Research and Evaluation

CC&F/EDC developed the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Tool Kit (ELLCO), a tool that early childhood programs and researchers can use to look at the classroom environment—specifically, the level of support offered for children’s language and emerging literacy development. CC&F/EDC trains early educators nationwide to use ELLCO for research, teacher self-assessment, and program improvement.

As part of an effort to increase the participation of southern Sudanese in the peace process, the Sudan Radio Service provides access to balanced and useful information through radio-based education, news, and entertainment programs presented by local presenters in ten local languages.

This National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research project examined teacher retention, particularly of science and mathematics teachers within the Boston Public Schools (BPS), by addressing these research questions: (1) What are the hard and soft costs to schools and to the district of having teachers come and go? (2) What explains why some schools tend to retain their teachers while other schools are less able to do so? and (3) What can the district and BPS do to reduce teacher turnover? CSE researchers gathered cost data at the district level.

EQUIP1 is a multi-faceted program designed to raise the quality of classroom teaching and the level of student learning by effecting school-level changes. EDC is one of 15 partners in this Leader-with-Associates mechanism and participates in both Leader Award and Associate Award activities. As part of a larger EQUIP1 Leader Award cross-national study on educational quality, IDD conducted a comparative research study on perceptions and practices related to education quality in Islamic schools in three states in Nigeria and in the primarily Muslim Region 5 of Ethiopia.

CSE joins colleagues at TERC on a three-year research project to study the extent to which middle school science and special educators engaged in lesson study (LS) increase their knowledge of science content and learning disabilities, and apply new knowledge to improve teaching practice in inclusive science classrooms.

CSE is directing the research and evaluation activities for TERC and the Institute of Ecosystem Studies’ Biocomplexity and the Habitable Planet project. This project is developing a set of instructional materials that engages students, teachers, and their parents in the science of coupled natural human (CNH) systems. The inquiry-based investigations are designed around four cases in urban, agricultural, tropical, and polar systems, in which students address environmental management challenges increasingly confronted by society.

The goal of this project is to pilot an innovative school violence prevention program called Voices Against Violence/Voces Contra La Violencia. This video-based program focuses on the critical, but often neglected, role youth and adult bystanders, including parents, can play in preventing school violence. As part of the Columbia Center for Youth Violence Prevention, Voices Against Violence/Voces Contra La Violencia has been implemented in multiple classrooms at a middle school in New York City. Strategies for involving parents as well as youth and school staff have been explored.

EDC is facilitating a policy development project to promote mental health assessments and improve access to mental health services for youth suspended or expelled from California schools. After an analysis of current school district policies on suspension and expulsion from data and focus groups, EDC will determine policy and program recommendations that enable students to receive necessary mental health services in an effort to reduce dropout rates and disparities in access to services.

Working with various partners in the Caribbean, EDC will develop a framework to monitor and evaluate the response to HIV and AIDS within the Caribbean’s education sector. The framework will be research-based and developed with extensive input from stakeholders so that it customized, user-friendly, and effective. EDC will also develop a tool to equip those in the education sector with the specific knowledge and skills to maximize the utility of the framework.

During this three-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, CSE is examining and comparing the quality and quantity of science instruction provided by classroom generalists to that of science specialists to determine the degree to which there are meaningful differences, and if there are differences, whether they are associated with student outcomes. The study is documenting the financial and human resources each model of science teaching requires.