Faculty Currently Funded Projects

Project PS-LINC: preparing scholar leaders to study interventions and complex systems shaping the lives and outcomes of students with disabilities: a special education leadership preparation program

Funded by: Department of Education
Dates: 11/01/2019-10/31/2024
Summary:

1. Understand interventions in literacy, social and behavioral skills, and transition,
2. Understand the complex educational systems that support students with disabilities, and
3. Conduct rigorous research related to these foci.

Collaborative Research: Quantifying systematicity, iconicity, and arbitrariness in the American Sign Language Lexicon
Funded by: NSF
Dates: 9/1/19-8/31/23
Summary: This collaborative project will study how signs convey meaning in American Sign Language (ASL) by analyzing the semantic organization of the ASL lexicon. However, current theories are predominantly built upon evidence from spoken languages, and may underrepresent characteristics that are particularly common to sign languages. This project represents the first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the semantic organization of the ASL lexicon. Specifically, this project aims to 1) conduct a lexicon-wide evaluation of the semantic associations between signs, 2) characterize iconic and non-iconic systematic relationships between form and meaning using visualization techniques inspired by network science, and 3) implement a novel approach to quantify iconicity in a subset of the lexicon in an effort to understand which semantic features participate in iconic mappings and how iconicity might shape semantic processing.

Effects of input quality on ASL vocabulary acquisition in deaf children
Funded by: NIH
Dates: 5/8/20-4/30/25
Summary: The majority of deaf children experience a period of limited exposure to language (spoken or signed), which has cascading effects on many aspects of cognition. The goal of the current project is to understand how children build a vocabulary in sign language, and whether and how this differs for deaf children who have limited exposure to a sign language. These data will be made publicly available to researchers and practitioners interested in sign language vocabulary development.

The Fourth International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition
Funded by: NSF
Dates: 5/1/21-10/31/23
Summary: The aim of this project is to host the International Conference on Sign Language Acquisition (ICSLA) which will bring together researchers from around the world who focus on topics associated with the acquisition of sign languages, as a first or second language. The goal is to make sign language acquisition research accessible to practitioners, and to inform research as to the practical needs of people working most closely with deaf children. Research on sign language acquisition has the potential for profound impacts on the lives of deaf and hard of hearing children and their families. We aim to set an example by doing more than simply providing access to deaf participants, but by centering the conference on the experiences and expertise of deaf children, students, educators, and researchers.

Promoting Language and Literacy Among the Youngest English Learners: The Nuestros Ninos Professional Development Program
Funded by: US Department of Education
Dates: 9/1/22-8/31/27
Summary: Dr. Castro will work with Dr. Gillanders on the design of the NNP courses and coaching mediation, including developing the fidelity of implementation and formative assessment measures. She will be responsible for implementing the NNP courses with teachers, assistant teachers, and coaches, including mentoring of the master coaches and supervising the adjunct instructor, in collaboration with District Partners during Years 1-5. She will work with Drs. Seidel, Franco, and Gillanders to ensure evaluation activities are conducted as planned and reports of project activities can be submitted timely. Dr. Castro, in collaboration with Dr. Gillanders, will be responsible for preparing and submitting project progress and final reports to OELA. She will collaborate with colleagues in the dissemination of project findings through preparing PD resources, submitting manuscripts, and presenting at local, national, and international conferences.

Project Ignite: Evaluating the Impact of Virtual Professional Learning Communities
Funded by: Middle LLC
Dates: 9/1/21-6/30/24

Evaluating the Providence Leadership Development Academy & Residency
Funded by: USDoED-OESE via Brown Univ
Dates: 10/1/21-9/30/23
Summary: The Providence Public School District (PPSD) in Providence, Rhode Island, with support from the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program (TSL) grant award, is seeking to improve their current human capital management system through the redesign of their current leadership development model. Together with the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, we will conduct a rigorous impact and implementation evaluation of the Providence Leadership Development Academy (PDLA), a leadership development model that includes the PLDA Residency, a teacher-to-principalship pathway program for highly effective teachers.

