How To Make Education Research Relevant To Teachers

So late last week I received the item below from Institute of Education Sciences (IES).  It was interesting, because as soon as it showed up in my inbox I was reminded of something I said in a recent entry where I was responding to a colleague that asked what did I think about the Quality Matters National Standards for Quality Online Teaching (K-12) literature review:

Now that I have had a chance to examine it in a more systematic way, I would add that this document is also a good example of why researchers in the field continue to lament the propensity of poor quality research that is being conducted, which only serve to confused those untrusting practitioners.

So there are two issues at play here.  The first is the one raised by IES – how do we translate empirical research to make it accessible to teachers.  However, when it comes to K-12 online and/or blended learning I believe the second issue is of even greater importance.  How as researchers do we protect teachers from relying on or an over-reliance on bad research like the QM effort I dissected above.

How to Make Education Research Relevant to Teachers
Research shows that good teachers are the most important ingredient that schools can provide to help students succeed. This is especially true for struggling schools. Now here’s something we’re realizing about our current education research: Too few educators feel that the research that the US government supports has a tangible impact on their work in the classroom. That’s something that has to change. To read more, please visit: https://ies.ed.gov/director/remarks/11-14-2018.asp
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.
You have received this message because you subscribed to a newsflash service through IES or one of its centers. By visiting Newsflash you may also sign up to receive information from IES and its four Centers NCES, NCER, NCEE, & NCSER to stay abreast of all activities within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). To obtain hard copy of many IES products as well as hard copy and electronic versions of hundreds of other U.S. Department of Education products please visit http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-433-7827 (877-4-EDPUBS).

A Look At Computer Access And Use: How Students Use Computers For Learning At Home And School

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a place on the website where you could just download the full report as a PDF.  It was all in HTML format with additional + to click to see everything.

A Look at Computer Access and Use: How Students Use Computers for Learning at Home and School
Most students had access to a computer at home or in school in 2015. Across states and jurisdictions, access to computers at home ranged from 77 to 97 percent for students in 8th grade, while access to computers in school ranged from 78 to 100 percent. Students without computer access at home tended to perform worse on NAEP assessments in 2015. Today, the National Center for Education Statistics released a new report titled, 2015 Survey Questionnaires Results: Students’ Computer Access and Use. This report is second in a series of reports that examine 2015 survey questionnaire and achievement data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The report takes an in-depth look at students’ access to computers at home and in school, and students’ use of computers for classroom learning at grades 4, 8, and 12. Associations between students’ computer access and use and student performance on the 2015 NAEP mathematics and reading assessments are examined at the national level, across states and jurisdictions, and across large urban districts. Key findings from the report include: Computer access is divided along socioeconomic lines. Smaller percentages of lower income students reported having computer access at home in comparison to middle-to-higher income students. Lower- and higher-performing students differ in how often they use computers for practicing and building academic skills in the classroom. Computer use once or twice a week increased by as much as 5 percentage points in mathematics classes and 6 percentage points in reading classes between 2013 and 2015. To view the full web report, please visit: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/sq_computer/
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.
By visiting Newsflash you may also sign up to receive information from IES and its four Centers NCES, NCER, NCEE, & NCSERto stay abreast of all activities within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). To obtain hard copy of many IES products as well as hard copy and electronic versions of hundreds of other U.S. Department of Education products please visit http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-433-7827 (877-4-EDPUBS).

New State-level Information Available On Charter Schools, Arts Education, Computer-Based Assessments, And Graduation Rates

I haven’t checked, but I wonder if the charter school data has any information or variables on whether the charter school is online or not.  Would be interesting…

