Announcements
June 2010
MCPER awarded $20 million grant, the largest in College of Education history
MCPER has been awarded a $20 million, 5-year grant by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the largest ever received by the UT College of Education. The grant will fund research projects that contribute to and support the IES Reading for Understanding Research Initiative. The initiative’s primary aim is to improve students’ reading comprehension from prekindergarten to 12th grade. MCPER will target 7th- through 12th-grade learners. See the UT News article on the grant here.
MCPER announces Summer Methodology Series
MCPER is set to launch its Summer Methodology Series, featuring presentations on various methodological topics. The monthlong series is open to all interested College of Education faculty, staff, and students. College of Education faculty members will lead the presentations.
- Intermediate Power Analysis: Dr. Brandon Vaughn, assistant professor, Department of Educational Psychology
- Intermediate Item Response Theory: Dr. Barbara Dodd, professor, Department of Educational Psychology
- Intermediate Latent Variable Modeling: Dr. Tiffany Whittaker, assistant professor, Department of Educational Psychology
- Extensions of Basic Multilevel Models: Dr. Tasha Beretvas, associate professor, Department of Educational Psychology
MCPER postdoctoral fellow selected to attend Workshop on Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis in Education
Angie Hairrell, 2008 postdoctoral fellow, has been selected to attend the Workshop on Quasi-Experimental Design and Analysis in Education. Sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences and the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, the workshop will feature Dr. Thomas Cook and Dr. William Shadish.
MCPER researchers present at the Pacific Coast Research Conference
Researchers from several MCPER projects and institutes presented at the 18th annual Pacific Coast Research Conference, held February 4–7 in Coronado, California. MCPER researchers included Elizabeth Swanson and Sharon Vaughn for the Collaborative Strategic Reading project; Jade Wexler, Sharon Vaughn, Greg Roberts, and Carolyn Denton for the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities; Brian Bryant, Diane Bryant, Kathleen Hughes, and Jennifer Porterfield for the Mathematics Institute for Learning Disabilities and Difficulties; and Elizabeth Swanson, Sharon Vaughn, Diane Bryant, Stephen Ciullo, and Michael Solis for the Reading Institute. The presentations and posters from the conference are posted in our Library.
Reading Institute publishes articles in two journals
Researchers with MCPER’s Reading Institute recently published articles in two peer-reviewed, scholarly journals. “Why Intensive Interventions Are Necessary for Students With Severe Reading Difficulties,” published in the journal Psychology in Schools, reviews research related to intensive interventions within a response to intervention framework. “A Test of the Cerebellar Hypothesis of Dyslexia in Adequate and Inadequate Responders to Reading Intervention,” published in Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, concludes that there is little evidence to support the association of cerebellar functions with reading difficulties. The articles are posted in our Library.
MCPER sourcebook offers strategies for middle school teachers of struggling readers
Developed with funding from The Meadows Foundation and the Texas Education Agency, Effective Instruction for Middle School Students With Reading Difficulties: The Reading Teacher’s Sourcebook offers middle school reading teachers an overview of research-based instructional approaches for teaching struggling readers. The sourcebook is posted in our Library.