######## FY 2008 Abstracts for New Awards

##### Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program

######### CFDA 84.206A

**PR AWARD #: S206A080023**

**Grantee: The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia---Curry
School of Education Leadership, Foundations, and Policy**

**City/State: Charlottesville, VA**

**Contact: Tonya R. Moon**

**Target Grade Level: Elementary school**

**Funding: \$434,574 (Year One)**

The overarching goals of Project Parallax are to provide innovative,
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)-focused services
to, and to increase the identification of, gifted elementary students
from under-represented groups using challenging Problem-Based Learning
(PBL) units differentiated and infused with technology to meet the needs
of the learners. To accomplish this, five objectives are identified: 1)
increase teachers' STEM content knowledge; 2) develop teachers' capacity
to provide appropriately challenging STEM curriculum and instruction
effectively differentiated to meet the unique needs of gifted and
talented students in mixed-ability classroom settings; 3) increase
students' engagement and achievement in STEM content activities; 4)
increase teachers' ability to recognize a variety of talent indicators
in their students; and 5) develop a teacher leadership cadre to serve as
a mechanism for training other teachers in the district. Project
activities will include the review and revision of model STEM-focused
PBL units; intensive professional development for teachers; and the
implementation of these programs to seek talent in students. The
evaluation will focus on determining the extent to which project goals
are met using a longitudinal experimental design where five schools will
be randomly assigned to receive the treatment components and give
schools will serve as the control, or "business as usual" schools.

**PR AWARD #: S206A080026**

**Grantee: University of Arkansas at Little Rock**

**City/State: Little Rock, AR**

**Contact: Ann Robinson**

**Target Grade Level: 2-5**

**Funding: \$399,554 (Year One)**

Project STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Starters
Project STEM Starters includes four (4) major components: 1)
Professional Development (STEM Starters Summits and STEM Starters
Institutes); 2) Inquiry-Based Science Curriculum Implementation; 3)
Supplemental Materials Development; and 4) Technical Assistance (Peer
Coaching and Evaluation Teams). STEM Starters is a "scale up" project
based on two gifted education models that produced learning gains in
students (William and Mary science curriculum) and in educators
(Arkansas Evaluation Initiative in Gifted Education, AEI) in
scientifically based research studies.

The four components of the program are outlined below:

-   The Professional Development component includes two (2) types of
    activities: (1) an innovative STEM Starters Summit designed to bring
    educators, science experts, and state policy makers together for
    discussion, collaboration, and institutionalization of innovative
    science curriculum, and (2) STEM Starters Institutes, designed to
    provide sustained professional development on the identification of
    gifted students from underrepresented groups and on the
    implementation of inquiry-based science curriculum for gifted
    learners.

-   The Inquiry-Based Science Curriculum Implementation includes
    problem-based units with an emphasis on chemistry and physics for
    grades 2 through 5.

-   The Supplemental Materials Development portion provides unique
    teacher guides for biographies of scientists, mathematicians, and
    engineers whose inventions and innovations are keyed to the science
    topics in the inquiry-based units.

-   The Technical Assistance component includes two (2) types of
    support: (1) one-to-one Peer Coaching for classroom teachers and
    gifted facilitators, and (2) Evaluation Teams for each experimental
    school.

The five goals of Project STEM Starters are:

1.  To increase knowledge and skills in gifted education and in the STEM
    disciplines among school personnel in low-income classrooms;

2.  To improve student-learning gains in science among gifted and
    talented learners, including underrepresented groups;

3.  To increase identification and participation of underrepresented
    groups in gifted program services.

4.  To develop, expand, and refine supplemental materials for
    inquiry-based science curriculum units in grades 2 through 5;and

5.  To conduct research on short-term and longitudinal student and
    educator learning gains.

The project impact on student and educator learning will be evaluated
through a quasi-experimental design with delayed treatment to comparison
classrooms. Sixty (60) collaborating classrooms in six (6) schools in
the metropolitan North Little Rock School District will serve
approximately 1,320 students in grades 2 through 5, including gifted and
talented students from underrepresented groups. In addition, in the 5th
year of the project, 50 gifted coordinators statewide receive
professional development and science curriculum materials to ensure a
multiplier effect for an additional 1,750 students. The inclusion of
science experts, business leaders, and policy makers from the Arkansas
STEM Coalition at the outset of Project STEM Starters enhances its
opportunities for statewide institutionalization.

