Johns Hopkins University
Associated IES Content
Grant
Leveraging Restorative Practices and Social Emotional Learning to Enhance Transitioning and Early High School Students' Engagement
The researchers will develop and pilot testWell Connected: A School Community Wellness Program (originally called Spiral Up!), a preventive classroom intervention for 9th and 10th graders that integrates social emotional learning and restorative practices in order to build early high school engagement, reduce problem behaviors, and ultimately improve student achievement. The transition into high school can be particularly difficult for students, and these challenges can increase when student...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A200071
Grant
Evaluating an Online System of Supports for the Good Behavior Game
The purpose of this project is to examine the relative effectiveness of online versus in-person training and coaching in the Good Behavior Game (GBG) for reducing students' aggressive/disruptive behavior and improving their on-task behavior and academic achievement. The time and resources needed to provide in-person professional development to large groups of teachers limits the cost effectiveness of such training models. In order to implement evidence-based preventive interventions like the...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A190382
Grant
A Regression Discontinuity Study of the Impact of ALFA Lab on 9th-Graders' Reading Achievement, Motivation, and Reading Frequency
Many students from neighborhoods of concentrated poverty enter high school with underdeveloped reading skills, and skill gaps can create widespread achievement and engagement problems for students in high school, as well as college and career. The purpose of this project is to test the efficacy of ALFA (Accelerating Literacy for Adolescents) Lab, a small-group class that supports incoming high school students who are poor readers. The ALFA Lab was developed to enhance 9th grade students' rea...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A180154
Grant
RAP Club: Improving Mental Health and School Performance in Urban Eighth Graders
In this project, researchers evaluated the impact of RAP Club, a trauma-informed universal prevention program intended to improve skills for coping with stress among eighth grade students from under-resourced urban communities. Research has shown that chronic stress and trauma exposure negatively impact self-regulation (i.e., executive functioning, emotion regulation) and effective stress response, increasing the risk for emotional and behavioral problems and academic difficulties. However, ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A160082
Grant
Equipping High School Teachers to Increase Student Motivation and Course Passing Rates
In this project, researchers developed and tested a set of professional development (PD) modules and related tools intended to improve high school teachers' attitudes and practices in ways that support and motivate students to work hard in their classes. Increased motivation and effort are predicted to lead to fewer course failures. Whether students pass or fail classes, particularly in ninth grade, is a strong predictor of high school graduation. For many students, course failure results fr...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A150449
Grant
Estimating Population Effects: Incorporating Propensity Scores with Complex Survey Data
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D150001
Grant
Statistical Methods for Using Rigorous Evaluation Results to Improve Local Education Policy Decisions
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D150003
Grant
Enhancing the Capacity of School Nurses to Reduce Excessive Anxiety in Children
The goal of this project was to develop an intervention for school nurses to help students with anxiety. Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric conditions affecting youth, with overall prevalence rates ranging from 10 to 20 percent. Anxiety has a broad range of negative effects on academic functioning including poor academic performance, increased grade retention, excessive absenteeism and school refusal, and school dropout. School nurses are often faced with a perplexing su...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A140694
Grant
Identifying Predictors of Program Implementation to Inform a Tailored Teacher Coaching Process
A growing number of school-based prevention programs have demonstrated positive effects on a range of educational and behavioral outcomes, yet there is considerable variation in the fidelity with which these programs are implemented. There is growing interest in coaching as a support system for optimizing implementation, which in turn could maximize outcomes for students. The primary goal of this exploratory study is to identify teacher, classroom, and school contextual factors, as well as a...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A130701
Grant
Getting Students to the Finish Line: An Efficacy Study of a Ninth Grade Early Warning Indicator Intervention
Each year in the United States, more than a million students fail to graduate with their high school class. The process of disengagement with schooling which culminates in students dropping out generally manifests itself behaviorally in high absenteeism, behavior problems, and course failure, including both the failure to complete assignments and failure to pass courses. These three factors-the ABCs-are the strongest predictors of dropping out, are often interrelated, and can serve as early ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A120677
Grant
Double Check: A Cultural Proficiency and Student Engagement Model
Research consistently finds that minority students are overrepresented in special education, disciplinary referrals, and behavioral suspensions. There is a need to address cultural factors as possible antecedents of problem behaviors. The research team will develop and pilot test Double Check, an intervention to reduce the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and disciplinary actions. Double Check is a model aimed at promoting cultural proficiency and student engageme...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A110107
