Learn about the most recently awarded active external research grant awards awarded to faculty in the College of Education.
• Carol Clymer, associate teaching professor of education and co-director of Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy (ISAL) and Goodling Institute (GI) for Research in Family Literacy, is principal investigator (PI) of three projects funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Division of Adult Education. A five-year project funded for $540,000 per year will fund the Career Pathways program to provide adult education and English as a second language classes and services to individuals 16 or older (and not in school) who want to earn a high school equivalency diploma; build their basic reading, writing, or math skills; or learn English. Another three-year project, funded for $116,600 per year, will provide family literacy services in Centre and Lycoming counties to caregivers and their children through the Family Pathways program. The third grant — a two-year, $111,000 project per year, will fund the Tutoring Program for Adults to provide tutoring services to adult learners in the Career and Family Pathways programs in both counties. This grant will also provide peer tutoring services to female inmates at Muncy State Correctional Institution. The project lead is Robert Getz, director of Career and Family Pathways programs, ISAL and GI.
• Clymer is also PI of a two-year project funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The $249,499 project, “Enriching Library Family Programming Using the Smithsonian Institution’s Talk with Me Toolkits” includes a $154,616 subaward to GI to partner with Family Place Libraries and the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Educational Technology (OET), and the Public Library Association to adapt, evaluate and disseminate the Smithsonian OET’s free, online Talk with Me Toolkits (TMTs) for use in libraries’ family literacy and engagement efforts. As a subrecipient, the Goodling Institute will lead the evaluation, develop the data collection instruments, analyze the data, participate in advisory committee meetings, and help carry out project dissemination activities. The co-PIs are Elisabeth McLean, adjunct assistant teaching professor of education; Esther Prins, professor of education (lifelong learning and adult education); and Heather Toomey Zimmerman, professor of education (learning, design, and technology).
• Three College of Education faculty members are co-PIs for a project funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections: Clymer; Anna Kaiper-Marquez, associate director of ISAL and assistant teaching professor of education (adult education); McClean and Prins. The $138,379, 17-month project, “Addressing the Needs of Incarcerated Parents and Their Minor Children: Evaluation benefits and process of supplemental virtual reality programming” consists of an evaluation team with the Penn State Edna Bennett Prevention Research Center and the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy. The team will provide a process evaluation on the implementation and integration of virtual reality (VR) to the InsideOut Dad program for incarcerated fathers and the Parenting Inside Out program for incarcerated mothers in four Pennsylvania State Correctional Institutions (SCIs) and the use of a VR “adventure experience” during in-person or video/Zoom-based visits with their children. Using a mixed-methods design, the evaluation will explore:
- participants’ perceptions of the effects of the curriculum, use of VR role plays, and the VR adventure experiences on their interactions and visits with their children and perceptions of their parenting skills;
- what worked well for participants; and
- suggestions for potential changes or improvements to the programs’ implementation.
Sarah Meyer Chilenski, senior research associate at the Prevention Research Center, is PI for the project.
Information about external grant awards is provided by the College of Education Research Office. Visit the webpage for information about all active research projects in the college.