Archive for category: Press Releases

Beginning with courses offered Summer A/C 2009, professors will have the option to assign minus grades.

Additional information regarding minus grades can be found at:

Provost memo : www.registrar.ufl.edu/DDD.doc

Robin Rossie

As anyone who has ever sat across the desk from Robin Rossie, the College’s 2009 Advisor of the Year, knows, shrewd advice is best accompanied by a sincere smile. Navigating credit requirements, majors and grades can be overwhelming for any student. This year, in addition to its teacher of the year awards, the College has chosen to acknowledge a student advisor for exceptional professionalism and achievement. In Rossie, however, the College is also recognizing a person who stands on the student’s side.

"Robin is one of the finest examples of student advocacy among the many professional advisors on our campus," said Theresa Vernetson, assistant dean of student affairs.

Rossie joined the university as a clerk typist in 1995. What began as Rossie’s heartfelt interest in the success of the College’s students has evolved into her professional role as coordinator of academic support services. Although Rossie claims advising for a comparatively small college like Education makes it easier to provide one-on-one support, she has advised thousands of students over the years, while making each feel valued.

"As indicated in her faculty and student tributes, Robin goes above and beyond for everyone and has the students’ interests at heart in all her decision-making," Vernetson said.

Erica McCray

Erica McCray, the College’s 2009 Undergraduate Teacher of the Year, believes she’s doing more than teaching facts, figures and processes. She is instilling attitudes-and that is best done by example.

” I must be willing to go with my students to unfamiliar places and to denounce some of the familiar that I hold dear,” McCray says.  “I teach by example; I teach for social justice.”

McCray entered the teaching arena as a substitute middle school teacher -a temporary position that developed into a career.   McCray’s psychology background helped her monitor and manage student behaviors, but not how to convey knowledge.   She enrolled in master’s level courses to improve her teaching skills, and sought temporary certification as a special education teacher of students with severe behavior and emotional problems.   Gauging where she might make the biggest impact on education, however, McCray charted her course as a teacher educator.

In 2006 she received her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, with emphasis in special education and the  impact of educational policy on culturally and linguistically diverse students, from  the University of South Florida and joined the College as an assistant professor in special education in 2007. Since then she has developed a student-centered teaching philosophy that’s backed up by her classroom practices, where she focuses on the individuals in her classes rather than the class as a whole.

An   instructor in the Unified Elementary PROTEACH program, McCray’s nomination portfolio is chock full of support letters from Dean Catherine Emihovich, her program chair James McLeskey, her peers, and, most tellingly, her students.  She is the College of Education’s candidate for the naming of UF’s teacher of the year, slated for this spring; but McLeskey says McCray’s qualifications match up with anyone’s.

“Dr. McCray carefully plans her classes, uses a range of instructional methods and addresses complex, controversial issues using a delicate but direct approach,” says McLeskey.   “She also carefully attends to student needs to ensure that they are actively engaging important content and learning the material.”

It’s the attention to her students, playing to their strengths and working through their weaknesses, that makes McCray stand out as an exceptional instructor. Her students’ comments all hinge on McCray practicing what she preaches by treating each and every student as an individual-just the lesson she wants to send into the classroom with newly trained teachers.

Posted Feb. 12, 2009

ORLANDO, Fla.—Cleveland State Community College (of Cleveland, Tenn.), Linn-Benton Community College (of Albany, Ore.) and Rio Hondo Community College (of Whittier, Cal.) have received national recognition for their noteworthy academic or operational programs at the recent 15th annual Community College Futures Assembly in Orlando.

The colleges received the prestigious Bellwether Award, presented each year at the assembly by the University of Florida College of Education’s Institute of Higher Education. The awards recognize outstanding community college programs judged to be at the forefront of innovation throughout the United States and Canada.

The three overall winners were chosen from among the top 10 finalists in each of three categories: instructional programs and services; planning, governance and finance; and work force development. All 30 finalists were invited to present at the 2009 Futures Assembly and selected presentations were published in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice.

Cleveland State Community College won in the instructional programs and services category, which recognizes programs and services that foster or support teaching and learning in the community college. The winning entry, titled New Math: The Impact of Course Redesign on Learning and Scheduling. described a course redesign project the math department undertook involving developmental and college-level math courses. In addition to having positive effects on student learning and engagement, the project has changed the department’s approach to enrollment and scheduling. To learn more about Cleveland State’s academic programs, visit online at www.clscc.cc.tn.us/.

Rio Hondo Community College received the top honor in the planning, governance and finance category, which recognizes programs or activities that improve efficiency and effectiveness in the community college. Rio Hondo’s presentation, titled, Providing Ways and Means for Students to go Rio, detailed the college’s implemented program to improve access. Go Rio offers universal access through mass-transit for all students who are registered full-time at Rio Hondo College. Through an agreement with five local transit agencies, fulltime students can obtain a pass that provides full access seven days a week throughout the entire semester. The panelists from Rio Hondo College provided empirical evidence of the success of the program at the Futures Assembly. To learn more about the Go Rio program go to www.riohondo.edu/GoRio/index.htm.

Linn-Benton Community College won in the workforce development category, which recognizes strategic alliances that promote community and economic development. The winning presentation, titled Going the Distance: Taking a Diagnostic Imaging Program to Frontier and Rural Oregon, described how the college’s diagnostic imaging program led a partnership consisting of an array of community colleges, employers, workforce, and educational partners to deliver imaging curriculum and education to Oregon’s rural communities, where the demand for qualified Radiological Technologists has been unmet. Read about this successful workforce program at www.linnbenton.edu/go/di.

The Community College Futures Assembly convenes annually as an independent national policy forum for key opinion leaders to work as a “think tank” in identifying critical issues facing the future of community colleges, and to recognize Bellwether Award finalist colleges as trend-setting institutions. Along with UF, this year’s gathering was co-sponsored by three national community college organizations—the National Council of Instructional Administrators, the Council for Resource Development and the National Council of Continuing Education & Training.

Dr. Dale Campbell, professor in educational administration and policy at the UF College of Education, founded the Community College Futures Assembly and the Bellwether Awards in 1995. Campbell was the director of the Institute of Higher Education at that time, and the institute continues to administer the awards program.

For more information about the Bellwether Awards or Futures Assembly, visit the Community College Futures Assembly Web site at education.ufl.edu/futures.

* * *

CONTACTS

MEDIA RELATIONS: Larry Lansford, UF COE News & Communications, llansford@coe.ufl.edu

SOURCE: Phillip A. Morris, Research Assistant, UF Education Administration & Policy, (352) 392-0745; phillipmorris68@gmail.com

09-0212-5

Dean’s Message

When the going gets tough, follow the Gators’ lead

I recall starting my January 2007 column by noting that the UF football team had just defeated Ohio State for the BCS National Championship. Now, two years later, I have the same opportunity. While we celebrated victory in both title games, a striking difference is how the second victory was achieved- a tough, gritty, pertinacious effort against a strong, formidable Oklahoma team. The Gators’ determination and resolve mirrors how we must approach the task of dealing with the severe fiscal crises at the state and national levels. We will have to buckle down and ask hard, and sometimes, painful questions about the College’s strategic directions, what goals we want to achieve, and how we intend to achieve these goals with diminished resources. (more)

back to top

Top Stories

Education head librarian receives national honor

Iona Malanchuk, head of UF’s Education Library, recently received one of 10 national “I Love My Librarian” awards. Sponsored jointly by the New York Times Company, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Library Association, the award honors librarians for their contributions to the communities their libraries serve. ” These 10 librarians deserve applause because their professionalism has won the attention and respect of their neighbors,” says Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corp. (more)

Bereavement scholar-author to lead UF workshop on grief Feb. 26

Dorothy S. Becvar, an internationally recognized scholar and author on death-related bereavement and grief, will lead an all-day workshop titled “In the Presence of Grief,” Feb. 26 at the University of Florida College of Education. Becvar’s presentation, to be held on campus at the Norman Hall Terrace Room from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., is part of the college’s long-running Arthur G. Peterson Death Education Lecture Series. The workshop is geared to UF faculty members, students and staff, and to local clinical practitioners, but the general public also is invited. Continuing education units will be offered to licensed practitioners for a nominal fee of $25. Seating is limited to 50 participants and advance reservations are required. (more)

back to top

News & Notices

COE, PKY employees make holiday wishes come true

College of Education and P.K. Yonge employees donated more than 200 gifts to make holiday wishes come true for 50 local children. For the second year in a row, the COE staff council elected to support the local Partnership for Strong Families agency’s Wish Upon a Star program, which provides holiday gifts for the children of needy families in the community. The organization sent the college 50 paper stars- each with an individual child’s name, gender, age and three wishes (gift suggestions). COE Faculty Council member Patty Bruner, a program assistant in counselor education, coordinated the effort. Staff, students and faculty from the College and PKY donated money or took a star and bought the “wish list” gifts. The joint effort fulfilled all the wishes for all 50 children. The presents were wrapped and delivered via the North Pole, of course.

Committee planning celebration of “50 Years of Integration”

To commemorate 50 years of integration at the college, a committee of faculty and staff is forming to plan several College of Education activities for spring 2009 involving students, faculty and alumni. The committee seeks additional faculty, staff, and student members and hopes for representation from each department. The planning committee is starting meetings this month. Preliminary plans for the celebration are as follows:

Students

• Essay contest- The college will sponsor an essay contest with the theme “50 Years of Integration.” One graduate and one undergraduate student winner will be chosen, and each will receive a $500 award and be recognized during the April 2009 Scholarship of Engagement dinner. The essays will be published in a monograph.
• Scholarship renaming- The Office of Recruitment, Retention & Multicultural Affairs (RRMA) will seek permission to change the name of the Minority Education Scholarship to the “Daphne Duval-Williams Scholarship,” in honor of the first black student to enroll in the College of Education. The name change would include a plaque presentation to Duval-Williams and a videotaped interview with her will be posted on the College Web site.

Alumni

• Web page- African American alumni will be asked to record their memories and accomplishments and to upload pictures to a Web page.
• Invitation- African American alumni will be invited back to the college during the Gators’ Orange & Blue Game weekend on April 17–19. On the 17th, attending alumni from each decade will be honored at a reception. The event will include a “Where Are They Now?” segment demonstrating the impact that the college’s African American alumni have had on the field of education as teachers, researchers and leaders.

Faculty

• Documenting firsts- Each department will be asked to report its “firsts” related to its programs, faculty or students.
• Research impact- Faculty members will be invited to write brief articles describing the impact that their research and other scholarly activities have had on the African American community (locally, nationally and globally) during the 50 years of integration.
• Panel discussion- Faculty will be asked to serve on a panel to describe the impact of their research for students.

Monograph

• The committee will publish student essays, “firsts,” alumni memories and faculty papers in a monograph commemorating “50 Years of Integration in the College of Education.” For more information, please contact Dr. Michael Bowie at mbowie@coe.ufl.edu.

Grand Guard reunion honors 50-year alumni

The COE joined colleges across campus in November in honoring its new 50-year alumni, as members of the class of 1958 were inducted into the UF Alumni Association’s Grand Guard. Preschoolers from UF’s Baby Gator Child Developmental and Research Center entertained the group with several songs. Pictured below: (1) Visiting Class of 1958 inductees were (from left, front row) Elna Thompson, Marilyn Hough Adkins, Nancy Cox Pipkin, Donna Lambert Egan and Karen MacLaggan Roe; (back row) Bob Shaffer, Malcom McInnis and Bob Fitzgerald, the class of ’58 Grand Guard chair. (2) Shaffer dons a replica of the “rat cap” that Gator freshmen wore “back in the day”; (3) COE doctoral students Tara McLaughlin (pictured) and Ann-Marie Orlando led Grand Guard guests in a discussion on the importance of early childhood education. (Staff photos by Larry Lansford)

1	2	3

back to top

Events

Int’l Education Week celebrates diversity in education

The College marked International Education Week in November with a half-day event Nov. 19 celebrating the cultures of students from a wide variety of countries who come to Norman Hall to pursue their studies. Keynote speaker Anita Anantharam (bottom left), assistant professor at UF’s Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, spoke on “Fostering Our Global Community”; two panels discussions also were held-one (bottom right) addressing the challenges faced by international teaching assistants, and the other (featuring faculty members Cirecie West-Olatunji and Edil Torres Rivera) examining the cultural implications for foreign students training future American practitioners in counselor education. The event was coordinated by STL Assistant Scholar John Bailey and media-communications coordinator James Osterhout of the Institute of Higher Education. International Education Week, celebrated yearly in more than 100 countries, is a joint initiative of the U.S. departments of State and Education.

COE students help stage Family Math Night at Rawlings Elementary

With funding from the UF Lastinger Center for Learning, COE mathematics education professor Tim Jacobbe and 31 of his students helped stage Family Math Night recently at M.K. Rawlings Elementary School in east Gainesville. Some 250 Rawlings schoolchildren and their family members, young and old, filled the school cafeteria (see photos below) to compete in math games and learn mathematical strategies for fun and tickets for door prizes. Jacobbe said similar events are planned in the spring for the local Duval and Metcalfe elementary schools. All three schools are Lastinger Center partner schools. (Staff photos by Larry Lansford)

back to top

In Memoriam

Glenna Dodson Carr

Former longtime College of Education faculty member Glenna Dodson Carr, Ed.D., died Oct. 19, 2008. She was 81. Carr served on the COE faculty for more than 40 years. Carr began her UF career in 1956 in the College’s Department of Business Education. She received her Ed.D. in business education from UF in 1959, the same summer she joined the college’s graduate faculty. After the business education program was moved to FAMU in 1980, she worked in the College’s Center for Economic Education, serving first as co-director and then as the center’s director. In addition to her teaching duties, Dr. Carr also served the university and the greater community with her work in various projects, including the Florida Migrant Compensation Learn and Earn Project, and on several university committees. In a letter accepting Dr. Carr’s notice of retirement in 2001 from the School of Teaching and Learning due to ill health, Dorene Ross, then acting director of the School of Teaching and Learning, noted that Dr. Carr “provided for young women faculty in this College a clear model of a strong, politically active woman faculty member,” and “helped to break ground for younger women faculty through [her] actions and visibility.” In March of 2001, the university granted Dr. Carr with emeritus status for her many years of meritorious service.

