Dr. Asha Jitendra, Professor in the special education program and faculty to the Center for Promoting Research to Practice at Lehigh University, and Dr. Jon Star, Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, were awarded a Mathematics and Science Research grant by the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), U S Department of Education. The purpose of the three-year project entitled, Enhancing the Mathematical Problem Solving Performance of Seventh Grade Students using Schema-based Instruction, is to develop and evaluate the efficacy of schema-based instruction (SBI) to enhance the mathematical problem solving performance of seventh grade students. Lehigh University will work in partnership with Shawnee Middle School in Easton Area School District across the three years of the project. The three-year grant totaled $1,432,798. Website under construction.
Collaboration among the William Penn Foundation, National Center for the Parent-Child Home Project, School District of Philadelphia, and Dr. Patricia Manz from the School Psychology Program at Lehigh University has been formed to conduct an evaluation of Philadelphia Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP). Fully supported by the School District of Philadelphia, PCHP prepares and supports paraprofessionals from local communities to visit families of 2 and 3 year old children, with the foci on strengthening family-child relationships and engaging in developmentally-appropriate learning activities. Although PCHP is a national program, the Philadelphia site is the largest single program situated in inner-city communities and serving Latino populations. Funded by the William Penn Foundation, we are conducting a longitudinal, experimental evaluation of the Philadelphia PCHP. This project will enable an empirical investigation of home visiting for the purpose of promoting early learning, examination of the impact of Latino family-child interactions and dialogue on young children’s early language development, and construction of culturally and developmentally responsive measures of socioemotional development and family involvement for young children. Website under construction.
Article written: October 2006
