911爆料网

In her book, (University of Iowa Press), , Director of 罢颁鈥檚 , builds on theorist Robert Stepto鈥檚 contention that black writing is 鈥渟onic鈥� and proposes that writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Sterling Brown and Ralph Ellison require 鈥渆thical listening.鈥�

A study led by Douglas Ready, Associate Professor of Education & Public Policy, finds that middle schoolers in Elizabeth, New Jersey schools who learned math for three years via Teach to One, a computerized system that customizes lessons for each student, scored no better on New Jersey鈥檚 annual math tests than peers who all worked on the same topic at the same time. The study is described in a story produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education and based at 911爆料网.

Without the guidance of well-trained teachers, science students may focus on 鈥渢rial鈥恆nd鈥恊rror approaches to generating problem solutions instead of careful application of and reflection on scientific principles,鈥� write Catherine Chase, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Studies; Laura Malkiewich (Ph.D. 鈥�18), a research scientist with the EdTech company 2U; and 911爆料网 doctoral candidate Aakash S. Kumar. Their paper, published in Science Education, warns that 鈥渢he hands鈥恛n nature of many engineering projects makes them susceptible to devolving into mere 鈥榓rts and crafts鈥� projects.鈥� 

A working paper by , Professor of Education and Co-Director of 罢颁鈥檚 National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools & Teaching (NCREST), and colleagues Meesuk Ahn, Daniel Ferguson and Alyson Rumberger, describes an emerging industry of more than 100 intermediary organizations and support providers charged with helping New York City public schools improve K鈥�3 reading outcomes. Collectively, these programs are capable of realizing that goal, but with many programs working in isolation and tapping sources of funding and expertise that often are only loosely connected, the NCREST researchers call for 鈥渆xplicit strategies . . . to support greater coherence in the sector.鈥�  

In published in the American Educational Research Journal, Felicia Mensah, Professor of Science & Education, chronicles the journey of a black, female elementary school science teacher from childhood through her first full-time teaching appointment in New York City. Mensah concludes that, in a society and an education system in which race and racism are defining characteristics, female teachers of color need 鈥渕ultiple opportunities to write and talk about their educational experiences, and even home and early school experiences regarding race and racism.鈥� 

Big national donors such as Michael Bloomberg, Eli Broad, Alice Walton and Reid Hoffman are increasingly backing school board candidates in local elections, report 911爆料网 political scientist Jeffrey Henig and Michigan State University鈥檚 (Ph.D. 鈥�07) andin (Harvard Education Press). These wealthy donors 鈥� who typically target predominantly nonwhite, high-poverty districts to champion school choice, test-based accountability and mayoral control 鈥� don鈥檛 always win; teacher unions, too, have muscle and connection to local voters. But the authors argue that highly polarized, ideologically infused national debates may infiltrate local politics, obscuring other issues and hindering pragmatic problem-solving.

As 44 states begin meeting the testing and accountability requirements of the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), 911爆料网 measurement-evaluation expert Madhabi Chatterji warns in a National Policy Center publication of a new wave of inappropriate high-stakes testing. Many states plan to use testing to rank schools鈥� or education systems鈥� rates of growth 鈥� uses for which tests were not originally designed, and which Chatterji likens to 鈥渕isreading a Fahrenheit thermometer in degrees Celsius.鈥� 

A by Teachers College鈥檚 (NCCF) outlines how New York City鈥檚 Universal Pre-K for All (PKA), which is consolidating many programs into a single effort managed by the Department of Education, can deliver more uniform quality while still allowing providers to address children鈥檚 specific needs. 鈥淨uality across the system could be improved by addressing structural differences in resources, administration, professional development, and the programs鈥� capacity to meet the varied needs of children, families and communities across programs in a diverse city,鈥� says NCCF Research Scientist , one of the study鈥檚 authors.

, Minority Postdoctoral Fellow, delivers the College鈥檚 inaugural Minority Postdoctoral Fellow Lecture at 罢颁鈥檚 2019 Academic Festival. Hines, whose book, The Blackboard and the Color Line: Madeline Morgan and Black History in Chicago鈥檚 Public Schools, 1942鈥�1945, will soon be published by Beacon Press, speaks about Morgan, a pioneering black social studies teacher and activist whose goal was to ensure recognition for the contributions of black Americans in 鈥渆very phase of American history . . . in adventure, science, education, art, music, war and labor.鈥� Hines is now Assistant Professor in the Department of History & Education at Stanford University鈥檚 Graduate School of Education.

