The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology Awarded $33.3M in Grants in FY21 Fiscal Year

July-September 2020

Focusing on Learning, Interaction, and Play (FLIP) at Recess for Students with Severe Disabilities

PI: Matthew Brock
Amount: $3,299,986
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (IES); US Department of Education
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

For most elementary students, recess is a favorite time of the school day that is full of rich opportunities to play and socialize with friends. For students with severe disabilities (i.e., students with intellectual disability, autism, and/or multiple disabilities who qualify for their state’s alternate assessment), recess often looks very different. These students are typically on the periphery, rarely interacting or playing with their peers. Recess represents a missed opportunity for building social connections and developing social competence. FLIP (Focusing on Learning, Interaction, and Play at) Recess was developed to address these challenges by training and coaching peers in practical strategies for engaging and responding to students with severe disabilities. FLIP Recess has demonstrated feasibility of implementation in elementary schools, as well as promise for improving social interaction and appropriate play with peers for students with severe disabilities, but the efficacy of the intervention has not yet been tested in a large-scale study. Project Details

Developing Seamless Blended Learning through Collaborative In-class and Online Dialogue about Critical Civic Issues to Improve Elementary Students' Interpersonal Competencies and Academic Achievement

PI: Tzu-Jung Lin
Amount: $1,399,999
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (IES); US Department of Education
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

More elementary schools nowadays provide students with laptops and Internet connectivity, but limited research on blended learning has been done at the elementary level. This project aims to iteratively develop and evaluate a seamless blended dialogic intervention where the attributes of both face-to-face and online discussions reinforce each other to promote elementary students’ interpersonal competencies and academic achievement. Project Details

Supporting, Enhancing and Expanding the PSID-Cross-National Equivalent File

PI: Dean Lillard
Amount: $326,114
Sponsor: University of Michigan (NIH)
Department: Human Sciences

Buckeye Behavior Analysis Services

PI: Helen Malone
Amount: $70,314
Sponsor: Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities
Department: Educational Studies

This contract represents an ongoing partnership between OSU and the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Two graduate students work at West Central School exploring different practices and preparing subsequent staff trainings that highlight how to implement practices that are effective in leading to vocational and community skill acquisition, generalization, and maintenance.

Building Local Collaborative Capacity for Selecting, Implementing and Evaluating Evidence-Based Interventions

PI: Ann O’Connell
Amount: $775,817
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (IES); US Department of Education
Department: Educational Studies

The purpose of this training program is to help build the capacity of higher-education faculty, education researchers, and staff of local and state education agencies to effectively use evidence-based interventions to improve student and school outcomes. The program will train the participants in evaluation methods that are centered around the cycle of continuous improvement. Project Details

Summer Success at Home 2020-2021

PI: Laura Justice
Amount: $92,618
Sponsor: City of Columbus
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

Ketone kinetics, Clinical Effects and GI Tolerability of Bis Hexanoyl-(R)-1,3-Butanediol in Healthy Adult Subjects

PI: Jeff Volek
Amount: $58,024
Sponsor: BHB Therapeutics
Department: Human Sciences

State of Wyoming Assessment of Child Care Subsidy Program

PI: Laura Justice
Amount: $126,664
Sponsor: State of Wyoming, Department of Family Services
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

Sustainable, Systems-based Solutions for Ensuring Low-moisture Food Safety

PI: Robert Scharff
Amount: $503,234
Sponsor: Michigan State University
Department: Human Sciences

Penetrating the Classroom Social Network for Children with Language Impairment via Peer-mediated Intervention

PI: Laura Justice
Amount: $429,000
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

This exploratory experiment is designed to determine the extent to which the socialization experiences and social, behavioral, and linguistic skills of preschoolers with language impairment (LI) can be improved. This study uses peer-mediated intervention in inclusive preschool classrooms to improve the socialization processes and experiences of children with language impairment (LI). Using an innovative social-network approach and extensive observations and technologies to monitor dynamic socialization experiences over an academic year, we examine intervention effects on children with LI in terms of peer interactions and peer talk, as well as mediated effects on social, behavioral, and language development. Project Details

