The Department of Education last week awarded a $2 million grant to an Alexandria, Va., research group to spearhead a national effort to assess the technical-assistance needs of states and local education agencies.
The grant went to the nonprofit CNA Corp., which will work over the next few months with a host of technology and education groups to get a picture of schools’ needs in light of the requirements they face under the No Child Left Behind Act.
The groups’ analyses will be used to set up 20 comprehensive-assistance centers around the country next year. The centers, which were authorized when the department revamped its research operations in 2002, will replace the current comprehensive-assistance centers, the regional-technology-in-education consortia, and the Eisenhower mathematics and science consortia, all of which currently provide technical assistance to states and districts. Other partners in the project are: the Washington-based Institute for Educational Leadership; the McKenzie Group, also of Washington; InterCall of Chicago; the Herndon, Va.-based IceWEB; and Nortel Network Kidz Online, a nonprofit with offices in Herndon and Reston, Va., and in El Segundo, Calif.
