Inside IES Research

Notes from NCER & NCSER

IES-Funded Researchers Recognized with 2022 CEC Awards

At the recent 2022 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Convention and Expo, scholars were recognized for their research contributions to the field of special education. Among those honored by the CEC were several researchers funded through IES.

Photo of Kathleen Lane

Kathleen Lane, PhD, Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas and associate vice chancellor for research, was awarded the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes an individual whose life’s work has been focused on improving outcomes for students with exceptionalities and the educators who serve them. Over the years, Dr. Lane has been involved in numerous projects funded by IES. She is currently serving as principal investigator (PI) on Project SCREEN, a NCSER-funded grant aimed at validating a free tool that K-12 educators can use to identify students who are at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). As part of the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Network, she is the PI for a Research Team enhancing and testing the efficacy of Ci3T, an intervention that combines positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) and response to intervention (RTI) approaches to build social skills, particularly for students with or at risk for EBD. This project was an extension of a prior NCER-funded researcher-practitioner partnership with a local school district to implement and test the Ci3T model. Dr. Lane also led Project WRITE, which focused on Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), an intervention that facilitates the teaching of writing and behavioral self-regulation techniques simultaneously. Dr. Lane’s project modified and tested SRSD for students with serious behavior challenges who struggle with writing. Dr. Lane also served as a mentor to another CEC award winner, Dr. Robin Ennis (below), on her Early Career Development and Mentoring project.

Photo of Robin Ennis

Robin Ennis, PhD, associate professor and special education program coordinator at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Education has received the 2022 Martin J. Kauffman Distinguished Early Career Research Award from the CEC’s Division for Research. This award recognizes an individual who has made outstanding scientific contributions in special education research within the first 10 years following receipt of their doctoral degree. Dr. Ennis was the principal investigator of a NCSER-funded Early Career Development and Mentoring project. In this project, Dr. Ennis developed a training model designed to support third grade teachers’ implementation of a low-intensity evidence-based strategy, instructional choice, to improve the academic and behavioral outcomes of students with or at risk for emotional disturbance. Initial testing indicated that teachers who received PD implemented the intervention with high fidelity and students experienced increased engagement.

Photo of Charles "Skip" MacArthur

Charles “Skip” MacArthur, PhD, professor of special education and literacy in the School of Education at the University of Delaware, received two awards from CEC. He received the Special Education Research Award, given in recognition of an individual whose outstanding research has had an impact on practice and has improved outcomes for youth with exceptional needs. In addition, Dr. MacArthur received the Division for Learning Disabilities’ Jeannette Fleischner Career Leadership Award for his leadership in research and impact on practice, including his work on improving writing instruction and assistive technology for students with learning disabilities. Dr. MacArthur has been the PI on two NCER-funded projects: one which collaboratively designed a curriculum for postsecondary developmental writing and that demonstrated positive impacts on writing quality, writing self-efficacy, and mastery motivation in a pilot study and a second which is evaluating the efficacy of the aforementioned curriculum.

Congratulations to this year’s award recipients!

This blog was authored by Julianne Kasper (American University), IES intern through the Virtual Student Federal Service.

IES Grantees Receive SPR Awards

Photo of Elizabeth Stormshak, Dorothy Espelage, and Patrick Tolan

Three IES-funded investigators were presented with awards from the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) last week. We recognize and applaud these investigators (pictured above from left to right) Elizabeth Stormshak, Dorothy Espelage, and Patrick Tolan.

Dr. Elizabeth Stormshak, Philip H. Knight Chair and Department Head for Counseling Psychology and Human Services at University of Oregon, received the Translational Science Award from SPR. This award is given to an individual or a team of individuals in recognition for contributions to the field of prevention science through translational research. Dr. Stormshak’s research focuses on understanding risk factors in early and middle childhood associated with the development of problem behavior in late adolescence, including substance use and delinquency. She also studies the process of disseminating evidence-based interventions into real world community settings. She has been the Principal Investigator on multiple IES grants, including a 2018 NCSER-funded project to examine the long-term efficacy of the Kindergarten Family Check-Up (FCU), a school-based, family-centered intervention intended to prevent student social and behavioral problems. This grant is a follow-up and extension to her recently completed randomized controlled trial of Kindergarten FCU, funded by NCER, which found positive impacts on student behavior and academic outcomes during and up to 3 years after the transition to kindergarten. The primary aims of the newer grant are to determine the long-term impact of receiving the original kindergarten intervention and the effects of a middle school booster session of FCU on students' behavior and academic outcomes. Dr. Stormshak is also the director of a NCSER-funded postdoctoral training program focused on the prevention of school-based social and behavioral problems.

Dr. Dorothy Espelage, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, received SPR’s Prevention Science Award. This award is given for the application of scientific methods to develop and test prevention strategies. Dr. Espelage is a leading expert on school safety and has led multiple research studies on school-based violence and bullying. She has been involved in several IES grants. Most recently, she is serving as the Principal Investigator of a 2019 NCSER-funded project to develop and test a professional development program aimed at enhancing elementary school teachers' knowledge and skills for identifying, mitigating, and preventing bullying among students with and without disabilities. Dr. Espelage also led an exploratory study funded by NCER to better understand how teacher practices influence elementary school students’ interpersonal relationships in the classroom and related behavioral outcomes. 

