September 12, 2011

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Rossier Continues Growth in STEM Commitment With New Grants

futures fall 11Rossier has received two impressive new grants from the National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. Both grants will contribute to the School's initiatives to greatly increase the number of STEM teachers over the next decade.

 

Dean Gallagher is the Principal Investigator (PI), along with co-PIs Darryl H. Yong of Harvey Mudd College and David E. Drew of Claremont Graduate University, for a two-year grant of $845,000 to develop a new Master Teacher Fellowship Program for our Math for America Los Angeles program.Pam Mason, Executive Director of Math for America Los Angeles, andShannon Hinojosa helped write the grant proposal.  

 

With the grant, teachers will receive training, resources, and professional development to assist them in becoming leaders in their schools in math subjects, and ultimately raise their students' performance in math.

 

Dr. Fred Freking is PI on a $1.2 million five-year grant to recruit, prepare and retain 50 science majors who commit to teach science in USC's K-12 urban partner schools. These new teachers will impact the science learning of more than 20,000 low-income, low-performing urban students. Co-PIs are Dr. Anthony Maddox, 

Dr. Gary Scott, and Dr. Michael Escalante, as well as Douglas G. Capone of the Dornsife Biology Department.Cathryn Dhanatya

and Shannon Hinojosa helped write the proposal.

 

The funding will help create an online Urban Science Teacher Network that will bring together USC scientists, resources from Los Angeles' Natural History Museum, mentor teachers, science teacher educators and Noyce scholars for professional development.   

 

For more about Rossier's work in STEM education, read our latest issue of Futures in Urban Ed.

CUE Releases Report on Demo Project to Increase College-Going in Boston High Schools

ncan report
In partnership with the National College Access Network (NCAN) and Boston Public Schools (BPS), the Center for Urban Education applied its Equity Scorecard process and tools in two Boston high schools.

The researchers worked with teams of counselors, administrators and college access providers to improve college-going culture in the schools. Their findings will be released today during the NCAN Annual Conference in St. Louis, MO.

Read the report here.
CERPP Report Featured in Chronicle of Higher Ed
cerpp cover

The Chronicle of Higher Education featured an article and an additional piece on a report released Tuesday by the USC Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice (CERPP).

Last January, CERPP held a conference for more than 180 senior admissions and enrollment officials, policy analysts, and school personnel to discuss "The Case for Change in College Admissions."

The resulting report details ideas generated by these education leaders. Many call for less competition and more collaboration in admissions.

Read the CHE article.
Read the quotes from admission leaders

Read the full report.  

Application Crunch Makes Serious Game Fun
box app crunch

The website, Play This Thing!, featured a glowing review of the Application Crunch game, a college knowledge card game developed by EA Game Innovation Lab and Rossier's Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis.

The game, part of a suite called Collegeology, seeks to increase college-going rates among under-served students. The Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation has been testing and tracking results.

Read it here.
Faculty Forefront
Wohlstetter Delivers Keynote at Governor's Conference 
Priscilla Wohlstetter

Dr. Priscilla Wohlstetter delivered the keynote at Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's conference on Race to the Top in Atlanta last week.

Georgia was awarded a Race to the Top grant for its proposal, which emphasized strengthening education through school-business partnerships. The state has set up an Innovation Fund to incubate new, out-of-the-box ideas, and partnerships are front and center.

Wohlstetter's keynote drew on research conducted by CEG on public-private partnerships, including the reasons organizations enter into them and the factors that help to explain why some partnerships are successful and others fail or are terminated.

More than 200 business representatives and educators from across the state attended the event, held at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Conference Center.
Ahmadi Reflects on the Patriot Act in NYT Op-Ed
shafiqa ahmadi

Shafiqa Ahmadi, J.D. authored an opinion piece in the New York Times' "Room for Debate," answering the question: "Do We Still Need the Patriot Act?"

She reflect on the Patriot Act's impact on Muslim American rights and its detrimental effect on international students and scholars.

Read it here.
Tierney Talks about Out-of-State Students in College

Bloomberg Businessweek quoted Dr. William G. Tierney about concerns that increasing out-of-state student access to public colleges may deprive in-state students.

"Most of what we're seeing is that public institutions are not increasing enrollment," Tierney says. "The out-of-state students are certainly qualified and meet the traditional academic criteria, but are they getting in at the expense of in-state students?"

