of students with disabilities, English learners, and English learners with disabilities in instruction and assessments. The scope of NCEO’s work includes issues related to accessibility of assessments across the comprehensive assessment system including formative assessment practices, classroom-based assessments, diagnostic assessments, interim assessments, and summative assessments.

NCEO is a leader in advocating for appropriate testing access and accommodations for students with disabilities, including English learners with disabilities and English learners without disabilities. NCEO works to ensure that the assessment results for these groups of students are reported just as they are for other students and that they influence accountability systems in the same way as they do other students.

Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.

Bookshare is an ebook library that makes reading easier. Members can access a huge collection of ebooks and read their way with the most customizable ebooks for people with reading barriers.

The library has 1,233,523 titles and is the most extensive collection of accessible ebooks in the world. It includes books for school, career, and reading pleasure, as well as titles in over 34 languages. The collection is supported by a dedicated volunteer community and partnerships with over 1000 US and international publishers.

The Center for Innovation, Design, and Digital Learning (CIDDL)is serving as the National Center to Improve Faculty Capacity to Use Educational Technology in Special Education, Early Intervention, and Related Services Personnel Preparation and Leadership Personnel Preparation Programs. We are primarily focused on the following activities:

• Increasing knowledge, adoption, and use of a range of educational technologies that can be used for educator, related service, or leadership preparation programs;
• Increasing capacity of faculty at institutions of higher education (IHE) to use a range of educational technologies in educator, related service, or leadership preparation programs;
• Sustaining professional learning networks related to educational technology in educator, related service, and leadership preparation programs.

The Center for the Integration of IDEA Data (CIID) provides technical assistance to state education agencies (SEAs) to increase the capacity to report high quality data required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B Sections 616 and 618. CIID supports the integration of IDEA data systems and processes with the Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS).

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE),  the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) supports schools, districts, and states to build systems capacity for implementing a multi-tiered approach to social, emotional and behavior support. The broad purpose of PBIS is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of schools and other agencies. PBIS improves social, emotional and academic outcomes for all students, including students with disabilities and students from underrepresented groups.

Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest (REL Southwest) provides research, technical support, and dissemination activities to State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in our region to improve the use of data and research evidence to inform practice and policy decisions.

Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest works to bridge the worlds of education research and practice and build a more evidence-based education system. Our work includes facilitating research-practice partnerships; conducting applied research; and offering training, coaching, and technical support.

The Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (REL Southeast) Southeast partners with states, school districts, and other stakeholders in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina to inform and improve education practice and policy in the region. REL Southeast brings together the critical elements for success: a thorough knowledge of the region's education systems and contexts; a history of responding to the needs of state and local educators within the region; deep understanding of the critical issues to be addressed; and extensive expertise in research, analytical technical support, and dissemination. Our strengths include a strong presence in each state served and long-standing working relationships with state and local educators throughout the region.

The Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic (REL Mid-Atlantic) is one of 10 research centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to partner with stakeholders in using evidence to improve teaching, learning, and school leadership. REL Mid-Atlantic translates research to practice in partnership with policymakers and practitioners in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Based on regional needs they provide training, coaching, and technical support to help apply high-quality evidence to education improvement initiatives. The lab also conducts, applies, and disseminates research and research-based technical assistance in collaboration with stakeholders in the region to promote continuous improvement of educational practice.

Based on the input from the region the work takes many forms:

• Partnerships and alliances are formed and evolve
• Conduct research studies to answer pressing questions for stakeholders in the region
• Publications are released based on research studies conducted
• Coaching and technical support workshops are collaborative activities conducted with stakeholders
• Events are designed and supported to meet the needs of the region
• Tools are developed through the work with stakeholders
• Ask A REL responses are provided to inquiries from the region

The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Pacific translates research to practice in partnership with policymakers and practitioners in American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Hawaii, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (AEM Center) at CAST is a knowledge-development, information dissemination, and technical assistance project whose activities and actions are designed to:

1. Expand and disseminate knowledge about Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) and technologies among key stakeholder groups.
2. Increase AEM Center stakeholders’ skills; and motivation.
3. Improve and enhance the organizational, material and structural capacities of AEM stakeholders so that they effectively use AEM resources.

The overall goal established by CAST and OSEP pertains to improvements in the availability and use of accessible educational materials and technologies for learning.