**PR AWARD #: S206A080051**

**Grantee: Ball State University---Center for Gifted and Talented
Students, Teachers College**

**City/State: Muncie, IN**

**Contact: Cheryll M. Adams**

**Target Grade Level: 3-5**

**Funding: \$405,241 (Year One)**

Under a previous Javits grant, this grantee found that the Clustering
Learners Unlocks Equity (CLUE) model effectively increased the number of
students from underrepresented groups who were identified and served
through gifted education programs and increased mathematics achievement
for these students in a large urban school. For Project CLUE-Plus, the
grantee will evaluate the effectiveness of the CLUE model at scale, when
implemented in 45 schools in Indiana, with 135 teachers and 10,000
students. The sample of schools will include public and private schools
of varying sizes in urban and rural settings. Participating schools will
have high incidences of students who are economically disadvantaged,
limited English proficient, and/or who may not be identified and served
by traditional assessment methods. Schools will be randomly assigned to
one of three conditions: schools receiving professional development
only; schools receiving professional development and the mathematics
curriculum; and control schools, which receive neither professional
development nor the mathematics curriculum.

Four findings from CLUE, the previous Javits grant, indicate the
viability of the program: (1) the pool of identified gifted students
closely matched the demographics of the school corporation; (2)
identified gifted students performed at higher levels than their
counterparts, validating the process used to identify the gifted group;
(3) students in the classrooms that had access to the target curriculum,
as well as a cluster setting, showed the most regular gains over time
(regardless of gifted status); and (4) for the gifted students, those
individuals in the curriculum classrooms showed strong positive growth
over time, while those in the classes without CLUE curriculum showed
downward trends in performance (Pierce, et al., 2007; Pierce et al.,
2008 a, b).

The goals of the Project CLUE-Plus project are to: 1) ensure the number
of participants in gifted services from underserved populations
adequately reflects the percentage of such students in the total school
population; 2) provide a model program for gifted students using cluster
grouping as the organizational model by training teachers using
web-based professional development; 3) determine if the research-based
math curriculum raises the level of math achievement of CLUE --Plus
students who receive the intervention to a level higher than those
without the intervention; 4) provide opportunities for increased parent
involvement; and 5) disseminate information about effective programming
for underserved students. CLUE-Plus will build upon the previous success
of CLUE using a combination of identification instruments that have
shown previous success with underserved populations through their use in
CLUE, other Javits grants and/or school districts. The service delivery
model will be cluster grouping. Evidence of closing the achievement gap
between underserved populations and other students will be measured by
pre-and post-test scores on the Northwest Evaluation Association
Measures of Academic Progress Level Tests or similar testing
instruments.

Project outcomes will incorporate new information that improves the
capability of these schools, as well as other schools, to plan, conduct,
and improve programs to identify and serve underrepresented gifted and
talented students. The grantee will disseminate the project's findings
through the internet to other school districts across the nation, and at
local, state, national and international conferences that focus on
gifted education, content and general education. The goal of Project
CLUE-Plus is to produce an effective, sustainable model that will
continue to be used by schools after this five-year grant has ended.

**PR AWARD #: S206A080041**

**Grantee: University of St. Thomas---Curriculum and Instruction School
of Education**

**City/State: St. Paul, MN**

**Contact: Karen Rogers**

**Target Grade Level: 3-8**

**Funding: \$80,962 (Year One)**

The absolute priority for the FY 2008 competition is to "scale up" and
evaluate curricular and instructional models to increase the number of
gifted and talented students from underrepresented groups through gifted
and talented programs that enable high levels of academic achievement.
Twice exceptional students (2X learners) - historically underrepresented
in gifted and talented programs - are the focus of this broad-based
curriculum up-scaling effort in numeracy and literacy, with special
attention paid to gifted learners with an additional diagnosis of
learning disabilities, attention disorders, autism spectrum disorder,
and/or emotional/ behavioral disorders.

