Research and Development Center on Literacy and Deafness (CLAD) Principal Investigator: Amy Lederberg
Literacy outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) have historically fallen behind those of their hearing peers. Researchers at Georgia State University’s College of Education intend to address this problem through a $10 million grant to create the first national research center aimed at dramatically improving DHH children’s reading. This competitive grant from the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER) of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) will fund research leading to a better understanding of the how DHH students learn. This will in turn lead to the development of intervention models.” The National Research and Development Center for Literacy and Deafness (CLAD) is the first of its kind to focus on deaf children. According to the Center’s Principal Investigator, Professor Amy Lederberg, “this research will help create effective, evidence-based interventions that will have far reaching effects.” Co-Principal Investigator, Professor Susan Easterbrooks, explains that “we want to identify child and instructional factors that affect reading growth and develop individualized interventions tailored for DHH struggling readers.” Co-investigators from GSU include Dr. Lee Branum-Martin, Dr. Mi-Young Webb, and Dr. Paul Alberto. CLAD boasts a strong collaboration with researchers around the nation. Collaborative partners/co-investigators are Dr. Shirin Antia, from the University of Arizona; Dr. Brenda Schick, from the University of Colorado at Boulder; Dr. Carol Connor from Arizona State University; and Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar from the Rochester Institute of Technology. For more information on NCSER and the IES National Special Education Research and Development Centers, visit http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/RandD/
GSU Reading Recovery Program i3 Project Investigator: Floretta Thornton-Reid
Partnership between GSU and The Ohio State University
Georgia State University's Reading Recovery Training Center in the College of Education will receive $3.6 million over the next five years to improve literacy skills among struggling first graders in underperforming schools. Georgia State is one of 15 partners with The Ohio State University that was awarded a portion of a $54 million "Investing in Innovation" federal grant, announced by the U.S. Department of Education in late September. The five-year project will focus on improving literacy among struggling first-grade students in underperforming schools, rural schools or those with high populations of English Language Learners. The grant will support training an additional 250 teachers at Georgia State, as well as 3,750 teachers nationwide.
Teaching Teachers Together Project Investigator: Diane Truscott (ECE)
The project entitled, Teaching Teachers Together: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Success (3-STEMS) builds on our current partnership with Atlanta Public Schools and the Urban Accelerated Certification and Master’s Program (UACM). The primary goal of the 3-STEMS project is to increase the number of highly qualified teachers committed to high-need urban schools. Project objectives and activities focus on four areas: 1) recruitment and selection; 2) teacher training and certification and endorsement; 3) focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects; and 4) support for new teachers in using data-based decision-making. In addition to certification in PreK-5, participants will receive an ESOL endorsement during the certification year and a Masters degree in year 2. Participants for certification and endorsements include recent college graduates and mid-career professionals. Project activities include the development of a Professional Learning Site in conjunction with Atlanta Public Schools at one of the partner schools with which we work. This site will serve as a hub for certification and professional learning activities including certification-oriented courses delivered at the school, extensive immersion experiences for TTT interns, STEM demonstration lessons for teachers, and mentorship and coaching for participants. In addition, over the summer, the project will design and implement specialized summer programs for children and teachers in the STEM field. Two summer camps will operate: one focusing on math and science and the other on literacy and technology. Teachers will also be offered opportunities to use technology in new ways through summer tutoring and the Supportive Technology for the Education of Literacy Learners and Reading (STELLAR) program which is a series of videos about instructional literacy practices (e.g., word work, guided reading, etc.) that teachers watch at home and then participate in Cross-Career Learning Communities. Finally, the project will focus on using data continuously to support teachers in how to use data to inform their practices and improve the project. The use of classroom-based teacher action research and problem-solution projects are ways to help educators select authentic issues presented in the classroom and community and use data as a means to make change. School-collaboration mini-grants will offer support for Atlanta teacher-faculty teams in designing and implementing curricular innovations targeted to STEM and that use data to inform practice. By the end of the project, 3-STEMS will impact 10,125 students and produced 135 newly certified teachers. The project also provides professional learning in STEM for classroom teachers and through our teacher mentor component resulting in support for 405 inservice practitioners.
