January marks the 20th annual National Mentoring Month, a campaign that was formally established by former President George W. Bush in 2002. National Mentoring Month recognizes mentorship opportunities for young individuals across the United States, with the goal of improving academic, social, and economic opportunities to strengthen communities. In honor of National Mentoring Month, we are showcasing two programs from the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) that promote mentorship in special education research – the Early Career Development and Mentoring program and the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Network from the Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice in Special Education program.
Early Career Development and Mentoring
The Early Career Development and Mentoring (Early Career) program, part of NCSER’s Research Training in Special Education, supports projects that prepare early career researchers to conduct independent, rigorous, and relevant early intervention and special education research. NCSER established this training program to support investigators in the early stages of their faculty or research scientist positions at academic institutions. This program prepares early career researchers to develop and evaluate instructional approaches, design and validate assessments, and address applied research problems using advanced methods and statistical analyses. As part of an integrated research and career development plan, investigators with Early Career grants identify one or more mentors with relevant expertise with whom they meet regularly in order to accomplish their grant goals. They receive feedback and guidance on research methods, data analysis and interpretation, dissemination, and grant writing. The ultimate goal of this program is to help launch the independent research careers for scientists interested in focusing on children with or at risk for disabilities, leading to an increased capacity of the field to conduct rigorous research.
Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice in Special Education: MTSS Network
The Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice in Special Education program establishes a structure for researchers working on high-priority issues in special education to share ideas, build new knowledge, and strengthen research and dissemination capacity. An important part of this network structure is the cross-team training of early career researchers. The MTSS Network was established as the first network under this program, conducting research examining integrated academic and behavioral MTSS in elementary schools. The MTSS Network, which consists of four research teams and one network lead, has established an Early Career Scholars program. Brandi Simonsen (Co-Principal Investigator on both the network lead and a research team) recently shared some information about this program. “The IES Research Network on Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support engages two cohorts of Early Career Scholars in a range of mentoring activities to develop competency in conducting rigorous and relevant research on MTSS.” For example, mentorship activities for Early Career Scholars have included large group meetings to discuss Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support: Blending RTI and PBIS by McIntosh and Goodman (Goodman is a member of the MTSS Network), which have provided opportunities for scholars to review and learn about integrated MTSS while engaging in discussion of ideas with network members. Scholars also meet in small groups with MTSS Network investigators to discuss specific research projects. For example, the early career scholars on the University of Connecticut research team meet with the investigators weekly to discuss on-going supports for participating schools, refine plans for research studies, and continue other grant-related activities.
For more information about NCSER’s programs of research, please see here.
This blog was authored by Alice Bravo (University of Washington), IES intern through the Virtual Student Federal Service. For more information about the Early Career Development and Mentoring program, contact Dr. Katie Taylor. For more information on the Research Networks program, contact Dr. Amy Sussman.