Facilitating Pathways to Success for High-Achieving Pre-Collegiate African American Males in STEM

PI: Edward Fletcher
Amount: $1,498,259
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Department: Educational Studies

Using a funds of knowledge approach and mixed research methods, the investigators plan to study the school supports, schooling experiences, academic engagement, course-taking patterns, and family support systems of high-achieving African American male students. In addition to providing narratives of how African American male students succeed in high school and in STEM, the research project will help to pinpoint those factors that support the STEM participation and success of high-achieving, low-income African American males participating in high school STEM academies. Findings from this research will be shared through academic publications as well as through podcasts, webcasts and research briefs. These findings can inform the development innovative high school strategies and programs that encourage and promote the academic and career success of high-achieving, African American males, who are interested in STEM. Additionally, the findings have implications beyond the African American males in the study; they have applicability to other African American males, as well as other groups underrepresented in STEM. Project Details

Career-technical Education (CTE) Teacher Education Programs FY2021

PI: Chris Zirkle
Amount: $112,000
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Educational Studies

This grant from the Ohio Department of Education provides funding to support the licensure program in career and technical education in Workforce Development and Education. Activities funded by the grant include a summer workshop for new career-technical education teachers and outreach and technical assistance to more than 30 Ohio school districts, including onsite teacher mentoring.

Preventing Opioid Misuse and Abuse in Rural Ohio through Enhanced Family and Community Education and Training

PI: Michael Betz
Amount: $1,055,166
Sponsor: HHS SAMHSA
Department: Human Sciences

This project addresses a critical need in Ohio’s opioid mitigation strategy by creating a sustainable opioid prevention framework that compliments existing treatment and recovery efforts in the state. The Ohio Prevention Partnership (OPP) is a collaboration between The Ohio State University and local community partners to develop sustainable community teams who deliver coordinated implementation of quality evidence-based and evidence-informed opioid prevention programs in high-need communities. Our project will leverage OPP’s experience creating community prevention frameworks and use SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) to assess local community partners’ technical capacity to plan and implement successful community-forward programs. Once communities are assessed, OPP will help communities form multi-disciplinary teams committed to a shared interest in opioid prevention programming. OPP will then guide the community in selecting evidence-based and/or evidence-informed opioid prevention programs from the broad categories of family-based parent/child relationship skill building, school-based youth resilience training, youth and adult mental health crisis identification and response training, and prescription opioid safety. This project will serve some of the highest need rural communities in Ohio, a state that has led the nation in overdose deaths for six consecutive years.

FY 2021 The Ohio State University Services to Support the Ohio Aspire Professional Development Network

PI: Traci Lepicki
Amount: $301,356
Sponsor: Kent State University
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

Since 1995, CETE has provided leadership and coordination of statewide adult education activities in collaboration with the state Aspire office at the Ohio Department of Higher Education, local programs, and a network of professional development providers. We use a process of continuous improvement to realign to the state Aspire office strategic goals and priorities, ensuring that activities align with the best interest of Aspire programs and adult learners throughout Ohio. 

FY21 Technical Testing Project

PI: James Austin
Amount: $1,332,183
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

The Technical Testing Project operated by CETE Assessment Services includes two key components: design of test items (i.e., questions) and delivery of tests for the Ohio Career-Technical Education (CTE) Technical Testing System. Test delivery also requires end-user support for the field, especially at peak times of the year, month, and day. 

October-December 2020

FY20-21 Enhancement of the Virtual Lab School, a Comprehensive Professional Development System for Childcare Professionals

PI: Sarah Lang
Amount: $1,980,000
Sponsor: US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA)
Department: Human Sciences

The Virtual Lab School (VLS) provides child care professionals an opportunity to advance their knowledge and skill set through an easy to navigate online professional development system. Designed for the U.S. Department of Defense, the VLS is used by military-affiliated child care and youth development providers to ensure all staff working with military families are equipped to provide holistic, developmentally-appropriate care for children. The flexible nature of the VLS training material allows participants to learn at their own pace, from evidence-based content, videos, and interactive learning materials while receiving support from highly-trained coaches. The VLS training content offers distinct learning tracks for center-based professionals including direct care providers (infant/toddler, preschool, and school-age), coaches and program managers, as well as family child care providers.

