Pennsylvania State University
Associated IES Content
Grant
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) for Special Educators: Supporting Educator Capacity and Well-Being to Promote Positive Student Outcomes
The goal of this project is to replicate the efficacy of Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE), a fully developed and commercially distributed program with demonstrated efficacy in reducing teacher burnout and improving the quality of the instructional environment and student outcomes in general education settings. Although CARE has been implemented in a large number of schools and has a growing network of certified trainers, the evidence for CARE in special education cont...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324R210020
Grant
ACES-2: Development and Validation of the Revised Academic Competence Evaluation Scales
The Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES) are multi-informant rating scales designed to efficiently assess social, behavioral, and academic skills associated with learning in schools. Published 20 years ago, the ACES are even more relevant today given increased recognition of the importance of such social and behavioral variables by parents, teachers, and policy makers. As such, the purpose of this project is to refine and develop the next generation of student and teacher versions of...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A200134
Grant
Who Receives and Benefits From Special Education in the U.S.? Analyses of Three Nationally Representative Datasets
This Exploration grant will analyze secondary data from three nationally representative databases to examine significant disproportionality in special education, including to what extent disproportionality may be resulting from systemic bias in disability identification. A lack of scientific consensus has emerged regarding racial and ethnic disparities in disability identification. Until recently, over-representation was widely believed to result from U.S. schools inappropriately over-identi...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A200166
Grant
Effectiveness of the Social Skills Improvement System Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS-CIP) in the Primary Grades
The purpose of this project is to test the effectiveness of the Social Skills Improvement System Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS-CIP) in helping all students in early elementary school develop the social skills and behaviors that teachers have identified as critical to classroom success. This project builds on theory and correlational research which suggest that the presence of social skills, rather than the absence of disruptive behavior alone, supports long-term positive effects on ac...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A170047
Grant
Intervening with Children Experiencing Serious Peer Difficulties: The Friendship Connections Program
In this study, researchers tested whether an intensive, individualized social skills training program, the Friendship Connections Program (FCP), can remediate the serious and chronic peer difficulties that 10-15 percent of elementary school students experience. Most of these students have or are at risk for emotional or behavioral disorders and exhibit social skill deficits (e.g., poor communication skills, inability to resolve conflict) that alienate peers. These problems can escalate, lead...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A150488
Grant
Project RESPECT: A Proposal to Develop the Responding in Emotionally Supportive and Positive Ways in Educational Communication Skills Training Program
: In this study, researchers developed and tested a teacher professional development program to enhance middle and high school teachers' capacity for interpersonal communication, conflict management, and social and emotional competencies to create a supportive context for teaching and learning. Interpersonal communication skills are critical to the success of professionals in a variety of settings. These skills are particularly important for teachers, who must learn to interact successfully ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A150391
Grant
Returning to Our Roots: Development of a Morphology Intervention to Bolster Academic Vocabulary Knowledge for Adolescent English Learners
This project will develop and test a new intervention called EL-RAVE designed to help middle school English Language Learners (ELLs) learn academic vocabulary. Comprehending academic texts can be particularly challenging for adolescent ELLs who are not fully proficient in English, and lack of comprehension contributes to lower achievement and reduced persistence in high school for ELLs. EL-RAVE will build on an existing intervention developed for monolingual students called Robust Academic V...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A160401
Grant
For Argument's Sake: Applying Questioning the Author Techniques to Move from Comprehension to composition of Written Arguments
The purpose of this project was to develop and test the feasibility and promise of an instructional intervention, Triple Q, which was designed to support middle school students' argument writing skills. The intervention includes three units of instruction in which students read and discuss argument texts, examine the features and quality of the arguments within and across those texts, and draft and revise their own written arguments. The intervention uses Questioning the Author (QtA) queries...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A160403
Grant
Career Pathways Programming for Lower-Skilled Adults and Immigrants: A Comparative Analysis of Adult Education Providers in High-Need Cities
Many adult education providers seek to develop career pathway programs that build low-skilled adult learners' core skills (e.g., math, reading) in preparation for specific careers or fields (e.g., health care). In this project, representatives of adult education programs in Chicago, Miami, and Houston worked with researchers to describe how providers in each city integrate career pathway components into their services. Whereas most other studies on career pathways (CPs) have focused on commu...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305H150047
Grant
Science Learning Difficulties: Patterns and Predictions in a Nationally Representative Cohort