William H. Drummond , retired faculty member

Retired College of Education faculty member William H. Drummond, Ed.D., died Nov. 15, 2008. He was 87 years old. Drummond was a faculty member of the college’s Curriculum and Instruction department from 1972 to 1986, when he received Professor Emeritus status upon retirement. He had served as chairman of the division of education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College prior to joining the UF faculty. Retired UF education faculty member William Hedges, one of Drummond’s best friends and a fellow bridge player (along with their wives) for more than 40 years, was partially responsible for recruiting Drummond to UF. Hedges credits Drummond with being “a significant contributor to the improvement of public education in Florida as he worked closely with the State Department and then-Chancellor of Education, Charley Reed.” Hedges said Drummond “had an amazing ability to listen to others and to zero in on ways to bring about consensus.” Drummond’s special interests in education ranged from teacher education and certification to organizational development. He was highly regarded by his students as an engaging and demanding teacher and mentor. Retired faculty member Paul George recalled that “Bill had a life-long capability to get to the heart of the matter, whatever it might be, and to do so in a way that brought people to agree with him and to love him at the same time.”

Sebastian Foti, former faculty member

Former UF College of Education faculty member Sebastian Foti died suddenly on Dec. 16, 2008, while visiting California with his wife, Mary. He was 59. Foti had an international reputation in communications and educational media and was a former Fulbright Fellow in Porto, Portugal. While at the college, Foti served in various capacities, first as a graduate student assistant beginning in 1989, then as an assistant professor in Instruction and Curriculum from 1993 until 2001. He also was an adjunct assistant professor in the School of Teaching and Learning for a year and ended his UF tenure in 2003-04 as a lecturer in the UF Alliance and Center for School Improvement. Foti utilized audio, video, print and electronic media to coordinate Alliance and CSI communications with their stakeholders. Foti received a Teaching Improvement Program award from the university for 1996-97. A pioneer in education technology, he was named the 2007 Top Online Educator by Surfaquariam.com, a website that provides and tracks Internet resources for students and teachers. Mark Outten, a former COE student, described Foti as an “inspirational leader,” a sentiment shared by many students and colleagues, past and present. Foti worked as assistant professor of instructional technology at the University of North Florida, in Jacksonville, at the time of his death.

Michelle Moses, ProTeach student

Michelle Moses, a first-term Unified Elementary ProTeach student, was killed Dec. 20, 2008, in a tragic automobile accident while driving home to Mason, Ohio, for the winter holidays. A member of Alpha Epsilon Phi, Michelle was active in Hillel on campus and also in Habitat for Humanity. She was 21. Friends at the university have set up a Facebook account in Michelle’s memory at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55872546214, where friends, family and fellow students can record thoughts about Michelle and express their condolences. A memorial service for family and friends was held Dec. 23 in Symmes Township, Ohio, followed by burial in New Jersey. UF School of Teaching and Learning faculty members as well as Michelle’s sorority sisters, friends from Hillel and fellow Unified Elementary ProTeach students are planning a memorial service at the University of Florida in late January. Counseling services are available for interested students at UF’s Counseling Center on the 3^rd floor of Peabody Hall (352-392-1575) or Student Mental Health Services located in room 245 of the infirmary building (352-392-1173). In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations in Michelle’s name to Habitat for Humanity. You can link to Michelle’s obituary at http://weilfuneralhome.com/obituaries_view.asp?notice_id=1250#

back to top

Awards

Book of the Year award ‘reflects’ well on CSI director

The National Staff Development Council recently presented its 2008 Book of the Year award to co-authors Nancy Dana, COE professor and director of the Center for School Improvement, and her colleague, former COE Professor Diane Yendol-Hoppey, for their most recent collaboration. “The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Professional Development: Coaching Inquiry-Oriented Learning Communities” provides strategies for integrating “inquiry” or action research and professional learning communities (PLCs)–two concepts Dana finds essential to teacher professional development. “By weaving these two processes together into one coherent professional development approach,” says Dana, “these two mechanisms can enhance each other and magnify the already powerful professional development practices occurring in many schools and districts across the country.” Dana has another book coming out this year titled “Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher,” in which she turns her reflective lens onto the role of inquiry in leadership for school principals. Click here to link with Corwin Press http://www.corwinpress.com/home.nav.

Ponjuan awarded conference fellowship

Luis Ponjuan, assistant professor of educational administration and policy, received an American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) Junior Faculty Fellowship to attend the 2009 AAHHE National Conference titled “Soluciones para el Futuro: Achieving Hispanic Success.” Fellowships are awarded to scholars with demonstrated capacity to contribute to the progress of Latinas/os in higher education. The conference is scheduled for March 3-8, in San Antonio, Tex.

back to top

Grant Awards

James McLeskey, professor and special education chair, was awarded $305,000 by the Florida Department of Education in a state personnel development grant, for the period Oct. 1, 2008 through Sept. 30, 2009. Florida’s Personnel Development Partnerships support efforts to ensure the availability of adequate numbers of qualified personnel to meet the educational needs of infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.

Cyndi Garvan, assistant scholar and statistics director in the college’s Office of Educational Research, will share principal investigator status with Valeria Gordon, in UF’s operative dentistry program, in a project titled “Alkali Production in Human Dental Plaque & Saliva as Predictor or Caries Risk.” The National Institutes of Health has funded the project for the period Sept. 30, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009, awarding the team $13,967.62.

back to top

Appointments

Sevan Terzian, associate professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, has been named the new graduate coordinator and STL associate director for graduate studies.

Suzy Colvin, Ed.D. has been named the new School of Teaching and Learning associate director for teacher education.

Barbara Pace, associate professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, was appointed to the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Commission on Media. She will serve until 2010. The commission is charged with advising the NCTE executive committee on issues relating to media and 21^st century learning.

back to top

Dissertation Defenses

Effects of detailed customization of student avatars on teacher expectations and perceptions of students

Doctoral candidate: Dennis Beck
Nov. 24
Chair: Dr. Richard Ferdig

back to top

Student Laurels

Pitts earns Karen Koegel scholarship

Master’s student Donna Pitts is this year’s recipient of the Karen Koegel Scholarship, awarded annually by COE’s special education program to a deserving student who provides leadership in the field and produces public scholarship that makes a difference in the lives of people with significant disabilities. Pitts, a nontraditional student who is supporting herself and her family while pursuing her degree in special education, is a paraprofessional in the Alachua County School system. “She is focused on providing effective educational services for students with severe disabilities alongside their same-aged peers with no disabilities,” says Diane Ryndak, associate professor in special education. “Donna exemplifies the best in adult learning efforts, and goes above and beyond expectations in her professional develoment work.”

Doctoral students chosen for IES PEELS training

Doctoral students Tara McLaughlin, special education, and Lee Ann Lehman, school psychology, were among the 30 nationwide chosen to attend the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) three-day advanced studies seminar on the use of the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) database. The study is following almost 3,000 children with disabilities as they progress through preschool and into their early elementary years. The training, held Jan. 13 -15 in Washington, D.C., will prepare McLaughlin and Lehman to use PEELS data in their own future research.

Student’s blogging research draws praise from T.H.E. Journal

“Technology Horizons in Education (T.H.E.) Journal” highlighted online doctoral student Barry Bachenheimer’s research on the potential benefits of student blogging in an article titled “The Prose of Blogging (and a Few Cons Too).” Known in education circles for his own education technology-related blog, A Plethora of Technology, Bachenheimer is the director of instruction services in Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools in N.J. He and a group of high school teachers launched a project that demonstrated blogging could improve students’ writing skills by making them write more frequently and comment on one another’s work. Link to the article here: http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23562_1.

back to top

Publications

Clark, M.A. & Breman, J.C. (2009). School counselor inclusion: A collaborative model to provide academic and social-emotional support in the classroom setting. Journal of Counseling and Development. 87 (1), 6-11.

Clark, M.A., Flower, K., Oakley, E., & Walton, J. (2008). Tackling male underachievement: Enhancing a positive learning environment for middle school boys. Professional School Counseling. 12 (2), 127-132.

back to top

Presentations

Several COE faculty and students have presented at recent annual conferences and meetings:

Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference
“Research and Practice: Embracing Connections”
Nov. 6 – 8, 2008
Jacksonville, Fla.

Campbell, D., Syed, S., & Morris, P. Assessing the condition of community college student learning outcomes using the Bellwether College Survey Instrument. (poster session)

Behar-Horenstein, L., Dix, A., & Roberts, K. Students and professors aspirations of mentoring and undergraduate research experiences. (research paper)

Mendez, J.P., Archer E., & Mendoza, P. Student athlete retention: Are athletic scholarships enough? (research paper)

Ponjuan, L., Saenz, V. The vanishing African American and Latino male in higher education: A Critical Dialogue at a Critical time. (symposium)

Mendoza, P., Socialization in Doctoral Education. (invited discussant)

Education Law Association
“Relevance and Reform: Building the Bridge between Theory and Practice”
November 19 – 22, 2008
San Antonio, Texas

Wood, R. Craig & Poston Escue, Carlee. Zuni v. Department of Education: Statistical Equity Defined by the U.S. Supreme Court.

back to top

P. K. Yonge News

Help PKY create new vision for ‘campus of the future’

A presentation and interactive workshop to plan the revitalization of the PKY campus is scheduled for Jan. 26 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the P.K. Yonge Auditorium. Internationally known architect Prakash Nair, president of Fielding Nair International (FNI), will lead the session. FNI is the planning and design consultant for the renewal and reconstruction of the P.K. Yonge campus. All attendees will have the opportunity to interact with Nair and the planning team to contribute their thoughts and ideas on designing a “new and improved” campus for the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School. .

Singing PKY’s praises

The Florida Music Educators Association awarded P.K. Yonge its 2008 Music Education Enrollment Award. Presented at FMEA’s annual conference earlier this month, the award is given to middle and high schools with more than 35 percent of their students enrolled in music classes. Over 40 percent of PKY’s middle and high school students are enrolled in the school’s music program and all elementary students receive weekly music classes. The Music Education Enrollment Award is held for three years. During that time P.K. Yonge will serve as a State of Florida demonstration school, providing data and assistance on developing and implementing a successful music education curriculum.

Spanish teachers cited for excellence

The Florida Foreign Language Association (FFLA) recognized PKY teachers Grissell Santiago and Annamarie Tijerino with prestigious annual teaching awards. FFLA announced the winners at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages’ annual conference Nov. 21 – 23. Tijerino is Florida’s 2008 Spanish Teacher of the Year. She was nominated by the regional foreign language teachers’ group for northeast Florida. The award commends professionalism, leadership and classroom practice; and one teacher of the year is chosen in each language group. Grisell Santiago received a Teacher of Promise (TOP) award, presented to teachers within their first three years of teaching. The award recognizes beginning teachers who demonstrate professionalism, enthusiasm and the potential to become teacher leaders.

Three instructors awarded national certification

On Dec. 9, National Board Certification Day, P.K. Yonge’s cadre of national board-certified teachers increased by three and now totals 13. The latest three are: Amy Murphy- English (grades 6-12); Michael Roberts- Music (grades K-6); and Mindi Bates- elementary education (grades K-6), mentally handicapped (grades K-12), specific learning disabilities (grades K-12).

back to top

In the News

The Miami Herald (1/12/2009)- Dorene Ross, STL
The Miami Herald interviewed Dorene Ross for a story on Broward County schools’ attempt to balance student homework load. Ross went on record saying that excessive amounts of homework can be counterproductive.

West Suburban Access News Association (WSANA) Blog (1/11/09)- James McLeskey, Special Education
The WSANA blog, based in Oak Park, Ill., is a blog for parents and educators of students with disabilities. The blog site referred to 2006 research conducted by McLeskey and others demonstrating the benefits of inclusive education for children with mentally retardation. The blogger’s concern is that, despite research proving the positive effects of inclusion, the “mainstreaming” trend has stalled.

UF Today (Winter 2008)- Phil Trautwein (graduate student, Education Leadership)
An article described how COE graduate student Phil Trautwein, who is pursuing a master’s degree in educational leadership, returned to to the Gator football team this season stronger than ever, after sitting out last season with a severe foot injury.

UF Today (Winter 2008)- P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School
UF Today celebrated the 75^th anniversary of P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in a feature article depicting a photograph timeline of the school’s history.

UF Today (Winter 2008)- Dorene Ross, STL
Dorene Ross, a professor in the College of Education, and her husband, Jack, gave the college $10,000 to establish a fund that will help junior faculty members travel to professional conferences.

NY Times (12/08/2008); The Gainesville Sun (12/10/2008)- Iona Malanchuk, Education Library
In print and online, the Gainesville Sun featured Iona Malanchuk, head of the education library, as one of 10 librarians nationwide to receive the prestigious “I Love My Librarian” award. See the story in this issue of CoE-News as well.

Sun-Sentinel (12/10/2008)- Craig Wood, Education Administration and Policy
Broward County school superintendent James Notter was seeking up to $500 million in federal government loans to help his cash-strapped district. Wood commented that while it’s a worthy effort, it’s unlikely that all U.S. taxpayers would be willing to foot the bill for one school district.

The Gainesville Sun (12/9/2008)- P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School
Jackie Sirmopoulous’ seventh grade class at PKY is one of two middle school classes statewide learning civics. The move is a response to a 2006 legislative mandate requiring civics education in middle school.

The Gainesville Sun (12/7/2008)- College of Education
In an article on area families facing the holidays during bleak financial times, the Gainesville Sun highlighted COE efforts to supply the local Partnership for Stronger Families agency with holiday gifts for needy children. COE faculty and staff provided 200 presents for 50 children.

The Independent Florida Alligator (12/2/2008)- Linda Behar-Horenstein, Ed. Admin. And Policy
The Alligator cited a national survey that concludes cheating is common among high school students. While some educators believe cheating may stem from increased anxiety and pressure, Behar-Horenstein put the blame on lack of enforcement and role models and the need for students to learn time management.