Constructing, Validating, and Testing the Predictive Power of Life-Course Health Histories

PI: Dean Lillard
Amount: $426,147
Sponsor: NIH
Department: Human Sciences

State Youth Treatment-Implementation (Part 7)

PI: David Julian
Amount: $78,000
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

Ohio is engaged in a cooperative agreement with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). States develop and implement a comprehensive, strategic plan to improve treatment for transitional-aged youth (aged 16-25) with substance-use disorders (SUD) and or co-occurring substance-use and mental health disorders. Such plans are designed to ensure that youth have access to evidence-based assessments, treatment models and recovery services. The planning process brings together stakeholders across systems serving transitional-aged youth to plan and implement a coordinated, statewide network that develops policies, expands workforce capacity, disseminates evidence-based practices, and implements financial mechanisms and other reforms. The aim is to improve the integration and efficiency of the treatment and recovery support system.

The Role of Lecithin in Carotenoid Bioaccessibility and Bioavailability

PI: Rachel Kopec
Amount: $39,261
Sponsor: Nu Skin Enterprises
Department: Human Sciences

The focus of this work is to understand how a proprietary blend of phospholipids influence the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of common carotenoids. Both in vitro digestion and Caco-2 cell models are being employed to answer these questions.

Racial Justice and Equity in Early Childhood Settings

PI: Kenyona Walker
Amount: $9,942
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

The Racial Justice and Equity in Early Childhood Settings project was undertaken by The Ohio State University Center on Education and Training for Employment’s (CETE) Equity, Engagement, and Evaluation team in partnership with the Ohio Department of Education’s Head Start Collaboration Office. CETE associates designed online professional development modules to enhance the capacity of Ohio’s early childhood providers to understand and mitigate their implicit biases and identify opportunities to incorporate a racial justice and equity focus into their classroom practices.

City of Columbus' Pre-kindergarten Initiative 2020-2021: Ready4Success

PI: Sherine Tambyraja
Amount: $268,000
Sponsor: City of Columbus
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC)

SPDG Family & Community Engagement for Early Language and Literacy

PI: Barbara Boone
Amount: $100,000
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

In collaboration with the Ohio Department of Education, CETE has developed and implement professional development and tools for educators to increase skill proficiency in family and community engagement targeted to supporting students’ early language and literacy. The professional development is delivered as the Partnerships for Literacy program and through online modules, Partnering with Families for Early Literacy. Teams from 15 Ohio school districts and 16 Ohio regional State Support Teams as well as the Ohio Department of Education, have been trained and will continue to receive coaching and technical assistance in the fifth year of the project.

Early Childhood Education Expansion Grant - Year 2020-2021

PI: Annaliese Johnson
Amount: $60,000
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Schoenbaum Family Center

Developing a National Research Agenda for STEM Education for Students with Visual Impairments (VI)

PI: Tiffany Wild
Amount: $88,539
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Department: Teaching and Learning

The conference will convene researchers and other stakeholders to develop a STEM education research plan that will focus on STEM education of students with visual impairments. The goal is to identity and prioritize agenda topics that address the needs of this population, and to build capacity to conduct robust research focused on those needs. The conference agenda will include an analysis of gaps in the research, appropriate methodologies for this type of research, and strategies for translating the research to practice. The project is expected to advance knowledge and understanding about STEM education for students with visual impairments by defining a focused research agenda and positioning scholars who can conduct high quality fundamental STEM education research and build a community of practice. Project Details

ODE Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant

PI: Annaliese Johnson
Amount: $393,749
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Schoenbaum Family Center

This project provides support for literacy initiatives at the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning and positions our program as a model demonstration site for Ohio Department of Education in language and literacy education of young children.

