Great Lakes West
Comprehensive Center

About Us

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the Great Lakes West Comprehensive Center operated by Learning Point Associates is part of a network of 16 regional comprehensive centers and five national content centers. The regional comprehensive centers provide technical assistance designed to raise the capacity of states to help districts and schools meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Great Lakes West works with the state education agencies (SEAs) in Illinois and Wisconsin to close achievement gaps, especially in those schools and districts identified as in need of improvement.

Goals

Great Lakes West's primary goal is to help increase the capacity of Illinois and Wisconsin to assist districts and schools in meeting their student achievement goals by providing frontline assistance to the SEAs. Great Lakes West works closely with other technical assistance providers, content and comprehensive centers, and regional educational laboratories to assist the states in doing the following:

Assessing the improvement needs of districts and schools.
Developing solutions to address those needs.
Building and sustaining systems of support for districts and school improvement efforts.
Improving the tools and systems for the state's accountability.

States face multiple challenges in helping their schools and districts improve the academic performance of their students. To meet these challenges, Great Lakes West will focus its technical assistance efforts on teacher quality, assessment and accountability, innovation and improvement, instruction, and high school improvement. Great Lakes West is committed to assisting the SEAs in establishing the policies and practices needed to meet their student achievement goals.

About Learning Point Associates

Learning Point Associates is a nonprofit educational organization with more than 20 years of direct experience working with and for educators and policymakers to transform education systems and student learning. Our vision is an education system that works for all learners, and our mission is to deliver the knowledge, strategies, and results to help educators make research-based decisions that produce sustained improvement.

Our Vision
Our vision is an education system that works for all learners.

Our Mission
We deliver the knowledge, strategies, and results to help educators and policymakers make research-based decisions that produce sustained educational improvements.

Our Core Competencies
In response to identified client needs, Learning Point Associates offers comprehensive services in the areas of evaluation, policy, professional services, and research to K–16 education stakeholders at the school, district, state, regional, and national levels. Competencies include comprehensive school improvement, teacher quality, afterschool programming, data tools for school improvement, and literacy.

Our Expertise
We are known for the work we do:

Designing and conducting client-centered evaluations.
Analyzing and synthesizing education policy trends and practices.
Delivering high-quality professional services directly to our clients.
Conducting rigorous and relevant education research and evaluation.

Our work consistently builds the capacity of our clients to be good consumers, practitioners, and advocates for educational excellence.

Our goal is to be client centered, responsive to needs, sensitive to constraints, and driven to high-quality results. Our professional staff of 150 continues to grow as our work expands both nationally and internationally with offices in Naperville, Illinois; Chicago; and Washington, D.C.

Our goal is to build the capacity of the clients we serve to be good consumers, practitioners, and advocates for educational excellence.

Photo of student reading in front of the class.