Mediacrank’s Weblog (11/12/2008)- Paul George, Distinguished Professor Emeritus
The conservative blog Mediacrank posted a “liberal education” warning about George’s National Middle School Association (NMSA) conference presentation titled “Don’t Think of an Elephant: Paradigms in American Life & Education.”

The Independent Florida Alligator (10/29/2008)- College of Education
The Alligator covered award-winning author Peg Tyre’s speech about her best-selling book “The Trouble with Boys,” delivered to COE faculty and students. The speech was followed by a panel discussion with several COE faculty participating.

back to top

Anonymously submitted comments on the budget discussion

Feb 03, 2009

Your voice is important. Thanks for contributing comments.

Feb 06, 2009

Could you please explain further why furloughs and/or salary reductions won’t work? I see states such as California are trying it as a measure to deal with the budget situation. From what I know, most employees would accept such a decision over the loss of a job.

Feb 06, 2009

IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE SOME PROJECTED plans i.e…savings from consoldating secretarial services….eliminating all adjuncts and increasing faculty teaching loads….,what would savings look like if faculty gave back/up one payday a month…eliminataing all undergraduate programs….combining/reshaping counseling,psych ed./early childhood ed…etc….a listing of possible duplication of courses or areas….a what if scenario…costs associated with program elimination…etc…I know these are senitive topics but it might be helpful to see some what if scenarios..rethinking administrative structures along the models that we see in some other organizations..distributed leadership…

Feb 06, 2009

Many thanks to the COE Administration for offering an open, transparent platform for collegial discussion of a very difficult issue. Let’s hope we can leverage our collective experience and expertise toward a satisfactory solution.

Feb 06, 2009

I hear that some colleges will be closing programs completely. What do the faculty do if a program closes? I can’t see how that saves money. What if FPC does not approve closing a program in our college?

Feb 10, 2009

Catherine’s responses to posted comments:

First, I want to thank people who commented favorably on the openness of the process we using to make these very difficult decisions. As much as we can, we plan to keep people involved in discussions until the draft plan is released, and then I assume comments will continue to come in once the plans are made public by President Machen.
One person wanted to know why furloughs and/or salary cuts are not being considered. This is a decision that would have to be made at the university level (no single college can act alone on this issue) and President Machen has indicated he does not support this option.
A second person suggested any plans should incorporate several strategies (e.g., increasing faculty load, eliminating or consolidating programs, etc.) and I agree. All these options and more are being considered.
A third comment raised the issue of programs being closed in several colleges, and whether it saves money. This option saves money in the short run if the faculty are laid off, but it also saves money in the long run if the program cannot be sustained at a quality level without extensive new resources being added to it . The latter issue also speaks to the need for strategic planning in relation to what progams we can afford to maintain, even if the faculty diminish through natural attrition (e.g., retirements). I also note that closing programs in conjunction with an overall budget reduction plan is not subject to FPC approval under the circumstances we currently face.

Feb 15, 2009

P.S. I have received several inquiries about the fate of our plan once it leaves the college. We will not know the exact amount of our reduction until the legislative session ends on May 1st and President Machen makes a budget recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Final word on our permanent reduction for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is expected by early June. Information should be monitored on the President’s budget news and updates web page: http://budget.president.ufl.edu/ . A university-wide discussion can be followed on the Faculty Senate Budget Blog ( http://blog.senate.ufl.edu/ ).

Feb 17, 2009

Hi Catherine: You stated: “P.S. I have received several inquiries about the fate of our plan once it leaves the college.” You then gave a timeline.

FPC has been receiving a number of questions more specifically about the plan itself…and what the Provost/President/Board will actually be looking at. At the 2/9 meeting, when you shared your conversation with the Provost, some folks (including myself) left thinking that you were going to be submitting 2 or 3 complete budget plans. Since that conversation, I know that you have shared that there is going to be one budget plan with two addenda attached. Could you help clarify? Thanks, Rick

Feb 17, 2009

Response from Catherine regarding the submission of budget materials to Provost Glover.

What I plan to submit is one budget reduction plan that indicates clearly the funds we will give back and where we will pull the money. This plan will not include any cost savings related to the request the Provost made to assess the pros and cons of becoming a graduate college only, and the additional option of downsizing both the UEP (and to a lesser extent), the UEC programs. However, in the analysis of the pros and cons for both scenarios, we will certainly have to consider the implications of the loss of SCH and tuition revenue (which may be extensive) against any potential cost savings. How Glover and Machen may use any of the information that is submitted is unfortunately beyond my control, particularly since it will be reviewed against the broader university context.
One possible ray of hope is that now that the federal stimulus bill has passed, it may benefit Florida in terms of its budget woes that are yet unclear. President Machen may comment on this issue at the Faculty Senate meeting on Thursday which I encourage everyone to attend or view on webcast.

Feb 19, 2009

It seems advisable to give thought to closing some doctoral programs in the COE. With at least 10 doctoral programs in the college, it seems that perhaps resources can be re-directed.

Feb 24, 2009

How will the budget cut affect transfers and the number of transfers accepted to the College of Edu. for Fall ’09?

Feb 25, 2009

I was very interested in the article in the Gainesville Sun this morning. What are the ramifications of reducing or eliminating undergraduate education majors on our graduate education programs? Are we being asked to cut back on all teacher education? How will other long standing programs in the college (all at the graduate level already) be affected? Should we be worried about losing other programs like counselor education or educational administration because they prepare people for schools too?

Feb 25, 2009

I, too, was very interested in the comments in the Sun. What is your reaction to Machens comments.

Additionally, how will the budget reduction impact salary pay plan, market equity, and T&P raises? What is the Provost/Dean’s perspective on counter-offers to retain quality faculty during tough budget times?

Feb 25, 2009

Wow! I did not know we were considering dropping the elementary and early childhood programs. Will dropping these programs cover our budget reduction?

Feb 25, 2009

Catherine’s response to question about impact of budget cuts on transfer students:

In 2007 – 2008, President Machen indicated that UF would begin reducing its overall undegraduate enrollment and that would include reducing the number of transfer students. Each college was given a number as to how many transfer students they could admit as part of this process. We have received our transfer number for Fall 2009 admissions, but we are still waiting to hear when we can formally notify applicants. It may be that the projected budget cuts will change these numbers and that decision may come later. Right now we are in a holding pattern until we receive further information from the Provost.

Feb 25, 2009

Catherine’s response to questions regarding the article in the Gainesville Sun:

We have been asked by Provost Glover to do an analysis of the ramifications of either reducing or eliminating undergradate education majors in elementary education and early childhood education. Because that analysis is not yet completed, I cannot comment at this point on what impact it will have for us. We are NOT being asked to cut back on all teacher education programs, and we expect to continue preparing teachers for initial certification. Our secondary programs are not affected, since they already occur at the graduate level. We have a new undergraduate program in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences called UF Teach to prepare math and science majors to become teachers. We have two strong graduate programs, SITE and the Lastinger Apprenticeship Program in Duval County, that prepare elementary teachers following the concepts of an urban teacher residency program. We have a very innovative job-embedded masters degree program known as TLSI (Teacher Leadership and School Improvement) designed for practicing teachers that is tied to school district partnerships across the state. We are also in the process of developing a new Professional Practice Doctorate, and we have rising enrollments in other doctoral programs. I also want to emphasize that we will continue to maintain strong programs in counselor education, educational administration, school psychology, research and evaluation methods, and higher education administration, all of which are graduate programs only. The point is that the College already has many graduate programs in place that will continue regardless of any possible decision regarding the status of the undergraduate teacher education major programs.

Feb 25, 2009

The request by Glover may not be as bad as initially feared. The emotional outcry came because faculty members were not properly informed about the nature of the request. Knowing that this is an opportunity for us to carefully consider our mission and our future is much less threatening than what we were led to believe – that the decision to cut undergraduate teacher education was already made and the demise of the COE was near.

In fact, had the correct message been portrayed to faculty I wonder how many would have signed the memo and how many would have wanted to engage in a serious conversation about the pros and cons and directions for our future. I think the Dean made a serious error by not addressing the faculty as a whole to set up with scenario for us. Given the way it was portrayed it no wonder the approach taken was a defensive one. I guess it goes back to our perpetual problem –poor communication.

I, for one, see Proteach (or some revised version of it) as essential to our mission, however, what could be different if the program were smaller and possibly redesigned? What if students earned teacher certification in 4 years and then, through collaboration with local schools (not just SBAC), worked as practicing teachers while earning their Master’s degrees? Possibly, local schools and the university could work out an innovative funding model to make this happen.

A smaller program would allow us to consider more innovations in teacher education and would enable students to interact more with faculty (and vice versa). While our adjuncts and GAs do a great job, it is a logistical nightmare to coordinate and many of our students do not get high quality placements due to our volume. Imagine a scenario where ALL of our students are in excellent placements and where much of their coursework is directly tied to work in schools. I know we strive for this now but the logistics get in the way.

Imagine a scenario where other teacher education programs come to Gainesville for teacher education institutes in which we provide support, counsel and guidance (for a fee, of course).

In theory, R1 COEs are supposed to conduct and disseminate research on best practices for the universities that prepare the majority of teachers. Cutting back on undergraduate enrollment may allow us to do this better and provide more robust opportunities for research and scholarship.

I believe this is a time to come together and think carefully about where we are headed. No one has all the answers but collectively we are strong. The only humans who truly like change are wet babies. Change is uncomfortable (and, in fact, even hurts) but those who cannot change are destined to be stuck in the past, a past that may or may not even exist in the future.

So, if Glover’s message to our Dean was about the demise of Proteach followed by the demise of the COE, let the crusade begin. On the other hand, if Glover’s message was to ban together to rethink the future of COE because it has an important role to play in the restructuring of UF, let the conversations begin in earnest.

Feb 25, 2009

Catherine, in your email message tonight you intimated that you want to consider new sources of funds in addition to making cuts. I like that idea and hope you pursue it aggressively. We need to find new money now if we will not receive sufficient money from the state in the near future. Am I correct that funds from other sources could be used to pay for expenses we currently cover with the state’s money thereby decreasing actual cuts? It seems like a logical explanation but several of us really don’t know if we understand it correctly. Can you give an example?

Feb 25, 2009

I heard you shared a budget plan with department chairs today. If it can be shared with them then you should share it with the rest of the faculty. I expect to see it soon so faculty can provide input while there is still time to provide input.

Feb 25, 2009

I just heard that Catherine and Tom talked to a group of faculty about possibly closing their program with faculty layoffs. Several faculty were talking and we all agreed that ending a program is serious and should be public knowledge. I appreciate the fact that budget cutting may mean cutting programs but I never thought it would happen in the College of Education without faculty input.

Feb 26, 2009

this is an opportune(?) time to take advantage of the “climate”….in the elimination of the ug ed program, we need to move forward in the development of 5th year MA programs tied to local community colleges & perhaps certification( I think california’s 5th year model is relevant as a starting point)…developing partnerships with community colleges and enhancing the MA would mean $$ for our graduate program, we would still have/could have an outstanding teacher ed program….maybe partnering with Teach for America would also give us some good numbers for a MA program…..and finally, I think it is strategically a mishap to have faculty sign a petition blindsiding the Dean and the faculty who knew nothing about it…..in tight times like these cowboy like decisions weakens the overall position of the college….the old adage about when you are given a lemon..make lemonaide seems appropriate here…in unity there is hope and who doesn’t like lemonaide? of course unless your are allergic to lemons…

Feb 26, 2009

Catherine’s response to impact of budget cuts on SPPP raises, T&P raises, market equity and counter offers:

Both SPPP and T&P raises are funded by Tigert, and the budget reduction will have no impact on either one. Faculty who meet the criteria for either case will receive raises just as they have been given in the past. Market equity raises are college specific and college funded, and I will not be able to consider any requests until I know what our final reduction cut will be. Counter offers are specific to individual cases and will be considered in the context of other factors related to program quality as well as budget concerns.

Feb 26, 2009

Catherine’s response to question on budget impact of possibly dropping or downsizing undergrad programs:

We are planning to submit a budget reduction plan that does NOT take into account the possible loss or downsizing of the undergraduate programs. In the two analyses I will submit, they will contain information on cost savings and considerable tuition/SCH loss. Whether the Provost may use this information in relation to our budget reduction plan is simply unknown at this point.

Feb 26, 2009

Catherine’s response to posting on Glover’s message and poor communication:

Modern communication theory informs us that how the content of any message is perceived is the result of a complex interaction between sender and recipient. When the message content has high shock value, the “noise” that ensues disrupts and distorts the communication process even more than usual. Now that many of us are past the initial shock (myself included), we can now focus our attention and respond to the Provost’s request that we consider the future of the College in ways this message posting suggests. I emphasize again that I do not believe the Provost had in mind the demise of the College or even undergraduate education per se, but instead asked us to consider what it would mean for us to be a graduate college only, or as an addition, more graduate centered. Undertaking this consideration and examining it from mulitple perspectives does raise the possibility of change, one way or another, but change is an ongoing feature of life. I find it very encouraging that faculty leadership on FPC are taking this issue seriously and developing a framework for soliciting college wide feedback on questions critical to the College’s future.

Feb 27, 2009

The editorial in the Gainesville Sun suggests collaboration with Santa Fe State College to deliver some or all of the undergraduate teacher education programs should be explored in earnest.The new state college system, and Santa Fe in particular, is well positioned to think creatively about delivery of a UF program on their campuses.These new four-year colleges continue to be politically favored and the leadership on these campuses are very willing to work UF, the flagship, to improve their campuses. An interesting suggestion was made in that editorial today. Why not explore the option with Santa Fe leadership? We do not have to commit to anything. At least we will have a backup plan if needed.

Feb 27, 2009

Catherine’s response on faculty input about program closures:

I certainly agree that faculty input on program closures is important, first from the immediate faculty impacted, and then at a wider college level. I also remind everyone that because we do not have sufficent resources to bring every program to a high quality level, we face very difficult and painful choices. I have asked the college Budgetary Affairs Committee to review all the program data posted on the container website, and to provide suggestions on soliciting faculty input to facilitate the process of making the best decisions possible given the budget constraints we face.

