Research Round-Up | Jan. 2024

From special issues, to featured sessions, partnerships and AI, the Lastinger Center’s executive leadership team, affiliate faculty and associates have been making big strides toward enhancing teaching and learning outcomes. ?

Executive Leadership Update

Phil Poekert - Director

PDiE Special Issue: Leading professional learning to navigate complexity is the final issue of the 49th volume of Professional Development in Education. Edited by Phil and Fiona King (Dublin City University), the special issue explores themes across 17 papers and shares a meta-model for professional learning. Read more .

Zandra de Araujo - Mathematics Principal

Special Issue Editor:?Along with Samuel Otten and Amber Candela (University of Missouri), Zandra is a guest editor for the special issue of the MDPI Education Sciences journal Incremental and Innovative Approaches to Professional Development for Mathematics Teachers, which is accepting submissions through August 31, 2024. Read more .

Creating Inclusive, Engaging, and Rigorous Mathematics for All: Zandra gave an invited Ignite Talk at the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting & Exposition. There were more than 1,500 people in attendance. She also gave a featured presentation called Creating Choice Points to Expand Reasoning. Read more .

Tyran Butler - Early Learning Principal

Dr. Butler joins Lastinger Center Team: On January 4, 2024, Tyran W. Butler began as the new Early Learning Principal. Her unique combination of academic insight and practical experience positions her as a dynamic force in Florida’s early childhood education ecosystem. Read more .

Cathy Cavanaugh - Technology Principal

The Power of AI in Education: Next month, Cathy and affiliate faculty member Rob Moore will be part of a panel discussion at the D2L Rise Summit in Orlando to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming education. Read more .

A Vision to Improve Student Outcomes: As a speaker at the 2023 Florida Chamber Annual Meeting & Future of Florida Forum, Cathy shared a vision for building comprehensive education data to improve student outcomes. Read more .

Shaunté Duggins - Associate Director, New Worlds Reading

Amplifying Reading Engagement: Our research team is partnering with Kibeam Learning and New Worlds Reading families to better understand the relationship between books, readers, technology and interactive content. Read more .

Annual Enrollment Report: The New Worlds Reading Initiative 2022-2023 Annual Enrollment Report describes New Worlds Reading’s impact on home literacy practices and children’s reading achievement based on both survey feedback from families involved in the program and data obtained from the Florida Department of Education (FDOE). Read more .

Paige Pullen - Literacy Principal

Exceptional Learners: Paige, along with Daniel Hallahan and James Kauffman?(University of Virginia), published Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education,15th Edition to help readers develop a more sensitive understanding of exceptional learners and their families.?This textbook is used in teacher education programs across the country to introduce students to the characteristics of students with exceptionalities and proven classroom practices that help meet their individual needs. Read more .

Research Events

Affiliate Faculty Showcase

Wanli Xing, Chris Curran, Justin Ortagus, Walter Leite, and Rob Moore and Sophia Soomin Lee presented their research in small group table discussions with Lastinger Center Advisory Board members at the October Advisory Board Meeting. Topics included: AI in Education, School Safety, Post Secondary Access and Completion, Program Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments, and Micro-Credentials.

45th Annual International Conference

Paige Pullen, along with affiliate faculty member and Conference Speaker Kathrin Maki, hosted the 45th annual International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities (IARLD) conference where education strategies, themes and models were addressed at a global level to support students with learning disabilities. Read more .

Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium

Over 130 submissions were received for the 2024 Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium in Santiago, Chile. Accepted proposals will be announced in February. Complete this form to receive an email notification when registration opens. Read more .

Affiliate Faculty Updates

Wanli Xing, associate professor in the School of Teaching & Learning, is creating an AI-powered teachable agent that aims to double mathematics outcomes of middle school students with support from UF President Ben Sasse’s strategic funding initiative and the Learning Engineering Virtual Institute (LEVI). Read more .

Rob Moore, associate professor in the School of Teaching & Learning and director of the IDEATE Lab, presented with Lastinger Center Senior Manager of Product Development and Marketing Bryn Humphrey and Lead Literacy Navigator Specialist Amanda Pate, at the UPCEA Convergence conference about competency-based micro-credentials. Read more .

Lastinger Center at a Glance

Featured Speaker - Shaunté Duggins spoke at the Children’s Movement’s Built to Thrive Summit to discuss early childhood learning, development and literacy.?

Math Matrix pilot launch - On January 22, 250 educators from across the state of Florida will start in the state-wide pilot of the Math Matrix.?

TRI App Podcast - Mary Bratsch Hines, senior manager of research and evaluation for the Lastinger Center, was featured on a SRI Education podcast to discuss the development and scale of the Targeted Reading Instruction (TRI) App.

Lastinger Center x AI - By exploring the use cases of purpose-built AI , the Lastinger Center will learn more about AI’s potential to enhance human capacity.

Powerful Mathematicians - Zandra de Araujo co-authored Powerful Mathematicians Who Changed the World: What We Do When Fairness Fails Us with Maria Zavala (San Francisco State University) and Toya Frank (National Science Foundation). Learn more .

Research Spotlight - Chris Engledowl is a research scientist for the Lastinger Center. His research?supports the development of an accessible, sustainable professional learning system.