Project Activities
VEST provided doctoral students with advanced training in conducting scientifically rigorous and policy-relevant education research to improve outcomes for PreK–12 students and in using state-of the art quantitative methods.
During this grant, VEST recruited and trained students from the School of Education PhD programs in applied developmental science and education policy and from the university's economics, psychology, and sociology departments.
VEST provided doctoral students with theory and content in three topic areas: the effectiveness of teachers and teaching in K–12 settings, early childhood education, and the social and behavioral contexts for academic learning.
VEST fellows participated in an interdisciplinary core curriculum consisting of graduate coursework in these topics, theories of human behavior, and research design and statistics, as well as seminars in education. Each semester, fellows participated in research apprenticeships where the students engaged with mentors and a research team on projects and applied subject matter and research skills. The goal of these activities was to prepare fellows to work on important, applied research questions in the education sciences. All fellows engaged in 2- to 3-month long practice-based research experience in various sites including the Virginia Department of Education, Louisiana State Department of Education, Maryland State Department of Education, among others.
Key outcomes
More than 85 percent of the VEST fellows continued engaging in education research upon graduation. Some fellows took postdoctoral positions at universities (e.g., Brown, University of Virginia, University of Washington), others conduct educational research in tenure-track faculty positions in at universities (e.g., Ball State University, SUNY-Buffalo, West Point). Still others are conducting research in research organizations including McREL International, Common App and others.
In addition to providing training to doctoral students, all IES-funded predoctoral programs are encouraged to help broaden participation in the education sciences as part of their leadership activities. The VEST Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) provided opportunities for 25 undergraduate students between 2015 and 2019 to participate in research and mentoring activities. The most recent evaluation of SURP, conducted in May 2018, showed that 77 percent of the students who attended SURP enrolled in graduate school. Among those students attending graduate school, 65 percent pursued topics in education.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Completed fellows
Products and publications
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Select Publications by Trainers About the Program:
Inside IES Research Blog
Rimm-Kaufman, S., Wyckoff, J., Inlow, J., & Stapleton, K. R., (2022). Lessons Learned as the Virginia Education Science Training (VEST) Program Creates Pathways for Diverse Students into Education Science
Select Publications From Completed Fellows: In addition to the list of publications below, you can find publications associated with this grant in ERIC and by using Google Scholar.
Anglin, K. L. (2019). Gather-narrow-extract: A framework for studying local policy variation using web-scraping and natural language processing. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 12(4), 685-706.
Anglin, K. L., Krishnamachari, A., & Wong, V. (2020). Methodological Approaches for Impact Evaluation in Educational Settings. Oxford Bibliographies. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0244
Anglin, K. L., Wong, V. C., & Boguslav, A. (2021). A natural language processing approach to measuring treatment adherence and consistency using semantic similarity. AERA Open, 7, 23328584211028615.
Arbeit, M. R., Johnson, H. E., Grabowska, A. A., Mauer, V. A., & Deutsch, N. L. (2021). Leveraging relational metaphors: An analysis of non-parental adult roles in response to youth needs. Youth & Society, 53(1), 104-130.
Banse, H., & Palacios, N. (2018). Supportive classrooms for Latino English language learners: Grit, ELL status, and the classroom context. The Journal of Educational Research, 111(6), 645-656.
Boguslav, A. (2024). Parsing coaching practice: A systematic framework for describing coaching discourse. AERA Open, 10, 23328584241263861.
Boguslav, A., & Cohen, J. (2024). Different methods for assessing preservice teachers’ instruction: Why measures matter. Journal of Teacher Education, 75(2), 168-185.
Castleman, B. L., & Meyer, K. E. (2020). Can text message nudges improve academic outcomes in college? Evidence from a West Virginia initiative. The Review of Higher Education, 43(4), 1125-1165.
Castleman, B. L., Meyer, K. E., Sullivan, Z., Hartog, W. D., & Miller, S. (2017). Nudging Students beyond the FAFSA: The Impact of University Outreach on Financial Aid Behaviors and Outcomes. Journal of Student Financial Aid, 47(3), 2.
Cohen, J., Hutt, E., Berlin, R., & Wiseman, E. (2022). The change we cannot see: Instructional quality and classroom observation in the era of common core. Educational Policy, 36(6), 1261-1287.