One of ten Regional Educational Laboratories, Regional Educational Laboratory Central (REL Central) works in partnership to conduct applied research and training with a mission of supporting a more evidence-based education system

The purpose of the State Implementation and Scaling up of Evidence Based Practices Center (SISEP) is to help to establish implementation and scaling capacity in State, regional, and district educational systems.  SISEP provides content and technical assistance toward establishing large-scale, sustainable, high-fidelity implementation of effective education practices.  Our shared goal is to maximize academic and social outcomes of all students, especially those students with disabilities.

The SISEP Center provides States, Regional, and Local Education Agencies with:

• Intensive technical assistance to establish an effective and affordable infrastructure to support implementation of evidence based programs
• Coordinated and shared professional learning via webinars and communities of practice
• Online and off-line coaching, teaching and education about implementation, scaling, and system reinvention
• Tools and resources for conducting this work, including formative and summative evaluation tools for action planning, monitoring and outcome assessment.

In addition, the SISEP center provides technical assistance to:

• Establish implementation capacity in Technical Assistance Centers and projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs
• Increase implementation capacity of Local Education Agency Superintendents and other leaders
• Increase knowledge of evidence-based implementation supports for evidence based practices in Charter Management Organizations.

The Regional Educational Laboratory Northwest (REL Northwest) is operated by Education Northwest in Portland, Oregon. REL Northwest focuses on building the capacity of stakeholders in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington to use data and evidence to inform decisions related to their specific education-related needs.

REL Northwest's services include the provision of training, coaching, and technical support; conducting applied research studies; and disseminating information in various content areas, but particularly in five high-leverage areas of need in the region: equitable start in learning, appropriate supports for English learners, high school graduation and post-secondary education success, supply and development of effective educators, and accountability system design and implementation.

The majority of our work is currently conducted with stakeholders in 12 research partnerships throughout the region. However, REL Northwest also conducts work with stakeholders that are not affiliated with a particular research partnership.

Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia (REL AP) serves educators in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. To address the priorities and interests of these states, REL AP works in partnership with school districts, state departments of education, and others to use data and research to improve academic outcomes for students.

REL AP works to bridge the worlds of education research and education practice. REL AP offers various supports to the collaborative research partnerships and other stakeholder groups in the Appalachia region:

1. Applied research studies and studies in progress that address partnerships' research questions.
2. Training, coaching, and technical support such as survey, interview, or observation protocol development, literature reviews, or tool development.
3. Workshops and coaching that support the use of data and research.
4. Ask A REL annotated bibliographies produced in response to stakeholder research questions.

Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) West serves four states: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. To address the priorities and interests in these states, REL West works in partnership with school districts, state departments of education, and others to use data and research to improve academic outcomes for students. Each partnership focuses on one or more of the following four regional priority topics: educator development, early learning, postsecondary pathways, and support of the whole child.

While schools, districts, state and local support agencies, and other education stakeholders in REL West’s four-state region share many priorities, their specific challenges and needs for research and support can vary. Accordingly, REL West engages in systematic, ongoing assessment of regional education needs to determine how best to target research and provide research-based information, analysis, and analytic support. 

REL West's needs-sensing approaches include:
•    Actively soliciting input from state and local decisionmakers.
•    Analyzing data and policy trends.
•    Examining educator and policymaker requests for assistance.
•    Collaborating with regional Comprehensive Centers.
•    Working with our partners to determine unmet needs.

In response to the diverse needs and priorities of our nine partnerships, REL West engages in a broad range of work. Through in-depth training, coaching, and analytic support, we build the capacity of our partners to address a variety of issues. These include: tackling the complexities of cross-sector data sharing and data use; learning to make evidence-based policy and practice decisions; and addressing challenges that are context- and region-specific, including those unique to rural entities. In addition, REL West conducts applied research that is integrated with the training, coaching, and analytic support we conduct with our partners.

The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands translates research to practice in partnership with policymakers and practitioners in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Vermont.  

The Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northeast and Islands translates research to practice in partnership with policymakers and practitioners in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Vermont.
The ten Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) work in partnership to conduct applied research and trainings with a mission of supporting a more evidence-based education system

The Lead for Literacy Center, operated by Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development with funding from the United States Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, is a partnership among literacy experts, education leaders, university researchers, and technical assistance providers from the University of Oregon and American Institutes for Research.

