Inside IES Research

IES is proud to introduce the 2024-25 cohort of NCSER data science interns. These interns come to us through the U.S. State Department’s Virtual Student Federal Service Program. Under the mentorship of Sarah Brasiel, four students will support the NCSER by engaging in data mining from IES grants and related publications and creating visualizations to represent what IES has funded and learned. We asked this year’s interns to tell us about themselves, why they are interested in an internship, and a “fun fact” to share. Here’s what they said.

Aditya Daga

I am a rising sophomore at Rice University, studying computer science and statistics. Previously, I was a research intern with George Mason University, using machine learning to predict student failure based on their tendencies to procrastinate. My team was able to get our research published, and this experience got me very interested in the intersection between data science and education. When I saw the opening for the data science internship at the IES, I immediately applied because I want to continue using data science to make an impact in educational policies and practices. My career goal is to become a data scientist, and I believe this internship will provide me with necessary hands-on experience in applying data science to real-world challenges. Fun Fact: I have traveled to Dubrovnik, Croatia, where my favorite show, Game of Thrones, was filmed!

Marissa Kuehn               

I am a 4th-year undergraduate student at the University of Toledo. I am pursuing degrees in disability studies and data science. I am passionate about data and disability justice and aspire to blend analytics with advocacy. My current interests include examining the representation of people with disabilities in data practices and research and brainstorming changes to the collection and analysis of disability data that informs resource allocation, legislative changes, and more. My past work experience as a research assistant with Dr. Becca Monteleone on the Plain Truth Project, coursework in data science, lived experience of disability, and long-time passion for disability justice led me to this internship last year. I am excited to continue exploring data analysis and visualization techniques during a second internship this year because I enjoy the opportunity to apply what I’m learning in the classroom. After completion of my degrees, I hope to obtain a role in the data science field and continue my advocacy for disability justice. Fun Fact: I’m also an artist! I love making abstract watercolor paintings.

Sam Melenciuc

I am pursuing a master’s degree in information science at Pennsylvania State University. In the past, I have taken database classes that piqued my interest to continue learning more about data manipulation, analysis, and visualization. My goal for the future is to be surrounded by peers who are passionate about the work they do and encourage and challenge me to be a better worker and person all around. I truly believe this internship opportunity will open doors for me to collaborate with brilliant and talented minds where we will make an impact that matters. Fun Fact: The best view I’ve ever seen was at the top of a mountain in Madeira, Portugal.

Laura Roberts

I am a 2nd-year doctoral student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, focusing on special education. With 10 years of teaching experience covering mathematics in general education and special education at the secondary and elementary levels, I am excited to focus my research efforts on secondary students who struggle with math. This internship experience is a chance to broaden my knowledge of data science efforts and devote my time to the necessary and impactful work that NCSER contributes to the education field. Fun Fact: When not focusing on my studies, I enjoy spending time with my horse and dog at the farm I am fortunate to call home!

This blog was produced by Sarah Brasiel, NCSER program officer.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is delighted to announce the establishment of a new National Research and Development (R&D) Center on Improving Outcomes in Elementary Science Education. Both the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and IES are equally sharing the investment, with each contributing 50% of the total investment of $15 million.

Delivery of comprehensive, multidimensional science education across K-12 is a national challenge, requiring teaching and learning approaches that emphasize a deep understanding of core science topics, cross-cutting concepts, and scientific practices to answer pertinent questions and construct important scientific explanations. There is also a critical need for the development and validation of high-quality measures of elementary science achievement. The Center for Advancing Elementary Science through Assessment, Research, and Technology (CAESART) will address these needs.

A focus on elementary science increases opportunities to develop learners’ early pathways to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and careers, particularly among populations historically underrepresented in the STEM workforce, and to develop a well-informed citizenry. 