Feb 27, 2009

Catherine’s comments on collaboration with Santa Fe College:

We are certainly open to exploring collaborative options for developing an undergraduate teacher education program with Santa Fe. Engaging in a productive dialogue is one way to begin considering the shift for our College to a more graduate focused approach by having students complete the masters degree as was noted in a previous posting. Now is the time to look at all options on the table and be open to think about change in a focused way.

Feb 28, 2009

i am a student in proteach and i respect the program. i love the classroom experience i get. the children are really great. but I must admit that my teachers here are not always that good. most classes in norman are busy work or a waste of time. some teachers act like they don’t know what they are supposed to teach us. what i am saying is its a good to look at this program and others that are not up to par.

Feb 28, 2009

When will those considering applying to UF College of Education or have hopes of transfering there know about eliminating the undergraduate program? Will that be placed into effect Fall 2009? Also, when will transfers be notified about how many the College of Education is allowed to accept since application deadline is March 1st? I have applied as a transfer and think the undergraduate and Proteach program at UF is great and would be very disappointed if the opportunity was taken away due to budget cuts greatly affecting transfers.

Mar 02, 2009

One question it seems important to ask is whether faculty engagement in this process and decision making really plays any role. When the Provost asks us for an “analysis” and then the President announces his intention to move to Graduate only programs in the COE to the Board of Trustess before even receiving this “analysis” we have to wonder whether the analysis will even be considered in making the decision. His comments suggest the decision is already made. And his comments also raise the possibility that COE will contribute our 10% AND lose undergraduate programs. Perhaps we have been targeted to take more than our share of cuts to save others? A President who truly respects faculty governance would not go public with “probabilities” before faculty input is even considered.

Mar 05, 2009

The only program I know of that is being considered for closure is the educational psychology program. This program continues to maintain high admission standards, has several nationally reputed faculty members, and consistently produces quality research that is published in highly respected journals. Educational psychology faculty and students also do valuable work with local public schools.

Mar 08, 2009

I am the parent of a freshman who applied directly to UF’s College of Education with her goal of graduating from the 5 year program that concludes with a Masters in Education. My child gave up scholarship opportunties offered at several private colleges because those particular schools either did not have an Education program or they were not nearly as well regarded as UF’s school. In other words, she made a commitment to UF. Neither she or her parents signed up for her to attend classes at the community college or have to change her career objectives. While there may be a mandate to cut your budget, a decision to sacrifice the Undergraduate progam in favor of the Grauduate progam is not wise in the long-run. How can UF retain its status as the flagship undergradute university in Florida and the Deep South, if it signals to the academic world that the there is no place here for the “best and brightest” students who have chosen to give up higher paying jobs to teach our state’s children.

So, UF needs to fulfill its obligation to provide a first-rate undergraduate degree in Education, at least for those students currently in the program. As a businessman, I know there are more than two options available to address the budget issue. We hope and expect UF’s administration to fulfull its commitment to its dedicated students.

Mar 13, 2009

Comment from Tom Dana, Associate Dean
The impact of the state’s projected budget cuts is being felt far and wide around the state, by citizens in all aspects of life, but education always seems to be one of the hardest hit areas. We are truly sorry that you and your daughter—a committed teacher-to-be—are among those caught in the web of this economic meltdown. It may be comforting to know that no definite decisions have been made concerning the possible elimination or reduction of our undergraduate programs in elementary teacher preparation and early childhood teacher preparation. I emphasize that this is only one of several alternatives that UF President Bernie Machen will discuss with his cabinet and the UF Board of Trustees. The Trustees are not expected to finalize and approve the university’s budget reduction plan until sometime between May 1 (when the current legislative session is due to end) and early June.

Cuts to our undergraduate program are NOT part of the College’s budget reduction plan. Provost Joseph Glover has merely asked us to submit an analysis of the pros and cons of becoming a graduate-level-only college of education. We are doing that, and Provost Glover also agreed to let us submit a second report on the pros and cons of a PARTIAL reduction of the undergraduate portions of our teacher preparation programs (both programs have a required year of graduate study to complete certification requirements). Being able to submit a report on partial reduction gives us some cause for optimism in that we may come out of this with either our undergraduate programs fully intact, or at least maintaining a vital portion of our undergraduate programs. We believe we can present a strong case for both of these options, and we have every reason to believe our arguments will be strongly considered.
In addition to posts in this forum, students, families, community members, and faculty are providing input through several mechanisms. Students, in particular, have orgzaized themselves with a Facebook site and through various meetings. Faculty were asked to complete a survey regarding their perceptions of becoming more focused on graduate education. We will release our 10% budget reduction proposal on Friday, March 20th. The reduction plan does not assume adjustments to the UEP or UEC programs.

While the proposed budget cuts at the colleges of Education and Nursing have received most of the early attention in publicity concerning the university’s overall budget reduction plan, the sad truth is that President Machen and the Trustees will have to consider similar, heart-wrenching cuts all across campus, in every college—some every bit as severe as what we may experience at the College of Education.

When all is said and done, I hope that we are still able to welcome your daughter and other excellent prospective teachers into our undergraduate teaching program. She already has made supreme sacrifices toward her intention to become a “EduGator”, and she sounds like she would be one of our best students and, ultimately, a valued alumna we’d be proud to claim as one of our own. From your description, I have no doubt that whatever path she must take to reach her goal, she will become a master teacher that any parent would love to have teaching their child.

Mar 16, 2009

At the March 16 FPC meeting, it sounded as if Dean Emihovich described a possible College of Education configuration in which numbers of undergraduate education majors would be reduced while numbers of undergraduate non-education majors served by COE courses would remain steady. In that configuration, faculty and doctoral student TAs would partner on teaching these non-education majors. I understand the value of preserving SCH in that configuration, but I do not understand how reducing the number of teachers we graduate can be defended if we continue to serve students who do not plan to enter the teaching force. In addition, experience teaching non-education majors is not appropriate career preparation for doctoral students who intend to become faculty in teacher education programs.

Mar 17, 2009

I’m a little confused. I heard something to the likes that due to budget reductions they’re thinking of closing the undergraduate program for the college of education.
I’m a student at a community college that had planned to apply into Early Childhood Education in Fall of 2010.
Is this true? And when will decisions be made?

Mar 20, 2009

In the budget plan it references the elimination of graduate degrees in higher education administration. Is this just the Higher Education Ph.D., Ed.D, and ED.S. programs or all degrees in what used to be the Ed. Admin & Policy department?

Mar 20, 2009

I’ve read the powerpoint of COE’s proposed budget reduction plan. Slide 14 lists other reduction recommendations. It is unclear if these recommendations are reflected in the budget cuts described in the previous slides. It is also unclear what savings will accrue from closing or combining graduate degree programs, how these particular programs were selected for elimination/reduction, and whether these recommendations will be implemented irregardless of the percentage cut that the college will face. Could you please clarify? Also, could you please comment how closing graduate degree programs fits in with UF’s rhetoric about building graduate programs.

Mar 20, 2009

Have you given a reason yet as to why or how you chose to cut certain programs? You have been very vague reagrding your SPECIFIC reasons for choosing to eliminate SPECIFIC programs. Considering that most deans would view the termination of programs as a last resort, I think it is particularly important that you:
a) explain why your plan to terminate programs is apparently the most viable decision (compared to other options), and
b) how you decided which programs to cut and your evaluations in terms of the specific criteria you used to make such decisions.

Also, I was under the impression that ALL department chairs submitted 10% budget reduction plans. So, again, my question is why it is preferrable to completely eliminate ANY programs.

Mar 21, 2009

Let me start by saying that my program is apparently safe from being cut (at least for now). But I think it is disturbing, embarrassing, and unfair that the dean of the college of education does not support all of our programs (or more specifically that she doesn’t support all of our faculty and students). This stands in stark contrast to the dean of the CLAS, who is doing everything he can to ensure that programs are NOT cut. What about fighting to keep our programs and implementing budget plans that would help EVERYONE? I think the proposed plan makes our college look bad because it assumes that some of our core programs are simply dispensable and easily dismissed.

Mar 21, 2009

The Budget Reduction proposal posted on 3/20 announced
salary reduction accounted for by

returning vacant lines (1)
resignations (2)
retirements (1)
cost shifting positions to non-recurring funds (8)
layoffs (4)

How many of the positions in each category were tenure track and tenured lines?

Mar 21, 2009

Cutting educational psychology and higher education and combining the various counselor education programs does nothing to address the 10% cut the college may have to take. These actions are reminiscent of last years reorganization which was initially announced as a way to meet last year’s budget cuts and did little or nothing to decrease the budget.

Mar 21, 2009

Dean Emihovich’s response to March 16th post on non-majors in education:

The recent decision by the Provost that the undergraduate teacher education majors will not be eliminated should go a long way in relieving the concerns voiced by students, faculty, parents, school personnel, and others who took a strong interest in the College’s future. The possibility that both programs may be scaled back in enrollment is still open, and we do need to plan for that contingency. Even if our undergraduate teacher education enrollment is reduced, I noted at the FPC meeting that we also provide courses for many students interested in an education minor, and we have developed a new undergraduate program in partnership with CLAS to prepare more math and science teachers through UF Teach. Given this new programs, along with the two undergraduate majors and the education minor still in place, we expect to have a strong presence in undergraduate education for many years to come.

Mar 21, 2009

Dean Emihovich’s response to post on transfer into the early childhood program:

Both the undergraduate teacher programs in elementary education and early childhood education will continue at UF, but access may be more limited in the future contingent upon other budget decisions. I also note that transfers from community colleges to all UF programs have become more limited as the University focuses on reducing its undergraduate enrollment. Because so many details are still unknown at this point regarding the status of transfer students, I encourage the person who posted this message to contact both the UF Admissions Office and the Office of Student Services in the College of Education for more information.

Mar 21, 2009

Dean Emihovich’s response to questions concerning the status of higher education administration programs:

I want to reassure all current and future students that pursuing a degree in higher education administration is not in jeopardy. The three degree tracks (Ph.D., Ed.D, Ed.S) in Higher Education Administration (CIP code: 13.0406) are being consolidated under the CIP code for Educational Leadership (13.0401). These two programs are being consolidated since to maintain two separate CIP codes makes it appear as if they are two separate and independent degrees, when in fact they are the same degree with two different concentrations: one for K-12 leadership, and one for higher education leadership. Faculty teach and work with students across both areas and that will not change under this new configuration. This change will also help the Educational Leadership Ph.D program obtain more resources such as Alumni Fellowships to recruit students. The masters program in Student Counseling and Personnel Services (CIP code: 13.1102) is not affected by this change, and it remains a strong and viable program in the College. Students who still have questions should contact their advisor, who can explain that this change is more related to streamlining the programs, but it does not mean the elimination of a concentration in higher education administration.

Mar 22, 2009

Based on what I have learned in the past weeks, there is a unaceptable mistake in the power point presentation regarding budget reductions. My understanding has been that the higher education administration program is going to be merged with K-12 administration into one Ed Leadership Program with two concentrations, one in Higher Education and one in K-12 leadership. How could you made such a mistake given the implications that this public announcement can have to the Higher Ed Admin program? Or is there an intention to cut the Higher Ed Admin program? I think the Dean should publicly and ASAP clarify this point for the good of the Higher Ed program and her own credibility.

Mar 22, 2009

Post from Tom Dana, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

One of the posts above asked for clarification regarding faculty reductions. I am happy to provide some additional details after each item:

returning vacant lines (1) – staff position
resignations (2) – both tenure track
retirements (1) – tenure track
cost shifting positions to non-recurring funds (8) – all non-tenure track and staff
layoffs (4) combination of staff, non-tenure track, and tenure track

Mar 23, 2009

Dear Dean,

I have a question about Ed. Psychology program.
As most people in the educational field agreed, educational psychology area provides basic-level research for other majors in the educational field. How College of Education of UF would stand out as a top research-orientated education school nationwide, if it did not even have such an important major?

Mar 23, 2009

Questions and comments about the rationale for the closure of the Educational Psychology program were posted on March 5, March 20, and March 21. Why have NONE of these questions/comments received a response?

Mar 23, 2009

As an alternative to eliminating the entire educational psychology program and laying off faculty members, have you considered reducing the number of undergraduate courses designed primarily for students in other colleges? The College of Engineering did this last year as part of their budget reduction plan.

Mar 24, 2009

That’s great news about the budget cut not eliminating the undergradute program. When will prospective Fall ’09 transfers, into either of these two programs offered by the COE, find out if he/she is accepted? Applications were due March 1st. Is the COE Admissions Committee waiting until the final budget cut plan is submitted Monday, March 30th?

Mar 24, 2009

In response to my email soliciting questions for the meeting this morning, I received this one, which I quote below:

“I want to know, as part of the budget discussion, how many funds are required for HHMI and how much external funding is being generated to match the input of funds from our college? I especially want to know how much of this work is resulting in external funding for research.”

When I asked the question at the meeting this morning, Tom, you couldn’t answer because you didn’t have the pertinent information at hand (and neither did Marcia). I’m posting the question to remind you to reply. Thanks.

Paul Sindelar

Mar 26, 2009

I do not find support to maintain the undergraduate education program and and am concerned that there has been a shift in the original direction that suggested closing it. Can the STL faculty provide studies that indicate that a five-year teacher is superior to a four-year teacher?

To support the nation’s infrastructure, I believe that the full support is warranted in making the college a graduate-only program. As the flagship university, it is long overdue that UF make graduate education a priority and leave undergraduate education to regional institutions.

Mar 26, 2009

In the interests of transparency I would like for the Dean to address what the plans are should the COE face a cut of less than 10%. I know several other colleges have presented tiered budget cut plans – in CLAS the plan actually goes roughly 1% percent at a time. The COE plan only specifies what happens if the full ten percent is cut. What happens if the COE is required to only make a 3% cut? 5%? 7-8%? I am confident that the Dean has wisely prepared for those contingencies and I think the faculty and students of the college would appreciate knowing what they administration’s budget priorities are.

