Grant Closed

The New York State Literacy Zone Researcher-Practitioner Partnership

NCER

Program: Partnerships and Collaborations Focused on Problems of Practice or Policy

Program topic(s): Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research

Award amount: $398,235

Principal investigator: Stephanie Cronen

Awardee:

American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Year: 2016

Award period: 2 years (08/01/2016 - 07/31/2018)

Project type:

Researcher-Practitioner Partnership

Award number: R305H160023

Purpose

New York State established "Literacy Zone" funding to improve the outcomes of adult education programs located in its poorest neighborhoods. These Literacy Zone grants help adult education programs to fund comprehensive case management services to help adult learners access and succeed in education and training programs by leveraging wraparound services intended to address health concerns, childcare needs, or other needs that may create a barrier to program participation. The IES partnership grant focused on helping improve case managers' ability to use data to support adult learners.

Structured Abstract

Setting

The research took place in across multiple New York Literacy Zone programs.

Sample

Twenty case managers, and 29 Literacy Zone students participated in this project.

Key outcomes

In this project, the partners developed and piloted a data-informed decision-making model, as well as accompanying data tools and professional development for case managers. The partnership also conducted exploratory analysis of the relationship between case management and adult student outcomes and disseminated information within the state and its adult education programs. The partnership used a mixed-methods approach that used qualitative data from interview and focus groups and administrative data to explore the relationship between case management practices and participant outcomes. From this work, the team created tools and training for case managers to help improve their ability to assist learners.