Cohen, J., Loeb, S., Miller, L. C., & Wyckoff, J. H. (2020). Policy implementation, principal agency, and strategic action: Improving teaching effectiveness in New York City middle schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(1), 134-160.
Cohen, J., Miller, L. C., Chung, R., Wiseman, E., & Ruzek, E. (2024). Measuring Text-Focused Reading Instruction. Journal of Education, 204(4), 719-738.
Cohen, J., & Wiseman, E. (2022). Supporting Professional Learning at Scale: Evidence from the District of Columbia Public Schools. Teachers College Record, 124(12), 62-94.
Cohen, J., Wong, V. C., Krishnamachari, A., & Erickson, S. (2024). Experimental evidence on the robustness of coaching supports in teacher education. Educational Researcher, 53(1), 19-35.
Corbin, C. M., Alamos, P., Lowenstein, A. E., Downer, J. T., & Brown, J. L. (2019). The role of teacher-student relationships in predicting teachers’ personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion. Journal of School Psychology, 77, 1-12.
Corbin, C. M., Downer, J. T., Ruzek, E. A., Lowenstein, A. E., & Brown, J. L. (2020). Correlates of change in elementary students' perceptions of interactions with their teacher. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 69, 101144.
Debnam, K. J., & Mauer, V. (2021). Who, when, how, and why bystanders intervene in physical and psychological teen dating violence. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 22(1), 54-67.
Dee, T. S., James, J., & Wyckoff, J. (2021). Is Effective Teacher Evaluation Sustainable? Evidence from District of Columbia Public Schools. Education Finance and Policy, 16(2), 313–346.
Deutsch, N. L., Mauer, V. A., Johnson, H. E., Grabowska, A. A., & Arbeit, M. R. (2020). “[My counselor] knows stuff about me, but [my natural mentor] actually knows me”: Distinguishing characteristics of youth’s natural mentoring relationships. Children and Youth Services Review, 111, 104879.
Dickerson, K. C. (2021). “It absolutely impacts every day”: Diversity allies connect racial history and current climate at a southern professional school. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 14(2), 290.
Doromal, J. B., Cottone, E. A., & Kim, H. (2019). Preliminary validation of the teacher-rated DESSA in a low-income, kindergarten sample. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 37(1), 40-54.
Eisen, S., & Lillard, A. S. (2020). Learning from apps and objects: The human touch. Mind, Brain, and Education, 14(1), 16-23.
Eisen, S., Matthews, S. E., & Jirout, J. (2021). Parents' and children's gendered beliefs about toys and screen media. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 74, 101276.
Eisen, S., Taggart, J., & Lillard, A. S. (2023). Children prefer familiar fantasy, but not anthropomorphism, in their storybooks. Journal of Cognition and Development, 24(1), 129-141.
Henderson, L., Silver, B. R., Booren, L., Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Wyckoff, J. (2020). Fostering faculty diversity by supporting access to graduate study in education. Journal of College Student Development, 61(5), 663-666.
Hill, T. Y., & Palacios, N. (2020). Older sibling contribution to younger children's working memory and cognitive flexibility. Social Development, 29(1), 57-72.
Hill, T., & Palacios, N. (2021). The influence of parental warmth and stress on reading through approaches to learning: Racial/ethnic variation. Infant and Child Development, 30(2), e2210.
Hunt, A., Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Merritt, E. G., & Bowers, N. (2020). “Because the Sun Is Really Not That Big” An Exploration of Fourth Graders Tasked with Arguing from Evidence. The Elementary School Journal, 121(2), 256-282.
James, J. (2022). New assessments and teacher accountability: Lessons for teachers’ practice. American Educational Research Journal, 59(2), 252-283.
James, J., & Wyckoff, J. H. (2020). Teacher evaluation and teacher turnover in equilibrium: Evidence from DC public schools. AERA Open, 6(2), 2332858420932235.
Jirout, J. J., Eisen, S., Robertson, Z. S., & Evans, T. M. (2022). Mother-child synchrony is high across child executive function levels for both physical and digital spatial play. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 29, 100183.
Kim, B. H., Bird, K. A., & Castleman, B. L. (2024). Crossing the Finish Line but Losing the Race? Socioeconomic Inequalities in the Labor Market Trajectories of Community College Graduates. Education Finance and Policy, 19(2), 283-307.
