Inside IES Research

This year, we have four student interns who are joining IES from the U.S. Department of State’s Virtual Student Federal Service (VSFS) Program. These doctoral student interns are the first cohort of IES open science interns to work together collaboratively. They will be supporting NCER and NCSER in understanding and communicating about research in education and special education. Under the mentorship of two IES program officers, Helyn Kim and Amy Sussman, the interns will use and refine their knowledge and skills of education research to help us communicate about our work and investments to the broader public, including those who can use the information for practice or policymaking. We asked the interns to tell us about themselves, their research interests, their goals for this internship, and a fun fact.

Stephanie Estrera, Florida State University

Hi y’all, I am a third-year PhD student in developmental psychology at Florida State University and an IES predoctoral fellow. Prior to moving to Tallahassee, Florida and starting my PhD, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin (hook’em!). In 2018-20, I was an education volunteer with Peace Corps Philippines, which is an experience that has deeply influenced my current research interests and goals.  Broadly, I am interested in using behavioral genetic methods to examine the direct role of a child’s environment on their reading outcomes. Some of my current work is focused on children’s reading motivation, measurement of family stressors, and the role of the home and school environments on children’s reading development. I believe that the way forward in producing relevant and replicable research is through open science and transparency collaboration. Currently, I am a member of the LDbase team, an NIH-funded data repository and open science resource for educational and developmental science communities.

One of my goals during this internship is to learn best practices for research dissemination for education stakeholders outside of the scientific community. The work conducted by education researchers affects the everyday American, but it can be a challenge to make those findings understandable. As a researcher, I believe it is the scientific community’s duty to disseminate our work in a way that resonates with other educational stakeholders so we can move forward and improve education for all. I'm excited for this internship, because I think it will be an excellent opportunity to hone and practice my science communication skills.

Fun Fact: Outside of my work, I am an ocean-enthusiast and Open Water SCUBA certified! Some of my favorite marine life encounters include whale sharks, manatees, sea turtles, octopuses, and the humble box fish (my favorite reef fish).

Heidi Hines, University of California, Irvine

I am a third-year PhD student in education at the University of California, Irvine. Before starting my PhD program, I worked in the public school system as a school psychologist. My experience as a school psychologist and observing the prevalence of reading difficulties among children led me to become interested in researching early literacy instruction and intervention. My research interests include early literacy for all students, especially those with disabilities. I feel compelled to learn more about research in early literacy and make this research easily accessible to the public to help guide instructional practices.

One of my goals in this internship is to learn more about the strategies used to disseminate research and how those strategies are implemented. Another goal is to increase my skills in sharing research in a practitioner-friendly manner. I’m excited about this internship opportunity as it will provide hands-on experience collaborating with experts and disseminating research.

Fun Fact: I love to run! I ran cross country and track throughout high school and college. I’ve continued to run since then, and I’ve completed 6 full marathons and over a dozen half marathons.

Audra Johnston-Zamora, University of Oregon

I am currently a second-year PhD student at the University of Oregon in the department of special education and clinical services. My educational pursuits have very much been influenced by my own difficult upbringing and experiences in the foster care system. During my own journey towards well-being, I learned about trauma-informed practices, the neurobiological implications of exposure to trauma during early childhood, and the evidenced-based interventions that may serve to buffer those life-long implications. Since then, whether I took on the role of a classroom teacher, coach to other educators, or future researcher, my “why” is and always will be to create a loving, compassionate, healing educational space where all children (and even adults) can thrive.

Through my experiences with this internship, my goal is to develop my communication and research skills. Until recently, even as an educator, I was hardly exposed to empirical research or taught the skills needed to truly understand it. Yet, so many wonderful advances and knowledge about best practices can be understood through research. In this internship, I plan on strengthening my ability to concisely synthesize critical information taken from research studies in an effort to address the research to practice gap.

Fun Fact: I am a Disney fanatic! One year I spent a total of 22 days at Disneyland Park with my family. I have numerous Disney tattoos and dresses, and I can recite the songs and dialogue for Beauty and the Beast from beginning to end.

