Congratulations to the following educators who have been awarded the Houston A+ Challenge’s CFG As Research Team (CART) Grant for the following year. These grants encourage qualified CFG coaches to form a group and use action research to study their own practice.

Chong-Hao Fu and his team from KIPP Sharpstown College Prep will be asking “How can we create a school-wide vision of student and teacher excellence that looks beyond simple quantitative data and seeks a more comprehensive view of teaching and learning?”

Michaelann Kelley and an interdisciplinary team from Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD are asking, “How does changing the content and context of collegial conversations create a space for collaboration and reflection? How is this shift illuminated in teacher practice and expressed in student learning?”

The essential question of the CART group from Houston ISD's Challenge Early College High School, led by Matthew Martinez, is “What instructional strategies can we identify and implement to benefit our students’ learning and self-efficacy, and what structures can we establish that will build capacity across the faculty to examine classroom practice and adopt effective strategies?”

Debra McIntyre and her team from the SLC and PACE Programs in Humble ISD are asking, “How does a highly personalized educational experience reconnect at-risk students to the academic process?”

Lauren Nguyen, a Reading Specialist in Houston ISD’s Curriculum Department, will lead a multi-school team of reading teachers in a study of these two questions: “What impact does the Master Reading Teacher (MRT )have on reading test scores and the self-efficacy of teacher mentees? and Which MRT schedule shows the most impact?”

Sonia Pacé and her team from Anderson Academy in Aldine ISD will focus their inquiry around these questions: “How can Anderson Academy’s teachers collaborate to improve their classroom practices and student’s learning through the infusion of the arts in core curriculum? What can we learn about arts integration in the early years from the literature, school visits, and conference attendance? What integration strategies/approaches/content seen most attractive to our particular student population and teaching faculty? and What reflective insights bubble to the surface through this individual and shared inquiry?”

Mandi Painter and her team from Stovall Academy in Aldine ISD are asking, “What is the impact of daily reading interactions using poetry on early fluency development?”

Dr. Angela López Pedrana, an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Education at the University of Houston-Downtown, will be facilitating a group of faculty members from several local universities. Their inquiry revolves around these questions: “How might teachers’ knowledge, the contexts of teaching, and the influences that teachers have on student growth and achievement be better understood through collaborative forms of research and scholarship? and How might we advance the scholarship of teaching and research through sharing our unfolding inquiries with our field-based partners and Faculty Academy colleagues and capturing it in chapters, books, and portfolios?”

Carolyn Thibeaux from Chavez High School in Houston ISD is facilitating a team of educators from Alief, Aldine, and Houston ISD’s. They will be inquiring, “How does change in administrative leadership affect the school culture, as interpreted by empowered school leaders?”

Nichole Thompson from Houston Academy in Aldine ISD will be leading a collaborative group that includes educators from Bethune and Drew Academies as well. Their research questions include: “How have the STARS units of study been adapted? for what purpose to what effect? How might student and teacher learning relating to the units of study be documented and shared with others? and What reflective insights do our individual and collective inquiries into teachers’ curriculum making in context make possible?”