Research

Project Title
Grant Number
Funding Body
Role
Description
Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students
R305N160050
IES
Co-PI
As part of the Early Learning Network, the purpose of this project is to develop a classroom observation tool that researchers and practitioners can use to assess aspects of classroom quality that are associated with positive literacy, math, and social-behavioral outcomes in preschool and early elementary school.
Exploring the relationships between language and literacy in bilingual children with language impairment
N/A
SDSU
UGP
PI
The research questions to be addressed in this project are 1) what are within-language and cross-language correlations between language and reading abilities in bilingual children with DLD? 2) Do these correlations significantly differ from the parallel correlations among bilingual children without language impairment? And 3) What child-level and classroom-level factors are predictive of better reading performance as measured by a standardized measure of reading comprehension and comprehension performance on experimental intervention texts.
Classroom experiences of DLLs with and without language impairment
N/A
NIH LRP
PI
This loan repayment award from NIDCD and renewal from NICHD supports secondary analyses of the OLOS data mentioned above to explore how classroom experiences of bilingual children with and without language impairment may vary systematically when compared to their monolingual, typically developing peers.
Developing Spanish A2i Computerized Adaptive Progress Monitoring Assessments for PreK to Third Grade
R305A210136
IES
Co-PI
The purpose of this project is to create a complementary Spanish version of the psychometrically robust English Assessment-to-Instruction (A2i) computer adaptive, progress monitoring literacy assessments. The A2i-Adquisición de Lectura en Español (A2i-ALE) will allow teachers to track literacy growth in dual language learners (DLLs) in grades PK–3rd. A2i-ALE assessments will be delivered online, to maximize utility and feasibility through easy to use and efficient computerized adaptive interfaces in Spanish.
Personalizing literacy instruction for English learners
R305A210077
IES
Co-PI
This project involves three aims. Through direct assessment and classroom observation, we aim to (1) examine the nature of and the variability in literacy instruction in EL classrooms; and (2) using the information gleaned from these observations coupled with students’ language and literacy skills, examine whether the effect of instruction on ELs’ later language and literacy outcomes depends on the skills they bring to the classroom—that is, we will examine the child characteristics by instruction interaction effects on their language and literacy outcomes. Finally, we aim to (3) optimize and modify the Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) algorithms (Connor, 2013), which compute recommended amounts and types of literacy instruction, so that they are predictive of ELs’ instructional needs.
EMBRACE: A reading comprehension intervention for dual language learners with language impairment
1324807
NSF
Doctoral Student
The purpose of this project is to examine the efficacy of an iPad-based reading comprehension intervention, EMBRACE, for Spanish-English dual language learners (DLL) with language impairment.