Mar 29, 2009

The College Administration was short-sighted last year when it closed Social Foundations. A Social Foundations program, with its focus on history, philosophy, and social forces is an important part of a College of Education and can be a vibrant and nationally prominent program with a relatively small number of faculty members. The College Administration is being equally short-sighted this year by closing Educational Psychology. An Educational Psychology program, with its focus on psychological functioning of individuals and groups and how this functioning influences the processes and outcomes of education, is also an important part of a College of Education and can be effective with relatively few faculty members.

The College Administration argues that it cannot support all programs. That may be true in the short run. But the current recession will end and more support will flow into the University. At that time, the next administration of the College will be scratching its head and wondering why Educational Psychology and Social Foundations were closed in reaction to short-term financial problems. If, as expected, the College moves to a greater emphasis on graduate education, the Social Foundations and Educational Psychology program will be conspicuously absent in the College.

The College Administration is being particularly short-sighted in regard to a layoff of a faculty member in Educational Psychology. Although non-tenured, that faculty member has four PhD students who should finish in the next two to three years. The faculty member’s research program is such that a graduation rate of between 1 to 2 students per year is likely. The Dean has asked for alternatives to her plan. The Dean knows full well that there are budget alternatives to the layoff of a tenure-stream faculty member.

The College Administration also does not seem to know the history of the College. In the 70s, Counselor Education was almost dead, but under Joe Wittmer’s leadership and hard work by several generations of faculty members Counselor Education became a top-ranked program nationally. In the late 80s School Psychology was almost dead but with support by the Department of Foundations of Education and the Department of Educational Psychology became a strong program. Educational Psychology has already begun its resurgence. After years in which Deans almost never replaced faculty members in Educational Psychology, the millennium brought in two new faculty members. The program is getting more applicants than in past years, has been active in seeking grants funds, and has a substantial number of undergraduate courses that it can use to support graduate students. Do not close Educational Psychology and work to reestablish Social Foundations.

Mar 31, 2009

Despite the corrections made in the official communication about the budget cuts in the main COE website regarding the Higher Education Administration Program, there is a wide perception that this program will be eliminated outside the college and among students. This perception is very detrimental for the program. I think the Dean should reach out and announce outside the college what are the real intentions about this program. Thanks.

Apr 07, 2009

The reduction plan posted on 4/20 shows 436K devoted to non-tenure track faculty for 2009-2010. Please tell us how much of these funds is used to support faculty in the each of teh following roles: (1) work in a college support office and (2) work in a department or school, broken down by the following categories: (a) distance education, (b) grant research and/or administration, (c) department or academic program administration, (d) on campus teaching.

The National Staff Development Council recently presented its 2008 Book of the Year award to co-authors Nancy Dana, COE professor and director of the Center for School Improvement, and her colleague, former COE Professor Diane Yendol-Hoppey, for their most recent collaboration. “The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Professional Development: Coaching Inquiry-Oriented Learning Communities” provides strategies for integrating “inquiry” or action research and professional learning communities (PLCs)–two concepts Dana finds essential to teacher professional development. “By weaving these two processes together into one coherent professional development approach,” says Dana, “these two mechanisms can enhance each other and magnify the already powerful professional development practices occurring in many schools and districts across the country.” Dana has another book coming out this year titled “Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher,” in which she turns her reflective lens onto the role of inquiry in leadership for school principals. Click here to link with Corwin Press http://www.corwinpress.com/home.nav.

Dorothy Becvar

Dorothy S. Becvar, an internationally recognized scholar and author on death-related bereavement and grief, will lead an all-day workshop titled “In the Presence of Grief,” Feb. 26 at the University of Florida College of Education. Becvar’s presentation, to be held on campus at the Norman Hall Terrace Room from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., is part of the college’s long-running Arthur G. Peterson Death Education Lecture Series. The workshop is geared to UF faculty members, students and staff, and to local clinical practitioners, but the general public also is invited. Continuing education units will be offered to licensed practitioners for a nominal fee of $25. Seating is limited to 50 participants and advance reservations are required.

Becvar is a professor of social work at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Mo. She is editor of Contemporary Family Therapy: An International Journal, has written or co-authored several books on family counseling, grieving and spirituality in healing, and has published numerous journal articles and book chapters. She also is president and CEO of The Haelan Centers, a non-profit, holistic-healing center offering training, education and holistic therapeutic services. She is a licensed practitioner in both marital and family therapy and in clinical social work.

At the UF workshop, Becvar will discuss recent research revealing that bereavement never ends for those who have lost a loved one-refuting conventional treatment models that she says “may, in fact, do a disservice” to grieving clients.

“More than picking up the pieces and moving on (after the death of a loved one), individuals are challenged to create an entirely new picture, or story, about themselves, their world, and what it means to live,” she said. “This process involves acknowledging grief as a constant companion while also learning to open up once again, to reclaim joy, as well as sadness, as valid and acceptable parts of the experience.”

Becvar said workshop participants will come to understand the impact on the grieving process of various kinds of loss and will learn strategies for working with family members who are “living in the presence of grief.”

A continental breakfast and lunch will be provided and a book sale and signing reception will follow the workshop at 4 p.m.

On the following day, Feb. 27, Becvar will hold informal conversations with College of Education graduate students and faculty (10-11:30 a.m.) in Room 158 Norman.

The UF death education series was originally funded in 1977 through a gift from the late Arthur G. Peterson, then a retired Harvard University professor. The initial lectures were coordinated by Hannelore Wass, then a faculty member in education psychology at the College of Education and a pioneer in the field of death studies. Peterson’s gift to UF was prompted by his friendship with Wass.

To RSVP (no later than 5 p.m. on Feb. 13), email Rosie Warner: rwarner@coe.ufl.edu. For more information, contact Ana Puig in the College of Education at anapuig@coe.ufl.edu or 392-2315, ext. 235.

# # #

Writer
Larry Lansford, llansford@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-0726, ext. 266

Iona Malanchuk, head of UF’s Education Library, recently received one of 10 national “I Love My Librarian” awards. Sponsored jointly by the New York Times Company, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the American Library Association, the award honors librarians for their contributions to the communities their libraries serve.

“These 10 librarians deserve applause because their professionalism has won the attention and respect of their neighbors,” says Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corp.

Librarians from the nation’s 123,000 public, school or college/university libraries were eligible, and 3,200 library users loved their librarians enough to nominate them. Linda Behar-Horenstein, COE Distinguished Teaching Scholar and professor in educational administration and policy, nominated Malanchuk, highlighting her accomplishments particularly at the P.K. Yonge and College of Education libraries, where her attention to detail helps to bring the library experience together—from teaching faculty and students how to navigate the information ocean to providing comfortable seating for library patrons. Behar-Horenstein writes, “This librarian pays attention to all details.”

After 13 years at the Indiana and Western Michigan University libraries, Malanchuk — who has master’s degrees in educational media and library science — joined the UF staff as an associate university librarian for the main library in 1980. In 1985, she became head of the Mead Library at the P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, and took over as head of the Education Library in Norman Hall in 2002.

The librarians were honored at an awards reception and ceremony at the Times Center in New York City, and each winner received a $5,000 cash award. As a reminder, Malanchuk has a copy of the full-page New York Times ad that ran on Dec. 8 recognizing the winners.

Click on the following link for a three-minute video clip of the American Library Associate award ceremony: http://alfocus.ala.org/videos/i-love-my-librarian-award-ceremony. Malanchuk comments on her award and her mission two minutes into the clip.

Posted Dec. 2, 2008

Dr. James P. Gee

School can be a real turnoff for some kids, but James Paul Gee knows that if anything can turn them on to learning, it’s the interactive, multi-layered fantasy world of video games-and he has put in the research and game time to prove it.

Gee, who holds an endowed professorship in literacy studies at Arizona State University, will speak on "Video Games and 21st Century Learning," at the University of Florida Jan. 14, 3:30-5 p.m., in the Terrace Room at Norman Hall (605 SW 13th Street). His presentation will mark the second installment in the UF College of Education’s "21st Century Pathways in Education" distinguished speaker series. The lecture series is geared to college and UF faculty and students, but the public also is invited.

Gee says the virtual realities created by game designers are more relevant to what today’s students will face in an increasingly complex world that revolves around global issues and conflicts. In "What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy," one of his books on video games and education, he calls virtual gaming "an alternative learning system that teaches more effectively than most schools."

Games and game designers, he says, put the pleasure back in learning.

In his book "Why Video Games are Good for your Soul," Gee writes: "Learning is a basic drive for humans . . . School has taught people to fear and avoid learning as anorexics fear and avoid food-it has turned some people into mental anorexics. The real paradox is not that learning and pleasure go together, but rather how and why school manages to separate them."

Gee’s early research centered on linguistics and literacy, with his own work providing the foundation for the emerging field of New Literacy Studies. Around 2005, he got interested in video games, those that interested him and the ones his then 3-year-old son was playing. Since then he’s been writing and lecturing extensively on the subject.

After hours and hours of gaming on his own, combined with research he and his graduate students have turned in, Gee cites several advantages the gaming culture has over current teaching methods:

• Verbal information in video games becomes available when it’s relevant, not before;
• Gamers ride the outer edge of their competency; tasks are challenging but doable;
• As skills are mastered, gamers move up to the next level of complexity, creating increasing cycles of expertise;
• Video Games motivate and encourage innovation by allowing gamers to try on virtual identities.

For Gee, it’s not just the games but the "gamer communities" that can reinvigorate contemporary education. While teachers struggle to get students to work together in teams, the online video-gaming world finds wildly diverse gamers collaborating on solutions of global, if virtual, proportions. That atmosphere of cooperative problem-solving, something Gee calls a "passion community," is how he sees education moving to the next level.

Gee is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University. A member of the National Academy of Education, he received his Ph.D. in linguistics from Stanford University in 1975 and has published widely in linguistics, psychology and education journals His most recent work focuses on video games, literacy and education, including a recent essay collection, "Good Video Games and Good Learning: Collected Essays on Video Games, Learning and Literacy."

* * *
CONTACTS
WRITER: Renée Zenaida, UF COE News & Communications, rzenaida@coe.ufl.edu

William Drummond

The College of Education mourns the passing of retired faculty member WILLIAM H. DRUMMOND, Ed.D., who died Nov. 15, 2008. He was 87 years old.

Drummond was a faculty member of the college’s Curriculum and Instruction department from 1972 to 1986, when he received Professor Emeritus status upon retirement. His earlier career included many years with the State of Washington Department of Education, and he had also served as chairman of the division of education at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College prior to joining the UF faculty.

Retired UF education faculty member William Hedges, one of Drummond’s best friends and a fellow bridge player (along with their respective wives) for more than 40 years, was partially responsible for recruiting Drummond to UF. Hedges credits Drummond with being "a significant contributor to the improvement of public education in Florida as he worked closely with the State Department and then-Chancellor of Education, Charley Reed." Hedges said Drummond "had an amazing ability to listen to others and to zero in on ways to bring about consensus."

Drummond’s special interests in education ranged from teacher education and certification to organizational development. He was active in the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education. He was highly regarded by his students as an engaging and demanding teacher and mentor, and he received a number of service and training grants from the Florida DOE. Retired faculty member Paul George recalled that "Bill had a life-long capability to get to the heart of the matter, whatever it might be, and to do so in a way that brought people to agree with him and to love him at the same time. Quite a talent."

Among Drummond’s survivors are Shirley, his devoted wife of nearly 65 years; a daughter, Margaret, and a son, Tom.

The Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) jointly invite you to participate in the second annual international conference to be held in Gabarone, Botswana, located in southern Africa in July, 2009. AMCD/ACES visualize a multidisciplinary discussion in which a diversity of viewpoints is investigated. Proposals from community outreach workers, mental health practitioners, researchers, educators, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), health service providers, and spiritual/religious leaders are encouraged. Significant inquiry and innovative discourse relative to systemic oppression and social marginalization as they affect the lives of individuals, families, and communities are welcome.

In addition to participation in the conference, attendees are invited to apply to the clinical outreach program or register for add-on cultural tours in neighboring countries, such as South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi, and Namibia. For more information, contact the conference co-chairs: Cirecie A. West-Olatunji, Ph. D. or Arpana Inman, Ph.D. – AMCD 2009 Multicultural Counseling Conference, Department of Counselor Education, College of Education, University of Florida, 1204 Norman Hall, PO Box 117046, Gainesville, FL 32611-7046 email: AMCD2009conference@gmail.com, Tel: (352) 392-0731 x-235 Fax: (352) 846-2697.

The UF College of Education has signed a cooperative agreement with a leading teacher education academy in Warsaw, Poland, to advance the inclusion of students with moderate to severe disabilities in the Polish general education system. The partnering universities will collaborate on both the development of teacher preparation programs in special education and school-based research on the effect of inclusive education.
The agreement expands ongoing work between Diane Ryndak, UF associate professor in special education, and her Polish colleague, Anna Firkowska-Mankiewicz, a top administrator at the Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education. The academy is Poland’s main university that prepares special education teachers.
Ryndak and Firkowksa-Mankiewicz also will collaborate with educational professionals at the Centrum Metodyczne Pomocy Psychologiczno-Pedagogicznej, a Polish Ministry of Education agency that provides special education-related training and technical assistance. The Centrum works with schools and parents to develop services for children with special needs in general education classes on regular school campuses. The Centrum has invited Ryndak to meet with them and a national government-appointed council that is charged with reviewing all aspects of special education in Poland.

