IES Blog

The Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Special Education and Early Intervention was designed to prepare scientists to conduct rigorous, practice-relevant research to advance the fields of special education and early intervention. Xigrid Soto-Boykin recently completed an IES postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Kansas and is currently an assistant research professor and senior scientist at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on early childhood education for bilingual learners, including those with communication impairments. We recently caught up with Dr. Soto-Boykin to learn more about her career, the experiences that have shaped it, and how her work addresses equity and inclusion in early intervention. This is what she shared with us.

As a Puerto Rican who learned English at age 11 and who was the first person in my family to attend college, my passion for conducting research focused on high-quality early childhood education for Latinx preschoolers stems from my personal experiences.

During my postdoctoral fellowship at Juniper Gardens Children’s Project at the University of Kansas under Dr. Judith Carta, I had the opportunity to conduct community-based research in a local bilingual early childhood center in Kansas City. Initially, my goal was to expand my dissertation work, which focused on evaluating the effects of bilingual emergent literacy instruction for Latinx preschoolers. However, like all great stories go, my research agenda took some unexpected twists and turns. On the day my initial research study was approved, we were informed we needed to work remotely and that we could not go on-site to conduct our research due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What initially felt like a major setback became an opportunity to expand my research. While working remotely, I continued to collaborate with the administrators and teachers to determine their most pressing needs. We co-constructed a strategic plan for identifying the center’s strengths and areas for improvement. To address areas identified as major needs, we began initiatives to provide educators with ongoing professional development and families with engagement opportunities. Through this research-community partnership, we were awarded a Kauffman Quality Improvement Grant. This grant is funding our creation of the infrastructure necessary to apply data-based decision making to guide teacher professional development and monitor children’s school readiness and bilingual development.  

In 2020, as the nation was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and a reckoning of the structural racism impacting the lives of Black and Brown individuals, the work I was doing at the bilingual early childhood center became contextualized. I saw how teachers who earn minimal wages risked their lives to provide essential care for children and families. I saw how families struggled to make ends meet after losing their jobs. I began understanding how linguistic discrimination impacts the way researchers, educators, and policymakers address bilingualism. As I read outside my typical fields of speech-language therapy, bilingualism, and early childhood special education, I began to see how the interconnected systems in our society impact the lives of Latinx bilingual children.

This renewed understanding led me to where I am today. In 2020, I launched a website, habladll.org, containing free resources for parents, teachers, and therapists working with bilingual children. I am presently an assistant research professor and senior scientist of bilingual learning at The Children’s Equity Project (CEP) at Arizona State University. The CEP is a non-partisan center that seeks to inform research, policy, and practice to promote equitable access to early childhood education. In this role, I am applying what I learned during my postdoctoral fellowship to ensure young dual language learners with and without disabilities and their families receive the bilingual support they deserve.

My research and personal experiences are one and the same. I see myself as a scholar-activist with the goal of creating just educational experiences for Latinx children and their families. I am grateful for my training, mentors, colleagues, and community partners who continue to equip me with the tools to co-create a world where Latinx children receive high quality early childhood instruction centered on their unique linguistic and cultural assets.

This year, Inside IES Research is publishing a series of interviews (see here, here, and here) showcasing a diverse group of IES-funded education researchers and fellows that are making significant contributions to education research, policy, and practice.

This blog was produced by Bennett Lunn (Bennett.Lunn@ed.gov), Truman-Albright Fellow, and Katie Taylor (Katherine.Taylor@ed.gov), postdoctoral training program officer at the National Center for Special Education Research.

IES is proud to introduce the 2021-2022 cohort of interns. These interns come to us through the U.S. State Department’s Virtual Student Federal Service and the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Volunteer Trainee Program. Two students are data science interns and one is an open science intern. All three interns are helping the National Center for Education Research and the National Center for Special Education Research communicate what we fund and the results of our funded research.

We asked this year’s interns to tell us about themselves, why they are interested in an internship, and a “fun fact” to share. Here’s what they said.

Joleen Chiu is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

I am interested in applying data science to researching income inequality and expanding opportunities for low-income families. Prior to this internship, I conducted an independent research project on assisting low-income students with applying for financial aid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits using return-free filing. I have also taken courses on coding in R and Python. I want to stay involved in economic policy research that supports low-income and underrepresented communities and potentially pursue graduate studies.

I hope that my internship experience with IES will strengthen my data analysis skills, allow me to contribute to projects that will improve the education experiences of students around the country, and provide me with a better understanding of graduate programs and research in the federal government.

