Tracy Sweet

The purpose of the project is to lay the foundation for the development of hierarchical network models that feature social networks as the mediator between an intervention and an outcome. The social network within each school provides insight into the mechanisms that affect individual outcomes and acts as a powerful mediating variable between the intervention and outcome, especially in large-scale interventions.

Carnegie Mellon established the Program in Interdisciplinary Education Research (PIER) with funding from a 2004 IES grant. With the 2009 grant, PIER continued to train scientists to conduct rigorous research on learning conditions related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment to improve academic outcomes for diverse prekindergarten through postsecondary students.

The Carnegie Mellon's Program in Interdisciplinary Research (PIER) aimed to produce scientists qualified to do rigorous research needed for evidence-based educational practice and policy. PIER fellows dealt with the bi-directional flow of ideas and challenges between laboratory studies and instructional applications.