University of Florida
Associated IES Content
Grant
Project Design: Exploring How Special Educators' Working Conditions Relate to Their Role Enactment, Engagement, and Effectiveness in Inclusive Service Delivery Models
The Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct a program of research focused on the relationships between elementary school special educators' working conditions (job demands and resources to meet those demands) and educator and student outcomes. As the number of students with disabilities served in the general education classroom continues to grow, special educators increasingly work in inclusive settings. Prior research has described challenging working conditions for special educators in th...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B240004
Grant
School Characteristics, Classroom Processes, and PK-1 Learning and Development
The main objective of this project is to provide a more nuanced understanding of associations between school characteristics, classroom processes, and students' language, academic, executive function, and social skills between prekindergarten and grade 1 (PK-1). The first aim focuses on the associations between school characteristics (i.e., academic performance, strain, and organization of resources) and students' early learning. The second aim explores the degree to which school characteris...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210538
Grant
Development and Pilot Evaluation of Bully Prevention Training Modules for Special and General Education Teachers: Impact on Teacher Awareness, Self-Efficacy, and Student Outcomes
The purpose of this project is to build a professional development program to enhance elementary school educators' knowledge and skills for identifying, mitigating, and preventing bullying among students with and without disabilities. A large portion of students in the U.S. report experiencing bullying, with the highest rates occurring among students with or at risk for disabilities. Despite current policies mandating schools to address bullying and research showing that most teachers report...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A190238
Grant
Efficacy Trial of I Control: An Intensive Intervention to Improve Self-Regulation for Middle School Students with Emotional and Behavioral Problems
The purpose of this project is to examine the efficacy of I Control, an intervention for middle school students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) that targets self-regulatory mechanisms collectively known as executive functioning skills (e.g., inhibiting impulses, maintaining information in working memory). Students who exhibit significant and chronic behavioral problems and are consequently placed in special education programs for EBD are typically the most difficult to teach an...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A180042
Grant
Efficacy of Prime Online: Teacher Professional Development for Inclusive Elementary Mathematics Classrooms
The purpose of this project is to test the efficacy of Prime Online, an online teacher professional development (PD) intervention to improve teachers' knowledge and practice and students' mathematics achievement. Research suggests that a substantial portion of the variability in students' mathematics achievement is related to the quality of teachers' instruction. However, little is known about effective ways to improve teachers' mathematics teaching, especially with students who struggle wit...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A180135
Grant
Project Coordinate: Increasing Coordinated Use of Evidence-Based Practices for Improving Word Study in an RTI Framework for Teams of 4th Grade Teachers
The purpose of this study is to develop Project Coordinate, a professional development program and set of tools designed to improve general and special education teachers' ability to plan for and enact coordinated, evidence-based tiered reading instruction (i.e., in multisyllabic word decoding, morphological awareness, contextual analysis, and summarization). Project Coordinate uses online content modules and a lesson study process to improve teacher knowledge and practice. In addition to su...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A170135
Grant
BEST in CLASS-Web: A Web-Based Intervention Supporting Early Childhood Teachers' Use of Evidence-Based Practices with Young Children at Risk for Emotional/Behavioral Disorders
The purpose of this project was to develop a web-based version of an existing tier 2 intervention, Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Training: Competent Learners Achieving School Success (BEST in CLASS), that targets the reduction of problem behavior of young children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). BEST in CLASS was designed to be delivered face-to-face in early childhood classrooms, which may restrict accessibility for early childhood programs with limited personnel o...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A160158
Grant
Evaluating a Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum for Children At Risk for Emotional or Behavioral Disorders
The purpose of this project is to examine the efficacy of the Social-Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF) intervention for improving social-emotional learning, behavior, and school adjustment for children at risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD). Students with social-behavioral problems early in their school careers are at high risk of developing long-term pervasive behavioral and academic problems, and early school success depends on successful social-emotional development. Giv...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A160136
Grant
An Intervention to Provide Youth with Visual Impairments with Strategies to Access Graphical Information in Math Word Problems
This study planned to develop a technology-based intervention to support students with visual impairments in locating key information in math word problems that include graphics. Prior research has shown that students with visual impairment face challenges when working with graphical material and can miss important information resulting in errors in their problem solving. More research is needed on the efficacy of instruction and technology tools to teach students with visual impairments to ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A160154