Reading and Playing with Math: Promoting Preschoolers' Math Language through Picture Books and Play Activities

PI: Jessica Logan
Amount: $88,539
Sponsor: Purdue University (IES)
Department: Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this study is to develop, refine, and evaluate a new math language intervention, Reading and Playing with Math (RP-Math). Math language is the specific content language (e.g., words and concepts such as more, fewer, a lot, many) that has distinct meanings when used in math contexts. It is one of the strongest predictors of growth in numeracy skills, yet there are currently no empirically supported tools for providing instruction in this domain. This project will iteratively develop picture books, guided play activities, session guides, and professional development (PD) modules in collaboration with teachers. They will then test and refine the feasibility of implementation and usability of RP-Math with teachers. Finally, they will conduct a small-scale cluster randomized trial to examine the promise of the fully developed RP-Math, and gather information about the cost to deliver the intervention.

Addressing Obesity to Reduce Cancer Risk and Health Disparities in Under-served Populations

PI: Brian Focht
Amount: $165,000
Sponsor: American Institute for Cancer Research
Department: Human Sciences

The primary aim of this project is to determine the feasibility of a 15-week telephone-based lifestyle intervention combining exercise and diet for weight loss in obese rural populations. The exploratory aim is to estimate the preliminary efficacy of the lifestyle intervention in weight loss, body composition, lipid profiles, and inflammation biomarkers. We hypothesize that a 15-week telephone weight loss intervention with the group-mediated activity that tailored to rural populations is feasible and will produce moderate effect size in weight loss, improvements in body composition and inflammation biomarkers.

Orientation & Mobility Project

PI: Danene Fast
Amount: $150,303
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Higher Education
Department: Teaching and Learning

Prevention of OUD: The HOME (Housing, Opportunities, Motivation and Engagement) Randomized Trial - Phase II

PI: Natasha Slesnick
Amount: $5,578,877
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Department: Human Sciences

This study will provide essential information for researchers and providers on the efficacy of housing + opioid and related risk prevention services in an RCT on opioid use, how moderators affect the response, and mechanisms underlying change. This project utilizes existing efficacious models of prevention to generate valuable new information critical to prevention services delivery for a special population of highly vulnerable youth. Because youth experiencing homelessness are at increased risk for a variety of adverse outcomes, the proposed intervention may produce substantial health-care benefits to the youths and society at large. Project Details

Next Steps in Interfaith Innovations: Introducing the Welcoming Worldview Index

PI: Matthew Mayhew
Amount: $220,469
Sponsor: Arthur Vining Foundation
Department: Educational Studies

This project addresses the lack of attention to welcoming worldview climate in the college choice process and the need for prospective college students to choose institutions suitable for their religious and spiritual needs. This project leverages data collected through the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS). Using these pre-collected and nationally-representative data, and through careful empirical analysis, this project will identify an array of policies, practices, and conditions that make some institutions more welcoming for worldview diversity from the student perspective. A survey will then gauge what an institution is, or is not, doing to create a welcoming worldview climate. The resulting data will be compiled to create the Interfaith, Spiritual, Religious, and Secular Campus Climate Index — or INSPIRES Index. This project has two goals: First, the INSPIRES Index will provide students with valuable information for college selection. Second, the INSPIRES Index incentivizes institutions to improve their worldview climate continually by providing data for both internal and external benchmarking efforts.

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI): The Career Exploration Lab: 3D Printing and STEM Engagement for High School Students with Visual Impairments and their Educators

PI: Tiffany Wild
Amount: $74,908
Sponsor: San Jose State University (NSF)
Department: Teaching and Learning

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). For these students with visual impairments (VI), the possibility of a future in astronomy, or any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field, seems daunting. To help address this, the project will develop and research STEM Career Exploration Labs (CELs) for high school students with VI, using astronomy and 3D printing to bolster their interests in and knowledge of STEM and STEM careers, as well as their STEM skills. Project Details

City of Columbus' Landscape Study 2020-2021

PI: Laura Justice
Amount: $119,467
Sponsor: City of Columbus
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

Coordination of Regional Family-community Engagement Network: IDEA Parent, Community, and Educator Collaboration FY 21

PI: Barbara Boone
Amount: $134,886
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