CAREER: Developing Critical STEM Thinkers: Optimizing Explanations in Inquiry-based Learning
Funded by: NSF
Dates: 6/1/2017-5/31/2023
Summary: This early CAREER proposal includes integrated research and education objectives to develop a detailed understanding of how preschoolers critically evaluate explanations from adults in STEM learning situations. Specifically, the PI will conduct (1) observations of questions and explanations in an inquiry-based preschool; (2) systematic experiments in laboratory and museum settings to explore how various aspects of an explanation impact children’s STEM learning; and (3) an intervention designed to promote scientific thinking in parent-child dyads in a museum setting. The work will produce generalizable insights, distributed widely, into how to leverage the explanations from social others to optimize STEM learning in a variety of contexts. The proposed research also investigates methods that museums can use to promote parental engagement in informal learning settings, and therefore has the potential to enhance scientific engagement for both the adult and child beyond the museum.

Developing Belief: The Development and Diversity of Religious Cognition and Behavior
Funded by: Templeton Foundation via University of California at Riverside
Dates: 6/1/20-5/31/25
Summary: The Developing Belief Network will coordinate an international team of scholars in the collaborative study of the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior, addressing two critical gaps in current understanding of the development and diversity of religious beliefs and behaviors. We will also build capacity within this field by funding stipends for writing up and publishing the findings from relevant dissertation research, as well as by making the validated tasks publicly available for use by interested scholars.

Multi-Gen STEM Makerspaces in Affordable Housing: Co-Designing a Model with the Community
Funded by: NSF via CAST
Dates: 7/1/20-6/30/23
Summary: Makerspaces are learning environments that engage participants in authentic science and engineering practices, using hands-on and collaborative approaches to support activities and projects that foster creativity, interest, and skill development. This project will produce a model for a STEM makerspace that focuses on increasing access. The model has four critical components that operate together: affordable housing, informal STEM learning, maker education, and multi-generational learning. The project will support mobility from poverty by including STEM learning as part of the resident services.

Natural and supernatural representations in nonreligious households: Examining nonreligious parents’ and children’s explicit and implicit beliefs
Funded by: Templeton Foundation via Texas State University
Dates: 1/15/21-1/14/24
Summary: The goal of this project is to systematically explore the development of children’s beliefs in nonreligious households by evaluating the explanations their parents provide about concepts from two domains: science and religion. Little is known about the beliefs of nonreligious parents—a growing U.S. demographic—and even less is known about the mechanisms by which their children develop an understanding of religious concepts. We will also develop a flexible online testing system to secure a geographically-diverse sample and provide a basis for advancing methods in parent-child research.

Capacity Building for the Center on the Ecology of Early Development
Funded by: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Dates: 7/1/21-6/30/25
Summary: The purpose of this project is to support the capacity building work of the Center on the Ecology of Early Development (CEED) at Boston University in the Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. Specifically, the grant for this project will support capacity building efforts, such as operation and infrastructure development, to provide funds for these strategic objectives including (1) Personnel, (2) Unencumbered Funds for Research Innovation, (3) Dissemination of Applied Research to Policy Makers and Early Childhood Stakeholders, and (4) Fellowships for Graduate Students to complete a 1-year certificate in Child & Youth Policy.

Upward Bound
Funded by: US Department of Education
Dates: 9/1/22-8/31/27
Summary: Upward Bound at Boston University seeks to provide services to 86 low-income, first-generation college-bound students with potential and in need of academic support to enable them to successfully pursue a program of postsecondary education. Program services will include an academically intensive six-week on-campus summer residential program and a 27-week afterschool program that includes tutoring, SAT and MCAS preparation courses, and Senior Workshop that supports students through the college and financial aid application processes, as well as preparing them for the transition the first year of college. The program goals are to support students’ academic and socio-emotional growth so that they meet proficiency on state-wide testing, achieve and sustain the grades in a rigorous high school curriculum necessary for college admission, and demonstrate postsecondary completion.

