July 16, 2009
Contact: Dr. Tony Marchesi, 304.347.0427 or 800.624.9120, ext. 5427
tony.marchesi@edvantia.org

CHARLESTON, WV—The Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC) at Edvantia is celebrating its New Year. July 1 marked the start of ARCC's fifth year of providing services to the state departments of education in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

With awards from the U.S. Department of Education, Edvantia has been providing comprehensive center services to educators in Appalachia since 1995. For the past 4 years, those services have been delivered through the ARCC at Edvantia and have focused on helping state department staffs build their capacity to improve education. Year 5 funding, in the amount of $4,195,407, will continue this important work.

Each year during the award, ARCC at Edvantia has partnered with state departments in the region to define and focus on a few major service areas. For the 2010 fiscal year, these areas include initiatives in several capacity-building areas. In Kentucky, the Year 5 work will focus on two areas: (1) designing and improving a balanced assessment system to improve classroom instruction, and (2) improving the statewide system of support for districts and schools. In North Carolina, ARCC staff will work with the Department of Public Instruction to build the capacity to provide comprehensive support to districts and schools, and to develop and implement 21st century standards, instructional practices, and assessment systems. The Tennessee initiatives for the upcoming year include expanding and refining the statewide system of support and improving instruction for all students. In Virginia, initiatives include building the state department’s capacity to provide appropriate assessments for English language learners and increasing its capacity to support low-performing schools. During Year 5, initiatives in West Virginia will focus on increasing student achievement through a high-capacity statewide system of support and working with state department staff on instructional improvement strategies.

In addition to providing services, Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center at Edvantia supports educators with research-based resources such as podcasts, webcasts and webinars, and toolkits on a variety of topics. To find these resources and other information, visit the Web site at www.arcc.edvantia.org.

About ARCC at Edvantia: The Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC) at Edvantia is one of 16 regional comprehensive and 5 content centers that make up the Comprehensive Center Network funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the comprehensive centers is to provide state education agencies with intensive technical assistance to address the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements and meet student achievement goals.

About Edvantia: Edvantia is a nonprofit corporation, founded in 1966, that partners with education agencies, foundations, publishers, and service providers to apply expertise in research, evaluation, professional development, and technical assistance to help schools and students succeed. Specialty areas include district and school improvement, teacher quality, systems development and alignment, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), 21st century skills, and college access. Learn more at the Edvantia Web sites or contact Dr. Tony Marchesi (see above).