Their mission is to provide technical assistance to school and district leaders that builds their capacity to facilitate improved teacher implementation of evidence-based literacy practices for educating students with, or at risk for, literacy-related disabilities.

The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to improve state and local capacity to implement, scale-up, and sustain effective practices and policies to equitably support the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children with, and at risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. The goal of the Center is assisting states and programs in developing sustainable systems for the equitable implementation of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social-Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model) within early intervention and early education programs. We do this with a focus on: improving the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children birth to five; eliminating the use of inappropriate and disproportionate exclusionary discipline practices; promoting family engagement; using data for decision-making; increasing the use of trauma-informed and culturally and linguistically responsive practices; and fostering inclusion.

The Comprehensive Center Network (CC Network) and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. 

The Regional Centers provide high-quality intensive capacity-building services to State clients and recipients to identify, implement, and sustain effective evidence-based practices that support improved educator and student outcomes.

The National Center provides high-quality universal and targeted capacity-building services to address common high-leverage problems, services to address programmatic monitoring reports and audit findings, implementation challenges, and emerging national education trends. 

To learn about the new Centers you can visit the CC Network website at https://compcenternetwork.org/  Here you can search information for all 20 Centers’ resources, and request technical assistance.

PROGRESS Center (which stands for Promoting Rigorous Outcomes and Growth by Redesigning Educational Services for Students With Disabilities Center) provides information, resources, tools, and technical assistance services to support local educators and leaders (kindergarten through transition age) in developing and implementing high-quality educational programs that ensure students with disabilities have access to free appropriate public education (FAPE) which allows them to make progress and meet challenging goals, consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017).

The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) is a Technical Assistance Center co-funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).  They provide information, tools, and supports to assist multiple stakeholders in delivering effective services and instruction for secondary students and out of school youth with disabilities.

The National Center on Dispute Resolution (CADRE) serves as the National Center on Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education on behalf of the Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education. CADRE works to increase the nation’s capacity to prevent and resolve special education and early intervention disputes by fostering productive home/school/provider partnerships and the use of collaborative processes to improve outcomes for children and youth with disabilities. CADRE assists states with implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) procedural safeguards provisions and the development of high-performing dispute resolution systems through the identification and dissemination of exemplary practices related to program design, implementation, evaluation and improvement.

The National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes (NDC) provides evidence-based strategies to deaf individuals, family members, and professionals at the local, state, and national levels with the goal of closing education and employment gaps for deaf individuals.

The Center for IDEA Fiscal Reporting (CIFR) assists states to improve the quality of their collection, reporting, analysis, and use of IDEA Part B and Part C fiscal data. The following are the specific reporting requirements supported by CIFR:

Part B

• Maintenance of state financial support (MFS)
• Allocation of IDEA Part B subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs)
• LEA maintenance of effort (MOE)
• Coordinated early intervening services (CEIS)

Part C

• Indirect cost/Cost allocation plan
• Use of funds

The National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) provides technical assistance to meet the needs of children (birth to 21) with deaf-blindness in five initiative areas: early identification and intervention; family engagement; interveners and qualified personnel; transition; and assessment, planning, and instruction. It's universal, targeted, and intensive TA is conducted in concert with state deaf-blind projects throughout the U. S., and with national family organizations. NCDB has an extensive website with information and products to support its TA as well as relevant information on deaf-blindness of use to families, service providers, and the general public.

The State Support Network was a technical assistance initiative operating from 2016 to 2020 designed to support state and district school improvement efforts. Use this site to learn more about State Support Network communities of practice and to access free resources for states and district to support school improvement.

The IDEA Data Center (IDC) is a national technical assistance (TA) center that provides universal, targeted, and intensive TA to build capacity within states for collecting, reporting, analyzing, and using high-quality IDEA Part B data. IDC focuses on Part B data requirements under Sections 616 and 618 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for programs serving children and students ages 3 through 21 with disabilities and their families.

IDC provides a comprehensive set of services to help states and, working in conjunction with states, their local education agencies develop and sustain a culture of high-quality data. IDC State Liaisons and TA specialists work on site and virtually with state teams to address state-specific data-quality needs. IDC develops and disseminates tools and products, presents webinars, holds virtual meetings and peer-to-peer exchanges, facilitates data manager connections, and supports other networking through its state-of-the-art website and multimedia social outreach activities. IDC’s national meetings, such as its Interactive Institutes and data manager summits, allow state teams with Part B IDEA data responsibilities to meet with content experts and colleagues to share data-quality challenges and explore solutions.