Through partnerships among STEM researchers, leaders, and practitioners at the state, district, and school level, CAESART will generate timely evidence on how to measure elementary student science learning and evaluate the efficacy of high-quality integrated science and literacy curricula to improve student science outcomes over time. The Center’s approach will include, but is not limited to:

• a landscape analysis of existing elementary science assessments,
• the development, testing, and validation of a set of technology-based assessments that utilize adaptive and game-based structures, and
• an evaluation of the impact of an integrated science curriculum on science learning using the developed assessments. 

“This new partnership with NSF goes beyond building much-needed evidence about science assessment and learning,” said acting IES director Matthew Soldner. “It reflects our shared commitment to improving student achievement in STEM, leveraging NSF’s unique role in supporting the development of high-quality programs and products and IES’s expertise in identifying what works, for whom, and under what conditions.”

CAESART will also provide national leadership in building capacity for rigorous science assessment, sharing resources, and offering workshops and mentoring for researchers, as well as collaborating with critical stakeholders to disseminate findings. CAESART will recruit participants nationally, with concentrations in Miami, Los Angeles, and the Northeast region of the country to increase generalizability across student populations. 

This Center is supported through a cooperative agreement to provide enhanced support with IES and NSF and to advance research and national leadership on effective elementary science education.

“By partnering with IES to support CAESART, NSF’s Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) is able to not only leverage its human and financial resources but also expand its investments in critical research and assessment methods that will transform early science education at its foundation for our youngest learners, ” said NSF assistant director for STEM Education, James L. Moore III. “It will allow researchers, in collaboration with science educators and students, to develop innovative curricular, tools, and approaches that will improve science instruction while ensuring that students across the nation have access to high-quality, learning experiences. My colleagues in EDU are looking forward to seeing the immediate and long-term impact the center will have in early science education across the nation and beyond.”

This blog was written by Christina Chhin (Christina.Chhin@ed.gov), Program Officer, NCER, and Laura Namy (Laura.Namy@ed.gov), Associate Commissioner, NCER.

IES announces a new National Research and Development (R&D) Center focusing on K-12 teacher recruitment and retention policy: the Center for Longitudinal Data in Education Research - Teacher Recruitment & Retention (CALDER-R&R). Shortages in the K-12 classroom teacher workforce are a longstanding problem and have worsened in recent years. The School Pulse Panel results indicate 44 percent of public schools reported having one or more vacant teaching positions during the fall of 2022, with greater rates in high-poverty communities (57 percent high-poverty versus 41 percent low-poverty) and in schools with higher minority populations (60 percent high-minority versus 32 percent low-minority). The overwhelming majority of schools attribute difficulties to filling vacancies to too few applicants. This Center will examine policies addressing teacher shortages and their impact on teachers, student learning, and equity. The policies address a range of shortage areas and operate at multiple stages of the teacher pipeline.

Specifically, the Center team will focus on the following policies:

• Grow-your-own initiatives designed to address teacher shortages and increase teacher diversity in high-needs districts
• Financial support to teacher candidates in exchange for work commitments
• Labor market information to teacher candidates intended to influence their decisions about specialization and job searching
• Licensure reforms that provide temporary licensure, change the cut scores required to pass licensure tests, or both
• Financial incentives, including salary floor policies, pay-for-performance policies, and financial incentives targeted to teachers in low-income schools and in specific shortage subject areas
• Teacher working conditions, including the 4-day school week, advanced teaching roles, and working conditions negotiated in collective bargaining agreements

To study these policies, the Center team will be using data from the following states: Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington. In addition, the Center team will be using data from school districts in the Atlanta, GA metro area as well as Houston, TX.

Researchers will use state longitudinal data systems and analytic approaches to estimate causal impacts. The Center will evaluate fidelity of implementation, explore how intended policies were translated into practice, and identify key contextual factors that may influence the generalizability of the results. The Center will document the costs and cost effectiveness of these policies. Via a survey of a nationally representative sample of teachers, the Center will seek to understand how the interventions are viewed outside the study settings and to understand how teachers view trade-offs associated with different interventions. Through its leadership and outreach activities, the Center will build on existing stakeholder networks to disseminate findings and inform next steps to improve research, practice, and policy around K-12 teacher recruitment and retention.

