Program Description Interdisciplinary Training Program for Predoctoral Research in the Education Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty from several social science departments and across the School of Education (see attached list) are collaborating on a new interdisciplinary program of graduate training in education sciences at UW- Madison. The program centers around two themes: 1. Design and implementation of field-based randomized studies in schools and other complex, realworld settings. A small number of studies with powerful findings has demonstrated the importance of designing careful, replicable experiments on topics of practical importance in education. The field of education research must expand its capacity to launch such studies. Our program will train students to conduct field experiments and quasi-experimental studies that address questions that will inform education policy and practice. 2. Statistical analysis of quantitative survey, observational, and assessment data on education, with special attention to questions of causal inference. Although experimental research on education must be greatly expanded, not all questions of policy and practice can be addressed with experimental methods. Students in our program will obtain the highest level of expertise in statistical analysis, recognizing both the limits and possibilities of causal inference from non-experimental data. Students will receive Ph.D.s in economics, political science, psychology, sociology, or social welfare, with a distributed minor in education sciences. Their theses and dissertations will address practical problems in education. Students course sequences will be tailored to their departmental requirements and individual interests, with some common elements: Weekly participation in the new in Education Sciences (an expansion of the sociology of education brownbag) The Research Practicum in Education Sciences, taken once in connection with student research At least one course on experimental design and one on measurement Advanced statistics courses in students own departments and/or others An internship in the design, implementation, and analysis of field-based randomized trials Resources Provided Candidates admitted as entry-level students will receive up to five years of funding, with the expectation that three years will be provided by the training grant at the level of a 12-month, 60% research assistant, and two years obtained from other sources (e.g., teaching or project assistantships). Candidates admitted as advanced students will receive two consecutive years of funding to plan and carry out dissertation research. Eligibility Requirements Students must be admitted for or enrolled as full-time doctoral students in economics, political science, psychology, sociology, or social welfare at UW-Madison. Students must have demonstrated interest in applying rigorous quantitative methods to addressing pressing questions of policy and practice in education. Students must have excellent academic records and demonstrated potential for quantitative analysis. Due to U.S. government requirements, participants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Selection Process Applications from students and nominations from program faculty may be submitted by e-mail to Lois Opalewski (assistant to program director Adam Gamoran), at: loiso@education.wisc.edu. Decisions about program enrollment and funding will be made by the Steering Committee. Annual Evaluation The Steering Committee will evaluate students progress on an annual basis.
Faculty Affiliated with the Training Program: Research Interests and Training Roles Program director Adam Gamoran Professor, sociology and educational policy studies; Director, WCER Geoffrey Borman Associate professor, educational leadership and policy analysis Martha W. Alibali Professor, psychology Steven Durlauf Kenneth J. Arrow Professor of Economics Robert M. Hauser Vilas Research and Samuel Stouffer Professor of Sociology John Witte Professor, political science, public affairs, and educational leadership and policy analysis Current research: Evaluation of the Partnership for Literacy (middle school English intervention) via a randomized lagged treatment design; study of the school resegregation in Nashville, TN; national survey analysis on long-term effects of school racial composition. Training roles: Will lead the new in Education Sciences; teaches sociology of education, multilevel modeling; advising in sociology of education, with a focus on programs to reduce inequality in educational outcomes. Deputy director Current research: Analyses of randomized trials on computerassisted instructional intervention (Fast ForWord), summer school effects, educational effects of Success for All, and alternative interventions for English language learners. Training roles: Will oversee internships and teach the new research practicum in education sciences; supervises graduate students who analyze data from randomized trials and from national surveys; teaches on educational policy analysis and research design. Steering committee members Current research: Children s development of mathematical reasoning; integration of language and gesture in instructional communication. Training roles: Teaching and advising on cognitive development; supervises Cognitive Development and Communication lab; awarded Chancellor s Distinguished Teaching Award, 2004. Current research: Integration of social processes into formal models of individual behavior, and development of appropriate statistical models; methods for integrating statistical studies of individual and group behavior into policy evaluation. Training roles: Courses and advising on statistical methodology, especially network analysis and other methods for studying social interaction. Current research: Studies of educational trends and differentials; director, Center for Demography and Health of Aging, PI on NIA training grant. Training roles: Seminar on structural equation models; advises large numbers of doctoral students; has trained many of the leading sociologists of social stratification and education in the U.S.; 2003 Distinguished Teaching Award, American Sociological Association. Current research: Analysis and evaluation of inner-city education problems, with particular focus on school choice; current quasiexperimental study of charter schools in Wisconsin. Training roles: Over 2 decades, has supervised more than 50 students from six different departments working on his research projects; teaches courses on American institutions and public policy.
