Cindy McCain Joins Rossier Board of Councilors

Mrs. McCain was a teacher of disabled children after her graduation and has gone on to travel extensively around the world as an advocate for children in need.

Read more.

MAT Students and Grads - We Need Your Input!

This year, Rossier has contracted with an outside firm, WestEd, to conduct a comprehensive external evaluation of our Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program.

It is very important that we hear from both MAT students and graduates, to know how the program is preparing or has prepared you for a career in teaching. Your feedback is vital to this evaluation. You should have received email notices and reminders about the survey on August 4 and 12, and again today, August 23.

So, please check your email inbox for information on accessing the survey. If you have not received an email about the WestEd survey, please contact Sharon Herpin at sherpin@wested.org.

And thank you so much for your important participation.

Rossier Faculty & Staff Kick Off the New
AcademicYear

(Above: "Gen Y Guy" Jason Dorsey, Dean Gallagher, and BOC Chair Ira Krinksy)

 

Last week, nearly 200 Rossier faculty and staff, as well as several members of the Rossier Board of Councilors,  spent a half-day at the USC City Center in downtown L.A. for their 2011 Fall Kickoff. USC City Center is the new home of the MAT program, and the Kick-Off featured several break-out sessions in the new high-tech MAT classrooms.  The Kick-Off serves as an important opportunity for School faculty and staff members, as well BOC attendees, to come together around themes that have School-wide impact.  

  

Dean Gallagher spoke about the School's history of innovation and bold ideas, the current upheavel in the field of education, and the ongoing strategic planning work being undertaken at Rossier. Guest speaker Jason Ryan Dorsey gave a fascinating and entertaining keynote address on generational characteristics and communications strategies. The final hour of the morning was devoted to individual breakout sessions.

 

     

                                (Above: Melora Sundt, Kathy Stowe, Darline Robles)                                                                                         

 (Above: Ira Krinsky, Dominic Brewer, Gib Hentschke, Robert Rueda) 

View more photos from the kickoff.

Kezar Receives Funding to Study Non-Tenure Track

Dr. Adrianna Kezar has received funding from the Teagle and Carnegie Foundations to engage in a national policy study about non-tenure track faculty, whose working conditions are often seen as marginal.

Her study will bring together policy leaders from across the country to develop recommendations around this growing conversation in higher education.

Kezar and Lester Author Book on Grassroots Leaders

Dr. Kezar and Jaime Lester (PASA '04, PhD '05), Assistant Professor at George Mason University, are the authors of a new book recently featured in Inside Higher Ed.

The Stanford University Press book, titled Enhancing Campus Capacity for Leadership: An Examination of Grassroots Leaders in Higher Education, explores the "bottom up" leadership potential of staff and faculty at all levels on college campuses.

Read the article.

More about the book.

Marsh's Teacher Bonus Study Continues to Make News

Dr. Julie Marsh continues to make news after her groundbreaking study on the results of performance-based pay in New York City. The RAND report findings compelled the Department of Education to end its program.

Color Lines noted the study in an article about widespread cheating in Atlanta schools by teachers who received bonuses based on student test scores. Marsh explained the findings of her study.

"We didn't see any difference in test results across all three years," said Marsh. "We didn't see any differences in reports of teachers in terms of their instructional practices, or in terms of aligning data with instruction standards, or in the amount of time they spent working outside the regular school day, or spent on professional development or spent collaborating."

"It's not clear how much added motivation teachers get from a bonus tied to those measures they already are working toward," Marsh said.

Read the story.

Chicago New Cooperative quoted Marsh in an article about the city's plans to implement merit pay for principals.

"It's an idea that keeps coming back," said Marsh. "I think there's an intuitive appeal to the idea of incentives."

"Past research on pay for performance would suggest that if you want an incentive to be effective you want people to be able to understand what it would take to achieve that," she said, but that was not the case in New York City.

Read the story.

Dembo Published Article on Self-Regulated Learning

Dr. Myron Dembo, professor emeritus of educational psychology, has co-authored an article in a special issue on self-regulated learning in New Directions for Teaching and Learning.

The article, which was written with Stuart Karabenick of the University of Michigan, is titled "Understanding and Facilitating Self-Regulated Help Seeking."

CUE Addresses Equity at Solano Community College 

Dr. Rosita Ramirez (right), Center on Urban Education's project specialist, keynoted a professional development conference last week at Solano Community College before an audience of 100 staff and faculty involved in basic skills programs. 

Her remarks focused on the importance of student equity in helping underrepresented students progress from basic skills to college-level coursework.  She and Dominic Alpuche, CUE's business administrator, also facilitated a breakout session that provided an overview of CUE's data and inquiry tools.

Ph.D. Alumnus Publishes Book on Homeless Youth

Dr. Ronald Hallett (PhD '09) has a new book published by Routledge.

Educational Experiences of Hidden Homeless Teenagers is derived from Hallett's dissertation, and investigates the effects of these living situations for homeless youth on educational participation and higher education access.

More about the book.

Alum Tapped to Join CPS Cabinet

Alumnus Oliver Sicat (BS '01) has accepted the position of Chief Portfolio Officer for Chicago Public Schools.

Sicat is currently Founding Principal of UIC College Prep in the Noble Network of Charter Schools.

Up Next on 21st Century Scholar...

After a brief break, CHEPA's 21st Century Scholar blog is back for the new school year.

Check out the line-up for this week:

Monday: "Are we really back already?"
Bill Tierney gives a quick summary of what to expect with the blog during fall 2011.

Tuesday: Randy Clemens talks about what it is like to be a Ph.D. student starting the last year of his program.

Wednesday: "Master's degrees and job preparation"
Bill Tierney starts a discussion about the desired objectives of master's degree programs.

Thursday: Stefani talks about three new technology services for "back to school" use.

Friday: "Keeping It Real and Rigorous: Summer Bridge Experiences for Early College High School (ECHS) Students"
Jonathan Mathis discusses a summer bridge program designed for rising 11th grade students enrolled at two ECHSs.

Go to 21st Century Scholar.

Professional Development Hosts Soka University Scholars

Last week, the Office of Professional Development Programs hosted 14 international scholars from Soka University in Japan for a two-week intensive academic English language program, that also included a World As A Classroom research project.

The scholars used flip videos to gather and record their empirical data on a variety of topic-specific cultural comparisons that they shared with one another by using a facebook group.  They also used these videos in their formal presentations as part of their final assignments.