Julie Sarama is the Kennedy Endowed Chair in Innovative Learning Technologies and Professor at the University of Denver. She conducts research on young children's development of mathematical concepts and competencies, implementation and scale-up of educational reform, professional development models and their influence on student learning, and implementation and effects of software environments (including those she has created) in mathematics classrooms. These studies have been published in more than 65 refereed articles, 5 books, 53 chapters, and 70 additional publications. Dr. Sarama has directed over 25 projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and the National Institute of Health (NIH). For example, she has been Principal or Co-Principal Investigator on seven projects funded by the NSF, including Building Blocks—Foundations for Mathematical Thinking, Pre-kindergarten to Grade 2: Research-based Materials Development and Planning for Professional Development in Pre-School Mathematics: Meeting the Challenge of Standards 5000. She is Principal Investigator on her latest NSF award, entitled, “Early Childhood Education in the Context of Mathematics, Science, and Literacy. She is co-directing three large-scale studies funded by the U.S. Education Department’s Institute of Educational Studies (IES). The first is entitled, Scaling Up TRIAD: Teaching Early Mathematics for Understanding with Trajectories and Technologies. The second is a longitudinal extension of that work, entitled, Longitudinal Study of a Successful Scaling Up Project: Extending TRIAD. The third, with Dr. Sarama as Principal Investigator, is an efficacy study, Increasing the efficacy of an early mathematics curriculum with scaffolding designed to promote self-regulation. Another recent project, just funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Gates Foundation, Scalable Professional Development in Early Mathematics: The Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories Tool, is updating and disseminate a professional development software application empirically supported in previous projects. Dr. Sarama has taught secondary mathematics and computer science, gifted math at the middle school level, preschool and kindergarten mathematics enrichment classes, and mathematics methods and content courses for elementary to secondary teachers. In addition, she was the Director of the Gifted Mathematics Program (GMP) at the University of Buffalo, SUNY. She designed and programmed over 50 published computer programs, including Building Blocks software and her version of Logo and Logo-based software activities (Turtle Math™, which was awarded Technology & Learning Software of the Year award, 1995, in the category "Math"). Douglas H. Clements is the Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning, Executive Director of the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy, and Professor at the University of Denver. Previously a kindergarten teacher for five years and a preschool teacher for one year, he has conducted research and published widely in the areas of the learning and teaching of early mathematics and computer applications in mathematics education. His most recent interests are in creating, using, and evaluating a research-based curriculum and in taking successful curricula to scale using technologies and learning trajectories. He has published over 128 refereed research studies, 22 books, 86 chapters, and 300 additional publications. His latest books detail research-based learning trajectories in early mathematics education: Early childhood mathematics education research: Learning trajectories for young children and a companion book, Learning and teaching early math: The learning trajectories approach (Routledge). Dr. Clements has directed over 35 funded projects. Currently, Dr. Clements is Principal Investigator on two large-scale research projects. The first, Longitudinal Study of a Successful Scaling Up Project: Extending TRIAD, follows students the original large-scale TRIAD project from pre-K to fifth grade. The second, Evaluating the Efficacy of Learning Trajectories in Early Mathematics, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to evaluate the specific benefits of using learning trajectories. The NSF has funded three recent research projects. Clements is PI on the first, Using Rule Space and Poset-based Adaptive Testing Methodologies to Identify Ability Patterns in Early Mathematics and Create a Comprehensive Mathematics Ability Test, which will develop a computer-adaptive assessment for early mathematics. Clements is co-PI on the second, Early Childhood Education in the Context of Mathematics, Science, and Literacy, developing an interdisciplinary preschool curriculum. The third, developing better ways of assessing and teaching geometric measurement, is Learning Trajectories to Support the Growth of Measurement Knowledge: Pre-K through Middle School. Another recent project, just funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Gates Foundation, Scalable Professional Development in Early Mathematics: The Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories Tool, is updating and disseminate a professional development software application empirically supported in previous projects. Carrie Germeroth, Ph.D., Assistant Director of Research at the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy, conducts research and publishes in the areas of the social emotional development, math, and early childhood classroom quality. Germeroth routinely leads program evaluations that examine the impact of interventions or curricula in early childhood settings. Currently she is the project director for the Learning and Teaching with Learning Trajectories website (LT2). LT2 is a web-based tool for early childhood educators to learn about how children think and learn about mathematics and how to teach mathematics to young children (birth to age 8). Germeroth also provides professional development and technical assistance on early childhood development for many local and state agencies as well as the National Center on Early Childhood Development Teaching and Learning. She also served as project manager on the development of Colorado’s Early Learning and Development Guidelines as well as the Pre-Kindergarten Standards for the State of North Dakota. She has published research in several peer-reviewed early childhood journals, including the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology and Early Child Development, Care, The American Journal of Play, Phi Delta Kappan, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Crystal Day-Hess, Ph.D., is the Research Project Director at the Marsico Institute at the University of Denver. She conducts quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation with a variety of stakeholders across the country. She has extensive experience developing, coordinating, and conducting research in the early childhood and education-related fields, with research focusing on young children’s cognitive, social, and emotional school readiness skills (e.g., self-regulation/executive function, mathematics, early literacy, play, and achievement motivation). She has worked on multiple Early Reading First projects, Regional Educational Laboratory grants, National Science Foundation (NSF) and Institute of Educational Science (IES) grants, and foundation-funded grants. Most recently, she was the project director on a NSF-funded study, Connect4Learning – Early Childhood Education in the Context of Mathematics, Science, and Literacy. She is currently a project director for the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME) Network, specifically focusing on two projects: Preschool-Elementary Continuity and Coherence and Making More of Math Instruction: Using Math Activities to Support Math and Executive Function Skills in Early Childhood. She is also a member of the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCECDTL), which is jointly administered by the Office of Head Start (OHS) and the Office of Child Care (OCC). Day-Hess also works closely with leaders and organizations at the state and local levels conducting research and program evaluation, and developing and conducting professional development trainings for teachers and administrators across the country. Her work has been published in such journals as Early Education and Development, NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Intervention Field, and in conjunction with ASCD.
