Highlights
Quality, success and local impact are the terms that best capture the work of the federally-funded Comprehensive Assistance Centers (CC). Created by Congress in 1994 as part of the Improving America’s Schools Act, the nation’s 15 Comprehensive Assistance Centers are successfully meeting their four-part mission:
- Improving teaching and learning,
- Helping all children meet challenging standards,
- Assisting schools serving students in poverty, and
- Helping states, post-secondary institutions and school districts integrate federal, state and local programs in ways that will improve schools and whole school systems.
In four short years, the Comprehensive Centers have emerged as a vital force in American education reform. They are a national education resource with local impact. A recent independent evaluation of the Centers shows that they are meeting and exceeding their mission. For example, the Centers are...
. . . a key resource on school reform. The centers are the most frequently turned to source of external assistance for clients on critical topics of educational reform.
. . . meeting the needs of children and teachers. An overwhelming majority of the Centers’ clients (86%) are "very satisfied" with the overall quality of the Centers’ products and services.
. . . having a direct impact on urban schools and students living in poverty. The CCs have provided needed technical assistance to 34 of the nation’s 50 school districts with the highest concentrations of children living in poverty. At least 73% of the Centers’ school-based clients are from schools with Title I schoolwide programs where at least 50% of the students live in poverty.
. . . making the GPRA grade. The Centers have exceeded two of the three targets set by the Government Performance and Results Act and are only seven percentage points away from meeting the third target.