Examining the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools Model on Middle School Students’ Reading Achievement

In effort to curb summer learning loss, the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools program identifies as a six-week summer literacy program for students in grades K-12. This study explored the impact of the Freedom School program on 128 middle school students’ reading achievement using Johns (2005) Basic Reading Inventory. Findings support the program’s effectiveness in increasing students’ reading outcomes, as demonstrated in the existent literature, but unlike other studies, data provided for both independent and instructional levels across three fluency indicators. In recognition of heightened state of summer learning loss for students with lack of access to quality enrichment summer programming, the study reveals the program\u27s positive impact and academic outcomes for student participants. Implications for future research that examine longitudinal impacts of the program and the value in utilizing multicultural literature are provided

Higher Education Liaisons for Students Experiencing Homelessness: Role Preparation and Professional Development Needs

Homelessness among college students is an increasing concern on campuses across the U.S. Homelessness during college is associated with food insecurity, mental health concerns, and academic challenges including dropped classes, low GRE, and delayed degree completion. Homeless education liaisons—a role often filled by financial aid officers—are tasked with assisting students experiencing homelessness as the students navigate systems of support for basic needs while pursuing their degrees. Little is known about the perspectives or experiences of these professionals in terms of their role as a liaison. Our aim was to inform efforts to support these professionals by gaining an understanding of the knowledge and experiences of liaisons and their professional development preferences and needs. Based on survey data collected from 49 liaisons in four states, we identified gaps in understanding of college student homelessness, such as underestimates of the rate of student homelessness. We pinpointed areas of potential professional development including methods to identify and reach all students at risk for or experiencing homelessness and approaches for collaboration with community partners. We found that liaisons welcomed professional development and preferred online training and peer support as approaches to gain knowledge and skills to fulfill their critical roles

Qualitative Research Evaluation Citations

All citations found that relate to evaluating qualitative research

Investigating the McNair Program and alumni outcomes.

The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is a federal program designed to support students from first-generation, low-income, and racial or ethnic minority households. However, little research has been conducted to determine how effective this program is in helping these marginalized students succeed in enrolling, persisting, or graduating from graduate school. For this reason, this dissertation will provide two studies to investigate if and to what extent the program supports students. The first paper is a systematic literature review that synthesizes all peer-reviewed work regarding the program’s effectiveness. Findings from this review suggest that the program does benefit participants. Specifically, the program provides academic, financial, social, and affective benefits to current and former alumni. From this review, multiple gaps were found. Few studies examine student progress through a graduate student theoretical lens and over a long period of time. As such, the second paper is an embedded explanatory case study to examine how the program supported students throughout the phases of doctoral study. Twelve alumni from one top program participated in the study, indicating that the program benefited them during their undergraduate degree until after they attained their doctoral degree. These supports were in four major areas: academic, financial, social (peers), and social (faculty/staff). Supports varied in type and intensity depending on the phase of the doctoral program. Results suggest the program should continue to be funded and programs should incorporate formal and informal programming to reap the most benefits for its students

Qualitative Differences: Continuing the Conversation on Open Science Practices for Qualitative Research with Rachel Renbarger, Sondra Stegenga, Crystal Steltenpohl & Thomas Lösch

Education research, similar to other fields, has seen an increase in the attention paid to open science practices thanks to issues with replicability and quality of the research. However, most of the attention has been focused on open science practices for quantitative research, such as open analytical syntax and a priori power analyses, that often do not apply to qualitative research or look very different in qualitative contexts. Our objectives for this session are to a) bring researchers familiar with qualitative research, education research, and open science practices together; b) discuss new trends regarding open science in qualitative research; and c) critically review what has been done to move this work forward. At the end of the session, we will conclude by asking participants what they hope would be next in enabling qualitative researchers to engage in open science work

Open Science Practices in Early Childhood Special Education Research: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Replication

Open science practices have expanded to many fields in the natural and social sciences, though it is unclear the extent to which they have permeated early childhood special education research, particularly when looking across the range of methodologies (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods). Before making suggestions on what researchers in this field should be doing, one must first understand what practices are currently being used and what potential barriers or supports there might be to use. To this end, we will systematically review empirical research (qualitative, mixed methods, and quantitative) in the early childhood special education literature. We will code each study for the inclusion of open science practices (e.g., preregistration; shared material, data, code; open access). We will then calculate descriptive statistics to explore the implementation rates of open science practices, including the most used practices and differences across study characteristics (e.g., journal, year) and methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods). We will also compare implementation rates of open science practices to a previous study on K-12 special education to begin to understand potential differences across specialization areas in education. This systematic review is a first step in identifying potential determinants for broader implementation of open science practices across a range of research and specialty areas