University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Associated IES Content
Grant
Enhancing Learning by Reducing Distraction
In this project, researchers aim to expand and improve an existing digital intervention called Finding Focus that is intended to help high school students train their attention and then use it to more effectively regulate distracting thoughts and emotions. Specifically, key innovations will include (i) advanced personalization of the intervention to students' aspirations, (ii) an expanded curriculum that addresses the pervasive distraction of digital media, and (iii) new methods for ensuring...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A220435
Grant
Teaching Together: The Added Value of Tiered School Plus Home Interventions for Young Children At-Risk for Language Difficulties
The purpose of this project is to examine the efficacy of the Teaching Together program for pre-kindergarten (pre-k) children who are at risk of academic difficulties due to limited oral language skills. This project is unique in its focus on oral language supports in both the classroom and home settings. In early childhood classrooms serving low-income students, up to 50% of children may exhibit language difficulties, which are associated with long-term challenges for reading and academic s...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210157
Grant
Building Coaching Capacity: Development of the Core Competencies for Coaching Professional Development Program (C3PD)
The purpose of this project is to develop a generalizable professional development model, Core Competencies for Coaches Professional Development Program (C3PD), that supports coaches who work with early childhood classroom teachers in diverseprogrammatic contexts (public school pre-k, Head Start, childcare). The research team will iteratively develop a scalable, technology- mediated professional development model that trains coaches to implement evidence-based coaching strategies with earl...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A210075
Grant
Effects of Home and Classroom Practices on Language, Cognitive, and Social Development of Young Spanish-Speaking English Learners
Young English learners (ELs) living in poverty are at risk for later reading difficulties and are less likely than their peers to encounter the level of responsive, extended conversations in their homes and preschools needed for school readiness. Furthermore, many types of dual language programs in U.S. schools operate in ways that delay regular exposure to English until later grades, rather than systematically teaching in ways that build on students' knowledge of their home language to acce...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A200251
Grant
Understanding the Development of Comorbidity of Externalizing and Internalizing Disorders in School-Age Children
The purpose of this project is to analyze secondary data from two extant longitudinal studies to examine the mechanisms of the development of comorbidity between externalizing and internalizing disorders across the school-age period (5-6 to 12-13 years of age). Although externalizing and internalizing disorders are distinct forms of behavioral maladjustment, rates of comorbidity are substantial, especially among high-risk populations. It remains unclear, however, for whom, how, and why exter...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A200184
Grant
Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Early Interventions Within Research-Practice Partnerships
This training program will provide fellows with extensive research training (related to intervention development, initial efficacy, and measurement) concentrated on developmental and academic outcomes of preschool and early elementary children with or at risk for disabilities. The overarching goal of this program is to prepare four fellows (with 2 years of training each) to lead rigorous and relevant research within research-practice-partnerships (RPPs).
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B200018
Grant
Developing Talkers: Building Effective Teachers of Academic Language Skills
Researchers will evaluate the impact of two theoretically distinct versions of an intervention called Developing Talkers (DT) that uses a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS). DT is designed to improve teacher facilitation of academic language skills and the academic language skills of kindergarten students. The two versions are the Scripted Approach and the Teacher-Inspired Approach. Researchers will monitor teacher uptake of evidence-based practices during a first stage of intervention....