The objectives of Project 2 ExceL Objectives and Activities are to:

1.  Scale up the gifted mathematics and language arts curriculum
    provided for twice-exceptional (2X) learners, grades 3-8, in school
    districts with differing demographics;

2.  Establish a valid identification protocol for finding 2X learners in
    grades 3-8 generalizable across 4 districts that indicates the true
    prevalence of these underserved populations;

3.  Implement a professional development program and certification for
    grades 3-8 educators of 2X learners;

4.  Establish a training program for parents of 2X learners, grades 3-8.

Over the course of the five years of the project, the following
activities are planned:

-   Identification (and validation of identification protocol) of 2X
    learners in grades 3-8 via school records in 4 treatment and 4
    control schools (Years 1, 2, 3, 4)

-   Development, implementation, and evaluation of up-scaled math and
    language arts gifted curriculum across four different curricula,
    respectively, for 2X learners (Years 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

-   Development, implementation, evaluation of professional development
    certification program for 2X educators at elementary (Year 1, 2, 3)
    and middle school (Year 3, 4, 5) levels

-   Implementation and evaluation of training program for parents of 2X
    learners (Year 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

The project will serve approximately 128 students across four Minnesota
districts in which already exist formal self-contained gifted programs,
as well as a control school of equivalent demographics. Each district
also includes one urban, one first-ring suburban, and two second-ring
suburban districts with varying SES and diversity demographics.

**PR AWARD #: S206A080001**

**Grantee: University of Connecticut---Educational Psychology Gifted
Education**

**City/State: Storrs, CT**

**Contact: Sally M. Reis**

**Target Grade Level: 5-8**

**Funding: \$450,000 (Year One)**

This proposal describes the application at the middle school level of
the Schoolwide Enrichment Reading Model (SEM-R), an enriched and
accelerated approach to reading that has been shown to be effective at
raising reading comprehension, fluency, and attitude scores for
elementary school economically disadvantaged students from diverse
cultural and linguistic backgrounds. SEM-R allows teachers to identify
academically gifted and talented students, who might not otherwise be
identified through traditional evaluation methods, by introducing
students to increasingly challenging reading texts. In this project,
SEM-R will be extended to 10 middle schools (grades 5-8 or 6-8,
depending on local school organization), focusing on urban districts
serving large populations of economically disadvantaged students.

Previously, the SEM-R has been successfully implemented in 15 elementary
schools and one pilot middle school, and resulted in increased reading
fluency, comprehension, and attitudes. Accordingly, we propose this as a
scale-up project responding to the absolute priority. The SEM-R has
three distinct goals: 1) to increase enjoyment in reading, 2) to
encourage students to pursue independent reading and develop
self-regulation, and 3) to improve reading comprehension and fluency in
three phases of reading instruction. Phase One employs strategies
designed to engage students in literature, including use of
high-interest read-alouds, accompanied by high level questioning. Phase
Two includes opportunities for structured independent reading and
teacher-guided instruction with self-selected high interest reading
materials that are above the students' current reading level. Phase
Three provides opportunities for independent work in a variety of
reading enrichment opportunities. Previously, the SEM-R has been
successfully implemented in elementary schools and one pilot middle
school.

This is a critical priority for academically able and gifted students,
as recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) revealed an appallingly low percentage of African American
students scoring at the advanced level in 8th grade on the NAEP: 0% in
Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Cleveland, District of Columbia, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York City, and San Diego (NCES, 2007). To address this
priority, the project will serve 7,000-10,000 middle school students,
using local liaisons that have been trained by our research team to
serve as coaches to the 90-120 participating educators. An experimental
design will be used, with cluster-randomized assignment to groups.
Advanced statistical procedures, including multilevel modeling methods,
will also be used, as well as follow-up procedures to explore specific
group and individual differences. Schools will be selected based on:
location, specifically targeting the urban areas mentioned above that
meet the requirements of the Javits program; the ability and willingness
of school personnel to meet the methodological research requirements
(e.g., random assignment to treatment or control, implementation of
treatment materials and assessment instruments in a timely fashion); and
the presence of a population of gifted and talented and high potential
students. The use of liaisons will facilitate and expand the process,
and allow the grantee to target middle level talented readers at risk of
underachieving in high-need urban schools.

