EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC

U.S. Division: In 2024, EDC's U.S. Division conducted research, delivered services, and scaled successful programs focused on equity in education, health, mental health, and economic opportunity. The U.S. Division also produced over 100 articles, chapters, curricula, reports, fact sheets, and other educational materials and presented at over 200 events. * Nationwide, leaders turned to EDC for credible, up-to-date research and resources on effective strategies to improve education, workforce development, health services, and mental health services-as well as support in using data to guide improvements. EDC continued our 16 years of leading the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands for the Institute of Education Sciences, partnered with two other Regional Educational Laboratories, and led multiple research and evaluation studies that addressed high-priority education topics for our nation. For example, for the Board on Science Education, an EDC team conducted a landscape analysis for the new report Scaling and Sustaining Pre-K-12 STEM Innovations. * EDC continues to be a leader in suicide prevention. Our leadership of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, Zero Suicide Institute at EDC, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and Community-Led Suicide Prevention initiative helped improve outcomes for millions of people at risk of suicide. To date, over 110,000 practitioners have completed EDC's Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk training. EDC also supported the national roll-out of the new 9-8-8 hotline for behavioral health crises and launched an online resource based on the Suicide Care Collaborative Outcome and Improvement Innovation Network that we established in partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts. * EDC was selected to lead two major initiatives focused on improving scientific literacy. NASA chose EDC to co-lead the global implementation office for its Global Learning and Observations to Address the Environment (GLOBE) program. Around the world, GLOBE works to increase scientific understanding of the Earth, support improved student achievement in science and math, and promote citizen science. The Institute of Education Sciences and National Science Foundation chose EDC to lead a newly established national research and development center to address the need for high-quality science instruction and assessment for elementary school students. * EDC built upon and expanded its work to improve the quality of life for older people. In one of our initiatives supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation, EDC's National Dementia Care Collaborative worked to improve access to evidence-based, comprehensive dementia care. This work has included EDC leading two national summits and developing the Dementia Care Improvement Instrument to help health systems, clinicians, and community-based organizations in their efforts to improve dementia care. The tool provides real time recommendations about which evidence-based comprehensive dementia care programs are most relevant to an organization's needs and helps users think through implementation barriers and facilitators. * EDC launched its work on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. The National Defense Education Program (NDEP) builds capacity to foster high school students' civic and STEM literacy. The work responds to the urgent need to improve youth civic literacy and workforce preparedness and features the five-module Supporting Readiness through Vital Civic Empowerment curriculum that EDC developed and tested with 18 schools in 15 states in a previous NDEP grant. In this work, EDC is developing several tools for national dissemination-including a toolkit and professional learning materials-and is focusing on creating structures to sustain support for teachers and learning for students after the project ends. * EDC led and co-led several national and regional technical assistance centers that advance substance misuse prevention. These include the Strategic Prevention Technical Assistance Center, the Center for Strategic Prevention Support,the Behavioral Health Excellence Technical Assistance Center, and two Prevention Technology Transfer Centers. Through EDC Solutions, EDC provided training and consultation to behavioral health professionals. In addition, EDC developed five new guides that support implementation of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's resource Prevention with Purpose: A Strategic Planning Guide for Preventing Drug Misuse Among College Students. EDC also addressed co-occurring behavioral health challenges such as digital wellness and problem gambling through the fee-for-service platform of EDC's Prevention Solutions and through the Massachusetts Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling Prevention. * EDC delivered academic, mental health, school health, and behavioral health support through the Education & Wellbeing suite of training and consultation services for preK-secondary school education systems. EDC helped teachers, support staff, and administrators build and sustain strong multi-tiered systems of support to ensure youth acquire the durable skills needed for workplace success, improve academic outcomes, and proactively enhance mental health and wellness. As part of this work we delivered multiple online events, published resources, and led a school-based mental health and suicide prevention initiative in Indiana that reached an estimated 35,000 students in 12 school districts by the end of 2024. * EDC continued its innovative work to improve STEM learning and workforce development for all. We led two national centers, STEM Learning and Research Center (STELAR) and Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE), that we have operated for decades. To date, STELAR has helped NSF researchers reach over 1.5 million students, 63,000 teachers, and 20,000 parents and caregivers. We grew our Rural & Ready STEM initiative, and we led a large and strategic stream of work focused on providing youth with the fundamental skills they need to pursure careers in data science and computer science. We also hosted a two-day national convening of economists, scientists, K-12 formal and informal education leaders, industry leaders, community leaders, government leaders, and philanthropic leaders to identify strategies to fill the skyrocketing numbers of unfilled sustainability jobs and ensure all U.S. youth have the skills and knowledge they need to pursue these jobs. * EDC advanced multiple U.S. initiatives focused on improving the quality and accessibility of out-of-school time programs. We continued leading the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment that we have operated for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for nine years, delivering dozens of trainings and developing resources to support out-of-school time providers. EDC also continued our leadership of the Collaborative for Advancing Health Equity in Out-of-School Time. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, this initiative supports data-driven decision-making and the effective implementation of evidence-based policies and practices to address urgent youth health issues such as obesity and diabetes. * EDC led multiple initiatives focused on improving mathematics learning including Math For All, Young Mathematicians, and Math+C. Young Mathematicians works with teachers, preschoolers, and families from early childhood programs and has reached over 5,000 children and families to date. Math For All makes high-quality mathematics accessible to all elementary school students, including those with disabilities, and has reached over 19,000 students to date. In 2024, we received funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Innovation and Research program to expand Math For All to schools in five states, reaching 44,800 students in Grades 3 through 6. * EDC continued its role as the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE) Program Office, supporting the Amgen Foundation in strengthening its innovative high school science education program and scaling it to more sites. ABE is now available in 27 program sites in 16 countries. To date, the program has reached over 1,000,000 students across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia Pacific in 1,800 schools supported by 3,500 teachers. * EDC expanded its innovative work to support children and families. For the Health Resources and Services Administration, we led five national initiatives focused on strengthening home visiting services and continued our 32 years of leading the Children's Safety Network. For the Office of Head Start, we led the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety. With partners across the U.S., EDC continued to grow its First 10 initiative, which focuses on advancing school-community partnerships that improve outcomes for children from birth to age 10. To date, first 10 has supported over 60 communities in seven states.