Quality Instruction for English Learners (QuIEL) Project Investigator: Diane Truscott (ECE)
The QuIEL project provides school-based professional development targeting instruction for English Learners (EL) in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Four members represent the QuIEL Professional Learning Consortium: the Urban Accelerated Certification and Master’s Program from Georgia State University’s Early Childhood Education Department (Institute of Higher Education Partner); DeKalb County School System (Local Education Agency Member); Refugee Resettlement and Immigrations Services of Atlanta (Community Member); and Educational Testing Service (Corporate Member). Activities to prepare and support teachers include the development of a professional learning site which offers site-based certification courses, extensive immersion experiences, demonstration lessons, and mentorship/coaching. To improve instructional practices, policies and student outcomes, data-based decision-making activities target the use of teacher action research, problem-solution projects, school collaboration mini-grants (STEM focused), and portfolios. STEM activities include summer workshops, summer camps (Science, Literacy/Technology), a new math anchoring curriculum, technology for EL instruction (STELLAR, Language Muse), and online professional learning communities. QuIEL builds in mechanisms to sustain learning that feature four professional learning standards: authentic contexts, active learning, prolonged engagement/time, and collaboration.
Network for Enhancing Teacher Quality (NET-Q) Project Investigator: Gwendolyn Benson (Dean’s Office, EPSE)
The NET-Q: Network for Enhancing Teaching Quality program submitted for the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant (TQP) competition from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement addresses the following priorities: (1) improving student achievement, (2) improving the quality of prospective and new teachers, (3) holding teacher preparation programs accountable for preparing and collaborating with high needs districts/schools to produce high quality teachers, and (4) recruiting and retaining highly qualified individuals (including those from less-represented groups and individuals from other occupations) with particular emphasis on high needs/critical shortage areas. The program’s emphases will include initiatives such as the following: Teachers in Residency, Leaders in Residency, Induction, Cross Career Learning Communities (for new and veteran teacher support and retention), Teacher-Intern-Professor (TIP) Model, First-tier Collaborative Action Research/Inquiry (university-school teams), Second-tier Competitive Research Fellowship Mini-Grants, and Georgia Public Broadcasting Digital Partnership Collaboratives, etc. Within these initiatives, the grant will support teacher learning about the following areas: special education, English language learners, (ELL), literacy, science, mathematics, and related content areas.
The project includes participation by 6 metropolitan Atlanta school districts, 19 rural districts, 3 four-year institutions (including two Historically Black Universities) and 1 two-year institution. Mutual commitment to preparing quality teachers is evident from the on-going collaboration with six metro area school districts through our Professional Development School (PDS) Network. The P-12 partners are equally committed to increasing the recruitment and support of prospective teachers in STEM areas, Special Education and English Language Learners, to meet the needs of urban schools in the Metro Atlanta area and to assist our partners in rural high needs districts.
National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future Qualcomm Wireless Research Project Principal Investigator: Gwendolyn Benson (Dean’s Office, EPSE)
The focus of this grant is to gather and analyze evidence of how pre-service teachers use wireless mobile devices to create a collaborative culture through engagement in professional learning communities, to build closer connections between teacher preparation programs and the districts they serve, to create feedback loops between graduates and their teacher preparation programs, and to disseminate lessons learned on best uses of wireless mobile devices in teacher education.
Examining the Success of Early Reading First (The E-SERF Project) Principal Investigator: Nicole Patton Terry (EPSE)
The primary purpose of The E-SERF Project is to examine the relationship between participation in Early Reading First pre-kindergarten programs and later language and literacy achievement. Early Reading First is a federal grant program designed to help early childhood education programs become "centers of excellence" that provide children with quality, early language and literacy experiences. With a focus on prevention of reading difficulties among children who may be at-risk for later school failure, these primary purpose of these programs is to prepare young children to enter kindergarten with the skills they need to successful in school. In order to investigate the benefits of the program, E-SERF children's growth in langauge and literacy skills will be followed from kindergarten through second grade. This project is sponsored by The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Smart Start through a supplemental grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Georgia Sensory Assistance Project Principal Investigator: Kathy Heller (EPSE)
The Georgia Sensory Assistance Project works with state agencies to identify children with deaf-blindness and provide assistance to these children primarily through dissemination of research on best practices and through statewide technical assistance to school personnel, families, agencies, and others who provide services to children with deaf-blindness (from birth to twenty-two years of age) . The project collaborates with and supports the Georgia Deaf-blind Stakeholders and Advisory Committee and national projects, such as the National Deafblind Cochlear Implant Research Project. The Georgia Sensory Assistance Project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.
