Northwestern University
Associated IES Content
Grant
Developing and Evaluating Tools for Communicating Statistical Evidence to Education Decision-Makers
This project will develop and rigorously test new visualizations of statistical and scientific information for use in evidence clearinghouses. There are many education clearinghouses, including the What Works Clearinghouse, Evidence for ESSA, Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). These clearinghouses share an interest in (a) determining which programs have strong evidence, (b) synthesizing the findings of these studies, and (c) sharing this i...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D240023
Grant
Reducing Time to Autism Diagnosis for Toddlers Enrolled in Early Intervention
The purpose of this project is to test a virtual process for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to support earlier access to autism-specific intervention services in Illinois (IL). This new approach is intended to make the diagnostic process more efficient and reduce waitlists. At the start of the of the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face medical diagnostic evaluations provided through the IL Bureau of Early Intervention (EI) were temporarily discontinued, including ASD diagnoses that ar...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324X220088
Grant
Design Comparable Effect Sizes for Single Case Designs
An important function of effect size measures is to represent the results of studies in a manner that is as comparable as possible. Single-case designs are more difficult to compare across studies, given the typically low number of participants involved in such studies. The purpose of this project is to develop design comparable effect size measures for alternating treatments designs and for changing criterion designs.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D220052
Grant
Sense-Making in the Disciplines: Supporting Reading and Argumentation in Literature and History
High school students are expected to read and understand text in multiple content areas content areas that require discipline-specific ways of reading, interpreting, and conveying information. Additionally, many high school students still need assistance with fundamental comprehension skills. In this project, researchers will refine and expand a digital tool called Sense Making in the Disciplines (SMD) to support 8th and 9th graders' close analytic reading and argumentation in literature and...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A180463
Grant
A User-Friendly Tool for Designing Cluster Randomized Trials with Power and Relevance
The purpose of this project was to develop a user-friendly webtool for planning cluster randomized trials (CRTs) based on generalizability and statistical power for testing moderator effects, not just average treatment effects. Funding institutions and statistical developments have started to shift the focus of causal impact studies beyond the detection of average treatment impact to understanding moderators of these impacts and the detection of effects for specific inference populations, bu...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D180002
Grant
Further Development of Effect Size Estimators for Single-case Designs: Extensions to Trend and Diverse Outcome Metrics
The purpose of this project is to extend previous work done through an IES-funded grant (A d-Estimator for Single Case Designs) by developing effect size measures that can account for trends when there is a repeated assessment of an outcome over time - and that can be used with outcome variables measured as count or rate data, which are common in single-case research. In addition, the research team will develop approaches to gauge the sensitivity of a planned study to detect effects and soft...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D170041
Grant
Proposal to Conduct Annual Workshops on Better Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis
There is a continuing and pressing need for valid causal research to support education decision-making. At the same time, it is often difficult, and sometimes impossible to conduct a randomized experiment to address causal questions in education. The purpose of this series of annual workshops was to train education researchers in the design and analysis of quasi-experimental studies. Specifically, these workshops provided training in four specific areas of quasi-experimental design and analy...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B140029
Grant
A Three Year Proposal to conduct Two Annual Workshops on Better Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis in Education
Well executed randomized experiments provide the strongest evidence about causal effects of educational interventions, products, and services. But randomized experiments may not always be feasible or successful. As a result, quasi-experimental designs are often used in education research for causal purposes. However, the quality of quasi-experimental designs and their application varies widely. In addition, knowledge of the better quasi-experimental designs that provide stronger evidence for...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U100001
Grant
Better Warranted Quasi-Experimental Practice for Evidence Based Practical Research
This project extended work on improving four quasi-experimental methods that have potential for providing unbiased or minimally biased causal inference when random assignment is not possible. These four methods include: regression discontinuity designs, propensity score matching methods, short interrupted time-series designs, and pattern matching.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305D100033
Grant
Representing and Combining the Results of Randomized Experiments in Education
The multi-site randomized experiment is an important tool in education science, but the use of evidence from such trials has sometimes posed technical problems. The results from this research project will make it easier to interpret, represent, and use the results of randomized experiments in education.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U080002
Grant
The Continued Development of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness (SREE)
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U080004
Grant
Representation and Combination of the Results of Multi-site Randomized Experiments in Education
This research addressed two problems: (1) How to adjust (approximately) analyses that improperly ignored clustering inherent in the design without going through an entire re-analysis, and (2) How to represent and combine the results of several experiments, some of which yield several measures of the same outcome construct when the correlation structure of the outcomes is unknown.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U040007
Grant
Understanding and Facilitating Symbolic Learning
In this project, researchers developed and tested interventions designed to help parents and teachers use symbolic objects, such as manipulatives, more effectively. The ability to understand letters, numbers, and mathematical symbols is critically important to learning in school and teachers often use such objects, commonly called manipulatives, to facilitate children's learning of mathematics. However, the underlying assumption that interacting with manipulatives would improve mathematics l...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305H050059
Workshop/Training
Summer Research Training Institute on Cluster-Randomized Trials
This training provides education researchers with an intensive 10-day training on planning, implementing, and analyzing data for cluster-randomized trials.
