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GSE Pre-K–16 Research in Western New York

City Voices, City Visions (CVCV)

Suzanne Miller (LAI associate professor)  (biography)

CVCV is a digital technology project partnership that prepares teachers in curriculum-based uses of digital technologies with 6th to 12th grade urban students. Through professional development institutes, teachers learn how to engage students in authoring digital video and written documentation of school-based and community experiences to help them learn in a student-centered, inquiry-based, project-oriented curriculum. Using the Internet, hand-sized digital video cameras, and video editing software as creative research tools, teachers engage students in strategic composing that allows them to connect what they learn in school to what they know about the world. CVCV research in these classrooms shows that students develop composing strategies that assist them in achieving new higher-level state learning standards in literacy, social science, and other areas.

New Literacies Group

Suzanne Miller (LAI associate professor)  (biography)

The mission of the New Literacies Group is the advancement of knowledge about and innovative uses of new literacies, cultural lenses, and new media technologies, as critical mediators for millennial student literacy learning and school change. The group has established a scholarly community across departments and programs, with the goal of creating a joint agenda of research, teaching, and professional development which focuses on these topics in the context of PreK-12 classrooms and teacher education.

Reading First

Julius Gregg Adams (TEI associate dean for teacher education)  (biography)

Formerly known as America Reads, the Reading First program currently serves local community schools and after school programs by providing undergraduate and graduate students to help below grade level readers improve their reading skills. We currently have tutors in 23 classrooms in the following Buffalo Public Schools: D'Youville Porter Academy Campus (School 3); B.E.S.T. (School 6); Early Childhood Center (School 36); Dr. George Blackman E.C.C. (School 54); Early Childhood Center (School 77); and Makowski E.C.C. (School 99).

Reading Tutors/School 77

Guofang Li (LAI assistant professor)  (biography)

Students enrolled in Dr. Li's course tutor students in reading at School 77.

Six Traits Writing

James Collins (LAI professor) / Mary Thompson (LAI assistant professor) / Sharon Raimondi (LAI adjunct associate professor)
(biographies: Collins | Thompson | Raimondi)

Five-year program funded by the Western New York School Support Services at Erie 1 BOCES, which uses GSE students to provide professional development for Buffalo teachers in Six Traits Writing instruction. "Six Traits Writing" refers to an approach to writing emphasizing six main criteria: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Word Choice, and Conventions. The Six Traits program emphasizes the mental procedures writers use as tools to control their writing. Schools that have participated to date include Triangle Academy (School 28); D'Youville-Porter Academy Campus (School 3); Buffalo Elementary School of Technology (School 6); Martin Luther King (School 39); Frank Sedita (School 3); and Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy (School 76).

Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension (WIRC) Grant

James Collins (LAI professor) / Jaekyung Lee (CSEP assistant professor)
(biographies: Collins | Lee)

The purpose of this project is to design and test an intervention which uses guided writing-about-reading to focus instruction on and improve reading comprehension in grades three and four in low-performing Buffalo Public Schools. It will integrate reading and writing by creating the need for using them as tools of understanding, and it will make this an inviting necessity by assisting students with problems they encounter.

Buffalo Public Schools and Building Blocks

Douglas Clements (LAI professor) / Julie Sarama (LAI associate professor)
(biographies: Clements | Sarama)

The Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) has adopted the Building Blocks preschool mathematics curriculum. Written with a grant from the National Science Foundation, the Building Blocks program is a research-based early childhood mathematics curriculum with a proven record of success, from early pilot work in BPS to randomized controlled trials. The adoption of the Building Blocks curriculum will be phased into all BPS preschools. The purpose of this grant is to develop and evaluate innovative research-based curricula in mathematics for early childhood education, preschool to 2nd grade. The Building Blocks program incorporates old and new technologies, from blocks to puzzles to multimedia computer programs. Preliminary evaluations show the program's approach of finding the mathematics in, and developing mathematics from, children's every day activity, allowing children to learn and do more mathematics than previously assumed.

Gifted Math Program

Gerald Rising (LAI professor emeritus)

Students commute to the university twice weekly to study an enriched and accelerated program of school mathematics in 7th to 10th grades, and university level courses in discrete mathematics and calculus in 11th and 12th grades. They can accumulate 22 semester hours of university credit for successful participation.

IERI Scale-Up: The TRIAD I Project

Douglas Clements (LAI professor) / Julie Sarama (LAI associate professor)
(biographies: Clements | Sarama)

The Technology-enhanced, Research-based Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development (TRIAD) project will scale-up the implementation of an integrated research-based Pre-K mathematics curriculum with an emphasis on teaching for understanding following developmental guidelines, or learning trajectories, and using technology at multiple levels.