Georgia Wolf Trap/Alliance Theatre Institute for Educators Principal Investigator: Ann Cale Kruger (EPSE)
Ann Cale Kruger leads a research team to evaluate the effects of the Alliance Theatre Company’s outreach program, Georgia Wolf Trap, for low-income children in kindergarten. Over three years, the researchers will collect data to investigate the effects of the program on students’ verbal and nonverbal communication and on their performances on the state-mandated test for school readiness and as emergent writers. The researchers will investigate how drama affects Georgia students’ emergent literacy skills, enhances their emotional understandings, and increases their awareness of the art of theatre. This project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education through its Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant Program.
Improving Deaf Preschoolers’ Literacy Skills Principal Investigator: Amy Lederberg (EPSE) Co-Investigators: Susan Easterbrooks (EPSE) and Carol Connor
Funded by Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
The purpose of this study is to develop and obtain preliminary evidence on the efficacy of a curriculum designed to foster emergent literacy skills in deaf and hard of hearing preschoolers. The curriculum is designed to foster phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary, narrative and comprehension skills in deaf and hard of hearing children. Specifically, the researchers will examine what instructional strategies and degree of individualization will improve literacy outcomes.
Policy and Research Implications for the Get Ready to Read! Program Principal Investigator: Nicole Patton Terry (EPSE)
In 2005, the Southeast Regional Center for Get Ready to Read! was established in Atlanta, Georgia through a partnership between the National Center for Learning Disabilities and Smart Start, the early education arm of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. The Center's mission is to assure that young children in Georgia and the southeastern region of the United States enter kindergarten with the language and literacy skills they need to be ready to benefit from quality literacy instruction. Dr. Terry contributes to the succes of the program by evaluating program effectiveness, providing professional development throughout the metropolitan area, and assiting the Center in implementing the program in schools and programs throughout the state. This project is sponsored by The United Way Metropolitan Atlanta, Smart Start and the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) through funding from The Goizueta Foundation.
Post-Doctoral Research Training in Language and Literacy with Special Populations Program Contact: Amy Lederberg (EPSE)
Funded by: Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
The goal of this training program is to offer individualized research experiences within the context of interdisciplinary research teams. Program faculty have projects designed to empirically validate educational interventions that promote language or literacy dev elopement in special populations: children, adolescents, or adults at risk for, or with, identified disabilities. Trainees will have the opportunity to work on one of the IES or NIH funded projects, as well as work on archival data sets.
Project LIBERATE (Literacy Instruction Based on Evidence through Research for Adjudicated Teens to Excel) Principal Investigator: David Houchins (EPSE) Co-Investigator: Kristine Jolivette (EPSE)
Liberate is a $2.94 million four year study. Funding is provided by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The primary purpose of Project LIBERATE is to determine the comparative effectiveness of three literacy instructional packages (two treatments and one control group) on the reading, writing, and spelling performance of incarcerated struggling readers with and without disabilities. Student motivational and teacher implementation factors also will be considered. Much has been learned in recent years about how to teach literacy skills at the elementary school level yet little is known about how to teach literacy at the secondary level, particularly to struggling readers who are on the fringe of society. Estimates suggest that up to 45% of the incarcerated students in Georgia have disabilities. No data are available regarding comprehensive literacy instruction for these students.
Additional participants include Dr. Chris Henrich (data manager), Dr. Candy Steventon (project manager), and Rich Lambert (statistician). For additional information, please contact Dr. Houchins at 404-413-8338 or dhouchins@gsu.edu.
Project SCEIs Babies Can't Wait Principal Investigator: Peggy Gallagher (EPSE)
The goal of the Georgia State University Skilled, Credentialed Early Interventionists (SCEIs) project with Georgia's Babies Can't Wait program is to assist in the implementation and evaluation of preservice and in-service training provided to public and private provides of early intervention services as well as to families who have children in the Babies Can't Wait program. The Babies Can't Wait program provides services for infants and toddlers who have developmental delays or disabilities and their families. This project is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Community Health.
Research on Reading Instruction for Struggling Adult Readers Principal Investigator: Daphne Greenberg (EPSE)
Daphne Greenberg leads a team of researchers from the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences to investigate reading instructional approaches for use with adults who read between a 3.0 and 5.9 word reading grade equivalency. The team is evaluating a number of instructional strategies for effectiveness with a focus on which strategies are most effective for different subtypes of adult learners. Additionally, the researchers are using Functional M.R.I. technology to measure the effects of instruction on adult learners' neural activation. This project is sponsored by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute for Literacy, and the U.S. Department of Education, grant #1 R01 HD 43801-01.