Building state capacity for high-quality IDEA data is essential as states assess programmatic strengths and areas for improvement and evaluate progress toward desired results. In turn, states apply higher quality data to drive systems change and improve outcomes for all children and youth with disabilities served under IDEA, Part B, and their families.

The National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) helps states transform their systems to improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. NCSI provides states with technical assistance to support development, implementation and evaluation of their 6-year state systemic improvement plan and build capacity among their school districts and local early intervention service programs to improve educational results and functional outcomes for children and youth with disabilities.

The Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy Center) is a national technical assistance center funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). DaSy Center works with states to support IDEA early intervention and early childhood special education state programs in the development or enhancement of coordinated early childhood longitudinal data systems.

DaSy Canter provides technical assistance (TA) and resources to state agencies to assist with the development or enhancement of data systems for Part C early intervention and Part B preschool special education programs supported through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The DaSy Center collaborates with other projects to leverage what is known and generate new ideas and products to help state agencies create and expand early childhood cross-agency and longitudinal data systems that include the Part C and Part B preschool data needed to collect, analyze, and report high-quality data required under IDEA.  We offer a range of supports based on our clients needs including intensive and targeted TA as well as opportunities to join DaSy Center led communities of practice or attend webinars. 

The CEEDAR Center: Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform Center (CEEDAR) is designed to help State Education Agencies (SEAs), Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) create aligned professional learning systems that provide teachers and leaders effective opportunities to learn how to improve core and specialized instruction in inclusive settings that enable students with disabilities to achieve college and career ready standards. The technical assistance (TA) effort is organized around universal, targeted, and intensive TA supports. AIR, as subcontractor to University of Florida, is taking the lead in intensive TA.

The Center provides intensive TA supports to 20 states. Intensive TA services, tailored to the needs of each state, seek to reform and align the areas of licensure standards, teacher and leader preparation and induction, and personnel evaluation data systems to inform preparation program improvement. CEEDAR provides responsive technical assistance through knowledge building of evidence-based research and practice. CEEDAR also supports implementation of the research into school-based instruction and practices through online tools and resources, leadership development, collaborative teams of stakeholders, and ongoing learning opportunities.

The Mission of the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII) is to build the capacity of state and local education agencies, universities, practitioners, and other stakeholders to support implementation of intensive intervention in literacy, mathematics, and behavior for students with severe and persistent learning and/or behavioral needs, often in the context of their multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) or special education services. NCII’s approach to intensive intervention is data-based individualization (DBI), a research-based process that integrates the systematic use of assessment data, validated interventions, and intensification strategies.

The National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO) helps students with disabilities, English learners (ELs), and ELs with disabilities by:

• Collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, disseminating, and providing leadership on evidence-based information on inclusive assessments and comprehensive assessment systems.
• Promoting the use of assessments for instructional decision-making purposes.
• Assisting states in their efforts to support districts to improve results.
• Reviewing the participation and performance of students in national and state assessments, including the use of accessibility features and accommodations and alternate assessments.
• Examining national and state practices in reporting assessment information.
• Supporting implementation of U.S. Department of Education accountability systems, including ESEA accountability and IDEA State Systemic Improvement Plans (SSIPs) and State-Identified Measurable Results (SIMRs).
• Bridging general education, special education, English as a Second Language or bilingual education, and other systems as they work to improve results of education for all students.

The Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center is one of four regional Equity Assistance Centers. This center is funded by the United States Department of Education under Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The center provides technical assistance and training, upon request, in the areas of race, sex, national origin and religion to public school districts and other responsible governmental agencies to promote equitable education opportunities. Work focuses on the areas of civil rights, equity, and school reform.

The IRIS Center is a national center dedicated to improving education outcomes for all children, especially those with disabilities, by developing free, online resources about effective evidence-based practices and interventions.

IRIS Modules, our center's signature resource, are developed using adult learning theory and translate the latest research findings into easily understandable, practitioner-friendly language in an interactive, engaging format. Other wraparound resources--case studies, information briefs, fundamental skill sheets, video vignettes--allow learners to delve into module topics in more depth.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) operates the Department's technical assistance center for the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program.

In this role, NCHE works with schools, service providers, parents, and other interested stakeholders to ensure that children and youth experiencing homelessness can enroll and succeed in school.