University of Southern California

Rossier School of Education

Excellence in Urban Education

	Current & Recently Completed Projects
	Current projects · MICLL Research Group - My research group is named MICLL (Motivation, Instruction, Cognition, Language, & Literacy) and is working on a number of projects on this topic, including the development of a measure of teachers’ understanding of students’ motivation; measuring the motivational profiles of struggling readers in urban settings; and studies of the relationships among motivational variables, student engagement, and reading and general achievement outcomes. Members of the group are Gigi Ragusa (research professor, USC), Norm Unrau (professor, Cal State LA), Matt Quirk (professor, UC Santa Barbara), Erica Bowers (professor, Cal State Fullerton), Gustavo Loera (Mental Health America of Los Angeles), Alejandra Velasco, Katie Moulton, and Hyo Lim (Ph.D. candidates, USC), and Kayoko Honda (Ed.D. candidate, USC) · Alternative instructional models of effective bilingual education. This recently completed study examined the instructional characteristics of two high achieving programs for English Learners. The programs used two different models, one a traditional Early Exit transitional bilingual program, and the other a Dual Proficiency model developed by the participating teachers over a period of several years.This work (click here for a copy) was funded through the Haynes Foundation. · Learning & Motivational Characteristics of High School and College Students. Two recent projects have examined the learning and motivational characteristics of urban high school students (click here) and underrepresented students in a four-year state university setting (click here) · Affective factors (compassion & empathy): Neuropsychological correlates and intervention application. I am collaborating with Mary Helen-Immordino Yang (RSOE), Gayla Margolin (Psychology), and Gustavo Loera (Mental Health America of Los Angeles) to examine the neuropsychological correlates of affective factors and the intervention applications in areas such as school violence, gang membership, etc. · Victimization in the Peer Group and Academic Functioning during Middle Childhood. I am collaborating with David Schwartz (Psychology) to develop a longitudinal study which looks at victimization and how it is mediated by motivational and engagement variables to impact school achievement. · Cross cultural factors in the development of interest. I am collaborating on work with Michelle Riconscente (RSOE) to examine cultural issues in the development of interest in urban high school students. We hope to develop this line of work into an intervention which combines both motivational and cognitive dimensions to improve student outcomes.