Faculty in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development have attracted external funding from the U.S. Department of Education, Texas Instruments Foundation, Collins Foundation, and other sponsors for innovative research and training projects that will have a real-world impact on education locally and nationally.

Project Scale-Up

Project Scale-Up is a five-year study funded by a $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Patricia Mathes, Texas Instruments Endowed Professor of Reading and IRR director, is principal investigator for the project, which is a collaboration with UT-Austin's Center for Reading and Language Arts, focusing on research-validated first-grade reading interventions in multiple schools.


  • Project Maximize

    A five-year project to develop a reading curriculum for children with mild to moderate retardation

  • Project ELLA

    Evaluate alternative instructional models for primary grade students whose first language is Spanish.

  • Project ISIP-ER

    A two-year project to develop and evaluate the technical adequacy of an early reading assessment system.

  • Project ISIP-AR

    Item Development for Continuous Monitoring of Advanced Reading Skills for Grades 4-8.

Latest Research

Two grants of $1.5 million each to Dr. William Pulte for training support for teachers seeking certification in bilingual education.
A NAE Spencer Fellowship award to Dr. Paige Ware to examine an international online multimedia literacy exchange between adolescent English language learners.
A grant from OELA to Dr. Hector Rivera to address needs of at-risk newcomer adolescents with limited English proficiency.
A grant from OELA to Dr. Paige Ware to create a professional development model for training teachers to improve the quality of education for students with limited English proficiency.
A grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to Dr. Kathy Hargrove to address science education and research in secondary schools.