New State-level Information Available on charter schools, arts education, computer-based assessments, and graduation rates
New state-level data on charter schools, arts education, computer-based assessments, and graduation rates are now available on the State Education Reforms website. The State Education Reforms website draws primarily on data collected by organizations other than the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which compiles and disseminates the information in five sections: Accountability; Assessment and Standards; Staff Qualifications and Development; State Support for School Choice and Other Options; and Student Readiness and Progress through School. One table was updated in the “Accountability” section. The “Staff Qualifications and Development” and “State Support for School Choice and Other Options” sections each had two updated tables.  One table was added in the “Assessment and Standards” section and in the “Student Readiness and Progress through School” section.  These tables may be easily located by the “Updated!” and “New!” tags next to the table title in the corresponding section. To view the site, please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/ The State Education Reforms website is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.
By visiting Newsflash you may also sign up to receive information from IES and its four Centers NCES, NCER, NCEE, & NCSERto stay abreast of all activities within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). To obtain hard copy of many IES products as well as hard copy and electronic versions of hundreds of other U.S. Department of Education products please visit http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-433-7827 (877-4-EDPUBS).

IES Awards $160 Million in Grants for Education and Special Education Research

Note that there appears to be at least one K-12 distance, online, and blended learning item that was funded on this list (see below for more details).

IES Awards $160 Million in Grants for Education and Special Education Research
The Institute of Education Sciences has awarded 83 grants for research that will increase the evidence base across a wide array of topics in education and special education. The 2018 grants, representing an investment of more than $160 million over five years, are offered through the National Center for Education Research (NCER) and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). Education Research Grants Program NCER has awarded 54 grants for its 2018 competition, representing an investment of more than $112 million. Forty-one colleges, universities, and research agencies received 2018 NCER Education Research Grants. Click here to see the full list of 2018 NCER Education Research Grants with links to project abstracts. Special Education Research Grants Program NCSER has awarded 29 grants for its 2018 competition, representing an investment of more than $49 million. The Special Education Research Grants have been awarded to 24 colleges, universities, or research agencies. Click here to see the full list of 2018 NCSER Special Education Research Grants with links to project abstracts. Learn more about funding opportunities and research programs on the IES website. To search current and past grants awards, use the IES grant search tool. The Institute of Education Sciences is the independent research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Visit the IES website, sign up for the IES news flash or follow IES on Twitter and Facebook to learn more.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.
By visiting Newsflash you may also sign up to receive information from IES and its four Centers NCES, NCER, NCEE, & NCSERto stay abreast of all activities within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). To obtain hard copy of many IES products as well as hard copy and electronic versions of hundreds of other U.S. Department of Education products please visit http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-433-7827 (877-4-EDPUBS).

I could be wrong, but based on a quick review of the titles of projects listed, this seems to be the only one relevant for readers of this space:

