Third and fifth grade classroom teachers are currently needed to participate in the UGA College of Education Instructional Conversation teaching strategy study.

Karen Samuelsen, assistant professor of educational psychology and co-investigator of the project stated "About two years ago, we received a four-year, $2.9 million grant from the federal government to investigate the effectiveness of a teaching method called Instructional Conversation for improving the academic achievement of English language learners in upper elementary grades."

“Numerous small-scale studies have shown IC to be an effective strategy for this population; however, none of the studies met the evidence standards the government needs to make new policies or recommendations,” said Samuelsen. “Our study is meant to fill that gap and definitively say that IC works for ELLs. We also are examining its effectiveness for students who speak English as their first language and expect to see the same result.”

Interested teachers must participate for two years. Teachers will be randomly assigned  to the treatment or control group. Teachers will receive training in the IC model during the summer and instructional support from an experienced teacher/partner from their own district. The study pays for time and effort and provides professional development.

Currently approximately 35 teachers from Gwinnett and Dekalb county are signed up for the study and 90 teachers are needed.

The study hopes to spark educational conversation between teachers and students in small group settings.

More information is available by contacting the grant coordinator at MNejat@uga.edu.

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