Read the article.
Howland Discusses Trojan Pride in MAT@USC
b howland

San Gabriel Valley Tribune quoted Dr. Brooke Howland about her experience teaching online in the MAT@USC program.

"USC, I think, is doing a fantastic job... so our online students feel like they are Trojans, because they are," she said. "That pride is  accepted within our online community. I had a student last semester who (would participate in online class) with a huge USC Trojan banner behind him!"

Read the article.
Immordino-Yang Quoted in Scientific AmericanMary Helen Immordino-Yang

Scientific American
quoted Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang about research questioning the idea that most brain areas are tied to specific sensory inputs.

According to Immordino-Yang, this task-based view of the brain is becoming widely accepted by cognitive neuro­scientists but almost completely ignored by their hard-neuroscience colleagues. Neuroscientists who work on the biology of the brain tend to believe that humans are driven "by how the world pokes us," she says-in other words, sensory stimuli. They fail to see that "the hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs."

Immordino-Yang sees the evidence as a testament to the brain's ability to accommodate human inventions in the modern world. "It's amazing how plastic our brain is," she says.

Read the article.
Rossier Family
Language Academy Welcomes 300+ International Students
language academy 2011

The USC Language Academy is embarking on its largest semester yet: more than 300 scholars and professionals from 26 countries around the globe will commence intensive English studies at the Academy later this week. Over one quarter of the students have already been admitted to USC  graduate programs.
 
Through full-time intensive English immersion, weekly activities and language labs, the Language Academy prepares students with the English skills they need to thrive in North American universities and in today's global marketplace.

Welcome to the newest additions to our worldwide Trojan family!
This Week on 21st Century Scholar...

CHEPA's 21st Century Scholar blog will spend the coming week devoted to Rossier in 2020. All week, Rossier faculty, Ph.D. students, and graduates respond to the question:

"What do you hope to see the Rossier School doing in 2020, and how should the school be different from today?"

Go to 21st Century Scholar.
Ed.D. Alumnus Leads Capo Valley High
kevin astor

Orange County Register ran a Q&A with alum Dr. Kevin Astor (EdD '05), who was recently appointed principal of Capistrano Valley High School.

Astor has taught Spanish at the middle and high school levels, and has been an assistant principal and principal, most recently at Orangeview Junior High in Anaheim.

Read it here.
Congratulations Ed.D. Grads

Three recent Ed.D. alums have moved on to new positions since graduating from the program last year.
giusto
Dr. Hazel Giusto (EdD '11) - at left - is Senior Program Specialist for AVID at Los Angeles County Office of Education. In this position, she oversees 29 AVID schools in L.A. County and coaches their administrators, coordinators, teachers and tutors.

Dr. Vishodana Thamotharan (EdD '11) is  Assistant Teaching Professor at the Institute of Urban Education at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.rachelle minix

Dr. Rachelle Minix (EdD '11) - at right - is a KIPP Fisher Fellow. The fellowship is a year-long program that prepares candidates to design, found, and lead a new KIPP school.
Alumna Brings Books to Inner City LA Schools
rebecca c

Dr. Rebecca Constantino (PhD '93) has started a nonprofit based on the research she did while attending Rossier, where she studied access to books and libraries.
Her organization, Access Books, has already provided well over a million books to schools in the L.A. area. Check out the program.

Constantino has received Oprah's Use Your Life Award for her work, which includes refurbishing and stocking inner city school libraries- with 90% of funding directly purchasing books.

Her dissertation examined library use among language minority students. Follow-up research looked into access to books in poor communities. She found that children living in affluent communities in the L.A. area had access to 400 times more books than children in poor communities.
In This Issue
Rossier Receives Two NSF Noyce Grants
CUE Releases Report on Demo Project to Increase College-Going in Boston High Schools
New CERPP Report Featured in Chronicle of Higher Ed
Application Crunch Makes Serious Game Fun
Wohlstetter Delivers Keynote at Governor's Conference
Ahmadi Reflects on the Patriot Act in NYT Op-Ed
Tierney Talks about Out-of-State Students in College
Howland Discusses Trojan Pride in MAT@USC
Immordino-Yang Discusses Braille Activation of Brain's Visual Area
Language Academy Welcomes 300+ International Students
This Week on 21st Century Scholar
Ed.D. Student Leads Capo Valley High
Congratulations EdD Grads
Alumna Brings Books to Inner City LA Schools
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