One fun fact about me is that I like to collect pressed penny souvenirs! I currently have 23 in my collection, including one from Taiwan and many from amusement parks throughout California.

Hain Minn is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in information science at the University of Maryland, College Park

I’m an undergraduate student pursuing a data science specialization within information science. Previously, I took coursework on data science techniques and concepts such as machine learning that allowed me to better analyze and perform modeling of various datasets. I have experience with Python (including packages like pandas), MySQL, RStudio, and Excel, as well as past coursework in object-oriented programming (Java).

My goals for the future are to further develop my skills in data analysis and data science and to one day be able to work with data that can help better our world. Working with the IES is a valuable opportunity to see real-world applications of data. As a teacher and mentor to younger students, I know I would enjoy seeing my own work have a positive impact on the field. I hope that this experience teaches me practical skills in not only data science but also real workplace teamwork that I wouldn’t learn from just a classroom.

One fun fact about me is that I enjoy reading. I have acquired and am currently reading a full annotated collection of HP Lovecraft’s works, starting with Call of Cthulhu.

Julianne Kasper is pursuing a master’s degree in education policy and leadership at American University in Washington, D.C.

Before starting my master’s program, I was a high school educator for 6 years in Houston, Texas. I am most interested in bridging the gaps between practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in education. My expertise is in instruction and leadership. While teaching, I was exposed to the complex issues that affect teachers, students, and families as they pursue educational equity. Through my master’s program, I became interested in how educators with practical school experience could help solve those problems in the broader realm of education, particularly in research and policymaking. I’m currently assisting with research on teacher collaboration as a mechanism for increasing inclusivity in the school workplace. In addition to pursuing my studies, I support local teachers through my work for the nonprofit Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship in Philadelphia.

As an IES intern, I am writing blog pieces featuring impactful IES-funded research and helping to create a compendium of IES-funded STEM research. My internship experience gives me the opportunity to interact with a federal agency virtually from outside of D.C., exposes me to a wealth of current educational research projects, and strengthens my ability to write to specific audiences, including policymakers.

One fun fact about me is that I am a voracious reader of many genres, and I love to talk about books! This year some favorites have been Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, Madeline Miller’s Circe, and Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law.

As part of our recognition of Native American Heritage Month, we asked Diane Loeb to discuss her IES-funded research on culturally responsive language and literacy enrichment for Native American children.

Development of language and exposure to early literacy is critical to a child’s academic success. Speaking and listening skills are necessary to navigate learning at every level of school. According to NCES, American Indians/Alaska Native populations have the highest percentage of students who receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. There continues to be a significant need for Native American speech-language pathologists and audiologists, culturally sensitive assessment tools, and intervention approaches.

In 2006, I had the privilege to work with ten Native American college students who were recruited to the University of Kansas for the speech-language pathology and audiology master’s program. The students were from tribes across the country and varied greatly in their undergraduate preparation and world experiences. One thing that they had in common is that they wanted to make a difference in the lives of others—in particular, those who needed help with their speech, language, hearing skills, and related difficulties. As a result of working with these amazing students, I learned about their families, their customs, and their dreams. I also became painfully aware of the historical trauma Native Americans experience as a result of genocide, colonialism, and racism. In the twentieth century, Native Americans were sent to boarding schools and deprived of their language, culture, and their family.

As the students advanced in their academic studies and clinical work, it became clear to me that there were very few resources for identifying and intervening with language delay and language disorder. Under- and over-identification for special education services were highly possible due to our lack of understanding of Native American history, level of family assimilation, and inter-tribal differences. Although there were a handful of articles related to conducting assessments, very few studies addressed culturally sensitive and responsive intervention, where children’s cultural values and beliefs, experiences, and how they learn guide the assessment and intervention. The lack of culturally responsive tools for Native Americans propelled me to write an IES-funded grant proposal designed to implement culturally authentic intervention designed to be meaningful, sensitive, and respectful of Native American culture.

As a result of the IES grant we received, we developed a culturally based language and vocabulary intervention for Native American kindergarten children at risk for speech and language impairment, as well as a training program for teachers and speech-language pathologists. Language and literacy lessons were based on positive stories about Native Americans in storybooks and storytelling was taught through the venue of shared reading. Native American adults from the Native American school we were working with examined our materials to ensure that our activities were in line with the values and beliefs of the participating children. Pilot testing suggested that students made gains in literacy and language skills following intervention. 

