Professor Clayton Cook, OLPD, is co-PI on a recently-awarded $3.8 million, four-year grant from the Institute of Education Sciences: “Initial Efficacy Trial of a Group-Based Implementation Strategy Designed to Increase Teacher Delivery of Evidence-Based Prevention Programs.”

“Students cannot benefit from effective practices they do not receive,” Cook states. “For a variety of valid reasons, many teachers are ambivalent about adopting new practices, even when provided with training and follow-up coaching. The end result is low implementation and maintenance of the status quo, with many students not accessing higher-quality experiences.”

Cook and his research team will focus on implementation of effective practices around teacher motivation, with the explicit aim to test a group-based, motivationally-focused support designed to increase the yield of training and coaching on the successful implementation of effective practices.

“Ultimately, we are trying to learn how best to create professional learning experiences for teachers around learning and implementing new practices that produce important and more equitable outcomes for students. We approach this work with the assumption that without successful implementation, the high quality practices that students need will not be received.”

Cook, whose previous faculty home was in the Department of Education Psychology in CEHD, recently transferred to OLPD, where he will join faculty in the Education Policy and Leadership program track.