Co-Principal Investigator: Tighe, Elizabeth

The focus of this training program is to prepare postdoctoral fellows to conduct education research in adult literacy. Fellows will be prepared to conduct high-quality, rigorous research to inform the interventions and measurement relevant to improving the literacy outcomes of adults 16-years old and older, outside of the K-12 system, who have basic skill gaps. Fellows will receive specific training on adult literacy issues (such as sensitivity training) and hands-on training in research methods and analyses. As a result of this training, fellows will be prepared to conduct research on adult samples drawn from different education settings, to communicate across fields and with technical and nontechnical audiences, and to help inform policy and practice relevant to a large portion of adults who struggle with basic skills.

The program will train 4 fellows for 2 years each. Each fellow will be paired with a senior mentor who will work closely with the fellow on existing funded projects while developing skills as a researcher, scholar, and communicator. Training includes four main components: (1) individualized work with a senior investigator, (2) experience learning and using rigorous methods and statistics, (3) immersion in a scientifically rigorous community of scholarship, and (4) mentored experiences in consultation with educational stakeholders (for example, state/federal agencies, district policymakers, and practitioner groups).