For this project of CETE with the Ohio Department of Education there are two primary areas of action: 1) Supports and services for a state Family and Community Engagement Network – a community of practice for the Ohio Department of Education’s 16 State Support Teams and other key state partners. The Network’s purpose is to strengthen Ohio’s multi-tiered system of supports for families of students receiving special education services and other families facing significant challenges. These supports and services entail professional development and networking opportunities, webinars, onsite and virtual technical assistance, and support for regional implementation of high impact family engagement practices directed to families of students with disabilities, families of other vulnerable students, and school districts and 2) The implementation and reporting of results of a state-wide family survey for families of students with disabilities. This survey, while directly supporting ODE’s accountabilities of federal reporting of Special Education, also provides the Ohio Department of Education and Ohio LEAs and their partners with valuable information for improving services to families of students with disabilities.

Early Start Columbus

PI: Annaliese Johnson
Amount: $60,000
Sponsor: City of Columbus
Department: Schoenbaum Family Center

Snacking on Eggs to Potentiate Vitamin E and K Bioavailability

PI: Sisi Cao
Amount: $20,000
Sponsor: American Egg Board/Egg Nutrition Center
Department: Human Sciences

This project will assess the time-dependent effect of eggs on the bioavailability of plant-derived vitamins E and K, both of which are inadequate in most Americans’ diets. The expected outcome will support a new dietary strategy of eggs as a healthy snack option to help Americans overcome their suboptimal status of vitamins E and K.

January-March 2021

HOME + Suicide Treatment Education and Prevention (STEP) Project

PI: Natasha Slesnick
Amount: $683,009
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Department: Human Sciences

This Competitive Revision (CR) collects additional measures of suicide risk and evaluates the secondary benefits of housing first combined with preventive interventions to reduce suicidal ideation (SI) and related outcomes over time. Given the anticipated severity of suicide risk in our sample of youth experiencing homelessness, we will add “STEP” to the parent study’s preventive interventions targeting opioid use, including additional screening procedures and Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CTSP) for those at high risk for suicide.

Changing the Landscape for Adolescent Health Equity and Access in Central Ohio

PI: Eric Anderman
Amount: $683,009
Sponsor: Nationwide Children’s Hospital (HHS)
Department: Educational Studies

This is a collaborative three-year grant, between the College of Education and Human Ecology at Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The goal of the project is to eliminate inequities in adolescent health. The project uses Get Real, a proven effective pregnancy prevention curriculum, while expanding access to school-based and reproductive healthcare to address critical healthcare gaps in high need areas of Franklin County, Ohio. The project will enhance the impact of the interventions through supportive services including peer, parent, and summer programming. The project aims to serve 3,010 middle school students annually.

CACFP Renewal

PI: Annaliese Johnson
Amount: $47,544
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education (USDA)
Department: Schoenbaum Family Center

This project is part of the federal food program which supports the breakfast, lunch and snack costs here at the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning.

Translating Research into School-based Practice via Small-group, Language-focused Comprehension Intervention

PI: Shayne Piasta
Amount: $1,209,975
Sponsor: MGH Institute of Health Professions (NIH)
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Teaching and Learning

The long-term goal of this research is to translate years of federally-funded basic science on comprehension processes and interventions to provide elementary-age children with strong, school-based language stimulation to improve reading comprehension. The short-term goal of this proposal is to stimulate language and comprehension skills in Grade 1 children at risk for reading comprehension failure by testing the efficacy of a modified, small-group, version of the Let’s Know! intervention, which has shown to be efficacious as a whole-class curriculum. Project Details

ToxMSDT: An Innovative Toxicology Pathway Mentoring Program Targeting Underrepresented STEM Students

PI: Ana-Paula Correia
Amount: $210,271
Sponsor: University of California – Davis (NIH)
Department: Educational Studies

Family and Community Partnership Liaisons (CARES Act) Project

PI: Barbara Boone
Amount: $50,000
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) is committed to building the capacity of Ohio LEAs to engage and support the families of all students, particularly students with disabilities; English learners; migrant, justice involved and military students; and students experiencing homelessness and foster care. This support is being provided through Family and Community Engagement Liaisons in Ohio’s Educational Service Centers (ESC). The capacity of Liaisons, placed in proximity to LEAs, is being developed to support their provision of accurate and meaningful technical assistance to school administrators and families to improve identification; enrollment and transfers; and increase communication, outreach, and engagement.