Ryndak will work with faculty at the Grzegorzewska Academy to create a pilot teacher-training program and expand its special education research agenda in Poland so it more closely matches the comprehensive educational studies being conducted in the United States and other western countries. Together they will forge a more integrated relationship among the faculty at the academy and the technical assistance providers at the Centrum.
Ryndak met her Polish co-researchers in the late 1990s at an international conference where she presented her groundbreaking seven-year case study of a special-needs student’s progress before and after inclusion. A 2003 Fulbright Research Award allowed Ryndak to spend that academic year in Poland working on collaborative projects.
“Education in some former Communist bloc countries has a top-down, ‘learn-it-or-don’t-learn-it’ attitude toward teaching,” Ryndak said. “In Poland, education for children with disabilities follows a medical model. A doctor diagnoses a disability, and parents must find a school that will accept and work with their child. Until recently, parents could only place children with moderate to severe disabilities in either institutions or schools where only life skills were taught. The service emphasis was on caretaking rather than educating.
“Often the only available school was far from the family’s home – very rural, in the middle of nowhere,” Ryndak said. “These parents have been pushing for their children’s inclusion in regular schools, because they want their children to stay at home and attend the same school as their siblings and neighborhood friends.”
Ryndak plans to return to Poland next spring, and discussions are underway to bring faculty members from the Warsaw academy to UF to experience firsthand UF’s teacher preparation program in special education.

*                   *                   *

Renée Zenaida, rzenaida@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-0726, ext. 274
Diane Ryndak, dryndak@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-0701, ext. 266

UF education lecture series kicks off Oct. 30

In efforts to solve the epic teacher shortage, education leaders are at odds over whether the main focus should be on recruiting more people to the teaching profession or helping public schools keep the most effective teachers they already have.

Area teachers, principals and school district leaders, plus UF education professors and students, will have an opportunity to hear the views and insights of a national expert on the topic on Thursday, Oct. 30, when the University of Florida College of Education kicks off its 2008-09 distinguished speaker series, “21st Century Pathways in Education.”

Dr. Erling "Ed" Boe

The first speaker in the series will be Professor Erling “Ed” Boe, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) and co-director of the school’s Center for Research and Evaluation in Social Policy (CRESP). Boe will present “Teacher Turnover: Issues and National Research” from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room at Norman Hall, located on the eastern edge of the UF campus at 605 SW 13th Street, in Gainesville.

Boe and his co-researchers are investigating the role of teacher turnover in the annual demand for hiring new teachers in public schools. Ferreting through often misleading terminology and inconsistent findings, Boe has published research reports identifying three basic dimensions needed to assess the true state of teacher turnover:

• Exit attrition—leaving the profession
• Teaching area transfer—shifting to a new area, particularly from special to general education
• School migration—moving to a different school.

Boe writes that only significant, positive change in public school “organization, management and funding” with quell teacher turnover rates. In the interim, he says an increase in the pool of qualified teachers is required to reduce current and future teacher shortages.

Boe earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Washington State University and held faculty positions at the University of Victoria (Canada) and the University of Washington (Seattle) before completing a year of postdoctoral study in psychology at Brown University. He has been on the University of Pennsylvania faculty since 1966. Boe has written widely on teacher supply, demand, shortage, turnover and quality. In addition to frequent contributions to professional journals, Boe has co-edited a definitive volume on current trends affecting teachers: Teacher Supply, Demand, and Quality: Policy Issues, Models, and Data Bases.

UF education Dean Catherine Emihovich says the purpose of the new Pathways in Education speaker series is to bring in leading scholars on key education issues to spark discussion and introduce new insights into education to college and university faculty, students and area educators. The chairs and faculty in each college department are lining up speakers from their respective disciplines.

Following Boe’s talk, the series resumes Jan. 14, 2009, with the second presentation on “Video Games and 21st Century Learning.” The speaker will be James Paul Gee, who holds an endowed professorship in literacy studies at Arizona State University.

*            *            *

CONTACTS
WRITER: Renée Zenaida, UF COE News & Communications, rzenaida@coe.ufl.edu
SOURCE: Erling “Ed” Boe, UPenn GSE/CRESP, boe@pobox.upenn.edu

As part of an ongoing effort to reduce our budgets and embrace sustainability, the University of Florida has launched a new program, “Think Before You Ink.” The program affects printed materials from all areas of UF, and has three separate initiatives: Save the Paper, Print to Web, and Printer Certification.

All the initiatives focus on reducing not only our printing costs, but also our environmental impact.

The need for the programs was identified by the Cost Reduction and Efficiency Task Force, and implementation details were developed by cooperative efforts of University Relations, the Office of Sustainability, Purchasing, the UF Communicators Network and other individuals and groups.

Highlights of the three initiatives include:

• Save the Paper, which is designed to reduce the waste and inefficiency associated with campus photocopies and printouts. A recent examination by an outside consulting company found that in some colleges and units, as much as 60 percent of total printing expenditures went to photocopies.
• Print to Web, which encourages use of the Internet and e-mail for distribution of items including newsletters and class materials. This initiative also calls for careful review of magazines, brochures and other written materials, to determine which publications may be candidates for conversion to Web or electronic format.
• Printer Certification, scheduled to launch in coming weeks, will certify printers based on pricing, service, quality and sustainability practices. Online forms and other services will allow graphic designers to fully utilize the benefits of the program.

An important component of all three initiatives is the addition of a new group of individuals, the UF Green Team. This team will be comprised of volunteers from the various campus colleges and units, and they will be trained in various sustainability practices. The Green Team will be a useful first-point-of-contact for any questions regarding sustainability. More details about the new Green Team can be obtained from the Office of Sustainability Web site, http://www.sustainable.ufl.edu.

“We are excited about the creation of the Green Team, and the three print initiatives,” said Dedee DeLongpree, director of Sustainability. “There are sustainable alternatives to the large amount of materials we currently print and copy at UF. We need to ask ourselves, ‘Do I really need to print or photocopy this, or is there a sustainable alternative?” she said.

According to Joe Hice, associate vice president of University Relations, active participation in the three initiatives will provide financial savings throughout the university. “These programs will improve our overall efficiency and generate savings that can help offset any reductions that are necessary due to the current state budget situation,” he said.

For more information and helpful resources to assist in implementing the Think Before You Ink initiatives, visit http://ufcn.urel.ufl.edu/ink/.

* * *

Contact: Dan Williams, danwill@ufl.edu, 352-846-3903

Posted Oct. 15, 2008

Holly Lane

College of Education researchers at the University of Florida are celebrating the highly competitive "Research Opportunity Fund" (ROF) grant they have received from the university-but the real winners are the young children who figure to benefit from the newly funded studies in early language and literacy development.

Three language and literacy education specialists, along with a collaborating UF scholar in human development and family relations, received the special "incentive seed grant" for Project Read Aloud-a preliminary study pursuing research-proven strategies for helping young children improve their oral-language and early literacy skills. The two-year award is worth more than $70,000.

"Reading is a cornerstone for a child’s success in school and throughout life," said lead investigator Holly Lane, associate professor of special education. "We’ll be collecting preliminary data that would support a larger follow-up examination of the role of family education and teacher professional development in children’s language and literacy development. We’re assessing the benefits of teaching both parents and teachers about the proven practices in reading aloud."

Lane’s co-investigators are Associate Professor Hazel Jones (in special education), Assistant Professor Christie Cavanaugh (early childhood education), and Suzanne Smith (human development and family relations).

The seed money for Project Read Aloud is one of 19 ROF grants awarded this year by UF’s office of research. The seed grants provide funding for new and particularly promising research proposals that are multi-disciplinary and are expected to attract additional external funding from major funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health.

Lane said her team will recruit six teachers and 12 young children (two from each teacher’s class) from preschool centers serving low-income families. An early priority is to develop, implement and evaluate effective curricula for improving parent and teacher knowledge and skills in reading aloud as a way to advance child language and literacy skills.

"Earlier studies have demonstrated which read-aloud methods are effective," Lane said, "but little research has been done to show how best to teach parents and teachers to use these methods."

The College of Education has received an ROF grant just three times before, including last year when Luis Ponjuan in educational administration and policy and Troy Sadler in mathematics education collaborated on a proposal. Their seed money is allowing them to assess the science research experience that current UF undergraduates typically receive. Their study is part of a campuswide effort to attract more students to the science disciplines as a field of study and potential career path.

Other past recipients were Maureen Conroy (special education) in 2005 and former education psychology faculty researcher Jennifer Asmus in 2002-both for childhood autism-related studies.

"ROF grants historically go to faculty researchers in the technical fields such as medicine and engineering," said Dean Catherine Emihovich, "so we are proud to have multidisciplinary research teams from the College of Education receive this highly competitive award two years in a row."

CONTACTS

Writer: Larry Lansford, COE News & Communications, llansford@coe.ufl.edu

Source: Holly Lane, Associate Professor, Special Education; hlane@ufl.edu

VOL. 4, ISSUE 1

Sept. 17, 2008

You’re reading coE-News, an electronic newsletter produced monthly during the academic year by the College of Education News & Communications Office to keep faculty and staff up-to-date on college news and activities. Click here to download a PDF version of this edition. You will need a PDF reader to view this document.

GOT NEWS? We want to hear it. Submit individual or unit news and calendar events of collegewide interest to news@coe.ufl.edu for publication consideration. All submissions must be in writing or via e-mail and must include contact information for follow-up questions.

* * * * * * * * * *

IN THIS ISSUE:

* * * * * * * * * *

DEAN’S MESSAGE

Cuts and Restructuring—or, I Know What You Did Last Summer
This summer of budget cuts and departmental restructuring was a difficult season for the College of Education, but Dean Catherine Emihovich sees a new story emerging—one of determination and triumph amid adversity. (more)

Back to top

* * * * * * * * * *

TOP STORIES

Brownell, Ross named Fien Professors
Professors Mary Brownell and Dorene Ross are the latest recipients of COE’s prestigious Fien Professorship. (more)

Kranzler named acting head of COE research program
Educational Psychology professor John Kranzler, a veteran of COE administration, is the new Acting Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Development. (more)

Professor, husband, invest in the future of COE faculty
As UF struggled with statewide budget shortfalls this summer, Professor Dorene Ross and her husband Jack established a travel fund to help junior faculty members present their research. (more)

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

NEWS AND NOTICES

Author to discuss “The Trouble with Boys”
It’s one of the hottest topics in education today. Are boys, as a group, really falling behind in school? Are educators unintentionally doing something to cause the lag—or is the problem in the culture outside the classroom? Newsweek writer Peg Tyre shook up popular thinking on the subject with her cover story, “The Boy Crisis.” Now she has penned a book, The Trouble with Boys, which further explores the topic. Tyre will visit UF Oct. 28 to discuss her book, in a free symposium from 4:30 -6 p.m. in the Norman Terrace Room. Seating is limited, so please RSVP to Rosie Warner at rwarner@coe.ufl.edu by Oct. 17.

Leave your legacy with a commemorative brick

There’s a new way you can ensure your place in the history—and the future—of the College of Education. Now you can celebrate cherished UF memories, honor a colleague or favorite professor, or commemorate a birthday, retirement or graduation with a personalized brick paver at the COE’s Norman Hall Plaza (by the west archway entrance facing SW 13th Street). Space is limited, so act now!

See COE’s engaged scholarship at first Faculty Research Showcase
Fourteen College of Education professors and their co-investigators will present some of the groundbreaking work they’re doing to transform education in the college’s first-ever Faculty Research and Engaged Scholarship Showcase, to be held Homecoming weekend, Oct. 23, at the Paramount Plaza Hotel. If you want to attend, reply by Oct. 6, to jmount@coe.ufl.edu. For more information, go to https://education.ufl.edu/ResearchShowcase/.

CROP brings new meaning to “teaching to the test”
In this age of school accountability, educators often complain that they are being pushed to “teach to the test.” After all, how are kids going to become true lifelong learners if their academic aspirations begin and end with passing the FCAT? The College Reach-Out Program, a state program based at UF’s College of Education, is working to correct that. In June, CROP held a summer camp that teaches all three FCAT subjects through the lens of future careers. (more)

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

RESEARCH

Study links religious devotion to academic outcomes
Students who identify themselves as “very religious” often have better educational outcomes than their less religious counterparts, according to a study by COE Research Director Ana Puig and Associate Professor Mary Ann Clark. (more)

‘Social bullying’ linked to adult depression
Sticks and stones may break bones, but names can also hurt. A study by COE doctoral student Allison Dempsey found that young victims of “relational aggression”—the form of bullying that involves name-calling and social shunning—can experience depression and anxiety that follows them well into adulthood. (more)

Future doctors share too much on Facebook, COE researchers say
Warnings about the dangers of Facebook have become just another part of the curriculum for pre-service teachers. But according to a study by COE researchers, students in another discipline—medicine—still have a lot to learn about what they should and shouldn’t post online. (more)

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

FACULTY/STAFF HONORS

Daniels gets Alumnus of Year nod
Professor Harry Daniels has been selected as Alumnus of the Year by the counselor education department at the University of Iowa. A 1978 graduate of UI, Daniels has been with UF’s top-ranked counselor education program since 1996 and is a past chair of the Counselor Education Department. He has already been featured in a profile in UI’s alumni magazine.

Black Student Assembly honors Conwill
UF’s Black Student Assembly presented Assistant Professor William Conwill with its 2008 Scholarship Award in August, recognizing his long history of work on the intersection of race, gender and class in mental health counseling.

Dixon gets grant for study on “mattering” and high-achieving young African-American men
Counselor Education Assistant Professor Andrea Dixon and COE alumnus Catherine Tucker (now a faculty member at Indiana State University) are sharing a $1,000 grant from the North Central Association for Counselor Educators and Supervisors for research they are conducting in Indianapolis, Ind. schools. The study is looking at the motivations of high-achieving male African-American students, with an eye toward the role of “mattering”—a student’s overall sense of being important to the community—in their academic success.

Fu given honorary doctorate at DePaul
Professor Danling Fu traveled to Chicago in June to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from DePaul University. In announcing the honorary doctorate, DePaul cited Fu for “pioneer(ing) comprehensive approaches to writing development and literacy for English language learners.”

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

STUDENT LAURELS

Doctoral student selected for training on kindergarten database
Rachael Goodman, a doctoral student in counselor education, was one of 16 graduate students from across the nation selected by the National Center for Educational Statistics for training on the use of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study database for the kindergarten class of 1998-99. Goodman will use the database in support of her research into academic underachievement among primary school students.