Bhabika Joshi, Vanderbilt University

I am currently a third-year PhD student in special education at Vanderbilt University, with a focus on quantitative research, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students, and autism. I am a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and have previously served as senior director of clinical services. I earned my master’s in applied behavior analysis and special education from Vanderbilt University in 2020 and hold dual undergraduate degrees in English and communication sciences and disorders (speech language pathology) from The University of Texas at Austin, with a concentration on autism research. In 2018, I undertook a Fulbright fellowship in Nepal, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

My research is driven by a deep passion for advancing knowledge in the autism community, including advocating for families and caretakers of children with autism and identifying culturally responsive avenues of support for families and children with autism.  During this internship, I look forward to deepening my understanding of quantitative research methodologies and exploring how they can be applied to support culturally and linguistically diverse children with autism.

Fun Fact: Outside of my professional pursuits, I enjoy reading, writing, hiking, and exploring new places. I am currently training for a trek to Everest Base Camp in December 2024.

This blog was produced by Helyn Kim (helyn.kim@ed.gov), NCER program officer, and Amy Sussman (amy.sussman@ed.gov), NCSER program officer.

IES is proud to introduce the 2024-25 cohort of NCSER data science interns. These interns come to us through the U.S. State Department’s Virtual Student Federal Service Program. Under the mentorship of Sarah Brasiel, four students will support the NCSER by engaging in data mining from IES grants and related publications and creating visualizations to represent what IES has funded and learned. We asked this year’s interns to tell us about themselves, why they are interested in an internship, and a “fun fact” to share. Here’s what they said.

Aditya Daga

I am a rising sophomore at Rice University, studying computer science and statistics. Previously, I was a research intern with George Mason University, using machine learning to predict student failure based on their tendencies to procrastinate. My team was able to get our research published, and this experience got me very interested in the intersection between data science and education. When I saw the opening for the data science internship at the IES, I immediately applied because I want to continue using data science to make an impact in educational policies and practices. My career goal is to become a data scientist, and I believe this internship will provide me with necessary hands-on experience in applying data science to real-world challenges. Fun Fact: I have traveled to Dubrovnik, Croatia, where my favorite show, Game of Thrones, was filmed!

Marissa Kuehn               

I am a 4th-year undergraduate student at the University of Toledo. I am pursuing degrees in disability studies and data science. I am passionate about data and disability justice and aspire to blend analytics with advocacy. My current interests include examining the representation of people with disabilities in data practices and research and brainstorming changes to the collection and analysis of disability data that informs resource allocation, legislative changes, and more. My past work experience as a research assistant with Dr. Becca Monteleone on the Plain Truth Project, coursework in data science, lived experience of disability, and long-time passion for disability justice led me to this internship last year. I am excited to continue exploring data analysis and visualization techniques during a second internship this year because I enjoy the opportunity to apply what I’m learning in the classroom. After completion of my degrees, I hope to obtain a role in the data science field and continue my advocacy for disability justice. Fun Fact: I’m also an artist! I love making abstract watercolor paintings.

Sam Melenciuc

I am pursuing a master’s degree in information science at Pennsylvania State University. In the past, I have taken database classes that piqued my interest to continue learning more about data manipulation, analysis, and visualization. My goal for the future is to be surrounded by peers who are passionate about the work they do and encourage and challenge me to be a better worker and person all around. I truly believe this internship opportunity will open doors for me to collaborate with brilliant and talented minds where we will make an impact that matters. Fun Fact: The best view I’ve ever seen was at the top of a mountain in Madeira, Portugal.

Laura Roberts

I am a 2nd-year doctoral student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, focusing on special education. With 10 years of teaching experience covering mathematics in general education and special education at the secondary and elementary levels, I am excited to focus my research efforts on secondary students who struggle with math. This internship experience is a chance to broaden my knowledge of data science efforts and devote my time to the necessary and impactful work that NCSER contributes to the education field. Fun Fact: When not focusing on my studies, I enjoy spending time with my horse and dog at the farm I am fortunate to call home!

This blog was produced by Sarah Brasiel, NCSER program officer.

As a federal agency committed to advancing knowledge and innovation, IES recognizes just how critical it is to invest in the next generation of researchers in the education sciences. Since NCSER was established in 2006, we have funded a total of 86 postdocs and 37 early career scholars through our training programs. These investigators have gone on to produce notable accomplishments, including now-seminal research articles and research projects funded through our main research competitions, all while pushing the field of special education in new and important ways. The time is right to expand this investment further to bring scholars into the NCSER community even earlier in their research careers.