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A190065
Grant
Examining the Cost-effectiveness of Continuous Improvement Models for Preschool Teachers: Balancing PD Structures to Match Teacher Need
Examining the Cost-effectiveness of Continuous Improvement Models for Preschool Teachers: Balancing PD Structures to Match Teacher Need
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A180406
Grant
Reading RULES in Kindergarten: Development of a Small-Group Intervention to Support Emergent Reading and Writing
In this project, researchers will revise and extend Reading RULES for Kindergarten (RRK), a small-group literacy intervention aimed at improving kindergarten students' word study and text reading. Early literacy skills are important predictors of later reading and writing achievement, but students enter kindergarten with varying levels of literacy skills and abilities. To date, there are few interventions that provide integrated reading and writing instruction for kindergarten students. The ...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A180094
Grant
Development of Math and Science Domains of the School Readiness Curriculum Based Measurement System
The purpose of this project is to add science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) assessments to a recently developed direct child assessment system. The School Readiness Curriculum Based Measurement System (SRCBM) was developed to assess young children's language and literacy skills in Spanish and English. Children's pre-academic skills are associated with their academic achievement in kindergarten and later years of school. Although there is a growing interest in supporting and promot...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A170638
Grant
The Effect of Definitions, Contextual Support, and Cognate Status on 4th Grade Spanish-speaking English Learners' (ELLs) Understanding of Unfamiliar Words in Text
The research team conducted two experiments to inform instructional strategies intended to help Spanish-speaking English learners (ELs) learn the meanings of academic words in English. ELs are more likely than their native English-speaking peers to encounter unfamiliar words when reading, and vocabulary knowledge is a key contributor to reading comprehension and acquisition of content knowledge. In this project, the researchers manipulated the types of definitions, cognates, and context-rela...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A170636
Grant
Teaching Together: A Multimedia School-Home Intervention for Young Children At-Risk for Academic Difficulties
The purpose of this project is to develop Teaching Together, a curriculum that will provide targeted (Tier 2) language and literacy instruction to preschoolers who are not responding to universal Tier 1 instruction. The Tier 2 intervention builds on an existing, Tier 1 language and literacy supplementary curriculum, Read It Again-PreK!, which has been evaluated in IES funded studies. Children's language and literacy skills are related to later reading achievement and success in school. Exist...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A150319
Grant
Idea Detectives: Individualized Intervention in Reading Comprehension and Word Reading based on Best Evidence from Cognitive Science
The intended aim of this project was to apply advances in cognitive science in text processing to further the development of an intensive and research-based reading intervention, Idea Detectives, for students in grades 2 and 3 at risk for or identified as having serious reading difficulties or disabilities (RD). In the absence of quality intervention, students with reading difficulties in the primary grades are likely to maintain these deficits throughout school. To address this need, many s...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A150171
Grant
Special Education Training Fellowship: Interventions and Professional Development Models in Language and Literacy
This postdoctoral program provided four postdoctoral fellows with extensive training in special education research with a focus on language and literacy interventions. As part of the program, fellows developed individualized training plans with mentors and participated in a variety of training activities, including a distinguished speaker series, a data analysis work group, a university-wide postdoctoral training program, summer training institutes, and courses in methodology and statistics.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324B110007
Grant
Internet Implementation of Empirically Supported Interventions That Can Be Remotely Delivered in Authentic Preschool Programs for Mothers and Teachers: Evaluation of Direct Child and Teacher Outcomes
Many states estimate that half of their students arrive at kindergarten already far behind where they need to be in order to succeed. There is growing consensus that high quality preschool experiences can lay a strong foundation for school readiness even among economically disadvantaged children. However, there is a mismatch between the preparation of most early childhood educators and the preparation needed to optimize classroom practices. Support from parents in the home environment can al...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A140386
Grant
Scalable Approaches for Preparing Early Childhood Teachers: Identifying Costs and Effectiveness of Evidence Based Approaches to Coaching
The purpose of this project is to compare the efficacy of two distinct approaches for providing professional development support to child care teachers: remote, video-based coaching and in-classroom coaching. Both approaches seek to increase the quality of child care teachers’ language and literacy instruction and positive responsiveness to children in order to improve children’s school readiness skills. While support has been found for both coaching approaches, each method has i...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A140378
Grant
Development of an Empirically Based Intervention for Childcare Teachers to Promote Language Skills in At-Risk Toddlers
Strong oral language skills can lay the foundation for later school achievement. Children who have delayed oral language skills by age three are less able than their typically developing peers to take advantage of preschool readiness curricula and are at risk for later learning difficulties in reading and math. Typical language interactions between teachers and students in early learning environments may not be of adequate quality for reducing language or academic difficulties. The purpose...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A110104
Grant
Enhancing Early Learning for Infants with Disabilities: A Responsive Parenting Intervention
Children with physical disabilities associated with spina bifida and cerebral palsy face multiple challenges due to early physical and cognitive difficulties that impact their learning and later academic performance and independence. Parents of these children have the greatest potential for influencing their development due to the number of opportunities they have to interact with their children. However, the field of early intervention often fails to engage parents as active and primary med...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A120363
Grant
Development of Integrated Text Level Curricula for Kindergarten Through Second Grade Students
