December 2021

AERA has selected six new fellows for the AERA Fellowship Program on the Study of Deeper Learning. The early career scholars joining this highly competitive program will conduct research using the American Institutes for Research (AIR) Study of Deeper Learning data set (see table below). Fellows will work closely with AIR scientists and other scholars to analyze the Deeper Learning data and to help inform their research. Along with opportunities to participate in AERA research training activities, small conferences, and the AERA Annual Meeting, fellows are awarded up to $25,000 in research support. The six new fellows constitute the fourth cohort supported by the program.

This program aims to create a community of scholars studying the Deeper Learning model and a body of research related to the data. The professional networking and mentoring activities will introduce fellows to senior scholars and researchers, enhance their knowledge, advance their research agendas, move their manuscripts toward publication, and help them gain professional socialization to the academic research field.

Each fellow is utilizing this data set to develop research projects that focus on students, teachers, and schools that implement the Deeper Learning model. Fellows are addressing student-centered topics such as postsecondary trajectories for first-generation and high-achieving low-income students, and the influence of school culture on student success.

Others are focusing on teacher-oriented studies, working to answer important questions regarding the impact of educator mindsets on student success and deeper learning environments. Many of the studies focus on issues of equity across race, gender, and socioeconomic differences. The fellows will use both rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the Deeper Learning data.

The scholars from the previous cohorts are continuing their research projects using the Deeper Learning data and publishing their work in peer-reviewed journals. Some of their research will be featured in an invited poster session during the 2022 AERA Annual Meeting in San Diego.

The AERA Fellowship Program on the Study of Deeper Learning is made possible by a $1.5 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

“We are pleased to provide research training and capacity-building activities to a new cohort of fellows,” said George L. Wimberly, fellowship principal investigator and AERA Director of Professional Development. “These scholars will use the Deeper Learning data to address important questions and issues in education research and create new knowledge. We are grateful that the Hewlett Foundation continues to fund this important initiative to support early career scholars.”

AERA will begin accepting proposals for the next cohort in 2022.  For further information about the Fellowship Program, contact Wimberly at fellowships@aera.net or (202) 238-3200.

Fourth Cohort of Deeper Learning Fellows
 

	Sally Drew, Central Connecticut State University      "Exploring the Role of Educator Mindsets to Foster Deeper Learning Environments: A Situational Analysis"
	D. Jake Follmer, West Virginia University                 "Leveraging Deeper Learning Data to Understand Postsecondary Pathways for First-Generation Students: Effects of Self-Regulated Learning Competencies on Content Knowledge and Postsecondary Persistence"
	Jihee Hwang, Texas A&M University   "The Effect of Deeper Learning on Postsecondary Access and Outcomes for High-Achieving Low-Income Students"
	Karyn Miller, Texas A&M University—Commerce        "'Not Just a Face in a Sea of People': An Exploration of Caring School Culture in Deeper Learning Network Schools"
	Anahid Modrek, Thomas Jefferson University      "Let Me Learn, I Want to Know: Exploring the Explore-Exploit Trade-Off in Teacher Assignments"
	Kristy Robinson, McGill University              "Understanding the Nature, Predictors, and Consequences of Students' Heterogeneous Perceptions of Opportunities for Deeper Learning"