This fall, NCSER is launching its first grant competition for doctoral students: the Special Education Dissertation Research Fellowship Program (ALN 84.324G). This competition will provide up to eight advanced doctoral students with a 1-year fellowship of up to $50,000 to support the completion of their dissertation research and to participate in IES-related training. The goal of the fellowship is to broaden opportunities for emerging researchers to engage with IES and to prepare them to conduct high-quality research focused on learners with or at risk for disabilities. By providing financial support and resources during the dissertation phase, we hope to empower these emerging researchers to tackle new and pressing challenges in the field of special education.

Our inaugural competition focuses on four areas that have, to date, been underrepresented in NCSER’s funding portfolio—education systems, postsecondary education, educational technologies, and low-incidence disabilities. Each of these areas holds immense potential for impact, and we are prioritizing them through our other funding avenues. Our FY25 Special Education Research Grants competition (ALN 84.324A) focuses explicitly on education systems.  To establish more robust programs of research in the areas of postsecondary education and educational technologies, we launched a Research and Development (R&D) Center on postsecondary education and the AI Institute for Exceptional Education, both in FY23. We continue to explore ways to spur additional research investments focused on low-incidence disabilities.  

By making a concerted effort across our training programs, research grants, and special initiatives, we aim to encourage the fields of early intervention and special education to explore areas where we believe there are opportunities for groundbreaking research. We also hope this new initiative will continue NCSER’s work to foster a vibrant community of scholars committed to leveraging rigorous research to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. We look forward to seeing the impactful research that emerges from this fellowship and to working with the talented individuals who receive these dissertation fellowships.

This blog was written by Nathan Jones, NCSER commissioner, and Courtney Pollack and Katie Taylor, NCSER program officers.

Calling all education leaders and educators who teach mathematics! We hope you are enjoying your well-earned summer break. We at the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) would like to share our heartfelt gratitude for your dedication and hard work serving our nation’s children. Teachers, we know what it takes to create engaging lesson plans that meet the needs of diverse learners, provide academic and emotional support to your students, and foster a sense of community and belonging in your classroom. Education leaders, we also know that you are working to prepare educators for this coming school year.

Since 2008, NCSER has funded a range of studies focused on improving mathematics instruction in areas such as understanding of whole numbers, fractions, word problem solving, and algebraic reasoning, which are the building blocks of success in secondary mathematics and beyond. Based on what we're finding through our funded projects, we would like to share some resources with you to support work to improve mathematics instruction and learning—especially for students with or at risk for disabilities that affect mathematics—in the 2024-25 school year.

WWC Mathematics Practice Guides

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Practice Guides are written specifically for educators and summarize interventions and instructional practices for which there is the strongest evidence for improving outcomes for learners. The following WWC Practice Guides can be useful to support educators in strengthening mathematics instruction:

• Teaching Math to Young Children
• Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades
• Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 to 8
• Teaching Strategies for Improving Algebra Knowledge in Middle and High School Students
• Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning

Evidence-Based Math Interventions

Below are five examples of NCSER-funded interventions that have demonstrated improved outcomes in mathematics for learners with or at risk for a disability that affects mathematics.

• Numbershire is a digital math game with an intensive focus on critical whole number concepts and skills for students in kindergarten through second grade. Published findings from an efficacy study indicate significant effects favoring the learners using Numbershire on proximal measures of whole-number concepts and skills.
• Whole Number Foundations Level K is a kindergarten math intervention that provides in-depth instruction on critical whole number concepts, including counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, and number operations in base 10. Published findings from a replication efficacy trial of the intervention, originally called ROOTS, showed that students who received ROOTS in a small group of 2 or 5 students outperformed students in the control group.
• Whole Number Foundations Level 1 is a first grade intervention aimed at developing understanding of whole numbers. Published findings from an efficacy trial of the intervention, initially called FUSION, showed a significant effect on improving student math performance. The strongest effects on student outcomes at a follow-up assessment the next school year were among smaller groups of students (2:1) compared to the slightly larger groups.
• Pirate Math Equation Quest is a third grade intervention tested using two version of the tutoring program—one using equations to solve word problems and one using word-problem instruction alone. Published findings showed that students in both intervention groups significantly outperformed students in the control group with large effect sizes. At follow up (grade 4), only students in the group focusing on using equations (pre-algebra reasoning) significantly outperformed the control group on a measure of word problem solving.
• Super Solvers is a fraction intervention for grades 4-5 delivered in small groups of students with or at risk for math learning disabilities. The intervention was tested with interleaved calculation instruction (learning two or more related concepts or skills, instead of focusing exclusively on one concept or skill) and blocked calculation instruction (learning one concept or skill at a time). Published findings showed that students in the intervention group significantly outperformed the control group. At follow up a year later, the two intervention groups still significantly outperformed the control group, but the group with interleaved calculation instruction made greater gains than the blocked calculations group.

