The Marsico Institute for Early Learning conducts research focused on improving outcomes for children birth to age eight. Through the leadership of Co-Directors, Drs. Douglas H. Clements and Julie Sarama, the Marsico Institute research staff and post-doctoral research fellows develop and evaluate high-quality early education interventions, curricula, and professional development.
The Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center is funded by OSEP to provide technical assistance (TA) to improve services and results for young children, birth to five, with disabilities and their families. ECTA provides information and TA to a) increase awareness and recognition of how IDEA Part C and Section 619 can be intentionally included within broader early childhood initiatives; b) increase knowledge, skills, and competencies of IDEA Part C and Section 619 Coordinators; c) increase capacity of Part C and Section 619 programs to implement systems change efforts, improve and sustain state systems, and increase access to, and participation in, high-quality, inclusive programs for young children with disabilities; and, d) increase implementation of effective services and evidence-based interventions, including DEC Recommended Practices, in inclusive settings. Learn more here.
ULTIMATE is a new research project that will support teachers in deepening their understanding of how children learn mathematics and how to incorporate this understanding into their classrooms to help children develop math ideas and skills—joyfully. Over two decades, Drs. Clements and Sarama have built a professional development tool, called Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories, or [LT]2. The DU team will work with teachers, blending high quality in-person professional development and classroom-based coaching with teachers' use of the [LT]2 tool. The team will investigate the impacts of the intervention on teachers and students.
Connect4Learning (C4L) is an interdisciplinary early childhood prekindergarten curriculum, which aims to synthesize research-based approaches in four domains of learning: literacy, mathematics, science, and social-emotional development. C4L uses an interdisciplinary approach to address growing concerns that most preschool instructional time is devoted to literacy at the expense of other content areas, particularly math and science. The aim of the EPIC four-year longitudinal project, funded by the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), is to evaluate the efficacy of the C4L curriculum when it is implemented as intended. We are partnering with 60 classrooms for this study, including 30 C4L classrooms and 30 “business as usual” classrooms. C4L teachers will receive regular professional development on the curriculum and will receive regular coaching to support curriculum implementation and fidelity. Data will include classroom observations in core domains, teacher surveys, coaching data, and child assessments in all core domains.
The National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs to improve and support the capacity of state systems and local programs to implement an early childhood multi-tiered system of support to improve the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children with, and at risk for, developmental disabilities or delays. The goals of the Center are to assist states and programs in their implementation of sustainable systems for the implementation of the Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Pyramid Model) within early intervention and early education programs with a focus on promoting the social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of young children birth to five, reducing the use of inappropriate discipline practices, promoting family engagement, using data for decision-making, integrating early childhood and infant mental health consultation and fostering inclusion. Learn more here.
The Marsico Institute is part of the national STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMI2E2) Center in partnership with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Center is funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education. The work of the Center is focused on developing and enhancing the knowledge base for engagement in STEM learning opportunities for young children with disabilities, implementing high-quality technical assistance and professional development to increase engagement for young children with disabilities in STEM opportunities, and engaging partners and stakeholders from diverse disciplines and industry in work to increase the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early high-quality STEM learning experiences. Learn more on their website linked here.
Bajillions is a digital platform (website and app) that integrates colorful, engaging math games with the research-based developmental progression of Learning Trajectories. The backbone of Bajillions is The Path, an integration of all Learning Trajectory levels. Each level on the Path has one or more games that provide fun, purposeful practice of key mathematical concepts and skills.Additionally, the Bajillions system is designed to assess a child’s mathematical understanding and guide children along the Path. Bajillions moves a user, dynamically and automatically, to games at an earlier level, later level, or offers more practice on a current level based on player performance. Meanwhile, teachers (or parents/guardians) have the advantage of monitoring a child’s progress along the Path and receiving tailoredrecommendations for in-person activities and other development resources. Bajillions represents the cutting-edge in educational technology, leveraging content validated by decades of research. It is the rare technology product that promotes face-to-face activities as much as digital ones.
The COEMET (Classroom Observation of Early Math – Environment and Teaching) is a research-based and validated observational tool for observing the quantity and quality of the math environment and teaching in preschool through 2nd grade classrooms. This project seeks to digitize the app as a foundation for adding coaching tools to support the development of early math educators. This project is supported by the Tools Competition.
Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories [LT]2 is a web-based tool for early childhood educators to learn about how children think and learn about mathematics and how to teach mathematics to young children (birth to age 8). The website allows teachers to access information about children's development of math, view short video clips of classroom instruction, and explore a variety of resources including research-based instructional activities and teaching strategies. Funding from the Heising-Simons Foundation supported the initial development of the website, the addition of important standards, assessments, and infant/toddler content to the site. Partnerships support the addition of video voiceovers and Spanish translations. Work to continuously add new research-based activities and high-quality teaching examples continues with the support of generous donors. Contribute here.
Developed to study children’s development and learning across all important areas of early math, the Research-Based Early Math Assessment emerged from over two decades of research and development. All versions of the REMA are diagnostic assessments measuring children’s mathematical knowledge and skills along research-based developmental progressions (National Research Council, 2007; Sarama, 2009). The measures use an individual interview format with explicit protocol, coding, and scoring procedures.