Dr. Patrick H. Tolan, Charles S. Robb Professor of Education at the University of Virginia in the Curry School of Education and in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences in the School of Medicine, and Director Emeritus of the YouthNex Center in the UVA Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, received the Advances in Culture and Diversity in Prevention Science Award as one of three founding members of the Boys of Color Collaborative. This award is given for contributions to the field of prevention science in the area of community and culture. Dr. Tolan’s research career spans 34 years with a focus on program evaluation for promoting positive youth development and preventing youth violence. Dr. Tolan is currently the Principal Investigator of a 2019 Follow-Up study of an IES efficacy study of the integration of two prevention programs, Good Behavior Game and My Teaching Partner (GBG+MTP), for teachers who have recently entered the teaching profession.

Congratulations to the award recipients!

This blog was co-authored by Jackie Buckley (NCSER), Katie Taylor (NCSER), Emily Doolittle (NCER), and Amy Sussman (NCSER).

 

IES-Funded Researchers Receive Awards from the Council for Exceptional Children

In February, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) held its annual Convention and Expo, during which scholars were recognized for their research contributions to the field. Several investigators funded through IES were among those honored by the CEC.

 

Photo of Nancy JordanNancy Jordan (University of Delaware) received the 2020 Kauffman-Hallahan Distinguished Researcher Award. This honor, awarded by the CEC Division for Research, recognizes individuals or research teams who have made outstanding scientific contributions in special education over the course of their careers, leading to better education or services for exceptional individuals. Dr. Jordan has been the Principal Investigator (PI) on a number of IES awards. With support from the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), she is currently developing and testing a fraction sense intervention for middle school students with or at risk for mathematics difficulties. She also served as PI for the large-scale National Research and Development Center on Improving Mathematics Instruction for Students with Mathematics Difficulties, which conducted exploratory research on fractions and related cognitive process as well as developed interventions for fraction understanding among students with mathematics difficulties. In addition, Dr. Jordan has received funding from the National Center for Education Research (NCER), including a grant to refine and validate a number sense screener for students from prekindergarten through Grade 1 and to train postdoctoral fellows to apply cognitive science principals to crucial issues in education such as mathematics, language development, and early learning. She also co-authored a synthesis of IES-funded research focusing on mathematics learning and teaching from kindergarten through secondary school and has served as an expert panelist for the What Works Clearinghouse practice guides in mathematics.

 

Photo of Tim LewisTim Lewis (University of Missouri) received the CEC J.E. Wallace Wallin Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual who has made continued and sustained contributions to the education of children and youth with exceptionalities. Dr. Lewis is currently the PI on a NCSER-funded grant to evaluate the efficacy of Check-in/Check-out for improving social, emotional, and academic behavior of elementary school students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders, as well as co-PI on a project to further develop and refine the Resilience Education Program, a tier 2 intervention for elementary students at risk for internalizing problems. He also served as co-PI on the large-scale National Research and Development Center on Serious Behavior Disorders at the Secondary Level, focused on developing and evaluating the efficacy of a package of intervention strategies designed to reduce the significant behavioral and academic challenges experienced by high school students with behavior disorders.

 

Photo of Sara McDanielSara McDaniel (University of Alabama) received the 2020 Distinguished Early Career Research Award from CEC’s Division for Research. This award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding scientific contributions in basic and/or applied special education research within the first 10 years after receiving a doctoral degree. Dr. McDaniel is a co-Investigator on a NCSER supported grant to develop and test Racial equity Assessment of data, Cultural adaptation, and Training (ReACT), a professional development intervention aimed at reducing racial/ethnic disproportionality in school discipline and special education referrals.

 

Congratulations to the winners!

IES Honors Dominic Gibson as Outstanding Predoctoral Fellow

Each year, IES recognizes an outstanding fellow from its Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences for academic accomplishments and contributions to education research. The 2018 winner, Dr. Dominic Gibson completed his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Chicago. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Washington where he specializes in understanding how children learn words and mathematical concepts. In this blog, Dominic discusses his research and his experience as an IES fellow.  

What inspired you to focus your research on early mathematics?

So many everyday activities as well as many of humanity’s greatest achievements rely on math. Simple math becomes so second nature to us that it is often difficult for older students to conceptualize what it would be like to not have a basic understanding of numbers. But children take months and often years to learn the meanings of just the first few number words (one, two, three) and to learn how the counting procedure really works. Children’s acquisition of other math terms (angle, proportion, unit of measurement) is similarly marked by misconceptions and slow, difficult learning.  

Overcoming these learning challenges relies on an interesting mixture of uniquely human abilities (like language) and skills we share with other animals. Moreover, children’s ability to master early math concepts predicts their future academic success. Therefore, by studying how children learn about math, we can better understand the sources of humanity’s unique achievements and apply this knowledge to reducing early achievement gaps and maximizing our potential.

Based on your research, what advice would you give parents of pre-kindergartners on how to help their children develop math skills?