IERI Scale-Up: The TRIAD II Project

Douglas Clements (LAI professor) / Julie Sarama (LAI associate professor) / Jaekyung Lee (CSEP assistant professor)
(biographies: Clements | Sarama | Lee

This is a follow-up to the initial TRIAD project which will truly scale-up the implementation of an integrated research-based Pre-K mathematics curriculum in over 100 classrooms in two states.

Bilingual Program

Lilliam Malavé (LAI associate professor)  (biography)

The Bilingual Program is involved with the Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) in three ways:
   1. Advise committee members regarding current findings related to the education of English language learners (ELL).
   2. The Bilingual Program received a National Professional Development grant (2002-2007) to implement an English language acquisition professional development grant to, in consortia with BPS and in collaboration with the NYS Department of Education (NYSED), establish a master's degree program to train teachers to improve instruction for EL learners. This semester the program is providing scholarships to participate in the master's degree program to 17 BPS professionals.
   3. The Bilingual Program, in collaboration with and through funds provided by the NYSED BOCES-Suffolk, has provided 18 BPS professionals training, at the master's degree level, to improve classroom instruction for EL learners.

Office of University Preparatory Programs (OUPP)

Julius Gregg Adams (TEI associate dean for teacher education)  (biography)

OUPP is designed to improve the ability of students to succeed in high school, and increase access to post-secondary education. OUPP is actively engaged with the Buffalo Public Schools in helping students meet new academic standards, such as those for the NYS Regents Examinations. OUPP increases access to post-secondary education for many students who may have never considered college as an option.

Buffalo Public Schools Academic and Behavioral Competencies (ABC) Program

Gregory Fabiano (CSEP assistant professor)  (biography)

This program assists district staff with the ongoing implementation of scientifically based school-wide discipline programs and child-specific daily report cards. In addition, the program includes the supervision of the district's two classroom teachers of at-risk students who attend classrooms housed in the Center for Children and Families. Numerous district families are also supported with strategies to implement at home when addressing their children's behavioral concerns.

Leadership Initiative for Tomorrow's Schools (LIFTS) Program

Stephen Jacobson (ELP professor)  (biography)

LIFTS is a collaborative effort between GSE and Buffalo and Western New York school districts to identify and support future leaders for positions in education administration. Participants are required to complete a two-year commitment that includes intensive coursework and a significant practical administrative internship experience. Begun in 1996, the program has graduated over 50 potential administrators, most of whom are employed as school principals, assistant principals, or district administrators in 11 area school districts. The program is unlike traditional school-administrator preparation programs, which emphasize the mastery of managerial skills, such as curriculum planning, instructional evaluation, and scheduling. While including these traditional areas, LIFTS also has an emphasis on the development of interpersonal skills that promote group facilitation and team building. The purpose is to engage and use the talents of teachers, parents, and students as part of the educational process. Approximately 16 to 20 current Buffalo Public Schools administrators are LIFTS graduates.

Leadership Study

Stephen Jacobson (ELP professor) / Corrie Giles (ELP assistant professor) / Lauri Johnson (ELP assistant professor) / Rose Ylimaki (ELP assistant professor)
(biographies: Jacobson | Giles | Johnson | Ylimaki)

Studied successful school leadership in two Buffalo Public Schools.

Teacher Education Institute (TEI) Field Experience

Julius Gregg Adams (TEI associate dean for teacher education)  (biography)

Students have successfully completed field experience and student teaching placements in 40 Buffalo Public Schools. The cohort/liaison mode that TEI follows allows students to become an integral part of the liaison school. The participants provide assistance and support to unique programs and practices specific to the liaison school. The student teachers become acquainted with the curriculum, student achievement, and building priorities. This familiarity creates a smooth transition to student teaching, which promotes optimum learning experiences for students, cooperating teachers, and other school staff at the liaison site.

Committee to Identify and Develop Educational Leadership (CIDEL)

Stephen Jacobson (ELP professor)  (biography)

Serves as the GSE representative to the committee. Provides professional development opportunities for school leadership development in Western New York.

Greater Buffalo Leadership Consortium (GBLC)

Stephen Jacobson (ELP professor)  (biography)

Serves as the GSE representative to the group. Provides professional development opportunities for Buffalo Public School leaders.

New Curriculum Team for Buffalo Public Schools

Rose Ylimaki (ELP assistant professor)  (biography)

Invited to serve on Superintendent James Williams' new curriculum team for the Buffalo Public Schools. Responsibilities of the team include curriculum mapping and alignment to state standards and assessments.

