Nicholas Sorensen

The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a teacher-training and implementation model for the Pathways to Success program that was developed through a previous IES grant. Pathways is a 12-session social psychological intervention administered at the start of eighth grade to help students change key elements of their identity based motivation - their possible selves (who students expect to become in the near and distant future), their strategies to work on these possible selves, and...

This purpose of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of a promising web-based adaptive mathematics tutoring and homework program. The study will contribute to an area where there is limited rigorous evidence in support of online programs that improve student outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Researchers in this study will examine short and long term outcomes of taking Algebra I in eighth grade for students with different levels of readiness for algebra. In response to research that demonstrates that Algebra I acts as a "gateway" to more advanced course taking and success in high school, policymakers have recently expanded access to Algebra I. However, limited evidence exists about what readiness means or what the outcomes are for students with different levels of readiness. Poli...

This development study addressed two challenges: high school failure and the need to transform theory- and evidence-based dropout prevention programs into usable, feasible, scalable school-based programs to reduce risk of school failure. School-to-Jobs (STJ) is an intervention rooted in identity-based motivation theory, which predicts that to do well in school, children need to experience the present as psychologically connected to their future self, and interpret difficulties in school as s...