Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest (REL Southwest)
The Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest (REL Southwest) partners with state and local education agencies and other key stakeholders across the Southwest to use evidence to improve policy and practice.
Serving Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, REL Southwest works collaboratively with policymakers and practitioners to identify the most pressing education priorities in each state. Through technical assistance, applied research, and strategic dissemination, REL Southwest supports agencies to develop and apply evidence to consequential decisions about these priorities, with an abiding focus on improving student outcomes.
In partnership with the region’s five states, REL Southwest is generating and supporting the use of evidence across these high priority topics:
- Chronic absenteeism and attendance strategies
- High-quality instructional materials and academic interventions
- Math instruction
- Statewide research agendas
- College and career readiness
- Early childhood education
- English learners literacy
- Literacy strategies for elementary students
- Literacy strategies for middle schoolers
- Rural teacher recruitment and school performance
REL Southwest is one of 10 RELs funded by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. AIR has led REL Southwest since 2012.