IES Grant

TITLE:	Developing an Online Learning Environment for Learning Algebra by Teaching a Synthetic Peer
CENTER:	NCER	YEAR:	2018
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:	Matsuda, Noboru	AWARDEE:	Texas A & M University
PROGRAM:	Education Technology      [Program Details]
AWARD PERIOD:	4 years (09/01/2018-08/31/2021)	AWARD AMOUNT:	$1,399,947
GOAL:	Development and Innovation	AWARD NUMBER:	R305A180319
DESCRIPTION:	Co-Principal Investigator: Huang, Ruihong Purpose: In this project, researchers will develop and evaluate an online game-like environment for middle school students to solve and learn algebra linear equations by teaching a simulated peer student. Learning by teaching is a promising style of instruction, with evidence supporting that when students engage in peer tutoring there is a benefit for both the tutee and tutor. Project Activities: In Year 1 and 2, research and development will occur in a research laboratory at Texas A&M University. Following a laboratory usability evaluation study, in Year 3 a series of pilot studies will evaluate the feasibility, fidelity, and promise of proposed environment to improve student learning of algebraic equations. Products: Researchers will develop a module of Artificial Peer Learning Environment Using SimStudent (APLUS), agame-like environment for middle school students to practice and learn mathematics by collaboratively solving algebraic equations with a simulated peer student. STRUCTURED ABSTRACT Setting: The research will take place in a research laboratory at Texas A&M University and in classrooms in suburban schools in medium to-large sized cities in Texas and Pennsylvania. Sample: For the lab evaluation studies, researchers will recruit participants through Texas A&M University’s subject pool. The classroom research in schools will include 120 grade 7 and 8 students and eight algebra teachers. Intervention: In prior IES and NSF projects, the researchers developed and tested the Artificial Peer Learning Environment Using SimStudent (APLUS), an online environment for students to tutor a simulated peer. In the interaction, students and the simulated peer student solve questions step by step and are provided feedback on the accuracy of the steps performed. In this project, the researchers will develop a module of APLUS within a specific domain, algebraic linear equations for grades 7 to 9. The team will develop a machine learning engine to enhance the student and simulated peers interaction in working through algebraic manipulations. Research Design and Methods: To develop the environment, the researchers will employ a data-driven system-engineering procedure where iterations of research and development occur in lab evaluation studies and classroom pilot studies until feasibility, usability, and learning aims are met. After development is complete, the researchers will conduct a series of between subjects randomized control trials to examine whether the environment shows promise for improving student learning of algebraic equations. In the studies that will occur over the course of a school year, classrooms will be randomly assigned to implement the tutoring environment or not. Learning outcome measures will be collected from pre-, post-, and delayed-tests to assess the competency in solving equations and conceptual understanding. Control Condition: The researchers will compare several versions of APLUS to a control group that uses a different version of APLUS to isolate the effect of different approaches and to understand when and how learning by teaching becomes most effective. For each study, students will be randomly assigned into one of the study conditions at the beginning of the school year, with treatment students using the same type of intervention throughout the year. Key Measures: To iteratively develop and refine the technology, the researchers will use a think-aloud protocol where participants provide feedback while using the prototype. For the pilot studies, the researchers will gather data using a combination of researcher-developed assessments of content and procedural knowledge, will conduct classroom observations, and will use learning processdata to measure the interactions between students and the simulated peer. Data Analytic Strategies: The research team will employ analysis of variance with between-subjects comparisons to understand the effect of the treatment. Additionally, the researchers will use within-subjects comparisons for all students to examine learning gains by comparing performance at pre-, post-, and delayed-exposure to the intervention and performance over a longer period of time. In addition, researchers will employ correlation and causal analyses to identify key cognitive and background variables that are significantly related to learning outcome measures. Related Project: Learning by Teaching Synthetic Student: Using SimStudent to Study the Effect of Tutor Learning (R305A090519)

IES Announces FY 2018 Education Research And Development Center Grant

This is disappointing to read.  The federal Government is funding a national research center around school choice, after school choice has been shown based on the existing research to be no better than traditional public schooling (and instances where the research has shown otherwise that research has been methodologically flawed or questionable).  Basically, this is the the federal Government directing research for ideological reasons and not for educational reasons.

IES Announces FY 2018 Education Research and Development Center Grant
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) announces a new Education Research and Development Center.  The National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice(REACH Center) will develop and carry out the next generation of research on how states and school districts may implement or revise their school choice programs and policies in ways that improve outcomes for disadvantaged students, including low-income, underrepresented minority, special education, and English Language Learner (ELL) students.  This  grant for approximately $2 million per year for five years was awarded to Tulane University and will be led by Dr. Douglas Harris. Under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, the Institute supports national Research and Development Centers (R&D Centers) to contribute significantly to the solution of education problems in the United States by engaging in research, development, evaluation, and national leadership activities aimed at improving the education system, and ultimately, student achievement. Each R&D Center conducts a focused program of research and provides national leadership in advancing evidence-based practice and policy within its topic area. The Institute of Education Sciences is the independent research, evaluation, and statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Visit the IES website, sign up for the IES news flash or follow IES on Twitter and Facebook to learn more.
The Institute of Education Sciences, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.
By visiting Newsflash you may also sign up to receive information from IES and its four Centers NCES, NCER, NCEE, & NCSERto stay abreast of all activities within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). To obtain hard copy of many IES products as well as hard copy and electronic versions of hundreds of other U.S. Department of Education products please visit http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-433-7827 (877-4-EDPUBS).