Jul 14, 2025
12:00AM - 11:59PM EDT
Grant
A Summer RCT Institute for Established Researchers
Well-executed randomized experiments provide the strongest evidence about causal effects of educational interventions, products, and services. Consequently, they have a crucial role to play in establishing a base of knowledge for the improvement and reform of American education. Yet the number of individuals with the knowledge and experience necessary to design, implement, analyze, and interpret randomized field experiments in education that meet SEER standards is still surprisingly small. T...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B240008
Grant
What We Have Learned in 20 Years of IES Randomized Trials
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) was established by the Education Sciences Reform Act in 2002 to "provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of education from early childhood through postsecondary study." As IES approaches its twentieth anniversary in 2022, it is appropriate to ask how well it has met this mandate. One important component of the work that IES has undertaken to achieve its mission has been the funding of randomized trials of ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U200005
Grant
A Summer RCT Institute for Established Researchers
This program will provide training in the planning, design, execution, and interpretation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in education sciences.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B200029
Grant
Multidisciplinary Program in Educational Sciences
Northwestern University's Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES), originally funded by IES in 2004, is designed to provide doctoral students from a variety of disciplines (including economics, human development, learning sciences, psychology, sociology, and statistics) with the knowledge, expertise, and technical skills to conduct rigorous empirical research in education policy and student learning in collaboration with education agencies.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B200037
Grant
An RCT Institute for Established Researchers
The RCT Institute for Established Researchers provided training on the design, execution, interpretation, and reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in education. The goal of the project was to increase the number of researchers with extensive training in the design and execution of RCTs and the number of researchers who carry out RCTs in the field of education research.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B170016
Grant
Contexts Inside and Outside of School Walls as Predictors of Differential Effectiveness in Preschool Professional Development
The goal of this project was to identify variables that create differences in impacts of early childhood professional development interventions. Achieving this aim will support decision making around scaling and refining professional development programs in order to optimize classroom quality and child learning outcomes.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A160013
Grant
Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences
Through this 2014 grant, MPES continued to provide doctoral students from a variety of disciplines the knowledge, expertise, and technical skills to conduct rigorous empirical research that is also usable and useful in the policy and practice worlds.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B140042
Grant
A Summer RCT Training Institute for Established Researchers
The purpose of this researcher training program was to increase the number of researchers with training in the planning, design, execution, and interpretation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in education sciences necessary to carry out trials and increase the number who actually carry out RCTs in education. This training program prepared current education researchers to plan, design, conduct, and interpret randomized control trials (RCTs). This program built off of two former training...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B130023
Grant
Teaching Perceptual and Conceptual Processes in Graph Interpretation
Throughout K-12 education, science inquiry standards and curricula emphasize the importance of developing the skills needed to comprehend graphically presented data. Learning to extract relational information from graphs requires specialized processing and both conceptual and perceptual skills. At the core of this study is the process by which the visual system transforms pictorial representations into a set of relations among objects. This project will explore how students extract these rel...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A120531
Grant
Learning Leadership: Kernel Routines for Instructional Improvement
The purpose of this project is to assess the efficacy of The Learning Walk routine as a strategy for developing school leaders. The Learning Walk routine, developed by the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, is a form of "walkthrough" or "learning walk" practice in which school leaders conduct brief classroom visits on a regular basis for the purpose of observing classroom instruction and providing feedback to teachers.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A100289
Grant
Preventing Truancy in Urban Schools Through Provision of School Services by Truancy Officers
The purpose of this study is to carry out a large-scale randomized efficacy trial of a case management program that focuses on reducing chronic absenteeism and improving school engagement by pairing mentor/monitors with students at risk for school dropout.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A120809
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
Proposal for an RCT Training Institute
Well-executed randomized experiments provide the strongest evidence about causal effects of education interventions, products, and services. Consequently, they have a crucial role to play in establishing a base of knowledge for the improvement and reform of American education. Yet, the number of individuals with the knowledge and experience necessary to design, implement, analyze, and interpret randomized field experiments in education is surprisingly small. The purpose of this project was t...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U080001
Grant
The Organization of Mathematical Knowledge
The purpose of this project is to compare different ways of organizing mathematical information and empirically test which one will lead to better understanding of and memory for the text. Competing theories suggest the benefit of employing either an object-based or deduction-based format. Pilot testing revealed equivalent overall memory for statements with either format but differential benefits when the level of a statement's importance is considered. The deduction-based format led to be...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A080341
Grant
Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences
The MPES program had three related goals: (1) provide a unified interdisciplinary program of coursework and research mentoring on linkages among education policy, student cognition, and achievement in mathematics and reading; (2) ensure that the fellows receive training in rigorous, causally focused research methods; and (3) foster research collaborations among faculty and graduate students from different disciplinary traditions who have common interests in policy, learning, and methodology.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B080027
Grant
The Effects of Disadvantaged Schools and Neighborhoods on the Education of Low-Income Youth
This research team seeks to address the substantial variation across neighborhoods of different socio-economic compositions in graduation rates, achievement test scores, and other education outcomes. The researchers will try to find out how neighborhood contexts affect youth education outcomes over the long term, and what the primary mechanisms are through which neighborhoods influence youth education outcomes. The objective is to produce evidence that will help guide the development of educ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U070006
Grant
Improving Best Quasi-Experimental Practice
The purpose of this project was to improve the yield from cause-probing research in education. Considerable professional consensus already exists regarding which quasi-experimental designs represent acceptable alternatives when an experiment is not feasible; these include regression discontinuity, case matching with emphasis on propensity scores, short interrupted time series, and pattern matching. This project focused on improving research using these four design or analytic principles. Alt...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305U070003
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
Grant
Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES)
Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy established the Multidisciplinary Program in the Education Sciences (MPES) to support interdisciplinary doctoral training.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B040098
Grant
Learning From Symbolic Objects
In this project, the investigators intended to determine whether experiences with visually attractive concrete objects interferes with students' use of letters, numbers, and mathematical symbols.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305H020088
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