Grant
Impact of Professional Development on Preschool Teachers' Use of Embedded-Instruction Practices: An Efficacy Trial of Tools for Teachers
The goal of this study was to examine the efficacy of Tools for Teachers (TfT), a professional development intervention for using embedded instruction practices with preschool children with disabilities. Embedded instruction involves intentional teaching of individual child learning goals within the context of routine classroom activities. Prior research has found evidence that this approach can be effective with young children with varying disabilities, but embedded instruction practices ar...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A150076
Grant
Postdoctoral Research Training Fellowships in Early Intervention and Early Learning in Special Education at the University of Florida
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B120002
Grant
Efficacy of the BEST in CLASS Intervention for Young Children at High Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
The prevalence rates of young children at elevated risk for emotional and behavioral disorders is concerning, with data indicating that approximately 12-25 percent of young children display chronic problem behaviors that impact their current and future performance in school. There is a need to intervene early with young children before the severity and intensity of their problems increase. BEST in CLASS was developed with IES funding as a secondary level intervention for teachers in early ch...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A110173
Grant
Development of I Control: An Executive Function Based Intervention to Foster Self-Regulation and Improve Social/emotional Outcomes for Middle School Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
Students who exhibit significant and chronic behavioral problems and are consequently placed in special education programs for emotional and behavioral disorders are typically the most difficult to teach and manage in the classroom setting. Behavior management strategies, such as contingent reinforcement and behavior reduction procedures, are common classroom practices to address student behavior. However, these practices do not adequately address student self-regulatory skills, which have b...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A110182
Grant
Prime Online: Teacher Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Research-based Practice in Inclusive Elementary Mathematics Classrooms
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 85 percent of students without disabilities in fourth grade scored above Basic in mathematics in 2007. However, only 60 percent of students with disabilities achieved this minimal standard. Strong research evidence reveals that a substantial part of the variability in student achievement gains is due to the effectiveness of a given teacher. This finding could be explained in part by differences in teachers' mathematical content k...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A100196
Grant
Development of a Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum for Children At Risk for Emotional or Behavioral Disorders
Students with social-behavioral problems early in their school careers are at high risk of developing long-term pervasive behavioral and academic problems, and early school success depends on successful social-emotional development. Given increasing demands to demonstrate accountability for academic achievement, however, educators maximize academic instruction time, often at the expense of social-emotional learning.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A100020
Grant
The Effects of Completing College-Level Courses in High School on Postsecondary Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
In this project, the researchers will estimate the effects of completing college-level courses during high school on students' postsecondary outcomes, including college enrollment, persistence, and completion. While the prevalence of high school courses for college credit has increased substantially across the U.S. during the 21st century, research evidence to date is inconclusive regarding its overall benefits, the conditions under which it is most beneficial for students and the extent to ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A240101
Grant
Project SUSTAIN: Sustaining Special Education Teachers by Improving Working Conditions - A Collaborative Intervention Development and Investigation of Promise
The purpose of this project is to develop and test the SUSTAIN intervention to enhance the working conditions of special educators serving students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBD) in self-contained settings. Special educators' working conditions are associated with a number of educator outcomes, including quality of instruction, burnout, and attrition. The need for interventions to improve working conditions is especially salient for special educators serving students with E...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A240058
Grant
Scaling Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI) to Serve Students Impacted by COVID-19: Digital Implementation of an Effective Intervention
The purpose of this project is to adapt and prepare to scale Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI), an evidence-based reading program for kindergarten through grade 3 students. To scale TRI as an effective response to COVID-19, this project will adapt TRI as a digital application ("TRI App") to build foundational reading, oral language, fluency, and comprehension skills of students not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks on school progress monitoring measures. The TRI App will support virtual tr...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305N220013
Grant
Initial Efficacy Trial of Florida Embedded Practices and Intervention with Caregivers
