Pima Education Research Collaborative

The purpose of the Pima Education Research Collaborative (PERC) is to foster an effective working relationship among the University of Arizona College of Education (COE), Pima County area schools and school districts, Pima Community College, and the COE's Professional Preparation Board (PPB). PERC facilitates and offers funding for research collaborations between area school districts and members of the College of Education faculty. The primary goals of PERC are as follows:

to identify research needs and interests of schools and school districts and the research community;
to determine how the UA research community can address educators' research needs and interests;
to establish protocols for the collaboration process between schools or school districts and UA faculty and graduate students in the preparation and submission of research proposals;
to coordinate research/service projects;
to distribute funding to enable joint research initiatives.

Current Projects

PERC is pleased to announce funding of the following research collaborations between University of Arizona College of Education faculty and area school districts.

Understanding Dynamic Assessment as Possibilities for English Language Learners: Dr. Ana Chistina DaSilva Iddings was awarded $10,000 to examine the impact of a research-based teacher development program designed to improve reading comprehension for English Language Learners enrolled in general education elementary classrooms. Dr. Iddings is collaborating with Mammoth-San Manuel School District. The district contributed $5,000 in support of the project. Specific goals include (a) the design and innovation of pedagogical practices, (b) identifying change in teacher thinking about language and learning of ELLs, and (c) the impact on ELLs' achievement in reading comprehension. For a complete description of the project, you may access the file here: Iddings Dynamic Assessment Dr. Chris Iddings is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Teacher Education. Dr. Iddings competed her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Areas of research expertise include recent immigrant children in American schools; Latino young children and families, in- and out-of-school language and literacy learning; sociocultural perspectives on language, literacy and culture; and preparing teachers to educate linguistically diverse students.
Program Evaluation of Goal One: Graduate! Transition Project in SUSD: Dr. Sheri Bauman and Dr. Hugh Crethar are collaborating with Sunnyside Unified School District to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the district's Goal One: Graduate! project. The project will focus on four identified areas to include student preparation, parent involvement, school partnerships, and systemic improvements. For a complete description of the project, you may access the file here: Bauman & Crethar Goal One: Graduate! Dr. Bauman is an associate professor in Educational Psychology. She was awarded her Ph.D. the New Mexico State University. Dr. Bauman's research interests include school bullying, professional issues in school counseling, and group counseling and therapy. Dr. Crethar is an assistant professor in Educational Psychology. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Crethar's research interests include professional development and mentoring, counselor education, school counseling, social justice, and academic and career development.
Program Evaluation for First Job High School Retention Project: Dr. Darell Sabers was awarded $8,000 to help support a three-year evaluation of First Job, a collaborative project with Tucson Unified School District and Amphitheater Schools. The project goal is to reduce the number of students who drop out of high school, with a focus on students who drop out for financial reasons. The First Job project pays students to attend school, emphasizing that a student's First Job is high school. Dr. Sabers will help both school districts identify the impact of the project. For a complete description of the project, you may access the file here: Sabers First Job Dr. Darell Sabers is a Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, with a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Dr. Sabers' research interests include reliability, validity, and item characteristics of measurement devices; and assessment of learning outcomes.

Potential Projects

We are in the process of identifying area schools and districts that would be interested in participating in the following projects:

Research Internships - Dr. Brett Kramer, director of Research and Evaluation in Marana Unified School District, will continue to support the PERC Research Internship program during the 2007-2008 school year. Below is a brief description of the research internship opportunities currently available. Contact dlrooks@email.arizona.edu if you or someone you know may be interested in pursuing one of these unique research opportunities.
1.  Conduct case studies of best teaching practices identified at target schools in the district to help in crafting professional development opportunities at the school level.
2.  Collaboration with district instructional coaches to review/analyze data leading to identification of intervention groups and differentiated instructional techniques incorporating the district's essential learning standards.
3.  Research and Evaluation of data. Involves data analysis and the creation of a data warehouse for the Student Information Systems.
Research internships provide students with opportunities to work directly with schools and district administration, while providing a channel for schools and districts to access information and resources of the College of Education. Graduate students have knowledge of and access to a broad range of current research developments, which can help educators identify the best instructional strategies for their students. If your school or district is interested in working with a graduate research intern, please contact Deborah Rooks at dlrooks@email.arizona.edu.

Successfully Completed Projects

In 2006, PERC placed a Research Intern in the Research and Evaluation Department of Marana Unified School District. Lauren Wheeler is a Ph.D. student in School Psychology and Special Education and Rehab. Lauren worked with Marana's director of Research and Evaluation, Dr. Brett Kramer, to develop a predictive model that will enable the district to predict student outcome on AIMS, given specific student demographic data. This is important because MUSD’s assessment strategy is moving away from predictive assessments and towards assessments that deliver strategy-specific data for teachers at the classroom level. Moreover, the model will allow school principals to better understand variables impacting student achievement from a more global perspective and align school-level strategies and programs responsively. One of the unintended consequences from the project was data that proved useful in determining, to some extent, district resource distribution. For example, the model pointed to ELL as the single greatest predictor of student achievement on AIMS. Although this was not particularly surprising, it nevertheless confirmed the need to allocate ELL resources more strategically in those buildings where other factors mitigated low performance on AIMS.
Mary Carol Combs, Todd Fletcher, and Carol Evans were awarded $5475.00 to conduct focused participant observations of Sheltered English Immersion classrooms. Profs. Combs, Evans, and Fletcher collaborated with Sunnyside School District, which committed $4230 to the project. For a complete description of the project, you may access a pdf file here: PERC Combs.