Upward Bound Math and Science
Funded by: US Department of Education
Dates: 9/1/22-8/31/27
Summary: Upward Bound Math/Science at Boston University seeks to provide services to 50 low-income, first-generation college-bound students with potential and in need of academic support to enable them to successfully pursue a program of postsecondary education and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Program services will include an academically intensive six-week on-campus summer residential program and a 27-week afterschool program that includes tutoring, SAT and MCAS preparation courses, and Senior Workshop that supports students through the college and financial aid application processes, as well as preparing them for the transition the first year of college. The goals are to support students so that they meet proficiency on state testing, achieve and sustain the grades in a rigorous high school curriculum necessary for college admission, and demonstrate postsecondary completion.

GEAR UP MA-ASA/BU 2022-2025
Funded by: US Department of Education via American Student Assistance
Dates: 10/1/22-9/30/25
Summary: This project has been working with Robert Dias, Statewide GEAR UP Director, and Alisa Wilke, Senior Vice President American Student Assistance (ASA), on BU becoming a sub-recipient of the statewide GEAR UP grant that currently has American Student Assistance, as a sub-grantee. Ultimately, the goal is to have Boston University run the GEAR UP program that works with East Boston High School and Umana Academy, because ASA has made the decision not to run precollege programs. Robert has had to seek state and US ED approval (GEAR UP is a federal award with the MA Department of Higher Education as recipient with multiple sub-grantees). Approval was granted for a draft MOU from the state and ED and a budget was developed for the remaining three years of the GEAR UP grant.

Mystery of the Crooked Cell 2.0: CityLab’s Next Generation Socioscientific Approach to Gene Editing
Funded by: NIH
Dates: 9/1/22-7/31/27
Summary: Many underrepresented high school students lack exposure to authentic laboratory science experiences that can profoundly influence their academic performance in school and their subsequent career trajectories. CityLab will use well-matched comparison studies with a diverse pre-college student population to determine whether infusing socioscientific reasoning skill development into its new gene editing curriculum supplement can not only teach students important science concepts and practices but also promote continued engagement in the biomedical sciences/STEM.

National Center on Improving Literacy
Funded by: USDoED-OSEP
Dates: 10/1/21-9/30/26
Summary: The goals of this priority calls for a focus on five technical elements, which will be developed and operationalized in the context of unique Center objectives focused on students with disabilities at risk for not attaining full literacy skills: (a) identify or develop free or low-cost evidence-based assessment tools; (b) identify evidence-based literacy instruction, strategies, and accommodations, including assistive technology; (c) provide families of students with information; (d) identify or develop evidence-based professional development (PD) for teachers, paraprofessionals, principals, other school leaders, and specialized instructional support personnel; and (e) disseminate the products of the Center to regionally diverse state education agencies (SEAs), regional education agencies (REAs), and local educational agencies (LEAs).

Effectiveness Replication of Enhanced Core Reading Instruction
Funded by: RAND Corporation (Elaine Wang, PI)
Dates: 9/1/2021 – 8/31/2026
Summary: Boston University (BU) and its subawardee will provide research and implementation support to RAND Corporation in their effort to conduct the Enhanced Core Reading Instruction (ECRI) effectiveness replication trial. Research support will involve recruitment and coordination of sites, assistance with measure development and/or revision, and consultation regarding parameters of original ECRI research studies that are being replicated in the effectiveness trial. Implementation support will involve professional development and coaching to sites to implement the ECRI model. PD and coaching will focus on Tier I instruction and Tier II intervention, screening and progress monitoring, and infrastructure supports, including leadership, coaching, and data-based decision making.

Mission Earth: Fusing GLOBE with NASA Assests to Build Systemic Innovation in STEM Education
Funded by: NASA via University of Toledo
Dates: 1/4/16-12/31/25
Summary: The proposed project has the goal of fusing learning modules created by the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Project and NASA learning activities, such as those at the My NASA Data website, into an integrated learning progression over the elementary and secondary years.