Grant
Examining Variation in the Impact of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Approximately one out of five children displays disruptive behavior problems and this rate may be even higher among children in urban communities. Behavior problems are of great concern in elementary school settings because of their associations with low rates of attendance, reduced academic achievement, and greater risk for special education placements. Students who exhibit problem behaviors early on are also at greater risk for later school failure, substance abuse, and antisocial behavi...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A090307
Grant
Strengthening Content Literacy for Struggling High School Readers: Coordinated Lessons and Support Systems for Subject Matter Teachers
Studies show that many students enter high school as struggling readers without the skills and strategies needed to be successful with a high-school standards curriculum. In high-poverty urban schools, roughly half of incoming ninth-grade students read at a sixth- or seventh-grade level and many often struggle most with reading subject-specific texts (e.g. science or history texts). Students' success in learning the core content of high school subjects (e.g., mathematics, science, history an...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A090187
Grant
High School Preparation for College Completion
The goal of this project is to develop two curriculum interventions that will complement the core high school academic curriculum and improve preparation of students for transition to college, success in the freshman year, and college completion with a bachelor's degree. The theory of action is that the college environment and expectations for intellectual work are fundamentally different from those encountered during high school. First-generation college students and economically disadvant...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A080544
Grant
A Curriculum Engagement: Micro-Process Interventions in Middle and High School to Improve Attendance, Behavior, Achievement and Grade Promotion for At-Risk Ninth Graders
Prior research points to the possibility of improving student outcomes by directly addressing students' academic engagement/disengagement. The purpose of this project is to develop and conduct a feasibility study for an intervention designed to improve attendance, behavior, achievement, and grade promotion for ninth-graders at-risk for dropping out of high school.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A080211
Grant
Testing The Impact of PBIS Plus
Safe and orderly school environments are important for student achievement. Many students may be referred for special education services and exhibit behavioral problems in school because of a chaotic school environment or a classroom teacher who is not able to create a safe and orderly classroom environment. The school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program holds promise for enhancing the school climate and reducing student behavior problems. The purpose of this study is...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A070118
Grant
Successful Transitions to Algebra 1: A Randomized Control Trial of Two Theories of Ninth Grade Algebra Instruction
States and school districts increasingly mandate not only that all students earn Algebra I course credit to graduate, but that they enroll in Algebra I in the ninth grade. Data from districts that have implemented "Algebra for All" policies indicate that course failure rates approach 50 percent. Despite the pressure on districts and states to have all students "college ready," there is a dearth of rigorous research on the most efficacious methods of teaching Algebra I to under-prepared stu...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B070508
Grant
Implementation & Impact of Reading, Mathematics & Science Interventions for Middle & High School Students in the Context of Talent Development reforms
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305W020003
Grant
Making Space in Science Instruction: Developing the SPACE-IT Program to Foster Students' Spatial Thinking Skills and Science Achievement
In this project, researchers aim to develop and pilot test SPACE-IT, a novel professional development (PD) program that utilizes workshops and coaching to facilitate 5th grade teachers' effective science instruction and students' spatial thinking skills, interest, and science achievement. Research within the cognitive and developmental sciences has shown that thinking spatially is a critical yet overlooked component of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) success. Despite...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210537
Grant
A Quantitative Synthesis of Outcomes of Educational Technology Approaches to K-12 Mathematics
For this project, researchers will carry out a meta-analysis of rigorous evaluations of approaches that use technology to improve student mathematics achievement in grades K to 12. Using the meta-analytic techniques, researchers will seek to identify conditions under which various types of technology applications are most effective in teaching mathematics in grades K to 12. The results t will provide researchers and education leaders with up-to-date information on effective uses of technolog...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210186
Grant
Postsecondary and Labor Market Effects of Career and Technical Education in Baltimore City Public Schools