This new R&D Center was awarded as a cooperative agreement with IES. IES is looking forward to working with the new Center to advance education research, policy, and practice in this key education issue that faces our nation.

Map of Center for Longitudinal Data in Education Research - Teacher Recruitment & Retention (CALDER-R&R) Partner States

This blog was written by Wai-Ying Chow (Wai-Ying.Chow@ed.gov), program officer, NCER.

IES is pleased to announce the National Education Research and Development Center for Improving Rural Postsecondary Education. This Center will be the first rural R&D center to focus on improving access to postsecondary education and completion of postsecondary degrees and credentials for students from rural K-12 districts and locales. Center researchers will disaggregate findings about rural students to better understand variation by student subgroups including racial/ethnic groupings, levels of family income, and genders. Through this investment, IES will support research useful to leaders and staff in rural districts and high schools, administrators and practitioners at rural-serving colleges and universities, and state-level administrators and policymakers concerned with extending postsecondary opportunities to rural students.

This investment continues IES’s prior and ongoing investments in rural R&D centers which started in 2004 with the National Research Center on Rural Education Support (NCRES), and continued in 2009 with The National Center for Research on Rural Education. IES currently supports two rural R&D Centers: The National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN), and The National Center for Rural School Mental Health (NCRSMH): Enhancing the Capacity of Rural Schools to Identify, Prevent, and Intervene in Youth Mental Health Concerns. Specifically, this new Center expands on the work of NCRES, which explored the factors that influence postsecondary aspirations for rural African American, Latinx, and Native American high school students. One of the new Center’s eight studies will conduct a representative survey of rural students in three states to assess their postsecondary aspirations and choices.

The new rural Center plans an expansive research agenda that includes a national landscape study of rural students’ postsecondary enrollment and factors that contribute to their postsecondary success, drawing on National Center for Education Statistics data including district-level data collected through the Common Core of Data program and nationally-representative student-level data collected through the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. Six additional studies conducted across 10 states focus on rural students and the programs that support them in their transitions to and through college. In addition to the descriptive study of rural students aspirations mentioned above, five studies assess specific strategies for improving postsecondary access and success including dual enrollment programs for rural high school students, community-based organizations that encourage and facilitate college enrollment, supportive high school and postsecondary environments for African American students, the comprehensive Montana 10 student support program, and a train-in-place program for rural nursing students.

The Center will carry out a robust program of national leadership and dissemination. Leadership activities will include building the capacity of state agencies, rural-located practitioners, and early-career researchers to conduct research on rural students and rural-serving colleges and universities. Representatives from six state commissions and college systems, and advisory panels of external researchers and practitioners from across the country will guide the Center’s research. Five national organizations that partner with postsecondary institutions and advocate for student needs will assist the Center with disseminating its findings to broad audiences of policymakers, administrators, and practitioners that serve rural students and districts. At the conclusion of its work, the Center will publish a synthesis of its research findings and share it widely.

Map of Rural Postsecondary Education R&D Center Focus States

This blog was written by James Benson (James.Benson@ed.gov), program officer, NCER. 

Today’s announcement from IES is its latest effort to identify high-reward, quick turnaround, scalable solutions to improve education outcomes for all learners and to identify AI-related opportunities and risks.

IES is pleased to announce the newest set of Accelerate, Transform, Scale (ATS) Initiative investments: four National Research and Development (R&D) Centers focusing on Using Generative Artificial Intelligence to Augment Teaching and Learning in Classrooms (U-GAIN). These four new R&D Centers address the ATS Initiative’s objective to identify high-reward, quick turnaround, scalable solutions to improve education outcomes for all learners and eliminate persistent achievement and attainment gaps. Alongside the previously funded AI Institute for Exceptional Education and the AI Institute for Inclusive and Intelligent Technologies for Education, which were co-funded by IES and the National Science Foundation, these Centers are part of a broader IES effort IES to identify opportunities for AI to improve teaching and learning.      

