Educators in both states will benefit from research-backed services to help their schools drive achievement

Portland, Ore., April 28, 2022 — NWEA — the not-for-profit, research and educational services provider serving K-12 students — announced today that the Hawaii State Department of Education (DOE) has added NWEA’s school improvement services to their approved list of vendors. In addition, in Michigan, NWEA has been added to the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) MiStrategy Bank as an evidence-based strategy for use in district MICIP (Michigan Integrated Continuous Improvement Process) plans.

“We’re excited to work with educators in these states and bring our research-based strategies to their schools,” said Carrie Phillips, Senior Director of School Improvement Services at NWEA. “Along with supportive expertise, educators will benefit from our exclusive partnership with UChicago Impact and its nationally renowned 5Essentials® System, which has proven to drive outcomes for students.”

Each state has approved specific services for their school districts:

Hawaii State DOE approved the following priority areas of school improvement services:

• Needs Assessment and Planning: The NWEA Needs Assessment, based around UChicago Impact’s 5Essentials® System, uses interviews, focus groups, and observations of professional collaboration to capture insights from school leaders and educators to identify strengths and areas of needs for a school’s organizational conditions. An NWEA Leadership Coach then summarizes findings and makes recommendations for continuous improvement.
• Training in Leadership: The NWEA Leadership Coach teams up with the school/district leadership team, shares the goals of the NWEA Needs Assessment, links the school improvement processes directly to the district and school’s strategic plan, and then guides leaders along a successful school improvement pathway.

Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators has added The 5Essentials® Survey (via NWEA) to the MiStrategy Bank as an evidence-based strategy for use in district MICIP plans.

To learn more about NWEA School Improvement Services, go to https://www.nwea.org/school-improvement/

About NWEA

NWEA® (formerly known as Northwest Evaluation Association) is a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators in more than 146 countries through research, assessment solutions, policy and advocacy services, professional learning and school improvement services that fight for equity, drive classroom impact and push for systemic change in our educational communities. Visit NWEA.org to learn more about how we’re partnering with educators to help all kids learn.

NWEA was acquired in 2023 and is now the assessment and education research division of HMH (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). For more information about school improvement services as part of HMH, please visit this page.

Contact: Simona Beattie, Sr. Manager, Public Relations, simona.beattie@nwea.org or 971.361.9526