Network for Enhancing Wellness in Disaster-Affected Youth (NEW DAY)
Funded by: SAMHSA via Florida International University
Dates: 9/30/21-9/29/26
Summary: Project NEW DAY brings together a national consortium of leading experts in disaster recovery and children’s mental health to collaborate with disaster-prone regional coalitions and other key stakeholders to expand the scope and reach of evidence-based supports and services for children exposed to disasters, terrorism, and other public health crises. It will broaden the availability, accessibility, and acceptability of high-quality resources, trainings, preparedness, and ongoing consultations and supports for those on the front lines addressing the diverse mental/behavioral health needs of disaster-affected youth. Strategic efforts will also focus on raising overall public awareness about child needs and the impact of trauma in the aftermath of disasters and related public health crises.

Project TEAMS: Collaboration to Train Special Education and School Psychology Scholars to Advance Equity in the Study of Mental Health among Students
Funded by: USDoED-OSEP via University of California at Santa Barbara
Dates: 10/1/21-9/30/26
Summary: The Special Education program at BU’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development will recruit and enroll a cohort of three doctoral scholars who will be prepared alongside UCSB doctoral students to advance scholarship in meeting the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse students with disabilities. The BU team will attend the OSEP Project Director’s Conference yearly, interface with prospective doctoral scholars, contribute to scholar recruitment, selection, and admission decisions, participate in the Recruitment Weekend, attend Monthly Leadership Team meetings, lead scholars’ Group Mentorship meetings, help plan and attend the biannual meeting, support the development and supervision of internships, and advise scholars as they prepare their dissertations.

Development of gaze control for integration of language and visual information in deaf children
Funded by: NIH
Dates: 6/1/22-5/31/27
Summary: Deaf children learning American Sign Language (ASL) perceive both language input and information about the world through the visual modality, so they must learn to divide and allocate their visual attention between people and objects in order to learn new words. In the proposed project we will investigate how the timing of parent input relative to child attention supports word learning, and how deaf children learn to divide and allocate their visual attention to learn new words. Findings from this project will inform parents, teachers, and early intervention specialists working with deaf children by documenting optimal strategies to support word learning.

Understanding How Elementary Teachers Take up Discussion Practices to Promote Disciplinary Learning and Equity
Funded by: McDonnell Foundation via University of Delaware
Dates: 1/1/21-12/31/24
Summary: Dr. Manz will continue her work on the project via a subcontract with the University of Delaware, bringing expertise in elementary education, science education, Research Practice Partnerships, and Design-Based Implementation Research. In collaboration with the PI, Lynsey Gibbons, she will continue to provide expertise and feedback around research questions, design, instruments, and analysis of teachers’ learning and discourse practices.

A randomized controlled trial to assess the efficacy of the numbershire level k gaming intervention for improving math outcomes for students with or at risk for mathematics learning disabilities

Funded by: Department of Education
Dates: 7/01/2024 – 06/30/2029
Summary: This $4M Institute of Education Sciences funded project will test the efficacy of NumberShire Level K (NSK), a game-based, supplemental mathematics intervention focused on whole number concepts, for students with or at risk for mathematics learning disabilities (MLD) in kindergarten classrooms in Kentucky. A partnership between Boston University, University of Minnesota, University of Oregon, and Oregon Research Institute, the project will implement NSK to assess its impacts on mathematics learning in kindergarten and continued effects in first grade using a series of randomized controlled trials. The research team will test student-level variables hypothesized to interact with the intervention to predict math outcomes, examine relationships between underlying processes and student outcomes, and explore classroom-level factors that may influence the sustainability of intervention implementation.

Project Civic LeAdS: Enhancing Civic Engagement of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families and Students with Disabilities: Legislative Advocacy in Special Education
Funded by: Spencer
Dates: 1/1/21-12/31/24
Summary: In previous reauthorizations of IDEA, parents provided less than 5% of the public comments for IDEA. Further, many culturally and linguistically diverse families, due to systemic barriers, report not engaging in civic engagement. We tested a civic engagement training with 127 parents of children with disabilities across four states. Results indicate that the training improved civic engagement and special education knowledge. Given the efficacy of the training, it is critical to scale-up the intervention by: a) conducting a multi-site randomized controlled trial with 180 parents in six states, b) teaching Parent Training and Information Centers to offer the program and evaluating their fidelity of implementation in a train-the-trainer model, and c) developing and evaluating the effect of a civic engagement program for students with disabilities.