The central purpose of these U-GAIN R&D Centers is to conduct research and provide national leadership on how the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) can make meaningful contributions to improve education processes and outcomes. While GenAI brings many new opportunities to reshape the work of educators with tools to augment teacher practice and to support student learning, it also poses new challenges and risks—including equity, privacy, and security concerns—particularly around its use with young learners and among learners from historically marginalized populations. These Centers will demonstrate how to integrate responsible AI practices throughout the research and development process, particularly in the education context. “Most importantly,” said Acting IES Director Matthew Soldner, “these new centers will design and scale GenAI tools that support student learning while enabling well-trained educators to do what they do best: ensuring every learner reaches their fullest potential.”

Each U-GAIN R&D Center will make a unique contribution to this important and timely topic, with two Centers focusing on the use of GenAI to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and two Centers focusing on improving literacy outcomes. The four U-GAIN R&D Centers are also interdisciplinary collaborations among universities, non-profits, and the technology industry, alongside partnerships with educators and local and state education agencies (see R&D Center state map for the locations of where the research institutions and data collection sites are located).  

The four U-GAIN Centers include:

National Center on Generative AI for Uplifting STEM+C Education (GENIUS Center) (R305C240010)

This Center aims to transform education through the development of a GenAI learning agent, GenAgent, to address the need for robust interdisciplinary science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computing (STEM+C) education for middle school students. GenAgent will serve as a mentor, learning buddy, collaborative learning agent, and teacher assistant to promote six key middle school science and engineering practices. Participating teachers and their students will come from middle schools in five states: Georgia, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee, and California.

 AmplifyGAIN: Generative AI for Transformative Learning (R305C240012)

This Center focuses on the use of GenAI to enhance mathematics and science teaching and learning in K-12 schools. They will conduct exploratory studies and longitudinal, nationwide surveys of teachers to discover use scenarios and refine theories of change about how GenAI tools can transform math and science teaching and learning. This will inform the development and implementation of Colleague AI—an AI-enhanced assistant—to empower teachers to compose rigorous, engaging, and inclusive lesson materials, conduct formative classroom assessments, and automatically score and generate diagnostic reports to personalize student feedback. Research on Colleague AI will be conducted primarily in Washington state school districts.

The Using Generative AI for Reading R&D Center (U-GAIN Reading) (R305C240040)

This Center will investigate how to integrate GenAI, aligned to scientific evidence about reading, to achieve strong, equitable gains for diverse elementary school students, with a specific focus on English learners (ELs). This research will generate (a) new knowledge about how to use generative AI to create content that matches each student’s interests and strengths, enable dialogues about the meaning of content, and adapt to a student’s progress and needs; (b) evidence about the benefits to ELs and all students of implementing this knowledge in a scalable reading platform; and (c) national leadership on how to support and sustain active reading among ELs in an age of AI. Research will take place in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Texas.

Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI (CELaRAI): Innovating Beginning Reading Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners (R305C240046)

This Center will explore how to harness the transformative power of GenAI to innovate K-2 beginning reading materials and support for independent reading. CELaRAI will focus on research and development of AI Reading Enhancer (AIRE), a student-facing tool to generate personalized text (AIRE Text Generator), conduct real-time reading analysis (AIRE Reading Analysis), and provide just-in-time literacy support (AIRE Text Enhancer). This project will take place in urban and suburban public elementary schools in New York, Michigan, and North Carolina that serve culturally and linguistically diverse students from low- to mid-socioeconomic-status families.

These four U-GAIN R&D Centers were awarded as cooperative agreements with IES to ensure that the research and national leadership provided on GenAI and education is centered around evidence and responsible uses of AI. IES is looking forward to working with the new Centers to advance education research, policy, and practice in this rapidly evolving space.

State Map of U-GAIN R&D Center Institutions and Research Site Locations

This blog was produced by Christina Chhin (christina.chhin@ed.gov) and Erin Higgins (erin.higgins@ed.gov), Program Officers in the National Center for Education Research.