Dr. Mary Carol Combs is an associate lecturer in the Department of Language, Reading, and Culture. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. Her areas of research experience include language planning and policy, indigenous language revitalization, and bilingual education law and policy. You can access a pdf file of a presentation she has given on the education of English Language Learners by clicking on this link: Combs English for Children.

Dr. Todd Fletcher is an associate professor in Special Education, Rehabilitation & School Psychology. He earned his Ph.D. at Oregon State University. He has research experience in language acquisition and development in second-language learners, cross-cultural research on achievement/cognition, and inclusion of bilingual students with special needs

Dr. Carol Evans is an associate professor in the Department of Teaching & Teacher Education. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research has focused on family language transmission, bilingual education, preschool literacy, bilingual teacher education, and Latinos in higher education.

Jerome D'Agostino was awarded $9915.80 to study the effectiveness of AIMS exit exam interventions. Prof. D'Agostino collaborated with Flowing Wells School District, which committed funding of $5000. For a complete description of the project, you may access a pdf file here: PERC D'Agostino.

During project implementation, Dr. Jerry D'Agostino was an associate professor in Educational Psychology. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. His areas of research expertise include measuring achievement growth, achievement assessment in schools, and validity analysis.

Bruce Johnson, Jerome D'Agostino, and Christopher Harris were awarded $10,000 for Development of Science Unit Assessments Aligned to School Curriculum and the Arizona Science Standard. The project was a collaboration with the Tucson Unified School District, which committed $5000 to the project. For a complete description of the project, you may access a pdf file here: PERC Johnson.

Dr. Bruce Johnson is an associate professor in Teaching & Teacher Education. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico. His research experience include projects studying science (ecological) content knowledge, Earth Education curriculum, and classroom learning environments. You can access two of Prof. Johnson's publications through these links: Johnson School Climate; or Johnson Earth Education.

Dr. Christopher Harris is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching & Teacher Education. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on investigating teaching and student learning in reform-oriented science classrooms, designing science curricula and assessments that help teachers engage their students in the thoughtful learning of science, and examining the design and theoretical underpinnings of learning environments.

Funding Support 2006-2007

Current COE Funding - As a result of generous contributions from the Dean's Erasmus Circle, Raytheon, the Arizona PK-12 Center, the Arizona PK- 16 Council, Amphitheater School District, Flowing Wells School District, Sunnyside School District, Mammoth-San Manuel School District, Marana School District and Tucson Unified School District, PERC funding totaled more than $116,000 in support of collaborative research projects with local school districts during the 2006-2007 academic year.

Matching Funds Arrangement - The COE will distribute these funds as follows: For every dollar that school districts contribute to the research, the College of Education will contribute two dollars.

We gratefully acknowledge these contributors for their support and collaboration.

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FAQs

Q. As a school district member, how do I submit a research proposal to PERC?

A. If you are already working with a COE faculty member to design a project, please review our Call for Proposals. It explains what your proposal needs to include, as well as our criteria for evaluating proposals.

B. You can submit a Research Request Form below, to let us know your area of research interest. We can then help identify a faculty member with expertise in that area to collaborate on your project.

Q. Where can I learn more about the activities of the U/A PPB?

A. Go to the Professional Preparation Board webpage on the College of Education site.

Q. What is the IRB? Where would a student or faculty researcher find information about it?

A. IRB stands for Institutional Review Board. The IRB's purpose is to protect human subjects in research. The IRB informs both researchers and educators in the field about the requirements and procedures of the IRB in relation to project proposals, and reviews proposals to determine if they meet the requirements of laws and regulations concerning research involving human subjects. Often the process is referred to as "human subjects review". All PERC projects will be subject to approval by the University of Arizona Human Subjects IRB. Please visit their web page: www.irb.arizona.edu. For investigators preparing a proposal, click here: IRB Investigator Information. Specific contact information is below.

Q. I am interested in doing research, but I am not sure how to get started?

A. WebAssist - The COE Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs has a website devoted to assisting faculty and students locate relevant funding sources and to provide some assistance in the proposal process. These sites may also be helpful to school districts in preparing joint proposals.

Resources for the Research-1 community

Research Support Group

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IRB Contacts

Chair, Theodore Glattke, glattke@u.arizona.edu
Director of Human Subjects Protection Program, Rebecca W. Dahl, PhD rdahl@email.arizona.edu
COE representative: Luís Moll, moll@u.arizona.edu
Link to Investigator Information
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Exploring District Research Needs and Interests

Submit a research request with PERC! -
Identify Collaborators: To help you identify faculty with common interests, look at our Areas of Faculty Expertise. You may also visit the College of Education's list of all COE faculty and research areas.
University Faculty: For an example of district requirements, you can review Sunnyside's Research Request forms: Sunnyside Research Request.
Search the databases: Available soon. We are creating two searchable databases to help you find people with comparable interests in research and service. As educators submit requests for collaborations in research, the information will be entered into a database. Educators and researchers will be able to search the databases to find people interested in similar issues.
Prepare your proposal: Please review our Call for Proposals. It explains what your proposal needs to include, as well as our criteria for evaluating proposals.
Thank you for working with us to enhance the research and teaching community in southern Arizona.

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Contacts

For more information, please contact Deborah Rooks, PERC Coordinator, UA College of Education.

E-mail: dlrooks@email.arizona.edu

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last updated - 11/01/2007

Website Development: Karen Spear Ellinwood

Graduate Assistant for Luis C. Moll

page identification: http://www.ed.arizona.edu/perc