My colleague, Grace McConnell, and I recently published an in-depth analysis of the narratives produced by the children in our initial studies. We found distinct trends in narrative structure and evaluative comments depending on student age and whether there were visual supports. What we found highlights the importance of culturally responsive language and literacy interventions for Native American children. There remains a great need for these interventions. From my work, I have learned several important lessons that may be useful to current and future researchers. The three most salient to me are

• Include members of the tribe with whom you are working as part of the process of developing assessments and interventions for children who are Native American. This helps to ensure that your assessments and interventions are culturally sensitive.
• Develop authentic materials that are culturally relevant, sensitive, and meaningful. We found several books with positive cultural lessons, such as respecting the earth, working together, and harmony with others and nature.
• Remember that tribes can differ substantially from one another and that families may differ regarding cultural values and beliefs within a given tribe. When we designed literacy and language units around Native American storybooks, they often were related to specific tribes (such as Navajo or Apache). This gave us the opportunity to discuss different tribes in various parts of the country and for the children to learn about and compare their own customs and beliefs with another tribe. Students also learned about different family practices within their own tribe by sharing their family experiences with other children.

Following my work with Native American students and children, I pursued grant and research opportunities focused on the development of children born preterm of all races/ethnicities. I am working with neonatologists and nurses on studies to improve the developmental outcomes of children born preterm. Approximately 25% of children born preterm are later diagnosed with language delay or language disorder. I am currently designing NICU interventions to facilitate language, cognitive, motor, and social interaction skills that support academic success. A future goal is to focus my intervention work with Native American infants born preterm and their families. Providing facilitation of language and literacy early in development for these at-risk infants may be key for their later academic success.

Diane Loeb at Diane_Loeb@Baylor.edu is the Martin Family Endowed Chair of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Department Chair at Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She is a first-generation college graduate. This research was conducted while she was an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS.

This guest blog was produced by Katina Stapleton (Katina.Stapleton@ed.gov), co-Chair of the IES Diversity and Inclusion Council, and Amy Sussman (Amy.Sussman@ed.gov), NCSER Program Officer.

Over the last few months, staff from the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Special Education Research, and the Standards and Review Office have partnered to increase our awareness of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues (DEIA) in the IES-grant making process. The goal is to broaden participation of institutions and researchers who apply for and receive IES grants, increase the diversity of IES panel reviewers, and encourage culturally responsive research across our grant competitions.

Based on feedback from our December 2020 technical working group Increasing Diversity and Representation of IES-funded Education Researchers, we are hosting a series of Listening and Learning sessions with researchers and other stakeholder groups. The first session, How Can the Institute of Education Sciences Support HBCU Applicants, was held during HBCU Week in partnership with the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We discussed lessons learned in our DEIA blog update and used this feedback to develop an HBCU-specific presentation of IES funding opportunities for HBCU Research and Innovation Week.

Over the next few months, IES will hold additional virtual Listening and Learning sessions, including Leveraging the Voices of Persons with Disabilities in Education Research. Unless specified, these sessions will be open to the public and will require registration. More information about the sessions and registration links will be available on the IES website. If you have questions about the events or would like to schedule one specific to your community, please contact IESVirtualTA@ed.gov.

Listening and Learning Sessions:​

• Leveraging Hispanic Voices in Education Research – December 6, 2021 at 1 pm ET. Hosted jointly with the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.
• Leveraging Black Voices in Education Research – December 9, 2021 at 2 pm ET. Hosted jointly with the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.
• Leveraging Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Voices in Education Research – January 18, 2022 at 2:30pm ET. Hosted jointly with the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
• Leveraging Native American and Alaska Native Voices in Education Research – Date to be determined. Hosted jointly with the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities.
• Leveraging the Voices of Persons with Disabilities in Education Research – Date to be determined.

Today is National Special Education Day and marks nearly 50 years since the signing of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Recognizing the tremendous hardship that the entire special education community has experienced during the pandemic, the staff at NCSER are celebrating the educators and students who strive for an accessible, high-quality system of special education.

The difficulty of the last two years cannot be understated. They have been filled with anxiety, isolation, and grief for so many. Few communities have been as directly impacted by school closures, reduced socialization, and the many limitations of the pandemic as students with disabilities. Many lost access to the schools and staff they rely upon, hindering identification efforts and preventing service delivery. Students with disabilities experienced more absenteeism and struggled more academically than their peers. And while there are few quantitative estimates of the impacts of remote learning on students with disabilities, the previous achievement gap students with disabilities experienced will likely grow worse as a result of lost instruction and services.