There is a growing body of empirical research into the efficacy of career and technical education (CTE) participation in high school in the United States. However, little of that work can be identified as truly causal, nor has much of this prior work empirically explored the theoretical mechanisms of change linked with CTE participation. This project used a unique selection process into CTE centers within a large school district, linked with longitudinal state data, to provide strong evidenc...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210049
Grant
Developing a Spatially-enhanced Elementary Curriculum and Teacher Training Series to Improve Science Achievement
The purpose of this project is to develop and pilot test an evidence-informed, spatially-enhanced science curriculum for third grade. A growing body of research demonstrates that spatial thinking is a fundamental skill underlying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) success; however, few efforts have been made to translate this research into STEM curriculum. This project will result in a fully developed, spatially-enhanced STEM curriculum, novel measures for assessing spa...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A200523
Grant
A Partnership to Develop a Meaningful, Reliable, and Valid Measure of Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education
Parent engagement in children's early education is important for children's early school success and long-term academic achievement. Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS), a large urban district serving a high percentage of disadvantaged students, has identified parent engagement as one of its three pillars of excellence and has invested its limited resources in an office dedicated to promoting parent engagement. Despite investments to promote parent engagement, there is lack of agreement abo...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305H170027
Grant
Continuous Improvement in Ninth Grade Student Outcomes through Engaging Families to Support Students in the Transition from Middle to High School
The partnership formed for this research project will work with middle and high schools to improve family engagement with school as students make the transition from middle to high school. Partners will address truancy and course failure during ninth grade, as they have significant negative impacts on students' probabilities of graduating from high school. Although research shows that family involvement in children's schooling increases attendance and school performance, family involvement i...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305H150081
Grant
The Effects of Arts-Integration on Retention of Content and Student Engagement
There is theoretical and empirical justification for the idea that arts-integrated instruction may improve student learning. For example, a number of researchers argue that the use of activities that incorporate the visual and performing arts may separately improve retention of instructional content by leveraging a variety of cognitive practices related to long-term memory, including: rehearsal, elaboration, generation, enactment, oral production of information, effort after meaning, emotio...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A120451
Grant
A Modular CBT for Reducing Anxiety and Improving Educational Outcomes
The primary purpose of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of a modular cognitive-behavioral intervention (M-CBT) on reducing excessive anxiety and improving student academic, social, and behavioral performance in school. Anxiety disorders are the most common childhood psychiatric conditions and are known to severely impair children's academic, social, and behavioral functioning in school. Approximately 11-15 percent of youth receiving special education services (generally under the c...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A140002
Grant
Using Research to Improve Student and School Outcomes by Improving Programs and Practices, Grades K-12
The Using Research to Improve Student and School Outcomes by Improving Programs and Practices training program brought together four academic and research units at Johns Hopkins University to prepare fellows to conduct cutting edge research to improve student and school outcomes in grades K–12.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B080020
Grant
A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Combination of Two Preventive Interventions
The Good Behavior Game (GBG) and Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) are two universal, elementary school preventive interventions that have been shown in large scale, randomized controlled trials to have an immediate and beneficial impact on aggressive/disruptive and off-task behavior. Aggressive/disruptive and off-task behaviors in elementary school are strong indicators of chronically poor academic achievement and later, more serious antisocial behavior. Nonetheless, the e...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A080326
Grant
Evaluation of the Computer and Team-Assisted Mathematical Acceleration (CATAMA) Lab in Urban, High-Poverty, High-Minority Middle Schools
In this project, the researchers proposed to evaluate the impact of an elective math course of middle school students who need additional assistance. In the early 2000s, national and international comparisons of student achievement show that U.S. students in general, and minority and low-income students in particular, fell rapidly behind between the 4th and the 8th grades. Many minority children from low-income families were leaving middle school poorly prepared to succeed in a rigorous sequ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305F050223
Grant
Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education
The Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) conducts research into how school districts can use data-driven reform to improve student achievement. CDDRE provides the following services to state, district, and school leadership teams through its Raising the Bar program:
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A040082
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