In her Presidential Address at the 2019 American Educational Research Association annual meeting, held in Toronto, Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of Sociology & Education, calls the city鈥檚 six 鈥渓ost rivers鈥� 鈥� buried waterways once central to the livelihood of indigenous people 鈥� 鈥渁 metaphor for precious knowledge that settler-colonialists from Europe attempted to bury and erase.鈥� Those waters remain 鈥減owerful currents of knowledge, understanding and resilience,鈥� Wells asserts, for which there are parallels in education reform 鈥� including the de-emphasis of misused assessments and high-stakes testing.

In her Presidential Address at the 2019 meeting of the Comparative & International Education Society, Regina Cortina, Professor of Education, reflects on Western social science鈥檚 鈥渄ominance over frameworks of analysis used by comparative education scholars to understand Latin American societies and cultures.鈥� The field is embedded in a larger discussion of the relationship between education and development, Cortina argues, in which 鈥渢he expansion of public education has been understood as a quest for modernity.鈥� The result is the concept of 鈥渢he Third World鈥� and the view that it 鈥渉as to be saved by the modern development project鈥� in which 鈥渟chooling should be a process of assimilation.鈥�

A professional development program for schools serving high-need and minority students, created by a partnership led by 罢颁鈥檚 National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools & Teaching (NCREST), has significantly improved students鈥� success in dual enrollment college courses, according to preliminary results of an independent study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina. NCREST leads the STEM Early College Expansion Partnership (SECEP), which includes (JFF) and the (MCNC). SECEP is offering the professional development program in four Michigan school districts and in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 

The Wall Street Journal runs an extensive update on 鈥淏aby鈥檚 First Year,鈥� the $16 million study co-led by 911爆料网 neuroscientist Kimberly Noble that seeks to determine whether poverty directly inhibits brain development in very young children. Noble and colleagues are giving new mothers cash payments to see whether supplemented income fosters the growth of their babies鈥� brains and cognitive abilities. 鈥淎s a neuroscientist, one of the things I find most exciting is that our experiences change our brains,鈥� Noble says in a TED Talk on the study that has received nearly 2 million views. 鈥淭his concept, known as neuroplasticity, means that these differences in children鈥檚 brain structure don鈥檛 doom a child to a lifetime of low achievement. The brain is not destiny.鈥�

In an analysis of six trend-setting nations 鈥� South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, England and Australia 鈥� Sharon Lynn Kagan, Virginia & Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood & Family Policy, finds that high-quality national systems of early childhood education require a carefully planned, comprehensive approach that promotes 鈥減olicy synergy.鈥� All six countries also look across the development spectrum, beginning prenatally and with abundant parenting supports. They make provision for infants and toddlers and 鈥減rovide rich services for three- and four-year-old children,鈥� and they focus on helping families transition from preschool to kindergarten. And in all six, 鈥渃omprehensive health benefits are rather routine.鈥� Kagan calls her report, funded by the National Center on Education and the Economy, a wakeup call to American policymakers: 鈥淚t does really come down to making our nation more respectful of the importance of the early years and more committed to what makes services for youngsters really zing!鈥�

What are our thoughts really made of? Not words, argues Barbara Tversky, Professor of Psychology & Education, in (Basic Books). Drawing together evidence from neuroscience, behavior, language and designs in the world, both ancient and modern, Tversky finds that spatial cognition is foundational to all thought, enabling human beings to draw meaning from their bodies, their surroundings, and their actions in the world. Joining an enthusiastic chorus of reviewers, The Wall Street Journal paraphrases the book鈥檚 main takeaway: 鈥淭he fact that our brains are in bodies shapes how they think. We are cognitive animals, not merely soggy computers.鈥�

Celebrating the Many Roles of Psychological Science

At the annual convention of the , Tversky, concluding her year as the organization鈥檚 President, curates a Presidential Symposium highlighting the confluence of psychological science and the arts. As President, Tversky promoted and celebrated the many roles of psychological science in other fields and in public policy.