Learning to read requires the integration of several critical oral language and written language skills, yet there is little known about the types of instruction that would adequately support growth across these domains. In this project, researchers are building on a kindergarten and first grade vocabulary curriculum developed with IES support (the Building Vocabulary for Emerging Readers [BVER] curriculum) by integrating comprehension instruction into the existing vocabulary lessons, expand...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A100993
Grant
Improving School Readiness of High-Risk Preschoolers: Combining High-Quality Instructional Strategies with Responsive Training for Teachers and Parents
The purpose of this study is to determine if the combination of two proven interventions-one delivered in the classroom (The Early Education Model-TEEM) and one delivered in the home (Play & Learning Strategies-PALS)-results in a synergistic versus additive effect on children's school readiness skills (i.e., social, language, early literacy) and early kindergarten reading and social competence. This study bridges the gap between the school and home environments for pre-kindergarten children...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A090212
Grant
A Randomized Trial of a Tutor-Based Mathematics and Attention Intervention for Low-Performing Pre-Schoolers at Risk for Mathematical Difficulties in School
Mathematical knowledge at school entry is an important predictor of later academic achievement. Children who are especially low performing on measures of mathematical knowledge at the beginning of preschool often show less growth in mathematical knowledge over the preschool year, remain well below school readiness benchmarks for mathematics, and continue to struggle in mathematics in later grades despite receiving high-quality classroom instruction. These students require more intensive int...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A120410
Grant
Development of the School Readiness Curriculum Based Measurement System
A substantial number of children arrive at elementary school without the skills essential for academic success. Early identification and regular monitoring of children's learning in critical school readiness domains are important features of programs that help close the achievement gap. Unfortunately, many existing language literacy measures designed for use with preschoolers have limited reliability and validity, as well as floor and ceiling effects. Most of the existing measures do not cov...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A110549
Grant
Testing an Integrated Preschool Curriculum for English Language Learners
The number of English language learners (ELL) has grown considerably in recent years, and the number of children classified as limited English proficient rose 76 percent in a 10-year span. The ELL population is also impoverished: over three-quarters of Spanish-speaking ELL children in the United States come from low-income families. Many of these children are at risk for developing disabilities and special education referrals. Yet there is a lack of empirically validated instructional approa...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A110079
Grant
First Grade Super-Readers: Intervention for the Prevention of Reading Comprehension and Decoding Difficulties in Young Children At-Risk for Reading Disabilities
First Grade Super Readers is intended to be an integrated, systematic reading intervention for first grade children who are at-risk of serious difficulties and disabilities in word reading and reading comprehension. This research team will develop First Grade Super Readers as a Tier 2 intervention within a Response-to-Intervention model to provide supplemental intervention to students who do not benefit sufficiently from quality classroom reading instruction.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R324A100129
Grant
Efficacy of Earobics Step I in English Language Learners and Low SES Minority Children
Research demonstrates that high quality classroom instruction and supplemental interventions can help close the achievement gaps between typically developing children and those at risk for reading failure because of low levels of initial literacy, socioeconomic disadvantage, and learning English as a second language. Significantly, the best predictors of children's responses to classroom instruction and compensatory intervention tend to be the extent of their literacy and preliteracy skills...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305A080196
Grant
Development of an Empirically Based Vocabulary Curriculum for Kindergarten and First Grade Students
In this project, researchers aimed to develop an empirically based vocabulary curriculum embedded with writing instruction and determine the role of vocabulary instruction in the development of language arts proficiencies in young students called Vocabulary Enrichment Project. These goals stemmed from national concerns regarding school readiness among young students and the vocabulary demands of comprehending written language that were present at the time of this study. The researchers focus...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305G060008
Contract
National Evaluation of Early Reading First
Early Reading First (ERF) was a discretionary grant program authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act and funded at $113 million in Fiscal Year 2008. ERF was designed to improve pre-reading and language instruction in early childhood programs and targeted funding toward early childhood programs that served primarily low-income children, including Head Start centers, Title I preschools, Even Start Centers, State pre-kindergartens, and independent child care centers. This study was congressiona
Federal funding program:
Contract number:
ED-01-CO-0027/0002
Grant
Evaluation of Pre-Kindergarten Curricula in Head Start and Public School Settings
This project will evaluate the effectiveness of the two language/literacy curricula for pre-kindergarten children in Head Start and public school pre-K programs. Complementary research will investigate the conditions under which each curriculum achieves the greatest impact on children's developmental outcomes.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305J020014
Grant
Scaling Up an Assessment-Driven Intervention Using the Internet and Hand-held Computers
In this project, the researchers proposed to scale up quality assessment-driven intervention using the Internet and handheld computers. The assessment instruments that are the focus of this project are the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI) and the Spanish Tejas Lee. This project team aimed to develop electronic tools for supporting teachers in administering and interpreting the TPRI and Tejas LEE so that they could become expert in linking results to instruction. The system was to enabl...
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305W020005
Grant
Scaling Up a Language and Literacy Development Program at the Pre-Kindergarten Level
The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of "business as usual" to that of 4 professional development (PD) programs for teachers of at-risk preschool children. The team implemented a 2 x 2 design to cross mentoring and progress monitoring conditions among the 4 PD programs. Specifically, some teachers received both in-classroom mentoring and detailed, instructionally linked feedback concerning children's progress in language and literacy.
Federal funding program:
Award number:
R305W020002
View More