October 04, 2017

Castro Announces Nearly $4 Million for Education Research

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) announced $3,906,207.00 of federal funding from the Department of Education (ED) for the Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) to support the development and implementation of practices designed to help principals and administrative team members more effectively improve student outcomes in diverse schools.

“We can expand educational opportunity by providing teachers and administrators with innovative, effective training and tools that help every child, regardless of background, succeed in the classroom,” said Rep. Castro. “IDRA’s research and resources support students in diverse schools, ensuring their learning environments prepare them not only to earn acceptance to college, but also to successfully complete their higher education. This grant will help more young people reach their full academic potential and find greater opportunity after graduation.”

IDRA is an independent, non-profit organization working to achieve equal educational opportunity by improving public schools’ preparation of students for college acceptance and success. The organization works with school district leadership to support participating principals and their administrative teams in creating a school culture conducive to student success; provide a comprehensive and job-embedded professional development program for principals and leadership teams; and offer coaching and mentoring services to principals and other school leaders.

“IDRA research and work with schools has demonstrated that the principal is the nucleus of a school’s instructional leadership team,” said Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, IDRA President & CEO. “This new initiative is a unique opportunity to transform instruction schoolwide using promising practices. These practices include training master teachers to be principals, and working with principals and administrative teams in ways that are effective, enhance student learning and build school-community collaboration.”

This ED funding stems from the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Program, established under section 4611 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The EIR program serves high-needs students by creating, developing, implementing, replicating, or scaling entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-initiated innovations to improve student achievement and attainment. With the help of rigorous evaluations, the EIR program is designed to generate and validate solutions to persistent educational challenges and to support the expansion of effective solutions to serve substantially larger numbers of students.

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