Parent Mentor Oversight and Professional Development Project

PI: Kenyona Walker
Amount: $224,993
Sponsor: Ohio Department of Education
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

Employed by districts, Parent Mentors collaborate to form strong partnerships between families and schools. The primary structure for providing supports state-wide are the State Support Teams (SSTs) in 16 regions, and the Parent Mentors work alongside them to provide the families of students with disabilities consistent, strong support. The project team will support the professional development of Parent Mentors from the region through coaching, targeted services and supports in collaboration with ODE. The regional structure will build upon the existing broad system of supports for families and develop new connections between dyad teams and regional organizations and agencies.

Cost-effective Management of Produce Safety Risks (COMPOSAR)

PI: Robert Scharff
Amount: $560,715
Sponsor: University of Florida (USDA)
Department: Human Sciences

April-June 2021

Policy Meets Urban Schooling: Black High School Students Educational Pathways Under the Missouri Transfer Law

PI: Lori Patton Davis
Amount: $25,870
Sponsor: Spencer Foundation
Department: Educational Studies

The research question for this study is ‘How did the implementation of the Missouri Transfer Law (MTL) affect the educational pathways of Black students attending the unaccredited Normandy High School (NHS)?’ The study examines students’ educational pathways and perspectives resulting from MTL implementation, which requires unaccredited districts to pay tuition and transportation for students to attend schools in adjacent districts or approved charter schools. NHS, is located in a predominantly Black, high poverty suburb of St. Louis, MO, the country’s 3rd most multidimensionally-hypersegregated city. Repeated disenfranchisement of Black communities and eruption of racial tensions following Michael Brown’s (a NHS graduate) death meant NHS students experienced schooling at a tumultuous time under MTL implementation. This study is significant for understanding how a seemingly innocuous education policy led to near dismantling of schools, populated by racially, socially and economically disadvantaged children. Despite MTL coverage, voices of Black students are scarce yet critical to understanding the impact of the MTL on their experiences and educational pathways, as some remained at NHS while others transferred to wealthier, white schools. No studies substantively center Black students’ voices, while critically analyzing the MTL during a racially tense time in St. Louis, a gap this study addresses.

The OSU Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership Extension Year 1

PI: Don Fuzer
Amount: $1,067,508
Sponsor: HHS Administration for Children and Families
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC)

The Ohio State University Early Head Start Child Care Partnership was founded within the Schoenbaum Family Center in 2015 through a renewable five-year $18 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. In March 2021, the Partnership program was awarded additional expansion funding of a renewable five-year $10 million dollar grant award. The program provides high-quality early education for eligible children and families and does so through its unique partnership model. The OSU-Early Head Start network is comprised of thirteen childcare centers, eleven family child care providers, numerous community agencies and five OSU colleges and departments. By pulling together these groups, the OSU-EHS Partnership Program maximizes the unique strengths of each group and deploys a “two-generation” approach to poverty alleviation. Partners work together to provide a wide range of services that include high-quality early childhood education (for 263 children from birth to age four); professional development, coaching, and curriculum support for early childhood professionals; parent coaching and home visiting; well-checks and vision screenings for children; and resources for families. The program was recognized by the Bipartisan Policy Center as a top partnership program in the country and continues to impact children and families throughout Franklin County.

Irwin NCH Teen Pregnancy Research Pilot (OBBO + CelebrateOne)

PI: Eric Anderman
Amount: $33,436
Sponsor: Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Department: Educational Studies

This funding will be used to support a graduate research assistant on a collaborative project between the College of Education and Human Ecology at Ohio State and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The goal of the project is to eliminate inequities in adolescent health. The project uses Get Real, a proven effective pregnancy prevention curriculum, while expanding access to school-based and reproductive healthcare to address critical healthcare gaps in high need areas of Franklin County, Ohio. The project will enhance the impact of the interventions through supportive services including peer, parent, and summer programming. The project aims to serve 3,010 middle school students annually.