The intended purpose of this project was to analyze nationally representative and longitudinal data to identify factors associated with or predictive of elementary and middle school students experiencing difficulties in learning science. Some groups of elementary and middle school students are far more likely to experience low science achievement, although the factors leading to this greater risk are poorly understood. Students with disabilities, low-income students, and English language lea...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A150126
Grant
Promoting Adolescent Well Being and Academic Performance Through Mindfulness-based Emotion Regulation Skills Instruction
The demands and risks of adolescence often lead youth to make poor decisions that negatively affect their mental health and academic engagement and achievement. The sheer number of challenges adolescents face in navigating this developmental stage may overwhelm their available cognitive and emotional resources, especially for those who have experienced less than optimal conditions in infancy and childhood. At the same time, attention and emotion regulation skills are developing during adoles...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A140113
Grant
ADHD: Population-Based Estimates of Diagnosis, Treatments, and School Outcomes
ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder in school-aged children. Students with ADHD often engage in off-task and disruptive behaviors that reduce classroom engagement and, consequently, student learning. Students with ADHD are more likely to drop out of school, obtain a lower-level diploma, display low academic achievement, and fail to obtain a postsecondary education. Thus, identifying malleable and educationally relevant factors that decrease the impact of ADHD over time...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A120331
Grant
Improving Reading Comprehension of Middle Grades English Language Learners by Combining Structure Strategy with Web-Based Adaptive Tutoring for EL Learners (SWELL)
English language learners (ELLs) are at particularly high risk for poor education outcomes due to poor reading performance. This risk becomes more apparent as ELLs progress through school and knowledge of academic language becomes increasingly important for learning. This project will extend a web-based intelligent tutoring system, Intelligent Tutoring using Structure Strategy (ITSS), designed to teach students explicit strategies for using knowledge of the structure of informational text to...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A130704
Grant
Risk Factors and Services for Vocabulary Delays in Early Childhood: Population-based Estimates
Little is currently known about early precursors of academic and behavioral school readiness for children, particularly those with or at risk for disabilities. Evidence indicates that vocabulary knowledge constitutes a potentially malleable factor that, if increased, may improve children's reading, mathematics, and behavioral readiness for kindergarten. Yet these relations have not been convincingly established. It is also critical to better understand the onset of vocabulary delays during a...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A120046
Grant
Improving Classroom Learning Environments by Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE): A Cluster Randomized Controlled Efficacy Trial
This study was a test of the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) professional development program that was developed with funding from a previous IES Development award. CARE is designed to enhance teachers' capacity to provide a supportive and engaging context for social-emotional and academic learning. CARE provides emotion skills instruction, mindfulness/stress reduction practices, and caring and listening practices through group sessions and distance coaching. The pur...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A140692
Grant
Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success - Project SEALS
As students begin middle school they are vulnerable to a range of academic, behavioral, and social problems that may negatively impact their school adjustment. Many adolescents experience difficulties during this time due to a poor fit between their developmental needs and the demands of the school environment. Children develop as an integrated whole suggesting that difficulties in one domain (e.g., academic, behavioral, social) may have consequences for functioning in other domains. The Sup...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A120812
Grant
The Social Skills Improvement System Classwide Intervention Program: Social, Behavioral, and Academic Outcomes in Elementary School
Helping children to get along with others, care about themselves, and actively participate in learning are critical to success in school. The Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) is a comprehensive program to improve social skills and reduce problem behaviors from preschool to early adolescence. The Classwide Intervention Program (SSIS-CIP) is the universal component of this program. It was developed to help students learn the 10 social skills that teachers have identified as most critica...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A090438
Grant
Improving Classroom Learning Environments by Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE)
In this study, the research team completed the development of the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) professional development program to enhance teachers' capacity to provide a supportive and engaging social and emotional context for academic learning. Teachers must provide their students with effective instruction in academic content while simultaneously dealing with the emotions, behaviors, and social exchanges of their students through effective classroom management ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A090179
Grant
Efficacy and Replication Research on the Intelligent Tutoring System for the Structure Strategy—Rural and Suburban Schools Grades 4, 5, 7, and 8
