Project Activities
In 2004, Northwestern University established the Multidisciplinary Program in Education Sciences (MPES) (R305B040098) training program, followed by an additional grant in 2008. Through this 2014 grant, MPES continued to provide doctoral students from a variety of disciplines (including economics, human development, learning sciences, psychology, sociology and statistics) the knowledge, expertise, and technical skills to conduct rigorous empirical research that is also usable and useful in the policy and practice worlds.
Over the course of this grant, MPES recruited and provided training to doctoral students, offering them 3-year training fellowships that included annual tuition and benefits, $30,000 stipends, and a small research/travel fund.
Fellows participated in an interdisciplinary core curriculum that included (a) multidisciplinary training in policy research and evaluation, design, cognition and student learning, mathematics and reading, and human development and (b) rigorous methodological training that addressed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Fellows received additional training through workshops, a proseminar, and research apprenticeship with Northwestern faculty. All fellows also participated in a year-long research practicum experience offered in conjunction with MPES's partner district, Evanston Township High School (ETHS). In the practicum, fellows diagnosed and defined a problem using their research skills and then, using the findings from their diagnostic work, engaged in research to address the problem. MPES also offered fellows opportunities to participate in a 10-week summer research internship at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).
The total projected costs of the training program are $5,580,671. In addition to the $3,931,552 grant from IES, Northwestern University committed to contributing $1,369,645 in cost sharing plus another $279,474 to provide 1 year of training to the final cohort of MPES fellows after the IES grant concluded.
Key outcomes
Twenty-two fellows received funding support from this award and completed the training program.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Completed fellows
Products and publications
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
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Updated November 2022
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Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Jackson, C. Kirabo; Rapp, David Rapp; Spillane, James
Questions about this project?
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