Funding Opportunities to Use Largescale Data Sets

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Funding Opportunities to Use Large-scale Data Sets

• George L. Wimberly
• Council on Undergraduate Research Dialogue
• April 3, 2009

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About AERA

• National research society for education research
• 26,000 individual members
• Peer reviewed journals, methodology and research
  books
• Dissertation and Research grants and postdoctoral
  training
• Annual Meeting

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AERA Journals

• American Educational Research Journal
• Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
• Educational Researcher
• Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics
  
• Review of Educational Research
• Review of Research in Education

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AERA Grants Program Overview

• Since inception in 1990, over 400 small grants
  have been awarded
• Joint funding from the National Center for
  Education Statistics (NCES) and the National
  Science Foundation (NSF) through 6 consecutive
  NSF grants

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Program Overview

• Developed and governed by a volunteer Board of 12
  nationally prominent education researchers
• Competitive research and training program that
  supports studies on U.S. education policy- and
  practice-related topics using quantitative
  methods and data from the large-scale, national
  and international data sets sponsored by NCES and
  NSF

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Small Grants

• Dissertation Grants for advanced doctoral
  students, 20,000 for 1 year
• Research Grants for university faculty and
  postdoctoral researchers, 20,000 for 1 year, or
  35,000 for 2 years

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Research Topics

• Topics include timely education issues such as
• student achievement at all levels
• mathematics and science education
• parental involvement
• higher education
• school organization and finance
• race/ethnicity/gender
• policies and practices related to student
  achievement and assessment

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NCES/NSF Data Sets

• Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten
  Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K)
• Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS2002)
• The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent
  Health (Add Health)
• TIMSS
• National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988
  (NELS88)
• High School and Beyond (HSB)
• Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (BB)

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Data Training Available

• NCES/NSF Courses in Washington, DC
• AERA Professional Development Courses at Annual
  Meeting
• AERA Statistics Institute

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Proposal Evaluation

• Is the policy issue clearly defined?
• What is already known on the issue?
• How does the methodology relate to the policy
  question?
• Does the applicant know the data set?
• Does the analytic plan fit the question and the
  data?

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Further Information

• Deadlines
• September 1, 2009
• January 6, 2010
• Websites
• http//www.aera.net/grantsprogram/index.html
• http//www.aera.net/grantsprogram

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Proposal Tips

• Understand purpose of the award (training, honor,
  field work, final write-up)
• Candidate and proposal requirements
• Work closely with advisor(s), mentor(s), and
  institution
• Contact program officer with any questions
• Monitor deadlines

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Contact Information

• George L. Wimberly
• Director of Social Justice
• and Professional Development
• American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• gwimberly_at_aera.net