Lapan, C., Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Merritt, E. G. (2024). Promoting fourth-grade students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness through service-learning. Applied Developmental Science, 28(1), 58-81.
Li, H., Eisen, S., & Lillard, A. S. (2019). Anthropomorphic media exposure and preschoolers’ anthropomorphic thinking in China. Journal of Children and Media, 13(2), 149-162.
Mauer, V., Savell, S., Davis, A., Wilson, M. N., Shaw, D. S., & Lemery-Chalfant, K. (2021). Identification of Multiracial adolescents in research samples: An examination and critique of existing practices. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 41(9), 1338-1367.
Merritt, E. G., Weinberg, A. E., Lapan, C., & Rimm-Kaufman, S. E. (2024). Igniting kid power: The impact of environmental service-learning on elementary students' awareness of energy problems and solutions. Energy Research & Social Science, 116, 103670.
Meyer, K. E., Bird, K. A., & Castleman, B. L. (2022). Stacking the deck for employment success: Labor market returns to stackable credentials. Journal of Human Resources.
Mims, L. C., & Kaler-Jones, C. (2020). Running, running the show: Supporting the leadership development of Black girls in middle school. Middle School Journal, 51(2), 16-24.
Mims, L. C., & Williams, J. L. (2020). “They told me what I was before I could tell them what I was”: Black girls’ ethnic-racial identity development within multiple worlds. Journal of Adolescent Research, 35(6), 754-779.
Page, L. C., Castleman, B. L., & Meyer, K. (2020). Customized nudging to improve FAFSA completion and income verification. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(1), 3-21.
Palacios, N., Yasmeen Hill-Maini, T., Dugan, S., Kibler, A., & Paulick, J. (2023). Bilingual Latina Siblings Supporting Siblings: Shared Reading as a Context for Supporting Cognitive Self-Regulation. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 45(3), 123-148.
Partee, A. M., Hamre, B. K., & Williford, A. P. (2020). Examining the role of preschool classrooms’ behavioral composition as a predictor of the quality of teacher–child interactions. Early Education and Development, 31(6), 873-891.
Partee, A., Williford, A., Downer, J., Conway, J., & Carroll, E. (2024). Narrowing the Research-to-Practice Gap in Effective Professional Development in a State Preschool Program: Describing the Process and Findings from a Research-Practice Partnership. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 66, 157-167.
Partee, A., Williford, A., & Whittaker, J. (2022). Implementing Banking Time with Teachers and Preschoolers Displaying Disruptive Behaviors: Links Between Consultant-Teacher Relationship Quality, Implementation Fidelity and Dosage, and Dyadic Teacher–Child Interactions. School Mental Health, 1-16.
Phipps, A. R., & Wiseman, E. A. (2021). Enacting the rubric: Teacher improvements in windows of high-stakes observation. Education Policy and Finance, 16(2), 283-312.
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Merritt, E. G., Lapan, C., DeCoster, J., Hunt, A., & Bowers, N. (2021). Can service-learning boost science achievement, civic engagement, and social skills? A randomized controlled trial of Connect Science. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 74, 101236.
Rodriguez-Segura, D., & Kim, B. H. (2021). The last mile in school access: mapping education deserts in developing countries. Development Engineering, 6, 100064.
Steiner, P. M., Wong, V. C., & Anglin, K. (2019). A causal replication framework for designing and assessing replication efforts. Zeitschrift für Psychologie.
Weixler, L., Valant, J., Bassok, D., Doromal, J. B., & Gerry, A. (2020). Helping parents navigate the early childhood education enrollment process: Experimental evidence from New Orleans. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(3), 307-330.
Whittaker, J. V., Kinzie, M. B., Vitiello, V., DeCoster, J., Mulcahy, C., & Barton, E. A. (2020). Impacts of an early childhood mathematics and science intervention on teaching practices and child outcomes. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 13(2), 177-212.
Wong, V. C., Anglin, K., & Steiner, P. M. (2021). Design-based approaches to causal replication studies. Prevention Science, 1-16.
Wong, V. C., Steiner, P. M., & Anglin, K. L. (2018). What can be learned from empirical evaluations of nonexperimental methods?. Evaluation review, 42(2), 147-175.
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