First in the World Grant FAQs

The project is administered through the FITW Leadership Team. The members are: 

Francesina R. Jackson, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Jimmeka Guillory Wright, Ph.D., Co Principal Investigator
Angelino Viceisza, Ph.D., Research Designer
Bruce Wade, Ph.D., Statistician
A. Nayena Blankson, Ph.D., Statistician

All entering first-year students enrolled in the ADW course who have consented will participate.  

The students will not be asked to do anything outside of their typical ADW coursework, except for completing pre-post semester surveys and possibly participating in a focus group at the end of the ADW course. In addition, some information from student college records will be used in the project. The materials and scores generated in the ADW class will be reported as aggregate (group) data in any professional presentation or publication.

Multiple strategies will be used to ensure that students' records are kept private.  No identifiers linking an individual student to this project will be included in any sort of report that might be published. Records will be stored securely and only authorized College personnel will have access to the records.  Members of the external evaluation team will only have access to information that does not include any names, identification numbers or personal identifiers. We will use a separate secured server to house student data.  The ADW instructor will not know whether a student has consented to have her scores included in the analyses and reports.  

Regardless of the results, the project will provide evidence to support or refute use of specific strategies. This may influence the teaching approaches that Spelman faculty and faculty across the nation use.  

You may contact Dr. Jimmeka Guillory at 404-270-5807 (jguillo1@spelman.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.