Facilitating Formative Feedback: Using Simulations to Impact the Capability of Novice Mathematics Teachers
Funded by: NSF
Dates: 9/1/21-8/31/25
Summary: The proposed four-year early stage design and development project, focused in the assessment strand, will explore the use of simulations for formative assessment in teacher preparation, including associated tools and technologies capable of supporting teacher educators in providing actionable formative feedback to preservice teachers (PSTs). Formative assessment can make a sizable contribution to teacher preparation by providing PSTs and teacher educators with a sense of PSTs’ current abilities to engage in teaching, which enables the shaping of future experiences in productive ways. To enhance the viability of simulations as an option in teacher preparation, we intend to contribute practically, through research supported development of simulations that have routines and tools to support their usability/reliability/validity and scaffolds that support initial ramping into the use of simulations. We also intend to contribute conceptually by studying how simulations function as formative assessments and how participants perceive of their experiences and the information garnered from simulation performance feedback.

Teachers as Learners of Equitable Discussion Practices
Funded by: NSF via University of Michigan
Dates: 7/1/20-6/30/25
Summary: This project aims to create opportunities for teachers to notice and understand how normalized practice often reproduces inequity and learn ways to disrupt typical patterns of inequity in their classroom. This project focuses on classroom discussions because they can be a key site for either reproducing or disrupting inequities and they have been established as a powerful instructional practice. Teachers benefit from professional development that addresses both the technical and contextual aspects of teaching practice, including the identities of their students and associated patterns of inequity in schools and society. This research will examine how elementary teachers’ perceptions of professional learning and influences on such learning in combination with professional development on leading discussions, impact their skill with and willingness to take up teaching that disrupts patterns of inequity in classrooms.

Preparing Mentors to Support Novices in Eliciting Student Thinking During Mathematics Discussions: Developing and Testing a Simulation-Based PD Program
Funded by: NSF via University of Virginia
Dates: 7/15/22-6/30/26
Summary: This project aims to support mentor teachers in better modeling the effective mathematics teaching practices for candidates in their own teach and providing candidates with actionable feedback on those practices as they learn to teach elementary mathematics. This project also aims to enhance the quality of elementary mathematics teaching by developing mentors who can better support the next generation of teacher candidates. Teaching simulations are used as a cornerstone of the design of the professional learning, providing a low-stakes practice space for mentors to practice and model effective elementary mathematics teaching. This study will provide much-needed causal evidence for the effects of practice-based preparation on the development of both mentors’ and candidates’ teaching in elementary mathematics.

Reimagining Alternative Education: Designing for Geographies of Care and Responsibility
Funded by: Spencer Foundation
Dates: 7/1/21-6/30/25
Summary: Our project investigates how restorative geographies of care and responsibility can be designed and cultivated in an alternative public high school serving students who have not thrived in traditional school settings and who are coping with ongoing or past histories of trauma. The four-year project focuses on pathways of learning in and across three settings at the school–health and wellness class, STEAM block, and a community garden–that extend into youth teaching opportunities with children at a local elementary school. A multi-stakeholder collaborative design council pursues research questions that focus on: relations of care and responsibility developed in the focal settings, how school community members grow and adapt those relations in and across settings within and outside of the school, and how the ongoing collaborative re-designing of resources for relation-building contributes to the development and disciplinary learning of students.

Wheelock Educational Policy Center General Support
Funded by: BARR Foundation
Dates: 3/25/22-3/25/25
Summary: WEPC conducts and disseminates rigorous, policy-relevant research in partnership with local, state, and federal policymakers and stakeholders to improve educational opportunities and holistic outcomes for traditionally marginalized students. With support from the Barr Foundation, WEPC will engage in research practice partnerships that advance education decision-makers ability to improve the quality and diversity of the educator workforce. This includes efforts to: 1) initiate new partnerships with state and district leaders around workforce questions; 2) executing research activities that increase partners and general knowledge about the quality and diversity of the workforce; and 3) producing, disseminating, and communicating about research findings to influence broader discussions and decision-making relative to the teacher workforce.