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CREATE Sessions @ COABE 2026
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This is a list of presentations by CREATE Research Teams at COABE 2026. Please check final schedules for actual days and times of the presentations as they may change.
Blog
Participate in the ASAP Pilot!
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Help shape the future of assessments for adults.As part of the IES-funded Adult Skills Assessment Program (ASAP), the University of Massachusetts Amherst is piloting short math and reading assessments for adult learners. Currently, learners can take:The ASAP Math Pilot Placement AssessmentASAP Math Assessments associated with selected CALM unitsASAP Reading Assessments associated with SkillBloxASAP Math assessments for students interested in semiconductor training programsASAP assessments for workers in the strawberry harvesting industryWe are inviting…
Blog
Announcement: Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations in Adult Foundational Education
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The CREATE Network has released a new resource: “Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations in Adult Foundational Education: A Brief on Strategies for Engaging Practitioners in Research on Interventions.” This brief discusses strategies for Adult Foundational Education (AFE) researchers to use in collaboration with state and program staff in designing, implementing, and evaluating AFE interventions.
Resource
Researcher-Practitioner Collaborations in Adult Foundational Education: A Brief on Strategies for Engaging Practitioners in Research on Interventions
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This brief discusses strategies for Adult Foundational Education (AFE) researchers to use in collaboration with state and program staff in designing, implementing, and evaluating AFE interventions.
Event
Horizons 2025
Horizons, presented by Jobs for the Future, is where we explore the newest ideas for transforming the field and center the voices of the people most impacted by the transformation. Join us at our annual summit when we return to New Orleans on June 10-11, 2025, to ignite change and take bold steps toward building a future that works for everyone.
Event
AERA 2026 Annual Meeting
The 2026 AERA Annual Meeting theme—“Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Education Research” - The Call for Submissions is now open. The deadline to submit is July 25.
Blog
Designing an Application For and With Educators
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This blog is reposted from content previously shared on the TSTM-SkillBlox Research project page by the EdTech Center @ World Education.In the last TSTM-SkillBlox blog, the World Education team described our process for developing new SkillBlox features. Leveraging a design research approach to gather user insights about teaching and learning, our aim has been to create practical tools and advance research that supports skill-aligned instruction through open education resources (OER). Iterative Feature DevelopmentThrough focus group conversations,…
Blog
Building SkillBlox as Design and Development Research
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This blog is reposted from content previously shared on the TSTM-SkillBlox Research project page by the EdTech Center @ World Education. The follow-up to this blog, Designing an Application For and With Educators, is also available.World Education is building new features for SkillBlox as part of our partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in IES-funded design and development TSTM-SkillBlox research. Our qualitative approach is guided by Design Based Research (DBR) (Brown, 1992; McKenney & Reeves, 2018; Sandoval, 2014), through which…
Event
IES Annual Principal Investigators Meeting
SAVE THE DATE - The Annual Principal Investigators Meeting is scheduled to be held on January 7-8, 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. More information to come. . .
Resource
Utility value of improving writing skills for adult basic education students
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Motivational research identifies utility value, or the importance of a learning task to future goals, as central to motivation to learn. This study analyzed survey data (N = 86) collected from adult literacy learners to examine their utility value of writing improvement in grammar and spelling skills, word processing skills, and planning, drafting, and revising skills. Findings revealed that participants had a high utility value of improving writing in all three skill areas and possessed a variety of underlying motivations, including obtaining further education, seeking future employment, and personal reasons. Participants' age, educational attainment, and reading levels showed relationships with utility value of improving grammar and spelling skills, and age showed an additional relationship to utility value of improving word processing skills. This work extends research on motivation in this population and supports the application of expectancy-value theory to both adult motivation and writing motivation. A free video is available on the utility value of improving writing skills for adult basic education students on this page. A subscription or one-time payment is required access this full publication from the Writing in Adult Secondary Education Classes team.
