From the Field

Welcome to From the Field: Talking with Our Action Researchers, our new interview series, where we sit down with our action researchers to discuss their projects, what they've learned, and how they've grown professionally through our program. 

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Dr. Elena Andrei, Associate Professor and TESOL and DREAM program coordinator, is a long-time faculty partner with the CSU Action Research Program. Her work with local K-12 practitioners has generated ground-breaking discoveries in English-Language education.

Joe Foster, an educator at Hardin Northern High School and a 2022 Ohio Teacher of the Year for State Board Districts, worked with our program during the 22-23 school year. He partnered with Dr. Rick Breault from Ashland University on the topic of Living History.

Melissa Daley, a Cleveland Metropolitan School District newcomers educator, began in our program last year. Her work with Dr. Elena Andrei of Cleveland State University on "Multilingual Newcomers Learning Math: Solving Equations, a Two-Way Street" led to further investigation of multilingual learners and math in her new project this year on "Teaching Algebra to Multilingual Learners" (also with Dr. Andrei).


Dr. Jeff Karem, Professor of English at Cleveland State University, is one of our faculty partners in the CSU Action Research Program. Last year, he worked with 2022 National Teacher of the Year, Kurt Russell, on their project, "Diversifying the High School U.S. History Curriculum by Pairing Primary Historical and Literary Sources with a Class Textbook." And this year, he is working alongside Melissa Kmetz, 2023 Ohio Teacher of the Year, on their project, "Enhancing Students’ ELA Learning by Engaging with Cleveland."