Faculty Affiliated with the Training Program: Research Interests and Training Roles (cont.) Other training faculty Daniel Bolt Associate professor, educational psychology Carolyn J. Heinrich Associate professor, public affairs Jee-Seon Kim Assistant professor, educational psychology John Allen Logan Associate professor, sociology Colleen Moore Professor, psychology Lincoln Quillian Associate professor, sociology Arthur Reynolds Professor, social work, educational psychology, and human development Gary Sandefur Professor, sociology; Dean, College of Letters and Science Current research: Application of latent variable models for test validation, assessment of individual differences, and cognitive diagnosis; application of item response theory to differential item functioning and test dimensionality assessment. Training roles: Courses and advising on factor analysis, structural equation modeling, classical test theory, item response theory, and hierarchical linear modeling. Current research: Effectiveness of skills training for disadvantaged adult workers; quasi-experimental studies in Brazil and Argentina of cash incentives to increase educational attainment. Training roles: Training director, Institute for Research on Poverty; teaching and advising in applied economics and public policy. Current research: Development and application of quantitative methods for modeling change, learning, and human development, categorical data analysis, issues of omitted variables and school effectiveness, using multilevel and other latent variable models. Training roles: Courses and advising on statistical inference and experimental design. Current research: Development and application of the two-sided logit model; Markov chain Monte Carlo modeling. Training roles: Teaches categorical data analysis, advanced statistics, social stratification; advising on advanced, computationally intensive inference methods, collaboration with statisticians and economists. Current research: Development of mathematical models of human judgment, protocol analysis, and decision tasks. Research on cognitive development, judgment, and decision making. Training roles: Courses and advising on psychometric methods, measurement and scaling, statistical analysis of experimental data. Current research: Spatial segregation among income groups and educational inequality; school composition and adolescent friendship groups; causal effects of housing assistance programs on patterns of spatial inequality. Training roles: Organizes a training seminar on race and ethnicity within the Department of Sociology; teaches intermediate statistics, social stratification, urban ecology; advises on residential segregation, educational inequality. Current research: Ongoing research on the quasi-experimental study of the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, an early childhood intervention with long-term outcome data. Training roles: Teaches and advises on evaluation research, research methods, early childhood education. Current research: Family structure, socioeconomic status, and child well-being; disability and young adult transitions. Training roles: Advises students in race and ethnic studies, sociology of education, poverty studies; key mentor for minority students.
Faculty Affiliated with the Training Program: Research Interests and Training Roles (cont.) John Karl Scholz Professor, economics Mark Seidenberg Donald O. Hebb Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Ruth N. Lopez Turley Assistant professor, sociology Deborah Lowe Vandell Sears-Bascom Professor of Education, Psychology Geoffrey L. Wallace Assistant professor, public affairs and economics David L. Weimer Professor, political science and public affairs Current research: Effects of earned income tax credit on labor supply; changing wealth inequality in the U.S. Training roles: Teaches public economics, advises students on intergenerational and life-cycle economic behavior. Current research: Use of language and its bases in the brain using computational models; empirical research on reading and dyslexia, including behavioral studies, large-scale computational models, and neuroimaging studies. Training roles: Teaches and advises on cognitive processes in reading, psycholinguistics, experimental methods, simulation models. Current research: Neighborhood effects on children s cognitive and behavioral development, college financial aid and intergenerational educational inequality; impact of continuing child support on educational attainment. Training roles: Teaches and advises on socioeconomic and race/ethnic inequality, educational policy and intergenerational transmission of inequality. Current research: PI in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development; research on child care and after-school care. Training roles: Teaching and advising on developmental psychology, early schooling, and cognitive outcomes. Current research: Effects of public school choice on student achievement in Milwaukee; effects of welfare reform on families; macroeconomic change and welfare programs. Training roles: Courses and advising on public policy and family decision making. Current research: Study of charter schools in high- and low-choice districts; research on Internet survey methodology, effect of school quality on housing prices. Training roles: Teaches quantitative methods in political science, trains students on statistical analysis for policy research.
Framework for a 5-Year Program of Study for Entry-Level Fellows Training period Methods and statistics courses Disciplinary & interdisciplinary courses Year 1: Fall Statistics/econometrics Discipline-based courses Spring Research methods Discipline-based courses Statistics/econometrics Year 2: Fall Experimental design Discipline-based courses Spring Research practicum in education sciences Discipline-based courses Year 3: Fall Measurement Courses on education in context Spring Internship experience Year 4: Fall Advanced statistics Courses on education in context Spring Advanced statistics Courses on education in context Year 5: Fall Thesis research Spring Thesis research Note: This framework is a guideline for students courses of study. Within this framework, students and their mentors will craft individualized experiences that are suited to the interests of the students and the requirements of their disciplines. While we refrain from prescribing a narrow sequence of courses, the core elements represented above will provide a unifying structure that will ensure the program s cohesiveness.