IES Math Summit 2023

In 2023, IES held a Math Summit  focused on evidence-based instructional practices, including presentations by some of our NCSER grantees who have developed and tested interventions to improve outcomes for learners with or at risk for disabilities. Below, we share links to these recorded sessions to support your professional learning.

Strategies for Differentiating Instruction for Diverse Learners

• (Grades Pre-K-3) Strategies for Differentiating Instruction for Diverse Learners, Dr. Lynn Fuchs, Vanderbilt University
• (Grades PreK-3) Education Technology as a Tool for Effective Differentiation, Dr. Nancy Nelson, Boston University

High-Dose Tutoring and Other Academic Recovery Strategies

• (Grades PreK-3) Utilizing the Curriculum Research Framework to Develop, Test, and Explore the Impacts of Interventions, Dr. Ben Clarke, University of Oregon
• (Grades PreK-3) Making Mathematics Interventions Work for Struggling Learners: 2021 What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide, Dr. Lynn Fuchs, Vanderbilt University
• (Grades 4–8) A Fraction Sense Intervention Grounded in the Science of Learning, Dr. Nancy Jordan, University of Delaware

Language and Mathematics, Including Support for English Learners

• (Grades 4-8) Math Supports for Students with Reading Difficulties, Dr. Steve Ritter, Carnegie Learning

Increasing Opportunities to Learn and Raising Expectations for All

• (Grades 9-12) Seeing Growth in Algebra, Dr. Anne Foegen, University of Minnesota

Thank you for your dedication and commitment to our nation’s learners. We hope these resources will energize you for the exciting challenges that lie ahead.

This blog was produced by Sarah Brasiel (Sarah.Brasiel@ed.gov), a program officer for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics portfolio in the National Center for Special Education Research.

In 2011, IES took a first step towards supporting what was then a burgeoning open science movement—publication and data sharing requirements for awardees. This growing movement found its first government-wide footing in 2013 with the release of a memo from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) that provided guidance on the need for federally funded researchers to share publications and develop plans for sharing data.

Since that time, infrastructure and informational support for open science practices have continued to grow across federal funding agencies, and adherence to open science principles has evolved with them. In August 2022, OSTP released a new memo providing updated guidance on open science practices. The memo focused on equity, increasing public access to and discoverability of research, and establishing new data and metadata standards for shared materials.

In this blog post, Dr. Laura Namy, associate commissioner of the Teaching and Learning Division at NCER, and Erin Pollard, project officer for the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) at NCEE, describe IES’s new Public Access Plan and address some important changes in requirements resulting from the new White House guidance for researchers receiving federal funding.

IES, in collaboration and consultation with other funding agencies, has been developing and implementing new policies and guidance to extend our commitment to open science principles. These new policies serve to support broader access among researchers, educators, and policymakers, as well as the general public whose tax dollars subsidize federally-funded research. The resulting changes will certainly require some adjustments and some learning, and IES will be offering guidance and support as these requirements are implemented.   

IES’s commitment to open science practices is already reflected in our Standards for Excellence in Education Research (SEER principles) and other expectations for awardees. These include—

• Pre-registering studies
• Uploading full text of published articles to ERIC
• Submitting (and adhering to) a data management plan
• Sharing published data
• Including the cost of article processing charges (APCs) in project budgets to support publishing open access (OA)

The new policies reflect dual priorities: increasing both immediacy and equity of access. For current grant and contract awards, the requirements in place at the time that awards were made will still apply for the duration of those current awards. For each future award, Requests for Applications/Proposals (RFAs and RFPs), Grant Award Notices (GANs), and contracts will indicate the relevant public access/sharing requirements to identify which requirements are in place for the specific award.

Below are some important changes and what they mean for our IES-funded research community.

All publications stemming from federally funded work will have a zero-day public access embargo.

This means that an open access version must be available in ERIC immediately upon publication for all articles proceeding from federal research funding. The current 12-month grace-period before articles become fully available will be gone. Although we’ve seen this change coming, publishers of journals that are not already open access will need to adapt to this new normal, as will universities and many researchers who do not already routinely publish OA. 

What does this mean for IES-funded researchers? 

