The Graduate School of Education has developed the Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (ASTL) Program based on research-based practice at all levels. As part of the performance-based assessment system, teachers in the program conduct action research in their classrooms. This research informs decisions in their teaching settings that are based on systematic inquiry and Praxis. Teachers from the program regularly present their action research at teacher research conferences. Individual courses in the program have been developed and are regularly updated based on research in advanced professional development in teacher education. ASTL faculty have incorporated programmatic study in research-based practice with the goal of providing teachers with advanced professional development that reflects a culturally responsive pedagogy meeting the changing needs of their K–12 student population, taking into consideration culture, language acquisition and literacy practices, and varying ability levels.

Students in partnership schools participate each summer in developing problem-based learning curriculum for students in the Center for Restructuring Education in Science and Technology’s (CREST) science camp. The day camp offers science exploration for students entering grades 5, 6, and 7.

Based on feedback from client school districts, the program was restructured to feature 1) a new course, How Leaders Use Research to Improve Schools, and 2) a capstone school improvement project that requires students to identify an achievement gap in their school, devise a research-supported strategy to reduce this gap, lead a team in implementation of this strategy; and systematically evaluate this project.

The Elementary Education Program is designed based on the research in teacher preparation. Individual courses are similarly based on research, and students are taught how to create curriculum from research-based practice. University facilitators (tenure track faculty members located in each PDS school), in collaboration with clinical faculty and others at each school, identify issues worthy of conducting research. These research projects contribute to our understanding about schools and teacher preparation and inform our practice at all levels.

KIDLAB (Krasnow Investigation of Development Learning and Behavior), a joint project with the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, is innovating ways to make the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) environment and experimentation more closely mimic learning environments and learning processes that occur in the real world. Research efforts are focused on investigating the cognitive neuro science of reasoning and attention processes. All of KIDLAB's practices are research-based and seek to provide interdisciplinary connections that will benefit health, medicine, and education.

The Education Leadership Program is featuring a new course, How Leaders Use Research to Improve Schools, and a capstone school improvement project that requires students to identify an achievement gap in their school, devise a research-supported strategy to reduce this gap, lead a team in implementation of this strategy, and systematically evaluate the project. Students engaged in this process learn to negotiate system politics, enlist the support of teachers in their schools, and put into practice a variety of leadership proficiencies and dispositions.

LiteracyAccess Online, a collaborative project between CEHD’s Kellar Institute for Human disabilities and the Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center, is designed to help parents, tutors, teachers, and others work with children to improve their reading skills. A Steppingstones to Technology grant from the U.S. Department of Education is funding the project.

At the graduate level, more than 100 students per year in the Literacy Program are involved in preparation to become reading specialists in diverse schools. One aspect of this program is an intensive 6-credit practicum experience working with children and adolescents in local schools. Several full- and part- time literacy program faculty members have been instrumental in organizing this practicum over the past few years in collaboration with local school divisions. Children from diverse families with special needs in literacy are provided free instruction from licensed teachers who are preparing to become reading specialists. Program faculty supervise the tutoring on site over the course of a spring or summer term.

Mathematics Education faculty cultivate the development of the next generation of mathematics education leaders and scholars. The faculty’s research activity allows advanced graduate students to participate in ongoing inquiry projects that allow them to apply their course work to real educational research issues. Alongside mathematics education faculty, PhD students learn first-hand how to conduct educational research by participating in study design, instrument development, data collection, data analysis, manuscript preparation, and research presentations. [Financial support for students has come from the externally funded projects in the Mathematics Education Center, including funds for graduate research assistants and summer positions, tuition support, and travel support to attend and present at research conferences. These presentations and publications are truly collaborative, with students having direct opportunities to write and present in national and international venues.]

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) has commissioned Instructional Technology (IT) faculty to develop a state-of-the-art training program for coal mine supervisors. An IT team is developing a technology-based training strategy that uses state-of-the-art instructional design principles and processes. The strategy and related prototypes then will be made available to MSHA for implementation.