Many students are being left behind by our educational system. The National Assessment of Educational Progress is an assessment given to 161,000 students in public and private schools across the United States. Unfortunately, on the science assessment only 34% reached a level of proficiency and for the mathematics assessment 37% reached a proficient level of performance. Dr. Katherine Rawson, of Kent State University, hopes to be part of the solution required for improving the education system by helping students to better regulate their learning through the use of effective learning techniques. By understanding the best ways for students to do the most learning in a limited amount of time, Dr. Rawson's research can have an incredible impact on students and could likely also be profitably applied to help with learning in other contexts, such as patient education. Her studies aim to identify techniques that will enhance student learning, including self-testing, group learning, and example-based learning.

Dr. Rawson's research is helping to improve education based on empirical, scientific research about what works. Furthermore, by better understanding what educators can offer students in order for them to learn more effectively and efficiently, Dr. Rawson's research has broad applicability for a wide range of learners. These many applications can then be applied to create interventions that will significantly enhance student achievement across content domains. In addition to her research, Dr. Rawson's role as an educator is supported by her rich understanding of how to help students learn best. Her success as a professor has been informed by her ability to apply research to her own classroom!

Current research includes:

• Retrieval-monitoring-feedback (RMF): Dr. Rawson has students self-test and monitor their progress in learning with appropriate feedback, in multiple short sessions distributed across time. Her research has thus far shown impressive improvements in course performance and long-term retention of course content. Dr. Rawson hopes to scale up this project to examine effectiveness of this technique for a broader range of learners and content domains.

• Example-based learning: Dr. Rawson is investigating example-based learning techniques to help students learn conceptual information. While this project is still in its early stages, Dr. Rawson hopes that it may shed light on new techniques for effective learning.

• Collaborative learning: Dr. Rawson is investigating the extent to which having students learn in groups or teams enhances student learning. This research could better inform educators as they craft assignments to strengthen learning.