Cavanaugh’s appointment as a Fulbright Scholar was reported, as was a recent COE news release about UF’s virtual school internship program. (VSM is a Web blog about K-12 online learning, written by a Wayne State University I.T. professor.)
Professor Dorene Ross was quoted extensively in segments one and two of a five-part series in the Gainesville Sun about the value and impact of standardized testing in Alachua County public schools.
Dean Emihovich is quoted in a March 19 article in the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting how the sweeping merit pay bill passed recently by the Florida Legislature has many teachers worried about the future of their jobs and profession. Said Emihovich: “We’re already hearing students raise questions about, ‘What is my long-term future as a teacher?’ “
Wendy Drexler and Cathy Cavanaugh are quoted in research article weighing the pros and cons of technology-driven personalized learning. Article appeared in Education Week’s annual Technology Counts report for 2011.
Professor Elizabeth Washington was quoted in a March 7 Gainesville Sun story about a local grassroots group attacking social studies textbooks used in area schools for having pro-Islam and anti-Christian, Jewish or Israel leanings.
Sindelar was quoted in an this Education Week article about instruction in Response to Intervention techniques, saying: “I do think that general education [teacher preparation] has an orientation toward kids who are living in poverty, don’t speak English, who are culturally and ethnically different. What I’m less sure about is whether that concept of difference includes students with disabilities.The expectations are upped in [an RTI] system. Teachers can’t simply refer kids to special education and expect them to be removed from their watch.”
Christopher Sessum, a postdoctoral associate in educational technology, was quoted in a March 1 Gainesville Sun story about proposed Alachua County School Board policies that would discourage teachers from engaging students on social media networks without administrative approval.
Smith-Adcock, associate professor in counselor education, is quoted in a Radio Free Europe report analyzing the apparent mental-emotional state of Kolya Lukashenko, son of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenko.
The St. Petersburg Times education blog featured the national 2011 Distinguished Program in Teacher Education Award recently won by the graduate component of the Lastinger Center’s Florida Master Teacher program.
UF COE alum Michael Testa (MEd ’05, social studies ed, EdS ’09, ed admin/leadership), a history and government teacher at Gainesville Buchholz High School, was featured in a Feb. 17 Gainesville Sun story about his selection as 2011 Alachua County Teacher of the Year.
Associate professor Cathy Cavanaugh was quoted in this English-language Nepalese newspaper about the Asian nation’s national science fair, where Cavanaugh was a speaker. Cavanaugh is a Fulbright Senior Scholar spending the spring semester in Kathmandu, Nepal, working on a Fulbright learning project.
A Feb. 14 story in the Gainesville Sun reported the start of a 172,000-square-foot rebuilding project that will replace all but five buildings on the P.K. Yonge school campus, starting with a $9 million elementary wing. P.K. Yonge is the College of Education’s renowned K-12 laboratory school. WUFT-FM Radio (Gainesville) also covered the event.
The Jan. 28 edition of the Sun featured an obituary for Gordon Lawrence, a professor of instructional leadership in UF’s College of Education for more than 25 years. He died Dec. 14, 2010, at age 80.
The innovative practices of UF’s teacher education program were showcased Jan. 21 in edutopia, the national blogging site of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. In a piece titled “Innovations in Teacher Prep Programs,” blogger Anne OBrien, deputy director of the Learning First Alliance, described UF’s program as a national model for “grounding the pre-service teacher experience in clinical practice.”
An article in the Jan. 13 edition of the Salisbury Post reported the selection of North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue to receive UF’s 2011 Distinguished Alumnus Award. Perdue holds two degrees from UF’s College of Education. She is North Carolina’s first women governor. Story also carried by PressZoom global news service, the Raleigh (NC) News-Observer, GovMonitor (online gobal public-sector news service),
Auburn football coach Gene Chizik (BAE ’85), a UF education alum, was featured in an article in UF’s alumni magazine for receiving the Coaches Trophy after his Tigers won the 2011 BCS National Championship game Jan. 10.
North Florida’s NPR station recently profiled the late Master Teacher Gloria Jean Merriex. In an radio news report titled “Learning math through hip hop will live on at Duvall Elementary and beyond,” reporter Dan Katz speaks with UF Lastinger Center officials who’ve worked with Merriex and family members.
Local ABC affiliate TV-20 interviewed Professor Jean Crockett about the comparison of U.S. student test results with that of other leading industrial nations. She cited the greater diversity of students in American schools, the inclusion of American students with exceptional learning needs and the higher percentage of U.S. children living in poverty.
The Learning First Alliance website held a Q&A conversation with Elizabeth “Buffy” Bondy, interim director of the college’s School of Teaching and Learning, citing UF’s teacher preparation program as an education school that has “been on the right track for years.” Bondy cited UF’s clinical approach to teacher education. The Alliance is a partnership of 17 leading U.S. education associations, with more than 10 million members.