Despite these challenges, schools, parents, service providers, and students across the country have fought to adapt swiftly, exploring new technologies and other innovations. Several states have taken legislative action to provide additional support for students with disabilities, and greater attention has been placed on the obstacles that students with disabilities have faced before and during the pandemic, such as under-identification, discipline disparities, and inadequate support services. While the expected impacts on student achievement are deeply concerning, we are hopeful that our experiences during this time will bring into focus the importance of serving students with disabilities and spur on innovation towards that end. At NCSER, we remain committed to research that leads to actionable evidence to support the practitioner community as it adapts to and strives for a new, better normal.

Since NCSER was established in 2004, our mission has been to provide timely, relevant evidence to inform practice and improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities. We funded over 500 grants, allocating nearly $1 billion to support quality research on topics imperative to improving the educational opportunities for students with disabilities from birth through the transition to postsecondary education and career. NCSER funding has supported the development and testing of important interventions in a variety of domains. For example, Kids in Transition to School is an intensive school readiness intervention that has demonstrated positive impacts in literacy, self-regulation, and parent involvement for young children with co-occurring developmental disabilities and behavior problems. Numerous NCSER-funded interventions have demonstrated similarly positive outcomes in domains such as student behavior (CW-Fit), math achievement (Numbershire), and literacy (Early Literacy Skills Builder).

In addition to interventions, NCSER funding has supported the development and validation of assessments, including the Transition Assessment and Goal Generator for measuring non-academic skills associated with postsecondary education and employment and the Individual Growth and Development Indicators for screening and progress monitoring in infants and toddlers across various developmental domains. NCSER-funded research has also advanced our understanding of factors that support positive student outcomes, with a number of studies analyzing existing data from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 to identify factors associated with positive transition outcomes for students with disabilities. This funding has also supported large-scale research and leadership initiatives, including Research Networks and Research and Development Centers designed to tackle complex issues requiring more in-depth study. For example, the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Network is studying the integration of academic and behavioral support systems in elementary schools using diverse methods. Others include the Center for Improving the Learning of Fractions, National Center on Assessment and Accountability for Special Education, and Center for Literacy and Deafness.

These projects have made significant contributions to the field of special education research, yet they often reflect the iterative nature of education research. It can take a long time to produce programs and interventions supported by quality research. As the pandemic continues to impact students with disabilities across the country, it is clear that we must adapt, harnessing new innovations to build greater resilience into our system of public education. NCSER will use American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to provide more timely and relevant evidence for supporting students with disabilities through the Research to Accelerate Pandemic Recovery (324X) grant program, which requires researchers to address a pandemic-related problem, issue, or intervention important to education agencies and has the potential to significantly and rapidly improve outcomes for students with or at risk for disabilities. We look forward to announcing the awards in the future and sharing the insights they will provide as the field moves forward.

Most recently, IES has developed a partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund transformative research in artificial intelligence to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. Using ARP funds, NCSER will support a grant competition held by NSF’s National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes. Competed under Theme 6, Track B: AI-Augmented Learning for Individuals with Disabilities, applicants must focus on deploying artificial intelligence to meet the needs of learners with or at risk for disabilities and address the pandemic’s negative impacts on these students. Innovative research like this will be vital to meeting the emergent needs of pandemic recovery, and IES is excited to build on this collaboration with NSF.

For nearly 18 years, we have sought to advance research and practice to support students with disabilities. Though institutions, terminology, and best practices continue to evolve, one thing remains unchanged— good science can deliver transformative improvements in educating students with disabilities. We are hopeful that with greater knowledge and understanding of the changes that have occurred during the pandemic, our system of educating students with disabilities will be made more equitable for all seasons and more effective, even in the face of crisis. As we spend our second National Special Education Day amid a continuing pandemic, we hope you will join us in reflecting on how far the field of special education research has come, looking forward to new and innovative approaches to research, and, most of all, celebrating the unwavering courage and resilience of this community.

This blog was written and edited by Bennett Lunn (Bennett.Lunn@ed.gov), Truman-Albright Fellow for the National Center for Education Research and the National Center for Special Education Research, and Amy Sussman (Amy.Sussman@ed.gov), Program Officer for the National Center for Special Education Research.