NC State College of Education Awarded $2.4 Million in Grant Funding From January Through March, 2023

Faculty and researchers at the NC State College of Education, including the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, were awarded $2,452,886 to support nine projects from Jan. 1 through March. 31, 2023.

As of March 31, the college has spent $11,786,229.86 on research expenditures this fiscal year.

Building Evidence to Increase Rural Learner Success

This project, funded by a $490,200 grant from Ascendium, will allow the Belk Center to build upon and leverage their Rural College Leaders program to identify and test promising practices specific to low-income, adult and racially minoritized students. The study will examine what approaches are most effective for helping rural college leaders identify and implement promising policies and practices and measure the effects of policy and practice changes at Rural College Leaders program institutions on enrollment, retention and completion. W. Dallas Herring Professor and Belk Center Executive Director Audrey Jaeger is the project’s principal investigator. Belk Center Deputy Director Monica Clark and Associate Director of Research and Evaluation Holley Nichols are co-principal investigators.

NC Digital Equity Plan: Asset Inventory, Statewide Survey, Listening Sessions, Digital Equity Plan Review

This project, funded by a $415,778 grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology Services, will allow the Program Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) team at the Friday Institute to develop a digital equity asset inventory for North Carolina, including a review of existing digital equity and inclusion plans, surveys to determine which digital equity offerings are currently working well in the state and the development of a searchable digital equity access tool. Erin Huggins, acting associate director of PEER, is the project’s principal investigator.

Advancing Cybersecurity and Privacy of Educational Technology Used in K-12 Schools

This project, funded by a $413,141 grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to provide school administrators, technology support staff and teachers with deeper awareness and knowledge of cybersecurity to secure educational technologies, ask security and privacy-related questions to software providers, and take action to protect the digital privacy and security of their schools. Professor Florence Martin is the project’s principal investigator.

Integrating Language-Based AI Across the Curriculum to Create Diverse Pathways to AI-Rich Careers

This project, funded by a $385,921 grant from the National Science Foundation, will focus on natural language-based AI to develop and research a program that will integrate artificial intelligence concepts and practices into the existing high school curriculum. Assistant Professor Shiyan Jiang is the project’s principal investigator. Associate Professor Christy Byrd and Assistant Professor Amato Nocera are co-principal investigators.

BEAD Initial Planning and Development of 5-Year Action Plan

This project, funded by a $308,226 grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology Services, will allow the Friday Institute to provide technical assistance and support to assist the Department of Information Technology Services to develop the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Ray Zeisz, senior director of the Technology Infrastructure Lab at the Friday Institute, is the project’s principal investigator.

A Comprehensive Study of the North Carolina Supplemental Salary Fund

This project, funded by a $224,386 from the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory, will facilitate the evaluation of the implementation and impact of North Carolina’s supplemental salary fund, which included an $1,800 bonus for principals, a $2,800 bonus for most teachers and $100 million in recurring funds for a statewide supplemental fund focuses on helping low-wealth counties compete with bigger, weather counties when recruiting and retaining teachers. Assistant Professor Lam Pham is the project’s principal investigator.

Digital Safety Immersion for Elementary School Students

This project, funded by a $125,843 grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to increase cyber safety knowledge and skills among elementary-school students and teachers, and create digital safety awareness among parents of elementary-school students. Professor Florence Martin is the project’s principal investigator.

North Carolina Certified Career Pathways

This project, funded by a $49,999 grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, will explore the implications for practice, policy and designs for future research that could provide causal evidence of the impact of the Certified Career Pathways program, based on data quality and availability in North Carolina. Associate Professor James Bartlett is the project’s principal investigator. Associate Teaching Professor Michelle Bartlett is the co-principal investigator.

Digital Literacy Literature ReviewThis project, funded by a $12,392 grant from the Duke Endowment, will allow the Program Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) team at the Friday Institute to conduct an extensive, state-wide digital literacy literature review. Erin Huggins, acting associate director of PEER, is the project’s principal investigator. Friday Institute Research Associate Rebekah Davis is the co-principal investigator.