IES Staff
Nathan Jones
Commissioner, NCSER
NCSER
About
Dr. Nathan Jones is the commissioner of the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). In his research, Dr. Jones focuses on the intersection of education policy and classroom teaching, particularly in special education. Much of this work has examined on the measurement of teachers' work, including how to conceptualize and measure teaching effectiveness.
In addition, Dr. Jones has leveraged state and district administrative datasets to explore pressing questions surrounding special education staffing policies, including whether students with disabilities have access to high-quality general education and special education teachers and whether staffing models such as co-teaching and the use of paraprofessionals lead to improved student outcomes.
Dr. Jones is on leave from his position as an associate professor in the Special Education Program at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. He is a founding member of the BU Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. Dr. Jones received his PhD in Special Education & Education Policy from Michigan State University.
Associated IES Content
2024 Annual Principal Investigators Meeting
Welcome to the 2025 IES Principal Investigators (PI) Meeting—our first in-person meeting in five years! The PI Meeting provides a unique occasion to bring together the IES community to learn from other researchers and IES staff about common challenges and opportunities facing the field. We hope that you use this meeting as a place to reconnect with existing colleagues, as well as to build new cross-disciplinary relationships.
FY2021
Special Education FY2021
Minutes of Meeting: December 4-5, 2023
NBES meeting minutes on December 4-5, 2023
Minutes of Meeting: September 11, 2023
NBES meeting minutes on September 11, 2023
About
2018 About Page - About IES, NCER, NCSER and Co-Chairs
Grant
IES SLDS: Using Maryland SLDS to Strengthen and Diversify the Teacher Workforce through High School to Career Pathways
Maryland, like many other states, faces a teacher shortage. Furthermore, the number of teachers of color in teaching career pathways is disproportionate to the increasing number of minority students in the state. This disproportionality further amplifies the impact of the teacher shortage on students, as research finds that students of color show better educational and social outcomes when they have access to effective teachers of the same race or ethnicity. Removing obstacles for Maryland h...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S240013
Grant
A Generalized Analysis of the Direct and Spillover Effects of Test-based Retention Policies
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of Florida's test-based retention policy. Under this policy, students who cannot demonstrate adequate reading ability at the end of third grade are retained in third grade and provided with retention-year interventions designed to improve their reading skills. Applying quasi-experimental methods to secondary data from three large Florida school districts, the researchers will answer four questions: (1) What is the effect of being retained ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240041
Grant
The Impact of Balanced Leadership for Student Learning: A Professional Learning and Coaching Program for School Leaders
Research suggests that building strong school leadership may help turn the tables on declining student achievement and educator turnover. In this project, the researchers will examine the impact of a widely used leadership professional learning (PL) program-Balanced Leadership for Student Learning (BLfSL)TM-on important student and educator outcomes. The program, which builds education leaders' knowledge, skills, and strategies and provides resources and tools for engaging in highly effectiv...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240346
Grant
Developing a Coordinated System to Identify and Support Students Experiencing Homelessness
Each year, between 1 and 1.5 million students are identified as experiencing homelessness by school districts across the United States. Students experiencing homelessness face significant challenges, including poor educational performance and low achievement. To combat these issues, school districts are mandated to identify and support these students. However, many school districts struggle with one or both tasks. In this project, the researchers are developing an intervention to help school...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240290
Grant
Navigating New Currents: Strengthening Family-School-Community Partnerships to Improve Outcomes for Pacific Island Students
In this study, the researchers will develop an intervention to increase the level and quality of parent-school partnerships with a specific focus on kindergarten through grade 5 (K-5) literacy, for Pacific Islander (PI) parents with students in K-5 and school staff. Data from the Oregon and Washington state departments of education indicate poor outcomes for these PI students at all grade levels and in all subjects, including literacy. Research indicates a disconnect between PI parents and t...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240313
Grant
School Diversity and Long-Term Student Outcomes
In this study, researchers will examine the relationships among students' exposure to racially diverse kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) schooling environments and their educational, economic, civic, and social outcomes as they transition into adulthood. The research will answer four research questions:
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240309
Grant
Exploring Student Pathways Through Rural High Schools and Into Postsecondary Education
The project team will examine gaps between the educational experiences and attainment of students in rural and nonrural areas to identify policy leverage points and malleable factors that can improve geographic equity in student achievement and access to postsecondary education. Students in rural areas are less likely to earn a college degree than their peers in nonrural locales, and they often face unique constraints in access to school resources and postsecondary education. Despite compris...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240147
Grant
Expanding Dual-Credit Enrollments Among High School Students
This project examines system-wide factors relevant to expanding dual-credit (DC) program enrollments among high school students. DC programs afford high school students the opportunity to participate in college-level courses during high school. In Connecticut, the term "dual credit" encompasses programs such as advance placement (AP) courses and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs offered by high schools as well as dual-enrollment courses offered to high school students by institutions...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240285
Grant
Resources, Educational Environments, Services, and Outcomes for Understanding Requirements for English Learners (RESOURCEs) in Ohio
This project uses quantitative and qualitative approaches to build a deeper understanding of the ways in which English learner (EL) students' English language proficiency (ELP) profiles change longitudinally and how EL status and having varying levels of ELP shapes both students' access to resources, services, and differing educational environments and their outcomes. The researchers will examine how local educational agencies (LEAs) make decisions about the types of services and resources t...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S240002