Analysis of K-12 Educational Jurisprudence Among the United States Circuit Courts

PI: Rhodesia McMillian
Amount: $72,074
Sponsor: Spencer Foundation
Department: Educational Studies

Believe it or not, the term “education” cannot be found in the United States Constitution. There is, however, an inference of education written in the 14^th Amendment. Education has primarily been the responsibility of the states and litigation relative to student’s right to education has traditionally been remanded to the states and lower courts. On April 23, 2020 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled—in the case of Gary B. v. Whitmer—that, according to the United States Constitution, students have “a fundamental right” to a “basic minimum education.” This decision sets resounding precedence across other court circuits; inspiring the foundation for states to revise public school funding policies. Similarly, cases such as Cook v. Raimondo and Indigo Williams, et al. v. Phil Bryant et al have also centered the vital query—do American students have a constitutional right to education? This study is significant for examining the shifting jurisprudence toward determining if American students have a constitutional right to education.

Speech Therapy Experiences in Public Schools

PI: Laura Justice
Amount: $1,700,000
Sponsor: Institute for Education Sciences (IES)
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

The purpose of this project is to explore the role of speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs) talk in facilitating the language growth of children with language impairment receiving therapy in the public elementary schools. Language ability undergirds most areas of school achievement, including reading, writing, math, and pro-social functioning. It is also important in its own right, as language ability is foundational to one’s ability to communicate. There is a great need for educational research focused on mechanisms by which to influence children’s language growth, particularly for children with disabilities. In this study, the research team will use previously collected data to study the role of SLPs’ child-directed talk across three domains (quantity, complexity, responsivity) as a potential mechanism for language growth in children with language impairment. The team will also conduct a feasibility study to test whether an adaptive feedback system can affect the complexity of SLP talk during therapy sessions. Project Details

Leveraging Sensing Systems in Early Education: Transforming Understanding of Critical Features of Young Children's Classroom Experiences

PI: Laura Justice
Amount: $1,000,000
Sponsor: Spencer Foundation
Department: Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy (CCEC); Educational Studies

In the first study to use the innovative technology of radio frequency identification and voice recorders to analyze preschoolers’ social networks over time, faculty experts in early childhood development, engineering, physics and psychology from three universities will collaborate to examine a central research question: To what extent do peer social networks — that is, small groups of children — influence children’s language development in inclusive preschool settings over the course of an academic year? Knowledge gained from this study will help create an intervention for use by children’s peers to support more inclusive preschool classrooms, particularly for children with disabilities or language impairment. The researchers will also study how children’s social-emotional development is affected through peer social networks. 

Developing a Family and Community Engagement Toolkit for the Urban League of Greater Cleveland - Equity and Excellence in Education Institute

PI: Barbara Boone
Amount: $75,000
Sponsor: The Leadership Academy
Department: Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE)

The CETE Family Engagement Program team is partnering with The Ohio Education Leadership Learning Consortium of the greater Cleveland area in the development of an online toolkit of resources for families. For this project, CETE will gather stakeholder input from families of school age children in the greater Cleveland area along with input from education and organization leaders. Building upon these insights and incorporating research-based practices, the toolkit components will be developed and catalogued. The toolkit will be available to families, the Urban League, area schools and community organizations to equip and empower families as active partners in advocating for their child’s education and for equity and quality in the education system.

Exploring the Economic Role of Polygenic Scores in Dynamic Health Decision-making to Inform Primary Care Prevention Counseling

PI: Dean Lillard
Amount: $4,401,156
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Department: Human Sciences

The project will explore the economic and social effects the mitigation policies and information environment that COVID-19 spawned. We will link those policies to data from ongoing household-based panel studies from 10 countries and rich administrative data from an eleventh. We will exploit the substantial intra and inter-country temporal and geographic variation in non-pharmacological intervention policies induced by the COVID-19 disease. That variation, coupled with pre-COVID baseline levels or long-running trends in the outcomes we will study, will identify the effects of the mitigation policies. Project Details