The University of Florida’s PBS television station, WUFT ran a video news report about the Lastinger Center’s statewide Master Teacher program.
In the Winter 2010 edition of UF Today alumni magazine, Pat Snyder, COE Dean Catherine Emihovich, graduate student Tara McLaughlin and others were quoted in a story about the college’s early childhood education initiatives, including UF’s new Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies.
UF Lastinger Center “professors-in-residence” Phil Poekert were quoted Nov. 17 in an Independent Florida Alligator story about the center’s Florida Master Teacher Initiative, which offers tuition-free, on-the-job graduate degree programs for teachers in high-need schools in five Florida counties.
In his “Class Notes” article, Naples News columnist Joe Landon praised the UF Lastinger Center’s school-improvement efforts in Collier County. The center has had a close relationship with the school district dating back to 2004. The program gives teachers in participating high-need schools the chance to pursue master’s or specialist degrees with the help of full-tuition scholarships. So far, 31 teachers in Immokalee have completed their graduate work thanks to the program, and another 30 are hard at work following in their footsteps.
UF’s public radio station interviewed Lastinger Center Director Don Pemberton on the center’s revolutionary efforts to upgrade education in Florida’s public schools. To hear audio report, please click here.
Diane Archer-Banks, interim director of the UF Alliance, was quoted in a Nov. 9 story about the program’s 10th anniversary celebration. The UF Alliance helps six struggling Florida high schools improve their educational standards and college acceptance rates.
Tom Dana, associate dean for academic affairs, was quoted in a Nov. 4, 2010 story about UF joining the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative, a national initiative committed to preparing a higher number of quality high school math and science teachers. Dana is UF’s liaison to the SMTI. The imperative is a program of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.
The UF Lastinger Center’s groundbreaking Florida Master Teacher Initiative was the featured cover story in the Fall 2010 edition of the magazine, Explore: Research at the University of Florida, published by the UF Office of Research. The article describes the initiative as “one of the most promising programs in American education and an emerging national model.”
While some are pessimistic about iPad’s usefulness in the classroom, others, such as UF COE Professor Dorene Ross, is quoted in this Alligator article as saying she believes the iPad may have a place in academia.
In a story headlined “E-books get mixed reviews on campus,” Associate Professor Cathy Cavanaugh was quoted as saying she encouraged the incorporation of e-texts into the learning experience. “I’m not advocating for an automated course experience,” she said. “But society is moving toward e-texts and it makes sense.”
The Urban Educator newsletter reported the $6 million in federal and foundation grants funding the collaborative effort of UF’s College of Education, Miami-Dade Public Schools and the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation. The organizations have joined forces to create a free, on-the-job graduate degree program for 100 early-childhood teachers in 25 high-need elementary schools.
Luis Ponjuan appeared on this Phoenix PBS public affairs television program, which focuses on Latino issues. Ponjuan discussed his research on the plight of the “Vanishing Latino Male” in higher education.
Dean Emihovich wrote her inaugural blog for this popular education blog site. In a column titled “Not Your Mother’s College of Education!”, Emihovich wrote that many policymakers and legislators “have no idea of the ways many contemporary COEs have completely restructured their practices and programs, or what role they can and should play in the national debate on improving education.” Education Update is an award-winning newspaper with 100,000 readers and 2 million monthly hits on the Web.
Luis Ponjuan, director of the college’s Institute of Higher Education, was quoted in a Chronicle for Higher Education story about the rising pressure associated with the year-to-year increase in standards for tenure at major research universities.
In an article on the various forms of high school education teens can choose from today–charter schools, home-schooling, dual enrollment, etc.–Sevan Terzian pointed out that the original civics-instruction mission of high schools is not as prominent anymore due to heightened promotion of academic achievement.
E-Curriculum Builders Seek a Personalized Approach. Cavanaugh was quoted in Ed Week’s online special report, “E-Learning 2010: Assessing the Agenda for Change.” She said she doesn’t consider an online offering that is solely computer-based, with no teacher support, a true course. “For K-12 students…the instructor is a key element.”
Dean Emihovich was quoted in a story about the college’s recent awarding of a 2010 Scholarship of Engagement Award to Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Linda Janssen. The dean called Janssen “instrumental in forming a multi-partnership with the UF Lastinger Center.”
UF counselor education researchers, led by Professor Harry Daniels, have documented a profound correlation between home location, family lifestyles and students’ achievement on state standardized tests. The nationwide media splash created in March by their report carried over into April. Their study reportedly was a hot-button topic in Tallahassee during the debate over Senate Bill 6–the teacher-compensation proposal that Gov. Charlie Crist subsequently vetoed.
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