Major fellowship award for COE doctoral candidate
Jennifer Drake Patrick, a doctoral candidate in reading education, will receive a $25,000 stipend as part of an Adolescent Literacy Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Education. Patrick will use the funds to support work on her research project, titled “Secondary Science Teachers Learning to Teach Science as Specialized Discourse.”

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

Presentations

State Department asks Ryndak to speak on special education issues in Ukraine
Special Education Associate Professor Diane Ryndak spent late May at Crimea State University, speaking to Ukrainian school and government officials about methods and legislation to help better integrate people with disabilities into society in the Ukraine. She traveled to the former Soviet republic at the request of the U. S. State Department’s Office of International Information Programs, which hopes to share U.S. professors’ expertise on education issues with the Ukrainian government as that nation reforms its school system.

Brownell to speak at Global Summit in D.C.
Special Education Professor Mary Brownell will be one of the featured speakers at the U.S. Department of Education’s 2008 Global Summit on Education, to be held Sept. 19-20 in Washington, D.C. The theme of this year’s summit is “inclusive practices for students with disabilities,” and Brownell will speak in a panel discussion on teacher preparation in special education. Some 35 ministers of education worldwide are expected to attend the event. Brownell, co-holder of the college’s Irving and Rose Fien Professorship in Education, was personally invited to speak at the summit by John Hager, the U.S. assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services.

Groundbreaking educational gaming handbook hits the press
Associate Professor Rick Ferdig is celebrating the August publication of the Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, a three-volume, 1,759-page compendium that is believed to be the first collection of peer-reviewed research on the educational uses of video games. Ferdig edited the volume, which includes more than 150 articles from researchers in 15 countries.

Publications

Amatea, E. S. (2009).Building culturally responsive family-school relationships. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Conwill, W.L., & Jooma, K (2008). Thwarting ethnoviolence against Muslim women: Performing identity in social action. Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 1, 30-47.

Echevarria-Doan, S. & Hanney, H. (2009). Understanding family stress and change. In E. Amatea, Building culturally responsive family-school partnerships: From theory to practice (pp. 115-143). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Leibforth, T. & Clark, M.A. (2009). Getting acquainted with families. In E. Amatea, Building culturally responsive family-school partnerships: From theory to practice (pp. 201-251). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Miller, M. D. (2008). Data for school improvement and educational accountability: Reliability and validity practice. In K.E. Ryan & L.A. Shepard (Eds.), The future of test-based educational accountability. New York: Routledge.

Thomas, S. P., Thompson, C., Pollio, H. R., Greenberg, K., Conwill, W., Sall, A., Klukken, G., Davis, M. W., & Dias-Bowie, Y. (2007). Experiences of struggling African American students at a predominantly white university. Research in the Schools, 14, 1-17.

Torres-Rivera, E., Nash, S., Sew, C. W. B. , & Ibrahim, S. B. (2008). Training school counselors in Singapore: First impressions of a multicultural challenge. Journal of Counseling and Development, 86, 219-223.

Tucker, C., & Smith-Adcock, S. (2009).Creating a support network for families in crisis. In E. Amatea, Building culturally responsive family-school partnerships: From theory to practice (pp. 337-363). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

West-Olatunji, C. (2009). Equal Access, Unequal resources: Appreciating cultural, social and economic diversity in families. In E. Amatea, Building culturally responsive family-school partnerships: From theory to practice (pp. 144-168). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

West-Olatunji, C. (2008). Equal Access, Unequal resources: Appreciating cultural, social and economic diversity in families. In E. Amatea (Ed.). Building culturally responsive family-school partnerships: From theory to practice (pp. 144-168). Thousand Oaks, CA: Allyn and Bacon.

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

IN MEMORIAM

This summer, the College of Education said goodbye to a former dean and two of its closest friends, both of whom died while actively engaged in efforts to realize the goal of education for all.

Bert Sharp, former COE dean and faculty member
Bert Sharp, who led the college through the turbulent, transformative 1970s, died in Naples Aug. 31. He was 81.Sharp was a faculty member in Counselor Education. As dean, he launched an abitious plan to transform the COE into a research institution worthy of national respect. (more)

Margaret Early, quiet benefactor of college access
Most of her neighbors knew Margaret Early as a well-respected emeritus professor and an authority on the teaching of English literature. Few knew that she was spending her savings on a plan to offer a college education to an entire class of urban school kids. (more)

Gloria Merriex, innovative mathematics teacher
Gloria Merriex may have had the answer. Working with struggling mathematics students at Duval Elementary School, she developed a music-based mathematics curriculum that tapped into her students talents and interests—and her work with the UF Lastinger Center for Learning was about to bring her nationwide renown. (more)

Back to top

* * * * * * * * *

IN THE NEWS

A recent sampling of “media hits” concerning the College of Education:

Miami Herald (08/04/08)—Assistant Dean for Student AffairsTheresa Vernetson
Vernetson was quoted in a story on the recent sudden change in the labor market for K-12 teachers. While state officials were only recently decrying a shortage of qualified educators, recent budget cuts have forced districts to cut faculty positions still further—with the result that new teaching positions have become relatively scarce. Vernetson commented that the situation seems like a “drought, for now.”

Columbus (Ohio) Local News (08/05/08)– Dean Catherine Emihovich
Dean Emihovich, current president of the Holmes Partnership, was quoted in a news obituary for Columbus Education Association president John Grossman, who was a board member for the Holmes Partnership.

Gainesville Sun (07/31/08)—Professor Linda Serra Hagedorn
Hagedorn was quoted in a story on the name change that turned Santa Fe Community College’s into Santa Fe College—part of a growing trend toward dropping the “community” from the names of institutions in the community college system.

Associated Press (07/23/08)—Erik Black, graduate student
Black was quoted in an Associated Press story on a study of medical students’ Facebook profiles, which Black co-authored with Associate Professor Rick Ferdig and B.O. Smith Professor Kara Dawson in Education Technology. The story was also covered by MSNBC, Fox News Channel, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Orlando Sentinel, The (Austin) Daily Texan, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale), WPMI-TV (Pensacola), WKRG-TV (Mobile, Ala.), WMAR-TV (Baltimore, Md.), WSB-TV (Atlanta), KPTV (Portland, Ore.), KMGH-TV (Denver, Colo.), WGAL (Susquehanna Valley, Pa.), The Boston (Mass.) Herald, The Naples Daily News, The Gainesville Sun, and The Independent Florida Alligator.

(Melbourne) Florida Today (07/13/08)—COE Research Director Ana Puig & B.O. Smith Research Professor Mary Ann Clark
Florida Today covered a study by Puig, Clark and UF alumnus Sang Min Lee, which found that students who identify as “very religious” in middle school are more likely to finish college than students who have a religious background, but describe themselves as “not religious” or “somewhat religious.” The study was also covered in The Orlando Sentinel’s “School Zone” blog, the St. Petersburg Times “Gradebook” blog, The (Austin) Daily Texan, The Independent Florida Alligator and WRUF-FM.

Gainesville Sun (07/02/08)—Dean Catherine Emihovich
The Sun covered “From Innocence to Hannah Montana: Childhood through the Visual Arts,” a new course, taught by Dean Emihovich and Harn Museum director Rebecca Nagy, which looks at depictions of childhood in art and popular culture.

Gainesville Sun (07/02/08)—Margaret Early (retired COE professor)
The Sun, The Ocala Star-Banner, and the The (Syracuse, N.Y.) Post Standard all carried news obituaries on former COE professor Margaret Early, who died at her home in the Oak Hammock retirement community. After her death, Early’s friends in Gainesville discovered that she had quietly used her savings to offer college scholarships to an entire class of students in an urban New York school.

Gainesville Sun (06/16/08) –Jeff Boyer, graduate student
Jeff Boyer is the director of Digital Kids Tech Camp, a summer camp in which elementary-age children learn to create their own video games. The camp was covered in the Sun and by WUFT-TV. You can see the WUFT story here.

Inside Higher Education (06/16/08) — Professor Linda Hagedorn
Hagedorn was quoted in an article on Florida’s attempts to enlist community colleges to fill some of the roles traditionally filled by universities.

Gainesville Sun (06/15/08) — B.O. Smith Research Professor Mary Ann Clark
Clark wrote an opinion piece for the paper, responding to claims that there is no “gender gap” in academic achievement and outlining her own research on underachievement among male students.

Fort Myers News-Press (05/25/08)—Associate Professor Zhihui Fang
Fang was quoted in a story about the Lee County School Board’s efforts to school K-12 students in the “lost art” of spelling—which is a growing problem as dictionary spellings give way to the truncated language of e-mail and instant messaging. Fang said that among its other virtues, bad spelling can give people a bad first impression of the writer.

Gainesville Guardian (05/23/08)—Lastinger Center Director Don Pemberton
Pemberton wrote a tribute to Gloria Jean Merriex, a Duval Elementary teacher, who died in May. Widely known for her groundbreaking approach to teaching mathematics, Merriex was working with the UF Lastinger Center for Learning on a number of project when she died. Pemberton was also quoted in news obituaries for Merriex in The Guardian, The Gainesville Sun, and The Independent Florida Alligator

Back to top

* * * * * * * * * *

CALENDAR

Sept. 15
Fall Faculty Meeting
2-4 p.m., room 250
Contact: Jodi Mount,
jmount@coe.ufl.edu or
(352) 392-0728 ext. 250

Sept. 24
Welcome Back
Ice Cream Social for COE Students
2:45 p.m.—4 p.m.,
Norman Courtyard
Contact: Jodi Mount,
jmount@coe.ufl.edu or
(352) 392-0728, ext. 250

Oct. 23
Faculty Research and Engaged Scholarship Showcase
5-7:30 p.m.,
Paramount Plaza Hotel
RSVP to: jmount@coe.ufl.edu

Oct. 28
Symposium with Peg Tyre, author of The Trouble with Boys
2-4 p.m.,
Norman Terrace Room
RSVP to: rwarner@coe.ufl.edu

Back to top

* * * * * * * * * *

QUICK LINKS

UF: University of Florida

COE: College of Education

FPC: Faculty Practice Council

News & Communications: COE News & Communications

* * * * * * * *

coE-News is produced by:

College of Education
University of Florida

College Support Area
Dean:
Catherine Emihovich
cemihovich@coe.ufl.edu

News & Communications
Director and Editor:
Larry Lansford
llansford@coe.ufl.edu

Correspondents:
Marta Pollitt, P.K. Yonge
mpollitt@pky.ufl.edu

Former COE dean Bert Sharp, who led UF’s College of Education
through the turbulent and transformative 1970s, died Aug. 31 in Naples. He was
81.

Sharp was a professor in the Counselor Education department
in 1968, when he was catapulted into the dean’s position by the tragic death of
then-dean Kimball Wiles, who was killed in a car accident.

Sharp’s position, in those early days, was   a
challenging one. As he took the helm, Florida was experiencing a severe teacher
shortage, placing pressure on UF to produce more graduates. Teachers across the
state, fed up with education cuts, staged a walkout—making it impossible for
the college to place interns in most schools. On top of those challenges, Sharp
inherited from his predecessor an ambitious plan to change the COE into a
research institution worthy of nationwide respect.

He met all these challenges and more. During Sharp’s tenure,
national ranking systems were showing UF in the top tier of education colleges.

The college experienced a boom in minority enrollment, and hired its first
African-American professors. And the college built the Norman Hall Annex—the
set of buildings now know as “New Norman”—doubling the size of the college’s
physical space.   By the time Sharp stepped down to return to teaching in
1978, the College of Education was transformed forever.

“The college flourished under him, in what were really tough
times,” said Professor Emeritus Joe Wittmer, who chaired the Counselor
Education department during Sharp’s term as dean. “Teaching is a cyclical
profession, and there were certainly some ‘down’ years in the 1970s, but Bert
kept things going very well.”

An expert in assessment and measurement in psychology, Sharp
taught counselor education courses for a number of years after his term as
dean. Before his career at UF, Sharp worked in K-12 schools in Mississippi and
Alabama, and was a professor at Auburn University. Among other professional
associations, he was president of the National Association of Colleges of
Teacher Education.

You can read Sharp’s Gainesville Sun obituary,
and sign the guestbook, at http://www.legacy.com/Gainesville/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=116921423.

As newly-arrived immigrants continue to enter America’s schools, many states are looking to Florida as a model for how to teach them.

The Sunshine State is one of America’s most linguistically diverse places, and Florida is considered by many to be a testbed for methods for preparing teachers for students who are still learning English. But three experts at the University of Florida’s College of Education are not so sure the Sunshine State couldn’t be doing it better. They’re taking a comprehensive look at just how effective our teacher preparation methods really are.

Equipped with a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Assistant Professor Maria Coady and Associate Professors Ester de Jong and Candace Harper are delving into Florida’s K-20 Education Data Warehouse a massive database on Florida teachers and students — to track the outcomes of second-language learners who have had UF-prepared educators as their teachers in elementary school.

“This study is long overdue,” said Coady, who teaches UF’s education students foundations of language and culture in English for Speakers of Other Languages (or ESOL). “We’re becoming the model for other states, but we’ve had the same approach to ESOL for more than a decade, and we’ve never collected data that show if, and how, our approach is working.”

At issue is infusion, the Sunshine State’s approach to preparing teachers for the linguistically diverse classroom. But to explain infusion, we need to go back almost two decades, to a time when many educators were becoming alarmed by the fate of students from non-English-speaking homes.

By the early 1990s many years of tests had shown that second-language learners were performing at a level far below the performance of native speakers of English. A coalition of Latin American groups, educators’ organizations and other groups sued the state, arguing that a lack of proper teacher training in ESOL was one of the roots of the problem. The court agreed, and ordered Florida to require ESOL classes for all teachers in the state.

There was one problem. The court ordered the equivalent of 15 credit hours of ESOL instruction a full semester of training. There was no way to fit this into the course load at most colleges of education where prospective teachers are typically led through a tight sequence of state-prescribed classes. So the state came up with a compromise plan infusing ESOL concepts throughout the courses in Florida’s education colleges, so prospective teachers would confront ESOL-related questions in many of their courses.