**PR AWARD #: S206A080021**

**Grantee: The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia---Curry
School of Education Leadership, Foundations, and Policy**

**City/State: Charlottesville, VA**

**Contact: Carolyn M. Callahan**

**Target Grade Level: 10-12**

**Funding: \$423,284 (Year One)**

The proposed project responds to the priority under the Jacob K. Javits
Gifted and Talented Students Education Program of implementing models
with demonstrated effectiveness in identifying and serving gifted and
talented students from typically underrepresented populations by seeking
to increase the representation of students from minority and low-income
backgrounds completing advanced level high school coursework. The fact
that minority students are underrepresented in the population of
highest-achieving students at all levels of schooling, including in
Advanced Placement (AP) courses and in college, is a chronic and
long-standing problem. Because the opportunity to experience
college-level challenges while in high school confers many long-term
benefits to students, ensuring successful participation of all ethnic
and racial groups in AP courses is essential to achieving educational
equality.

The project described in this proposal, the AP Challenge Program, is a
two-pronged approach to increasing the participation and success of
gifted and talented minority and low-income students in advanced
courses, especially AP courses, and in college. The proposed project is
a scale-up of a program in one school in a large mid-Atlantic district
that led to a 450% increase in minority student enrollment in AP
courses, significant increases in college application and attendance,
and increased numbers of minority students receiving a score of "3" or
better on AP exams.

The first prong of the project involves a system of organized support
structures for potential AP students from minority and low-income
backgrounds, including a pre-AP, residential summer program at a
university; structured peer study groups; academic advising and study,
writing, and self-advocacy skills instruction; and on-line AP curriculum
help. The project's second prong involves training AP teachers and
school counselors to support and challenge the target students as they
tackle AP courses. Teachers and school counselors develop and teach the
summer program curriculum. During the school year, school counselors
also run academic advising and skills instruction seminars, while
teachers work with university faculty mentors to provide rich and
challenging AP experiences to a diverse group of academically talented
students.

Overall, 150 students (grades 10-12), 48 AP teachers, and six school
counselors will be involved in the project. Participants will come from
six schools in one large mid-Atlantic school district with significant
minority and low-income student populations. Three of these schools will
be randomly assigned to the "intervention group" and three to the
control group in years one and two. Potentially gifted and talented
students will be identified by making any ninth grade student from a
low-income or minority background who received no lower than a "C" grade
in regular classes during the school year through the 3rd quarter
eligible to participate in the program. The intervention school students
who enroll in the project will be matched with ninth grade students in
the comparison schools. Student enrollment in AP courses, AP exam
scores, and college application and attendance rates of the two groups
of students will be compared across all high school years in order to
determine the benefits of the program to academically talented students
from minority and low-income backgrounds.

In Years three and four of the project, the schools that served as
control schools in Years one and two will join the other three schools
as treatment schools. AP enrollment data, scores on AP exams, and
college application and attendance rates of students in both groups will
be compared to students in the years prior to implementation of the
project in their individual schools using a regression discontinuity
design. These two analyses will provide data on the generalizability of
the results to other settings. Finally, overall AP enrollment, test data
and college application and enrollment rates in both intervention and
comparison group schools will be examined to determine the potential
effects on other AP classes taught by teachers not involved in the
project. Additional data will be collected to assess other goals and
objectives of the project, including creation of curricular materials
and lessons that provide scaffolding for diverse learners in AP
environments; curricular and instructional modifications that closely
reflect the content, depth, and complexity of college courses; and
increase in college enrollment by participants.

.

**PR AWARD #: S206A080048**

**Grantee: Western Kentucky University Research Foundation, Inc.**

**City/State: Bowling Green, KY**

**Contact: Dr. Julia L. Roberts**

**Target Grade Level: Elementary**

**Funding: \$446,111 (Year One)**

A clear need exists to develop talent among advanced learners at an
early age (especially those from low income backgrounds and
underrepresented minorities) and to provide opportunities to increase
interest in science and math and in careers in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM). Therefore, the goal of Project GEMS is:
*To design and implement a model demonstration project that will
increase the number of elementary children who are advanced in science
and math and to foster their interest and achievement in science,
technology, engineering and mathematics. This goal specifically targets
children from low-income backgrounds and minorities who are
underrepresented in STEM careers.*

Project GEMS is a partnership between The Center for Gifted Studies at
Western Kentucky University (WKU) and the Warren County Schools in
Bowling Green, KY. Project GEMS will provide services that are not
currently being offered for 240 elementary students who are advanced in
science and math at four elementary schools in Warren County (North
Warren and Bristow plus the two target schools) and the Science/Math
Magnet Program will serve 120 students who are advanced in science and
math from two target elementary schools (Cumberland Trace and Lost
River). Seventy teachers from the four schools will receive professional
development in problem-based learning and gifted education. Project GEMS
will disseminate the results of the research and develop an
identification and services protocol for children who are advanced in
science and math. This project can be replicated in the district, state,
and beyond.

