blog posts and news stories

Empirical is participating in recently awarded five-year REL contracts

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education recently announced the recipients of five-year contracts for each of the 10 Regional Education Laboratories (RELs). We are excited to be part of four strong teams of practitioners and researchers that received the awards.

The original request for proposals in May 2011 called for the new RELs to work closely with alliances of state and local education agencies and other practitioner organizations to build local capacity for research. Considering the close ties between this agenda and Empirical’s core mission we joined the proposal efforts and are now part of winning teams in the West (led by WestEd), Northwest (led by Education Northwest), Midwest (led by the American Institutes for Research (AIR)), and Southwest (led by SEDL) The REL Southwest is currently under a stop work order while ED addresses a dispute concerning its review process. Empirical Education’s history in conducting Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) and in providing technical assistance to education agencies provides a strong foundation for the next five years.

EDC Partners with Empirical for Regional Lab in the Northeast

Empirical Education signed on as a partner in the Northeast and the Islands Regional Educational Laboratory, or NEIREL, joining prime contractor Education Development Center of Newton, MA and its other partners, WestEd and AIR. The company’s primary responsibility will be in the area of technical assistance to state and local systems in New England and New York state, as well as the islands–Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Denis Newman, Empirical’s president, commented, “We welcome this opportunity to work with our colleagues at EDC and help them contribute to the research base for their region.” The REL contract is expected to be extended until March 2011.