August 31, 2011

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Welcome, New and Returning Rossier Students!
welcome back
The 2011-2012 academic year has officially arrived.

In addition to returning students, Rossier welcomes approximately 400 new students into its Ph.D., Ed.D., MAT, MAT TESOL, School Counseling, PASA, Educational Counseling, and MFT programs.

We will also have approximately 275 new students starting in September in the online MAT@USC program.
The Rossier family is happy to welcome all of you!
Faculty Forefront
Dowd Quoted in MONEY Magazine 

MONEYThe September issue of MONEY offered advice to readers on how to keep college affordable for them and their children. The feature article "Stop the Tuition Madness" looked at different ways in which higher education, families and students could better manage the costs of a college education. They range from a year-round academic calendar to using online calculators to determine the cost of a degree to applying to Canadian universities.

The article also highlighted community colleges as a pathway to four-year universities.  Quoting Dr. Alicia C. Dowd, "The most successful students tend to be very motivated, attend community colleges with well-run transfer programs, and take advantage of honors classes."  Students should ask community college admissions staff what the transfer rate is for their institution and whether they have "articulation agreements" with universities to accept the credits from community college courses.
Picus Discusses Economy's Impact on Private Schools
picus
Arizona Republic quoted Dr. Larry Picus about how the economy has impacted private schools.

"In order for a private school to operate successfully, tuition can get reasonably high," said Picus. "As the economy ran into some trouble, many people found out they didn't have the income to pay the tuition at these private schools."

For most private schools, losing just two students could mean losing the means to pay one teacher's salary.

"The well-endowed older schools in the Northeast can handle a tough economy better than the schools that are balancing their budgets year to year hoping the roof doesn't need to be repaired," he said.

Read the article.
Rossier Research
Polikoff and Strunk Publish in Educational Policy
educational policy

Dr. Morgan Polikoff and Dr. Katharine Strunk published articles in the August issue of Educational Policy.

Polikoff co-authored the article "Measuring Academic Readiness for College." Read it here.

Strunk co-authored the article "How Should School Districts Shape Teacher Salary Schedules? Linking School Performance to Pay Structure in Traditional Compensation Schemes." Read it here.

Last month, both Polikoff and Strunk published articles in the American Educational Research Journal.
Wohlstetter and Alum Publish in The Foundation Review

The Foundation Review recently published an article by Alumna Dr. Michelle Nayfack (PhD '10) and Dr. Penny Wohlstetter.

Their article, "Developing Foundation-University- Grantee Collaboratives as a Model for High-Impact Philanthropy," identifies three key design elements among school districts that proposed urban education improvement projects to the Weingart Foundation.

Those elements were: 1) Confine the initiative to a content area or target population, 2) Pay attention to geography, and 3) Encourage boundary-spanning.

Read the article.
Rossier Family
Alumna Writes of Gaza Border in Al Jazeera
dianne shammas

Dr. Diane Shammas (PhD '09) - pictured at right with students - authored an article in Al Jazeera English about her experiences crossing the Rafah border into Gaza.

Shammas, who taught at Al Azhar University in the Gaza Strip in 2010 and 2011, detailed her four-month ordeal attempting to enter Gaza, and described the frustrating delays that keep everyone from the ill to university students with scholarships from crossing the border.

Read the article.
Ph.D. Alumna Leads Chicago Public Schools
noemi donoso

Dr. Noemi Donoso (PhD '08) was appointed to serve second-in-command as Chief Academic Officer at the Chicago Public Schools.

She formerly was Director of Office of School Reform and Innovation for the Denver Public Schools.
Ed.D. Cohort of 2010 Attends Summer Conference

On August 20, 140 second-year Rossier Ed.D. candidates participated in the Eighth Annual Ed.D. Summer Conference at the Davidson Conference Center.

More than 20 faculty chairs led sessions throughout the day on various thematic dissertation groups.

Students attended presentations, and selected the groups they preferred to join for their dissertations in the year ahead.

For details on each of the thematic dissertations, read the 2011 Summer Conference brochure.
Alumna Moves Charters to New Home
palisoc

Current Ed.D. student Meg Palisoc (MS '98) is preparing to kick off the 2011-12 year with a new home for her highly acclaimed Synergy Academies in Los Angeles.

The charter middle and high schools co-founded by Palisoc have been operating at rented facilities for years. The new co-located LAUSD locations will be home to nearly 1,000 Synergy students this fall.
 
More about Synergy Academies.
Alumnus to Lead Student Affairs at Rio Hondo College
foster

Alumnus Dr. Dyrell Foster (Ed.D. '08) has accepted the position of Dean of Student Affairs at Rio Hondo College. 

Foster is leaving Mt. San Antonio College, where he served for 7 years. His most recent position at Mt. SAC was Associate Dean of Counseling. 

Alumna Receives CSUN Faculty Appointment
merav efrat

Dr. Merav Efrat (Ed.D. '11) received a faculty appointment at Cal State University Northridge.

Efrat, who won the Dissertation of the Year Award for "Children's Motivation to Engage in Physical Activity during Recess," started last week as Assistant Professor in the Health Sciences Department at Cal State Northridge.
USC and LAUSD Partner in 500-Teacher Symposium

Dr. Sandra Kaplan and several doctoral graduates and students presented on a number of topics at a Symposium  on August 18 and 19.

The symposium, which was co-sponsored by LAUSD and USC, was held for about 500 teachers at Wright Middle School.

The "USC and LAUSD 'Back to School' Symposium: Novel Approaches to Differentiation" presented an array of topics about differentiating curriculum and instruction for gifted students of diversity.

Presenters also included alumni Lucy Hunt (PhD '06), Paige McGinty (BS '03, MA '07), Joanna Lauer (EdD '10), Jenni Krogh (EdD '10), and Robert Grubb (EdD '11), and two current TEMS doctoral students, Jessica Manzone and Michelle McGuire.

The symposium provided teachers with opportunities to initiate the school year with a clear understanding about how differentiation for the gifted spills over to affect all students in the classroom. 
This Week on 21st Century Scholar
21st century scholar

CHEPA's 21st Century Scholar blog has recently undergone a redesign. Check out the new look, and the following posts scheduled for this week:

Monday: Bill Tierney questions whether traditional degree programs will be relevant in the future.

Tuesday: Randy Clemens explains why Secretary Duncan is not having such a good summer.

Wednesday: Bill Tierney gives some pointers about how to approach the dissertation writing process.

Thursday: Kristan Venegas talks about financial aid policies affecting undocumented immigrant college students.

Friday: Mark DeFusco talks about for-profit education and international education policies.

Go to 21st Century Scholar blog.
In This Issue
Welcome Back to Rossier!
Dowd Quoted in Money Magazine
Picus Discusses Economy's Impact on Private Schools
Polikoff and Strunk Publish in Education Policy
Wohlstetter and Alum Publish in...The Foundation Review
Alumna Writes of Gaza Border in Al Jazeera
Ph.D. Alumna Leads Chicago Public Schools
Ed.D. Cohort of 2010 Attends Summer Conference
Alumna Moves Charters to New Home
Alumnus to Lead Student Affairs at Rio Hondo College
Alumna Receives CSUN Faculty Appointment
USC and LAUSD Partner in 500-Teacher Symposium
This Week on 21st Century Scholar
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