IES-funded researchers are already required to upload the full text of all articles to ERIC immediately after acceptance. Until now, ERIC released the full text within 12 months of publication. However, for all NEW grants awarded in fiscal year 2025 (as of Oct 1, 2024) and beyond, this zero-day public access embargo requirement will be in effect. Note that the relevant public access requirement depends on the year that the award was made, not the publication date of the article (for example, articles published in 2025 and beyond based on data collected through grants awarded before 2025 will still be under the 12-month embargo). IES awardees will need to ensure (either through your publisher or your own efforts) that a full-text version of the accepted manuscript or published article is uploaded to ERIC for release as soon as it is available online. To facilitate the transition, we encourage all awardees to publish their work in OA journals where feasible, and to budget for APCs accordingly. IES will provide additional guidance to support researchers in complying with this new requirement.

Data sharing will be required at time of publication, or if unpublished, after a certain time interval, whichever comes first.

This means that data curation and identification of an appropriate data repository will need to occur in advance of publication so that data can be shared immediately after publication rather than as a follow-along activity after publication occurs. Although funding agencies will vary in their sharing timelines, IES anticipates requiring data to be shared at time of publication or (for unpublished work) no later than 5 years after award termination. 

What does this mean for IES-funded researchers? 

All awardees who publish findings based on data collected under a new award made in fiscal year 2025 and beyond will need to release the reported data into a data repository at the time of publication. This calls for a change in data curation practices for many researchers who have focused on preparing their data for sharing post-publication. As noted above, any data that remain unshared 5 years post-award will need to be shared, even if publications are still pending. One best practice approach is to set up the data filesharing templates and curation plans in anticipation of sharing prior to data collection so that data are ready for sharing by the time data collection is complete (see Sharing Study Data: A Guide for Education Researchers). When multiple publications stem from the same data set, we recommend planning to share a single master data set to which additional data may be added as publications are released. Researchers should budget for data curation in their applications to support this activity.

Applications for IES funding have shifted from including a data management plan (DMP) to a data sharing and management plan (DSMP) to foreground the shift in emphasis to routine data sharing. Specific plans for sharing data, documentation, and analytic codes in particular repositories will need to be included. In anticipation of new requirements, we encourage researchers to move away from hosting data sets on personal websites or making them available solely upon request. DSMPs should identify an appropriate publicly available data repository. There is now guidance on Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research that should be followed whenever feasible. IES will be providing additional guidance on repository selection in the coming year. Principal investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs must be in compliance with data sharing requirements from previous IES awards in order to receive new awards from IES.

Unique digital persistent identifiers (PIDs) will need to be established for all key personnel, publications, awards, and data sets.

Digital object identifiers (DOIs) for journal articles are PIDs that uniquely identify a single version of a single publication and can be used to identify and reference that specific publication. This same concept is now being extended to other aspects of the research enterprise including individual researchers, grant and contract awards, and data sets. Unique PIDs for individuals facilitate tracking of individual scholars across name changes, institution changes, and career-stage changes. Having universal conventions across federal funding agencies for individuals, awards, and data sets in addition to publications will not only facilitate discoverability but will help to link data sets to publications, investigators to grants, grants to publications, etc. This will help both researchers and funders to connect the dots among the different components of your important research activities.

What does this mean for IES-funded researchers? 

All key personnel on new IES-funded projects are now required to establish an individual digital PID (such as ORCID) prior to award. DOIs will continue to be the PID assigned by publishers for publications. Authors reporting on IES-funded data should be vigilant about acknowledging their IES funding in all publications stemming from their IES grant awards. Coming soon, IES-funded researchers should be prepared for new digital PIDs (in addition to the IES-specific award numbers) associated with their grants to ensure consistency of PID conventions across funding agencies. New guidance for PID conventions for awards and data linked to IES-funding is forthcoming. 

The Bottom Line

These changes constitute an important step forward in increasing equitable access to and transparency about IES-funded research activities, and other federal funding agencies are making similar changes. The immediate changes at IES (establishing an individual PID and preparing a DSMP) are not onerous, and the bigger changes still to come (immediate sharing of publications and supporting data, using PIDs to refer to awards and data sets) will be rolled out with guidance and support. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with questions or concerns at Laura.Namy@ed.gov or Erin.Pollard@ed.gov. Or to learn more, please view the presentation and discussion of Open Science at IES that took place at the 2023 PI Meeting.