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 provide data for both internal and external benchmarking efforts.
Grant Awards
Natasha Slesnick: Prevention of OUD: The HOME (Housing, Opportunities, Motivation and Engagement) Randomized Trial – Phase II $5,578,877
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
Jessica Logan: Reading and Playing with Math: Promoting Preschoolers’ Math Language through Picture Books and Play Activities $206,864
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.
Anneliese Johnson: ODE Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant $393,750
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.
Brian Focht: Addressing Obesity to Reduce Cancer Risk and Health Disparities in Under-served Populations $165,000
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.
Danene Fast: Orientation & Mobility Project $150,303
Tiffany Wild: Conference Proposal: Developing a National Research Agenda for STEM Education for Students with Visual Impairments (VI) $88,539
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
Anneliese Johnson: Early Childhood Education Expansion Grant – Year 2020-2021 $60,000
Barbara Boone: SPDG Family & Community Engagement for Early Language and Literacy $100,000
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.