Understanding and remembering what you read is a very important skill, but one that troubles both young and old. The structure strategy is a way of studying a wide variety of reading materials, including textbooks, newspaper articles, and magazine stories. Many careful studies have shown that this strategy helps readers of all ages improve their reading comprehension. The web-based Intelligent Tutoring System for the Structure Strategy (ITSS) has shown positive outcomes in experimental studi...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A080133
Grant
Writing Instruction for Adolescents with Behavior Disorders: Scaffolding Procedural Learning to Extended Discourse
The purpose of this project was to modify and evaluate a writing intervention for middle school students with behavior disorders. Proficiency in reading and writing is essential for academic success. On the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 32 percent of eighth graders without disabilities attending public schools were writing at the proficient or advanced levels. For students with disabilities, only 4 percent of eighth graders were writing at the proficient or advanced level...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A070199
Grant
Instructional Effects on Achievement Growth of Children with Learning Difficulties in Mathematics
Students with disabilities tend to lag behind their peers in mathematics achievement. On the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 19 percent of students with disabilities in Grade 4, and 8 percent of students with disabilities in Grade 8 were proficient in mathematics for their grade. To date, relatively little research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of specific interventions for improving mathematics achievement of students with mathematics disabilities or eve...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A070270
Grant
Intelligent Tutoring Using The Structure Strategy To Improve Reading Comprehension Of Middle School Students
Learning to read is fundamental to learning and life-time success. Some students have difficulties understanding what they read, not because they can't read at all, but because of how they read. The purpose of this project is to develop and test the efficacy of various features of a web-based intelligent tutor designed to teach middle school students who are struggling readers how to use the structure of the text to help them understand what they are reading. Students are taught to recognize...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305G030072
Grant
Cost Accounting for Student-Level Resources
In this project, researchers aimed to assist educators in using existing resources to achieve instructional goals by improving educators' ability to track their resources. The researchers planned to develop and field test a new cost accounting system and accompanying procedures. This system and the procedures to use it would allow schools and districts to track student-level resources that would enable administrators to make resource allocation decisions tied to student-level learning outcomes.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305E050089
Grant
Longitudinal Relations Among Social Contexts, Bullying, Victimization, and Elementary School Outcomes in a Nationally Representative Sample
This project will use social ecological theory to investigate modifiable factors in family, classroom, school, and neighborhood contexts that are associated with or predictive of bullying victimization in 3rd-5th grade, the extent to which these social contextual factors function as mediators or moderators of other explanatory factors (e.g., family sociodemographic level, children's K-2nd grade academic or behavioral functioning), and whether and to what extent bullying victimization is rela...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A230406
Grant
Words as Tools: Vocabulary Development for Emergent Bilinguals for Science and Beyond
The research team will develop and test a new intervention for emergent bilingual (EB) adolescents called Words as Tools. This intervention will be designed for use in English as a second language (ESL) classes to promote development of metalinguistic awareness with science vocabulary. Rather than teaching only the meaningsof science words, Words as Tools will equip students with flexible, generative word knowledge related to science content. Established principles of robust vocabulary instr...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A230397
Grant
Fostering Productive Parent Engagement at School Entry
The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of the GoPals Kindergarten Club intervention. GoPals is designed to address the needs of economically disadvantaged students living in rural communities by engaging their families in guided home learning activities and fostering positive family-school involvement. Children from low-income families often enter school with less social-emotional and cognitive school readiness than their more advantaged peers, fueling a socioeconomic gap in schoo...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A200436
Grant
Training Educational Scientists (TIES) Program
Through this 2015 grant, TIES continued to prepare education scientists to develop and evaluate programs, practices, and policies.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B150033
Grant
Quality Talk: Developing Students' Discourse to Promote Critical-Analytic Thinking, Epistemic Cognition, and High-Level Comprehension
Comprehension and critical analysis of text are important skills for success both in and out of school. However, many students struggle to understand and analyze text from print and digital media. While research has shown that classroom discussions can enhance basic cognition and critical thinking, few current models for text-based classroom discussion have been shown to be effective at increasing students' high-level comprehension. In the current project, the researchers will develop a mode...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A130031
Grant
Training Interdisciplinary Educational Scientists (TIES) Program
The Pennsylvania State University Training Interdisciplinary Educational Scientists (TIES) Program aimed to train educational scientists with expertise in literacy and social and emotional competence and with expertise in statistics and research methods necessary for conducting cluster randomized trials.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305B090007
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