The table below outlines the objectives, anticipated outcomes, and the
activities of the project proposal.

+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| **Project GEMS         | **Project GEMS        | **Project GEMS      |
| Objectives**           | Outcomes**            | Activities**        |
|                        |                       |                     |
| **(abbreviated)**      | **(abbreviated)**     | **(abbreviated)**   |
+========================+=======================+=====================+
| 1\. Establish a        | \- STEM interest      | \-                  |
| protocol for           | inventory             | Crea                |
| recognizing and        |                       | te/pilot/implement/ |
| identifying advanced   | \- Behavior           | disseminate STEM    |
| ability in science and | instrument            | Checklist           |
| math among elementary  |                       |                     |
| children               | \- Recommendation for | \-                  |
|                        | identification        | Crea                |
|                        |                       | te/pilot/implement/ |
|                        |                       | disseminate Early   |
|                        |                       | STEM Interest       |
|                        |                       | Inventory for       |
|                        |                       | Children            |
|                        |                       |                     |
|                        |                       | -Crea               |
|                        |                       | te/pilot/implement/ |
|                        |                       | disseminate         |
|                        |                       | identification      |
|                        |                       | protocol            |
+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| 2\. Implement a        | \- Application of     | \- Provide          |
| problem-based          | problem-based         | professional        |
| curriculum in science  | curriculum in         | development for     |
| and math               | one-day-a-week magnet | teachers            |
|                        | school                |                     |
|                        |                       | \- Provide          |
|                        | \- Increased capacity | one-day-a-week      |
|                        | for teachers to use   | magnet school       |
|                        | curriculum            | instruction using   |
|                        |                       | problem-based       |
|                        | \- Model for best     | learning            |
|                        | practice              |                     |
|                        |                       | \- Establish model  |
|                        |                       | for best practice   |
+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| 3\. Develop,           | \- One problem-based  | \-                  |
| implement, and assess  | unit per year         | Crea                |
| problem-based          |                       | te/pilot/implement/ |
| science/math units     | \- Implementation of  | disseminate one     |
|                        | problem-based units   | problem-based unit  |
|                        | from previous Javits  | each year           |
|                        |                       |                     |
|                        | \- Assessment of      |                     |
|                        | units                 |                     |
+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| 4\. Develop,           | \- Model of           | \- Establish        |
| implement, and assess  | recommended practices | business            |
| business partnerships  | that build            | partnerships        |
| to foster              | partnerships          |                     |
| understanding of       |                       | \-                  |
| technological and      |                       | Develop/disseminate |
| scientific application |                       | model and handbook  |
| in the work place      |                       | for business        |
|                        |                       | collaboration       |
+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| 5\. Develop,           | \- Model plan of      | \-                  |
| implement, and assess  | recommended practices | Develop/disseminate |
| a parent/community     | to build parent/      | model plan and      |
| plan to build support  | community support     | brochures to build  |
| and encouragement for  |                       | parent/ community   |
| high-level science and |                       | support             |
| math instruction and   |                       |                     |
| opportunities to       |                       | \- Conduct parent   |
| increase interest in   |                       | seminars            |
| STEM careers           |                       |                     |
+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+
| 6\. Collect data       | \- Research study     | \- Identify         |
| comparing achievement  | comparing achievement | children            |
| and interest in        | and interest in       |                     |
| science and math among | science and math      | \- Establish        |
| an experimental group  | among three treatment | baseline of         |
| who will go to a       | groups                | achievement and     |
| science and math       |                       | interest for three  |
| magnet and students    | \- Recommendations    | treatment groups    |
| who remain in their    | for best practice in  |                     |
| home schools engaged   | identifying and       | \- Document growth  |
| in problem-based       | providing services    |                     |
| science and math, and  | for children advanced | \- Analyze and      |
| students who are not   | in science and math,  | disseminate data    |
| involved               | including those from  | through reports,    |
|                        | underrepresented      | articles, and       |
|                        | populations           | presentations       |
+------------------------+-----------------------+---------------------+