Research Spotlight
New resources for middle school teachers from CareerStart
March 17, 2008
Published in SOE News
New resources for middle school teachers will soon be available online from CareerStart, a project designed to increase student engagement and ultimately reduce student dropout rates.
Rune J. Simeonsson leads six-year international initiative
New classification provides universal language for characteristics of children and youth
Nov. 5, 2007
After six years of work by an international team commissioned by the World Health Organization, the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY) has been published. Rune J. Simeonsson, professor of school psychology and early childhood education, chaired the working group that developed the 376-page classification. Additional participants included six researchers, educators, clinicians and policymakers from Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control provided substantial support for the work.
Study of reading development: “Segregated” schools hinder reading skills
July 6, 2007
Kirsten Kainz, a senior research associate in the School of Education and an investigator at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, examined reading development from kindergarten to third grade for 1,913 economically disadvantaged children. She found that children in families with low incomes, who attend schools where the minority population exceeds 75 percent of the student enrollment, under-perform in reading, even after accounting for the quality of the literacy instruction, literary experiences at home, gender, race and other variables.
NICHD funds study of rural children for five more years
July 2, 2007
Published in SOE News
Lynne Vernon-Feagans, William C. Friday Professor of Early Childhood, Families and Literacy, has received funding from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to continue research on nearly 1300 rural children, now turning three, who have been studied since birth. This $12 million grant has been approved for funding starting July 1, 2007.
First Report of the Evaluation of the DSSF
May 21, 2007
The First Report of the Evaluation of the Disadvantaged Student Supplement Fund (DSSF), published in April 2007, presents the work of Gary T. Henry and his research team in evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies funded by the DSSF program in North Carolina.