Richard Hofstadter Institute for Ambitious History Teaching

S. G. Grant (LAI associate professor) / Scott DeWitt (LAI assistant professor) / Jill Gradwell (LAI alumna)
(biographies: Grant | DeWitt)

Primary contributors of the grant proposal for the Buffalo Public Schools submission for a U.S. Department of Education program. GSE will play a major role in the implementation of this professional development grant.

School Leaders' Responses to Current Accountability Policies

Rose Ylimaki (ELP assistant professor)  (biography)

During 2004-2005, researched school leaders' responses to current accountability policies, including the No Child Left Behind Act. Research sites included several schools in Western New York as well as other regions of the United States. Findings from the research study were presented at the recent European Educational Research Association conference in Dublin, Ireland and will appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of School Leadership.

Small Schools Workshop

Michael Klonsky (Small Schools Workshop) / Don Jacobs (GSE research associate professor) / Mara Huber (GSE director of special programs) / Pedro Noguera (New York University professor)
(biographies: Jacobs | Huber)

Through our partnership with the Small Schools Workshop, GSE provided support to the Buffalo Public Schools Smaller Learning Communities planning grant, and their efforts toward obtaining a Smaller Learning Communities implementation grant. This support included professional development activities and presentations by experts affiliated with the Small Schools Workshop. In addition to Buffalo, GSE has also provided ongoing support to the Amherst School District. Specifically, GSE brought Pedro Noguera, national expert on school reform, and Michael Klonsky, to speak to Amherst teachers and administrators on two separate occasions. GSE also supported the attendance of Windermere school principals at the national Small Schools Summer Institute in Tampa, FL. Currently Scott Meier (CSEP professor) is working with McKinley High School as their external evaluator for the Smaller Learning Communities implementation grant.

WNY Area Teacher Education Programs

James Hoot (LAI professor)  (biography)

For the past five years worked with a research team consisting of colleagues of other Western New York teacher education programs. Meet bi-weekly to brainstorm ideas with teachers for improving instruction with challenging children.

Workshop: Raising Intercultural Sensitivity in Schools

Vladimir Ageyev (LAI adjunct professor)  (biography)

Conducted five multicultural workshop sessions for Buffalo Public Schools teachers at the Buffalo Teacher Center with the assistance of Joanne Sadler (Daemen College assistant professor).

Biography, Social Structures & Diversity: Professional Socialization Toward Constructive Engagement with Diversity

Catherine Cornbleth (LAI professor)  (biography)

This project investigates interplay of individuals and institutional references on how professionals engage difference and diversity in two Buffalo schools.

Evaluation of Buffalo Preschool Programs

Jeremy Finn (CSEP professor)  (biography)

Conducted evaluations for 2½ years of all preschool programs in the Buffalo Public Schools. Worked with the early childhood programs office to design, administer, and analyze data showing students' academic progress during the preschool year.

Web-Based Portfolio Assessment in Science

Jaekyung Lee (CSEP assistant professor) / Xiufeng Liu (LAI associate professor) / Christine Kroll (GSE assistant dean)
(biographies: Lee | Liu | Kroll)

Collecting data on the validity and reliability of the Buffalo Public School science portfolio assessments in order to revise and resubmit a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation.

Longitudinal Study of the Effects of a Pre-Kindergarten Mathematics Curriculum on Low-Income Children's Mathematical Knowledge

Douglas Clements (LAI professor) / Julie Sarama (LAI associate professor)
(biographies: Clements | Sarama)

Grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Grants Program to conduct research on the effectiveness of preschool curricula. The goal of this research is to implement rigorous evaluations of preschool curricula that will provide information to support informed choices of classroom curricula for early childhood programs in the Buffalo Public Schools.

Maverick Teachers Project

Catherine Cornbleth (LAI professor)  (biography)

Eric Mohammed (Seneca High School) is co-teaching this fall with Scott DeWitt (LAI assistant professor).

Bioinformatics High School

Xiufeng Liu (LAI associate professor) / Mary Gresham (GSE dean)
(biographies: Liu | Gresham)

Working with a group of teachers at East High School (formerly School 307) to develop a high school bioinformatics course.

Enhancing Second Language Literacy Achievement through Building School and Home Connections: A Pilot Study

Guofang Li (LAI assistant professor)  (biography)

Project with School 45. Now focusing on parental perceptions only.

In 2001, several University at Buffalo GSE faculty responded to a call by then Superintendent Marion Canedo on Task Force Teams for the Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) Reform Agenda:

Graduate School of Education

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