UF’s professors believe they’ve hit on a formula for infusion that really does get the job done. But no one has ever taken a hard look at the data to see if the K-12 students of UF-trained teachers, and graduates of other infused teacher education programs in Florida, really do go on to succeed academically.

That’s exactly what the researchers propose to do‚ sifting through the Data Warehouse to find ESOL elementary students taught by graduates of UF’s ProTeach program, then tracking those students’ academic performance through the sixth grade.

“Our study fits nicely with the current trend in education, which is moving more toward outcome-based analyses of policies,” said researcher Ester de Jong. “Education research produces all sorts of interesting insights, but in the end, the only thing that really matters is whether or not kids are learning.”

The researchers say they’re not going to stop with just the figures from the Data Warehouse. They’ve sent questionnaires to 1,200 Elementary ProTeach graduates, to find out how they feel about the preparation they’ve had for the ESOL classroom, and what they feel is lacking in the current program. The researchers will also conduct case studies in a small group of ESOL classrooms in four school districts. The information they collect could be particularly valuable if the numbers from the data warehouse prove to be murky.

“The numbers can’t tell us everything we need to know,” said researcher Candace Harper. “Everyone in the state has been using the infusion model, so I won’t be too surprised if we see little difference between the students of UF graduates and the average ESOL student in Florida

But the numbers will at least let us know whether or not ESOL students are doing well under the infusion model, and the surveys and case studies will help us find out why,” Harper said.

The researchers are also on the lookout for factors in student success that go beyond teacher preparation. ESOL students are not a monolithic group, Harper notes. From the children of globetrotting college professors to the sons and daughters of migrant farmworkers, ESOL students come from every economic stratum of society. There’s always the chance that many of UF’s graduates typically in high demand as expert teachers have wound up in well-resourced schools where students have educational advantages outside the classroom.

Or those UF graduates may have landed in school systems where there’s a wealth of in-school support. Harper says the best teacher preparation in the world won’t help ESOL teachers if they work in schools that don’t respect or utilize their skills. In this age of No Child Left Behind, Harper said, it’s not uncommon for ESOL teachers to be called away from their own successful, content-based ESOL courses so they can teach basic skills courses to kids at risk of doing poorly on standardized tests.

No Child Left Behind has been a double-edged sword in this field,” Harper said. “It has made English Language learners visible by counting them as a separate category for accountability purposes but many schools are taking decision-making out of the hands of qualified teachers as a result of the demands of accountability.”

Recognition of the need for teachers with ESOL skills may be on the rise. With ESOL populations growing in many areas that have not historically had large non-English-speaking populations, a number of states are now looking at an ESOL requirement for their teachers for the first time. And naturally, they’re looking to Florida, California and other diverse states for models of how ESOL should be done. Because of that, the researchers say, the UF study could have an impact well beyond the Sunshine State.

This is a crucial time,” Coady said. “As other states begin considering infusion, we need to present them solid information on what works and what doesn’t.”

For more than 30 years, a little celebrated body known as the “institutional review board” has had a powerful say in how American scientists conduct their research in the university setting. Created to protect human research subjects from risks and abuses in the research process, these review boards—commonly known as IRBs—must approve all human subject research conducted at federal institutions and any federally-funded research involving human subjects.

But according to a scholar at the University of Florida’s College of Education, these boards aren’t keeping pace with research methods that deviate from traditional bio-medical models — partly due to the increased workload and the lack of appropriate disciplinary expertise.

“IRBs were created on a biomedical model that really doesn’t recognize the methods used by many social science researchers,” said Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, an associate professor of educational psychology, whose findings appear in the November 2007 issue of the journal Qualitative Inquiry.

Koro-Ljungberg is an expert in qualitative inquiry, a type of research that relies on analysis of subjective accounts rather than traditional numerical data.

Qualitative methods are crucial to research in the field of education, where teachers often adapt and evaluate their classroom techniques based on the subjective accounts of their students. They’re also a growing element in the work of sociologists and historians, who often collect oral histories from living subjects.

When those university researchers deal with human participants, they have to submit research protocols to IRBs, which were established in the 1970s in response to growing awareness of abuse of people in medical research—abuses such as the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which doctors left dozens of black men without treatment for syphilis infections.

The problem, Koro-Ljungberg says, is that IRBs are still operating largely on a biomedical model of research—as if interviewing people were the same as testing a drug or collecting blood samples. Additionally, IRB reviews currently focus on detailed procedures and the documentation of research.

Qualitative research has its own ethical pitfalls, Koro-Ljungberg notes. Among other things, researchers must take great care to protect the privacy and identities of their participants, and to ensure that participants do not feel coerced into participating or obligated to share information due to power differences. But IRB members, she says, are often not up to speed on complex ethical dilemmas faced by qualitative researchers, especially those who conduct more participatory designs.

“Many IRBs don’t have a single member who is an expert in non-traditional research methods and diverse methodological approaches,” she said. “The often look at the protocols for a study and say, in effect, ‘this does not qualify as research ‘”

Koro-Ljungberg cites incidents in some universities—mostly in northern states—where interview-based studies have been held up by review boards who don’t understand the methods involved, or researchers involved in non-traditional studies have been asked to revise them until they appear more traditional. In some other universities, by contrast, qualitative researchers are often able to fly under the radar, getting approval for studies without having to answer tough ethical questions.

Instead of thinking deeply about those ethical problems that might be specific and pertinent of their research designs, Koro-Ljungberg says, new researchers often find themselves mimicking general models given to them by the review board, to ensure speedy approval. This externalization and institutionalization of ethical problem solving and ethical responsibility is problematic, Koro-Ljungberg argues.

“This is also something I often deal with when I work with graduate students,” Koro-Ljungberg said. “There is a sense that ‘I’ve filled out my paperwork, so the ethics is done.’”

Many European universities do not have an institutional body analogous to the institutional review board, Koro-Ljungberg says. In her native Finland, she says, researchers rely on traditional peer-review methods to assess the ethical dimensions of research in many disciplines.

“I see great value in the IRB process,” she said. “It is right to hold researchers accountable for their treatment of research participants—but there are holes in the current IRB model.”

The academic world would do well to review the IRB system and establish separate regulations designed for non-biomedical research, Koro-Ljungberg said. But a review of this sort may be a long time in coming. In the meantime, Koro-Ljungberg said, universities should appoint larger numbers of qualitative researchers to their IRBs, and professors should encourage their students to genuinely think about the ethical dimensions of their work—not just fill in and submit standardized protocols that address the institutionalized minimum associated with ethical responsibility.

“Institutional review should be a gateway to a problem space where we learn to anticipate ethical problems on our own,” she said. “It should be something instructive, not just a layer of bureaucracy.”

— Tim Lockette

Ferdig (center, near back), poses with natives of this Twa village in rural Rwanda. He has been working with Rwandan schools to find inexpensive technologies to meet the needs of the east-central African nation.

One of the pleasures of working at UF’s College of Education is being able to apply high-end technologies to learning and teaching. For example, in 2002, we began delivering online courses and degrees to educators across Florida wanting to advance their education and careers without leaving their classrooms. We have received funding to evaluate virtual K-12 schools and the performance of students in 22 states last year. And, we explore innovative technologies such as virtual reality, educational gaming, social software and how they can be used to enhance teaching and learning.

My own virtual world "collided" with a much different reality this past summer when I traveled to Rwanda in east-central Africa to explore future educational relationships. Rwanda, with a population of about 9 million, gained national attention for the genocide in 1994 when close to a million people were slain within a few short months. However, post-civil war Rwanda has shown a remarkable ability to heal and rebuild. The country is also known for its mountain gorilla population, which now numbers only about 700 in the world. The College’s own Linda Jones, a professor in science education, has traveled to the region to partake in the study and conservation of the gorillas.

Ferdig (seated) toured several Rwandan schools to assess the ways the central African nation is already using techonology to teach—and to find affordable ways to bring 21st century technology to more Rwandan schools.

Rwanda’s educational system struggles with many of the same issues facing our own educational system — the need to train teachers, build literacy within schools and homes, reduce drop-out rates, and build a better economic structure in support of education. And, like in America, adapting technology to improve education is on the forefront of their working agenda. The good news is that Rwanda has formed a national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy to link schools. The bad news is that there is a tremendous shortage of ICT skills in addition to a lack of accessible electricity outside of the main cities and towns.

My visit to Rwanda this past summer was funded through a travel grant from UF’s Center for African Studies. One goal of the trip was to work with a local Rwandan educator to evaluate the role of technology in Rwandan schools. At the same time, I wanted to build upon an existing relationship in the College’s international education program through our partners in the United States, Denmark, Spain, and England. The hope was to set up future trips for faculty and students at UF. One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to the aptly-named Green Hills Academy. The K-12 school was in the center of Kigali and was one of the most remarkable schools that I have ever visited in any country. School leaders and teachers believes that integration between content areas is a key to success. Their instructors meet frequently to ensure that completing an art project requires students to use math, science, literature and music. Students move from one class to another physically, but they are constantly reminded of the connection between academic content.

I also visited the ACEJ boarding and secondary school in Gitarama. Unlike Green Hills, ACEJ has little electricity and technology to support their pedagogic goals. No matter how strongly I believed in the potential of educational gaming or virtual reality, it would not necessarily help a school that did not have access to those tools. Faced with this dilemma, I decided to donate a collection of handhelds to the school. Handheld computers represent an ‘older’ technology, but they present an important opportunity for schools. Teachers can get on one Internet-based machine and freely download hundreds of pieces of software and content to a handheld. Once one handheld is equipped, students can easily beam the software to each other and then carry the equipment to various classes. They can also tote the handhelds from class to class and carry them home (recharging the batteries when they return the next day).

I spent most of my time at ACEJ working with the teachers, helping them understand how this technology might be implemented. At the school, I quickly became known as the "technology mzungu." (Mzungu literally means white person, or my favorite translation of "half-baked" in most languages of east, central, and south Africa.)

I returned from my trip invigorated by our potential relationships with Rwanda and other countries in Africa. We are currently seeking funding to take UF faculty, graduate students, and teacher education students to Rwanda for their practicum experiences so they can experience what Africa has to offer. I am also rejuvenated by the potential of technology to influence the teaching practice in schools, with or without electricity or other essentials of civilization-be it in a small Rwandan village or some rural outpost in our own nation or neighboring country.

— Rick Ferdig
Associate Professor, Education Technology

Asst. Professor Pilar Mendoza

To stay afloat as a world economic power, the United States must radically change its model for funding scientific research, says a UF professor who studies higher education issues.

Canada’s “national networks” model of research funding – which links businesses, government agencies and interest groups in nationwide partnerships – appears to do a much better job of supporting fundamental research and educating graduate students, said Pilar Mendoza, assistant professor in educational administration and policy at UF’s College of Education.

“Here we have a country that is often regarded as America’s cute little brother, and they are actually doing great in terms of research and development,” Mendoza said. “Canada’s
approach has become a model for other countries, and we should consider adopting it here.”

Mendoza conducted her study as part of a fellowship with the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), which published her findings in a policy brief in November. She also presented the brief at ASHE’s 2007 national conference in Louisville, Ky. Mendoza has also published findings from the study in The Journal of Higher Education and Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance Monographs.

International comparisons between university systems come naturally to Mendoza, who grew up in Colombia, South America, married a Canadian and has friends and family in Great Britain. Her connections gave her a unique perspective on the United Kingdom’s 2005 move to scrap its Faraday Partnership program – a research funding system based closely on the American model – and make a radical change to the Canadian approach.

Canada’s federal government establishes “national networks” to address scientific problems of public concern – networks that are funded by the national government, with membership open to research institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations and individual researchers at no cost. Members sometimes collaborate on multidisciplinary research projects, but they also share the results of members’ own independent projects through conferences, newsletters and other network-sponsored venues.

By contrast, the United States follows a “research center” model – with federal funds typically going to faculty to build partnerships primarily with companies interested in the research topic. Federal grants are given out in five-year blocks, and centers are expected to find private or state funding sources – usually in the form of membership fees — by the end of
the grant period.

“The Canadian approach strongly reflects their national spirit, which is much more focused on cooperation and positive social outcomes,” Mendoza said. “The American approach is much more focused on immediate economic results.”

Even so, Mendoza says, Canada’s national networks seem to be producing competent social and economic outcomes.

Because Canada’s networks are less focused on specific applied problems, Mendoza said, they are much more likely to conduct research on fundamental scientific problems, as opposed to specific technological applications. While industry has a reputation for being focused on applied research, Mendoza said, industry leaders actually crave – and desperately need – the fundamental research that has traditionally been done by universities.

“Industries come to the academic world because their products fail and they need to understand the fundamental reasons why,” she said. “They come because they need fundamental research to stay competitive with other businesses, and they come because they need to recruit students with a strong grounding in fundamental research.”

The education of graduate students is another place where the Canadian system outshines the American approach, Mendoza said. National networks give graduate students a chance to develop contacts at a wide variety of research institutions, and open to a number of research paths. In American research centers, Mendoza said, graduate students are often limited to contact with a few businesses – and feel strong pressure to produce applied research useful to those businesses.

The quality of the graduate student experience is more significant than many people realize, Mendoza said. In technology-related fields such as science and engineering, the U.S. is already falling behind other countries in its production of master’s and Ph.D. graduates.

“If the U.S. doesn’t do something now, things will be very different 30 years from now,” she said. “Canada seems to be improving its performance in the sciences, but the United States is not doing so well.”

Canada’s national networks have benefits that go beyond the issue of global economic competitiveness, Mendoza notes. Because they draw on a wider variety of academic sources, Mendoza said, national networks tend to have a more socially-conscious approach to research.

“Where an American center might focus on the biology of a new genetically-engineered crop, a Canadian network is more likely to employ researchers in the social sciences to explore the social and ethical implications of a new technology.” Mendoza said.

Mendoza’s position paper is available at: https://education.ufl.edu/news/files/2011/01/Mendoza_brief.pdf

— Tim Lockette