AWARDING BIG IDEAS FOR INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS
Several Crane researchers were recently awarded new “Big Idea Seed Grants” from the College of Education and Human Ecology. Dean Donald Pope-Davis congratulated the winners, whose projects successfully addressed a “well-defined social, educational, or health problem or disparity, with the goal of identifying solutions by fostering innovation.”
Winning projects and investigators (Crane researchers italicized) included:
Transformational research and research strengthening: A multimethod investigation of early childhood care and education practices in Ethiopia
Principal Investigator: Ann O’Connell; co-PIs: Laura Justice, Jackie Goodway, Arya Ansari
In Ethiopia, pre-primary school enrollment remains low (estimates are close to 30%) despite the government’s remarkable expansion of preschool across the country. This project will focus on education and classroom quality in both rural and urban early childhood care and education classrooms. The research team includes Ohio State post-doctoral researchers Jerraco Johnson and Randi Bates who will be working with faculty and graduate students in the College of Education and Behavioral Studies at Addis Ababa University (AAU).
Woven throughout the project is the opportunity to strengthen methodology, research, and child-development knowledge and practices. There will also be opportunities to engage in collaborative research and knowledge exchange, and to provide on-site training to the university community and teachers in the field. We are excited about this work, grateful to Dean Pope-Davis for his support, and looking forward to new collaborations with our Ethiopian colleagues and students and broadening the impact of EHE in Ethiopia.
– Dr. Ann O’Connell, Professor of Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement in OSU’s College of Education and Human Ecology and principal investigator
A big idea for little learners: Leveraging teacher wage increases to improve preschool quality
Principal Investigator: Kelly Purtell; co-PI: Shayne Piasta
This new project fills a critical gap in the literature by allowing us to document the landscape of preschool teacher wages in the Columbus area, how these relate to issues of economic stress and teacher turnover, and, in turn, how teacher wages shape the experiences of children enrolled in early childhood education programs. We are excited to partner with South Side Early Learning on their initiative to increase preschool teacher wages to see how this affects working conditions for local teachers.
– Dr. Shayne Piasta, associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Crane Center faculty associate, and co-principal investigator
Creating culturally responsive and equitable early childhood program: Investigating current practices, developing and piloting new professional development
Principal Investigator: Sarah Lang; co-PIs: Donna Ford, Arya Ansari, Penny Pasque
This project aims to (1) understand how early childhood educators understand and address issues of equity and diversity in their programs; (2) develop an online professional development course for early childhood educators that targets their understanding and use of culturally responsive, inclusive, and socially just practices; and (3) examine the effectiveness of an online professional development course to support educators use of culturally responsive, inclusive, and socially just practices.
Education programs that embrace a vision of diversity, equity, and justice may offer one critical avenue to positively change the experiences of children with historically marginalized identities. This is especially crucial in the early years when many Black children in the United States are systematically denied access to early childhood education as a result of suspension and expulsion.
– Dr. Arya Ansari, assistant professor in the Department of Human Sciences, Crane Center faculty associate, and co-principal investigator
Executive director of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy Laura Justice summarized the grant awards by saying,
All of us at the Crane Center are excited for the opportunity to cross-collaborate with great researchers and partners, both locally and across the globe. I am grateful for Dean Pope-Davis’ commitment to ensuring research is done in the spirit of public service with real-life implications, and for the College’s generous investment in realizing these opportunities.
A total of twelve grants were awarded with amounts ranging from $40,000 to $100,000. The Big Idea Seed Grants are a part of the College of Education and Human Ecology’s larger core values of excellence, innovation, justice, diversity, and internationalization.