My biggest piece of advice is to talk to children about numbers and other basic math concepts. Children benefit from abundant language input in general, and “math talk” is no different. Even simply talking about different numbers of things seems to be particularly important for acquiring early math concepts. Numbers can be easily incorporated into a variety of activities, like taking a walk (“let’s count the birds we see”) or going to the grocery store (“how many oranges should we buy?”). Likewise, good jumping off points for using other types of early math talk such as relational language are activities like puzzles (“this one is too curvy to fit here—we need to find a piece with a flat edge”) and block building (“can you put this small block on top of the bigger one?”).

It also may be useful to note that even when a child can say a word, they may not fully understand what it means. For instance, two- to four-year-old children can often recite a portion of the count list (for example, the numbers one through ten) but if you ask them to find a certain number of items (“can you give me three blocks?”) they may struggle when asked for sets greater than two or three. Therefore, in addition to counting, it is important to connect number words to specific quantities (“look there are three ducks”). It may be especially helpful to connect counting to the value of a set (“let’s count the ducks—one, two, three—there are three!”).

My last piece of advice is to be careful about the types of messages we send our children about math. Many people experience “math anxiety,” and if we are not careful, children can pick up on these signals and become anxious about math themselves or internalize negative stereotypes about the types of people who are and are not good at math. Ensuring that children feel empowered to excel in math is an important ingredient for their success.

How has being an IES predoctoral fellow helped your development as a researcher?

The diverse group of people and perspectives I encountered as an IES predoctoral fellow made a huge impact on my development as a researcher. As an IES predoctoral fellow pursuing a degree in psychology, I met many students and faculty members who were interested in the same questions that interest me but who approached these questions from a variety of other disciplines, such as economics, public policy, and sociology. I also connected with networks of educators and policymakers outside of academia who alerted me to important issues that I may have missed if I had only worked within my own discipline. Through these experiences, I gained new tools for conducting my research and learned to avoid the types of blind spots that often develop when approaching a problem from a single perspective. In particular, I gained an appreciation for the challenges of translating basic science to educational practice and the number of interesting research questions that emerge when attempting to do this work.

Compiled by Katina Rae Stapleton, Education Research Analyst and Program Officer for the Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences, National Center for Education Research

IES Makes Two New Awards for the Development of Web-based Tools to Inform Decision Making by Postsecondary Students

In June, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) announced two new awards to technology firms to develop web-based tools that inform student decision making in postsecondary education. The projects will focus on generating a measure of the return of investment (ROI) for different educational training programs and careers so that high school and college students have access to data-driven information to guide their decisions.

The awards were made through a special topic offered by the IES Small Business Innovation Research (known as ED/IES SBIR) program, which funds the research and development of commercially viable education technology. (For information on the 21 awards made through the IES 2019 standard solicitation, read here.)

Background and Awards

While websites like College Scorecard and CareerOneStop provide information to explore training programs in colleges and occupations of interest, there is no tool that helps students understand the costs and benefits of individual postsecondary programs in an integrated, customizable, and user-friendly manner.  

The special topic SBIR solicitation requested proposals from small businesses to develop new ROI tools that would combine information on fees, time to complete, and projected earnings so that students can easily compare college and career pathways. The IES-funded ROI tools aim to improve student program completion rates, with higher employment and earnings, less education-related debt, and more satisfaction with their selected paths. The special topic SBIR solicitation offered up to $200,000 for firms to develop and evaluate a prototype of their ROI tool. 

Two awards were made through this special topic:

  • Illinois-based BrightHive, Inc. is developing a prototype of the Training, Education, and Apprenticeship Program Outcomes Toolkit (TEAPOT). Designed to inform student training and educational decision making over a variety of potential pathways, TEAPOT will improve the flow and accuracy of data resulting in improved estimates of the ROI for different postsecondary education pathways.  The team will develop a data interoperability system and simplified toolkit for states and local postsecondary and workforce development organizations. The toolkit will provide more high quality, consistent, and granular information on postsecondary outcomes. The prototype will calculate ROI using student information, programmatic information (with an emphasis on net program costs to allow for variations by program type at the same institution), and access to wage and employment data sets.
  • Virginia-based Vantage Point Consultants is developing a prototype of a user-contextualized ROI tool that prospective students will use to make meaning of lifetime costs and opportunity tradeoffs associated with different degree programs offered by postsecondary institutions. The ROI tool will incorporate information on student goals and academic, professional, and personal characteristics.  The prototype will include an interface to present information to guide decision making based on an ROI calculation that discounts earning cash-flows under current and future state career and education assumptions, while subtracting college cost. In the first phase of work, the project will use information from data partners including Burning Glass Technologies and from public sources at the Department of Labor and Department of Education.

After developing prototypes, researchers will analyze whether the tools function as intended and are feasible for students to use. Research will also test if the tool shows promise for producing a meaningful and accurate measure of ROI.  Both firms are eligible to apply for additional funding to complete the full-scale development of the ROI tool, including developing an interface to improve user experience and conducting additional validation research.

Stay tuned for updates on Twitter (@IESResearch) as IES projects drive innovative forms of technology.

Written by Edward Metz, program manager, ED/IES SBIR