NC State College of Education Awarded Over $1M in Research Funding October-December, 2020

Faculty and researchers at the NC State College of Education, including the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, were awarded $1,048,844 to support seven projects from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2020. Total amounts reflect only the funding that was directly awarded to College of Education faculty and researchers.

Supporting Elementary Teacher Learning for Effective, School-Based Citizen Science

This four-year, $467,282 grant funded by the National Science Foundation will enable North Carolina teachers to engage in professional development experience that support their implementation of two well-established national citizen science programs in their classrooms and allow the project team to determine how these projects impact student learning and positive attitudes toward nature and science. Sarah Carrier, Ph.D., an associate professor of science education and Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in the NC State College of Education, is the principal investigator for NC State.

NC Digital Learning Initiative: At Home Learning Initiative Phase III

This nine month, $369,512 grant funded by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction will expand the At Home Learning initiative to focus on the development of a more comprehensive set of remote learning curriculum materials and resources including lesson development, learning supports, research and evaluation and reporting on impact and lessons learned from the initiative. Shaun Kellogg, Ph.D., director of research and evaluation at the Friday Institute, is the project’s principal investigator. Hiller Spires, Ph.D., executive director of the Friday Institute and associate dean in the College of Education; Erin Huggins, research associate at the Friday Institute; Marie Himes, research associate at the Friday Institute; and Jessica Hunt, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics education and special education in the College of Education, are co-principal investigators.

NC ACCESS Charter School Program Evaluation

This $123,412 grant funded by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction will facilitate the Friday Institute’s evaluation of the N.C. Advancing Charter Collaboration and Excellence for Student Success (NC ACCESS) Program in its goals of increasing the number of disadvantaged students attending high-quality charter schools, developing a cohort of charter school leaders who can develop and demonstrate best practices in serving disadvantaged students and broadly disseminating best practices. Shaun Kellogg, Ph.D., director of research and evaluation at the Friday Institute, is the project’s principal investigator. Erin Huggins, research associate at the Friday Institute, is the co-principal investigator.

Biochar Systems for Sustainable Applications in the Food-Energy-Water Nexus

This $42,309 grant funded by the National Science Foundation will facilitate the recruitment of students from rural, low wealth middle schools who will discuss career related topics and ways to prepare for those careers. Meg Blanchard, Ph.D., professor of science education, is the principal investigator for NC State.

Estimating the Relationship Between Preschool Attendance and Executive Function in Elementary School

This $25,000 grant funded by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) will allow for the examination of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey- Kindergarten Class or 2010-11 dataset to determine the extent to which preschool attendance is associated with the development of students’ executive function skills in elementary school. Michael Little, Ph.D., assistant professor of literacy, policy analysis, and program evaluation, is the principal investigator.

Whose Home for Home School? Black “Essential Worker” Mothers and Their Experiences with Distance Learning During COVID-19

This $11,329 grant funded by the Spencer Foundation will facilitate data gathering, analysis and dissemination as part of a project that aims to examine the experiences of Black mothers who were classified as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ways in which those mothers are meeting the educational needs of their children during remote learning. Jessica DeCuir-Gunby, Ph.D., professor of educational psychology and head of the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences, is a co-principal investigator.

NC State Improvement Project Institute of Higher Education Partnership 

This $10,000 grant funded by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction will help NC State faculty to become certified Reading Research to Classroom Practice or Foundations of Math instructors to allow related coursework to be integrated into pre-service teacher preparation. The project will allow faculty to make State Improvement Project materials available to pre-service teachers and develop a plan to place student-teachers in classrooms of teachers who have completed Reading Research to Classroom Practice or Foundations of Math Courses. Jamie Pearson, Ph.D., assistant professor of special education, is the project’s principal investigator.