A team led by Priscilla Wohlstetter, Distinguished Research Professor, and including 911爆料网 doctoral students Megan Duff and Clare Buckley Flack, publishes a new guide to help education leaders maximize their success in working with 鈥渘etworks for school improvement鈥� (NSI) 鈥� groups of schools that work with partner organizations to improve teaching and learning, typically for underserved minorities. NSI have proliferated as school districts have increasingly tasked communities and schools with figuring out how to meet standards and ensure learning.

In in a special issue of The Journal of Behavioral Medicine devoted to gun violence, 罢颁鈥檚 Sonali Rajan, Associate Professor of Health Education, and co-authors tap 81 other journal articles to argue that youth鈥檚 exposure to gun violence should be classified as an 鈥渁dverse childhood experience鈥� (ACE), an official designation used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to describe all types of abuse, neglect and other potentially traumatic experiences that occur to people under the age of 18. Noting in an interview that 鈥渇or the past two decades, the CDC and others have been intimidated into not seeking funding into the prevention of gun violence,鈥� Rajan declares, 鈥渨e鈥檙e missing out on helping kids who likely really need support.鈥�  

In a study in Seattle and its environs, an intervention co-designed by 911爆料网 economist Peter Bergman produces unprecedented gains in moving low-income families to 鈥渉igher-opportunity鈥� neighborhoods by significantly reducing common barriers in using housing choice vouchers provided through the federal Housing Choice Voucher program (Section 8). Previous research by several of the study鈥檚 authors has shown that every year spent in a higher-opportunity neighborhood during childhood increases the likelihood of college attendance and total lifetime earnings by $200,000. The study is the focus of a  by The New York Times鈥� Nicholas Kristof.  

罢颁鈥檚 (CBCSE) launches , an online tool to help schools, districts and state education agencies make choices about curricula, professional development, after-school programs and other resources. Building on methodologies developed by the late psychologist Ward Edwards and Teachers College education economist and CBCSE founding director , DecisionMaker, in essence, facilitates a virtual town meeting, juxtaposing data on costs against student outcomes and other, harder-to-quantify information such as stakeholder opinions and preferences. DecisionMaker is offered free of charge.

New findings from The Public Matters: How Americans View Education, Health & Psychology, a public-survey project at Teachers College, show that a large majority of Americans support teaching primary and secondary school students about global warming and climate change. However, support for such climate education is significantly higher among women, people of color, younger adults, people in urban communities, and those identifying as liberals or moderates. The Public Matters is led by Aaron Pallas, Arthur I. Gates Professor of Sociology & Education, and Oren Pizmony-Levy, Associate Professor of International & Comparative Education.

鈥淓ducation isn鈥檛 only about preparing you for work. It is also about citizenship and ethics. Students need career and technical skills. But they also need courses such as English that can provide the type of background that allows wages to grow. We need to put them together.鈥� So argues Teachers College President Thomas Bailey in discussing 鈥淭he False Dichotomy between Academic Learning & Occupational Skills鈥� as part of the 2019 Mandel Annual Public Lecture of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS). The talk, given by Bailey and , Professor of Economics at Queens College, City University of New York, is based on  they published previously in a special issue of Daedalus, the AAAS journal.

In , Dolores Perin, Professor of Psychology & Education and Director of 罢颁鈥檚 Applied Education Psychology: Reading Specialist Program, links three seemingly disparate groups of adults: those with low reading skills (including non-native English speakers); those who enter community colleges with low literacy skills; and higher-skilled adults (including some in graduate school) who have dyslexia. 鈥淎 large proportion of people in each of these populations have a problem with awareness of phonemes, which are the smallest unit of sound that we can appreciate,鈥� Perin says. 鈥淭hat issue is a real drag on their ability to make reading automatic. She adds that 鈥渉igher-skilled people with dyslexia may appear to be functioning well, but may have to work eight times as hard.鈥�

Despite Ireland鈥檚 legalization of same-sex marriage four years ago, a survey led by Oren Pizmony-Levy, Associate Professor of International & Comparative Education, finds that nearly three-quarters of Ireland鈥檚 LGBT+ students feel unsafe at school. The Ireland study 鈥� called 鈥� was sponsored by the Global Observatory of LGBT+ Rights and Education, a research partnership between 911爆料网 and non-government organizations that is documenting the school experiences of LGBT+ students around the world. 