Grant
Leveraging Washington State's Longitudinal Data System to Understand School-to-Work Pathways
Although the state of Washington has invested in policies to address inequities in educational opportunities for its learners, deep inequities persist in postsecondary degree attainment and earnings. Differences in the pathways young people take from high school to postsecondary education and work may be one mechanism causing these differences in outcomes. Much attention has been paid to traditional school-to-work routes, e.g., going straight to a 4-year degree program after graduating high ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S240017
Grant
Studying Heterogeneity in the Impact of Merit Aid Receipt and Loss on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes
This project will assess the effectiveness of the Tennessee HOPE Scholarship in promoting Tennessee students' access to and progression through college, their completion of postsecondary degrees, and their subsequent employment outcomes. The HOPE Scholarship is a merit-based financial aid program administered by the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) and assessed by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). The project will explore how the HOPE program affects students' ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S240001
Grant
Improving Early Grade Academic Outcomes in Louisiana
The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) has prioritized raising early-grade literacy, particularly for economically disadvantaged students. This project will support the state's goals by exploring socioeconomic gaps in literacy levels at kindergarten entry and third-grade completion and examining two of the state's key programs designed to improve academic outcomes for young children. The first is the state's longstanding pre-kindergarten (preK) program, which provides limited funding s...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S230021
Grant
A Collaborative Use of a State Longitudinal Data System: A Study of the Washington College Grant Program
This project will assess the effectiveness of the Washington College Grant (WCG) for increasing postsecondary access and attainment for low-income college students in Washington state and for improving equity in postsecondary education access and attainment for students from key demographic groups. The Washington state legislature has enacted the WCG as a need-based financial aid program to increase access to postsecondary education for Washington residents. The state intends for the program...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S230019
Grant
The Causal Impact of Attending a Career-Technical High School on Student Achievement, High School Graduation, and College Enrollment
The research team is examining the impact of attending a career technical education (CTE) high school on students' achievement, high school graduation, and college enrollment. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus among educators and policy makers on the possibility of CTE to meet the growing need for career readiness among students. However, there is limited causal evidence to support the promise of alternative secondary education models that focus on CTE. This study used admi...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A190524
Grant
A Study in Equity: Oregon's 9th Grade Transition
The project team will examine the implementation and impact of Oregon's On-Track to Graduation initiative. This initiative was implemented in 2016-2017 and provided funding for high school interventions, including a 9th grade dropout prevention program composed of data systems, awareness raising activities, and coaches.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305S210005
Grant
An Experienced School Support Organization at Scale: A Study of The Urban Assembly Network
Amidst modest increases in high school graduation rates for all students, stark differences still exist between the supports and quality of secondary schooling provided to low-income students of color. In response to this equity issue, there has been a growth in third-party "school support" organizations like Urban Assembly (UA): groups created to independently interface with schools to provide additional monetary, organizational, instructional, personnel and professional development resourc...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210292
FY2019
FY2019 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
Grant
Exploring How Special Educators' Working Conditions Contribute to their Engagement of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Effective Reading Instruction
The Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct a program of research to better understand how working conditions (e.g., instructional resources, planning time, collegial support) contribute to special education teacher instruction and student education outcomes. In addition, the PI will participate in mentoring and training activities to develop expertise in evaluating teachers' instruction, conducting mixed-methods research, designing and analyzing single-case studies, and grant writing. The ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B170017
Grant
The Day Reconstruction Method: A New Tool for Measuring Teachers' Work and Work Contexts
This project is intended to develop a measure of teachers' workplaces and how teachers spend their workday. Building on a small-scale pilot study that described teacher work activities, the social context of their work, and their affect while working, researchers propose to develop and validate the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) measure. The instrument is intended to capture the simultaneous occurrence of these constructs, thus potentially yielding insight into aspects of teachers' work tha...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A180516
Grant
Validating an Observation Protocol for the Evaluation of Special Educators
The purpose of this project was to examine the validity of Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching (FFT) for use with special education teachers. The FFT is commonly used to evaluate general and special education teacher instruction, yet most of the research on this tool has only been with general education teachers. Moreover, the extent to which the FFT captures evidence-based instructional approaches for students with disabilities has not been investigated. As such, the goal of the cu...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A150231
Grant
Post Doctoral Research Training in Education Sciences
The Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Education Sciences provided interdisciplinary training in methods for education research, including statistical methods, measurement methods, evaluation methods, and research design to seven fellows
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B100027
Grant
Postdoctoral Research Training in Education Sciences
This program trained five postdoctoral fellows in advanced measurement, research design, and statistical analysis methods to support high-quality educational research. The fellows worked in on a variety of substantive and methodological educational research projects at Northwestern University.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B050014
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