The purpose of this project is to examine the efficacy of Florida Embedded Practices and Intervention with Caregivers (FL-EPIC) on improving outcomes for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their caregivers. FL-EPIC is a fully developed, caregiver-implemented intervention for infants and toddlers receiving Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C services implemented within community-based early intervention (EI) programs. This evaluation is timely because Florida has...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A210081
Grant
Tools for Families
This project aims to develop and test for promise an intervention for preschool teachers to enhance their knowledge and skills to use relational and participatory family-centered practices to engage families of young children with disabilities in planning, implementing, and evaluating embedded instruction for early learning (EIEL) at school and at home. Tools for Families (TFF) will be a new component of EIEL, which currently includes Tools for Teachers, an existing IES-funded professional d...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A200044
Grant
Project DIMES: Diagnostic Instrument for Morphology of Elementary Students
The purpose of the project is to develop a computer adaptive, diagnostic assessment of teachable morphological skills for students in grades 3 to 5. The development of morphological skills is essential to students' literacy growth. This is because knowledge of morphemes (for example, root words like nation, prefixes like inter, and suffixes like al) supports students' reading achievement by influencing their ability to decode and access the meaning of multisyllabic words which then supports ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A190079
Grant
Precision Education: The Virtual Learning Lab
The Virtual Learning Lab will bring together expertise in informatics (the study of information processing in the context of computer systems), mathematics education, and teacher professional development to launch the emerging field of precision education, in which prior students' data are used to support decisions about the learning opportunities provided to future students. Precision education is now becoming possible due to the availability of large data sets accumulated as students work ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305C160004
Contract
Evaluation of Preschool Special Education Practices (EPSEP)
Experiences in early childhood programs can help young children, including those with disabilities, develop skills important for later learning. But many children need help to strengthen their social-emotional skills and engagement in classroom activities in order to reap those early learning benefits. Currently, there is limited evidence on how to effectively integrate supports for these skills into the general curriculum, particularly in classrooms where children with disabilities are serve
Federal funding program:
Contract number:
ED-IES-14-C-0001
Grant
The Influence of Collaborative Professional Development Groups & Coaching on the Literacy Instruction of Upper Elementary Special Education Teachers
The literacy struggles of students with learning disabilities are well documented as persistent and significant. For example, the 2007 NAEP found that only 13% of 4th grade students with disabilities were proficient in reading, while in 8th grade this proficiency rate was down to 7%. In large part, the literacy problems of students with LD are due to a lack of high quality, research-based reading instruction and generally poor teaching practices. Research has found that special education ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B070192
Grant
The Impact of Exit Exam Performance on High School and Post-Secondary Outcomes
A growing number of states require students to pass exit exams in order to graduate from high school. However, a large and vocal group of testing opponents worries that exit exams will harm students, especially disadvantaged students who tend to do poorly on standardized tests. Critics argue that exit exams lower graduation rates by denying diplomas to students who complete all other requirements for a degree, and by inducing some students who fail the exam initially to drop out rather tha...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305R060096
Grant
Universal Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Elementary Students to Reduce Disruptive/Aggressive Behavior
The purpose of this project is to determine whether a cognitive-behavioral problem-solving curriculum focused on anger management and implemented by school personnel in classroom settings improves student behavioral outcomes related to positive social adjustment and school success. Researchers have found that teaching cognitive strategies through cognitive-behavioral intervention can decrease student disruption/aggression and strengthen pro-social behavior. Many such interventions incorpora...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B060029
Grant
Impact of Professional Development on Preschool Teachers' Use of Embedded-Instruction Practices
The investigators proposed to examine PD approaches hypothesized to be effective for increasing the fidelity with which preschool teachers use embedded-instruction (EI) practices. The use of these practices in inclusive preschool settings is recommended to increase access to the general preschool curriculum, enhance child engagement, and improve child outcomes. The purpose of the project was to (1) develop a PD intervention called Tools for Teachers (TfT), which focuses on specific evidence-...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A070008
External Person
Catherine Cavanaugh
External Person
James J. Algina
External Person
Patricia Snyder
Pat’s research focuses on early prevention and intervention strategies for young children with or at risk for disabilities from birth to age 5. She studies the developmental impacts of early experiences and learning, social-emotional foundations of early learning, and how families and practitioners can support young children’s development and learning through embedded instruction. She has special interests in topics related to implementation science, including early childhood systems...
External Person
Philip Poekert
External Person
Sara A. Smith
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