Teachers College鈥檚 Resilience Center for Veterans & Families, directed by George Bonanno, Professor of Clinical Psychology, receives several important grants. The Disabled Veterans National Foundation supports free clinical services for veterans. The Starbucks Foundation funds professional development programs and further refinement of an abbreviated, three-session model of interpersonal psychotherapy (ITP-3) that has decreased veterans鈥� symptoms of PTSD, depression and distress. And the New York State Health Foundation supports professional development. The Center has also received doctoral student scholarship funding from John Khoury and additional scholarship funding from the Barbara A. Noyes Charitable Foundation.

States that ban large-capacity magazines (LCMs) 鈥� detachable ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 bullets 鈥� experience substantially fewer high-fatality mass shootings than states that do not ban LCMs, according to in the American Journal of Public Health led by 911爆料网 research professor Louis Klarevas. In addition, deaths in high-fatality mass shootings, relative to the population, are more than three times higher in states that do not restrict LCMs. 鈥淥ur research suggests that imposing tight restrictions on LCMs offers a practical legislative solution for helping to safeguard Americans from the threat of mass shootings,鈥� Klarevas says.

Without 鈥渟ignificant and sweeping changes to better support teachers working in contexts affected by crisis, displacement or natural disasters,鈥� many refugees will be unable to achieve self-reliance, and host countries will remain under enormous pressures, warns Mary Mendenhall, Associate Professor of Practice in 罢颁鈥檚 . Speaking at the Global Refugee Forum, convened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and co-sponsored by Teachers College, Mendenhall 鈥� whose model for training refugees to teach is now used in 20 nations 鈥� calls for 鈥渕ajor improvements鈥� to 鈥渟upport robust and continuous professional development opportunities for teachers, as well as equitable compensation structures that ensure a livable wage and pathways toward professional certification that are recognized across borders.鈥�

A new report from 罢颁鈥檚 Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy finds that New York City public schools can make fresh food a reality for their students. The city is the nation鈥檚 largest school district, with 1,700 school cafeterias serving 900,000 meals each day. The result of the Tisch Food Center鈥檚 years-long evaluation of the New York City Department of Education鈥檚 scratch-cooking pilot program, the report identifies key points of action needed for valuable nutritional changes in cafeterias across the city, including investments in kitchen infrastructure and staff training and advancement, and better coordination of everyone involved in school food.

鈥淕oing to college is the engine of the American dream, but there is much more attention to the acquisition of credentials that can be exchanged for jobs and a comfortable standard of living than to the learning of anything in particular,鈥� write Aaron Pallas, 罢颁鈥檚 Arthur I. Gates Professor of Sociology & Education, and Anna Neumann, Professor of Higher Education, in  (Johns Hopkins University Press). Their solution, 鈥渃onvergent teaching,鈥� requires 鈥渃ontinuous attention to core disciplinary concepts new to students, to what students already know and believe, and to a repertoire of instructional practices that can support students in moving from their existing knowledge to elaborated and abstract understandings that can be transferred . . . into new contexts.鈥�

Online smart teaching systems are generating valuable data about individual students, schools and entire districts, but many administrators and teachers don鈥檛 use that information 鈥� either because they can鈥檛 easily access or understand it, or because they find it irrelevant to their needs. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Alex Bowers, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, brings together educators from the Nassau County Long Island, New York Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), which serves 56 school districts, with data scientists and data visualization experts from across the nation. Over two days, working in 11 sprint-data teams, the attendees create visualizations of data requested by the educators and begin building them in open-source software for use nationwide. During 2020, Bowers will release an e-book from the meeting with coding for these new tools.

Concluding funded by the Wallace Foundation, 911爆料网 researchers Carolyn J. Riehl, Jeffrey R. Henig, and Michael A. Rebell find that 鈥渃ollective impact鈥� 鈥� collaborations among governments, businesses, schools, universities, nonprofits and foundations to improve education 鈥� shows 鈥減romise for creating a new kind of venue to bring local partners together who often have not cooperated in the past and have even been in conflict.鈥� Challenges exist, but in eight areas nationwide, the researchers find 鈥渆nough indicators of good things happening that the waning of the movement would represent a loss.鈥