July 17, 2006

Sources:
Catherine Tucker, (352) 359-1258; mctucker917@hotmail.com
Tom Dana; (352) 392-9191, ext. 226; tdana@coe.ufl.edu
Jacqueline Gonzalez, UF ProTeach student, (305) 401-7906
Jeff Kearney, UF ProTeach student, (352) 871-0468

University of Florida student Jacqueline Gonzalez just traveled 8,000 miles to spend part of her summer in schools with sporadic electricity and only a handful of books.

It’s not what normally comes to mind when you hear the words “study abroad,” but Gonzalez couldn’t be happier.

“I didn’t just want to experience another culture, I wanted to make a difference.” said Gonzalez, a student in the UF’s College of Education. “I think I learned even more than I was able to teach.”

ProTeach student Kara Gosnay works with children at the Coldstream Creche in rural South Africa in this June, 2006 photograph.

Gonzalez is one of a dozen UF education students who spent six weeks in poor and rural areas of South Africa, teaching and doing repairs in schools that are makeshift and underfunded – and incredibly valuable to the communities they serve. All 12 students are enrolled in the College of Education’s Elementary ProTeach program, an intensive, five-year course of study for future elementary school teachers.

The UF program took students beyond the bustling, modern landscape of Cape Town and into townships and rural areas where South Africa’s famous prosperity is little more than a rumor.

“It’s true that South Africa is probably the richest country in Africa,” said Catherine Tucker, a doctoral student in counselor education, who organized and led the trip. “You do see a lot of prosperity in the cities – but you don’t have to go far to see that this is still a Third World country.”

ProTeach students pose with children from the Coldstream Creche. The UF students delivered supplies donated to the  underfunded school, including books, toothbrushes – and, for fun, sunglasses.

ProTeach students taught beginning English to children at four schools in Kurland and Coldstream, two small towns in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Many of the province’s poorest residents are multilingual, speaking Afrikaans and tribal languages, but not English. They are effectively shut out of jobs in the country’s fast-growing, and largely English-speaking, tourist industry.

“Six weeks is not a long time to study English, but young children have an amazing ability to pick up new languages,” Tucker said. “If they remember even a few phrases as adults, this could help them find jobs in tourism.”

Students also made physical improvements to the schools, planting gardens, painting walls and distributing school supplies they brought with them.

“It’s kind of hard to imagine a preschool without crayons or books, but we did see that,” said ProTeach student Jeff Kearney. “On a trip like this, you realize just how much we take for granted in the U.S.”

Outhouses are a common feature of homes in Kurland, one of two South African villages where COE students recently spent six weeks working in local schools.

While UF students didn’t learn Afrikaans as quickly as their young charges picked up English, they learned something that may have been even more valuable – the ability to reach across a cultural divide.

“We found out that there are quite a few ways to communicate without knowing the language,” Kearney said. “You can say a lot with gestures and body language. You can even teach some basic English.”

The College of Education is preparing to significantly expand study abroad opportunities for its students. The college currently offers an optional study experience in Costa Rica associated with a course in Global Studies, and is working to establish for-credit study abroad projects in several countries, including Costa Rica and England. The college is mulling the creation of an international education minor for undergraduates, which would likely consist of 15 hours of courses in international education, including up to six hours of courses taken overseas.

“Studying abroad dramatically increases a teacher’s inter-cultural competency, which can help them if they’re teaching children from another part of the country, or from the other side of the tracks,” said Tom Dana, director of the School of Teaching and Learning, which hosts ProTeach. “Culture affects even the simplest things you do – like how you walk down a sidewalk or drive a car.”

COE students play with children at Crags Primary School in Kurland.

Like Englishmen driving in America, children from other cultures often unintentionally break cultural rules in U.S. classrooms, Dana said. When teachers study abroad, he said, they learn how it feels to be the one perpetually on the wrong side of the road.

A trip overseas can also deepen a teacher’s understanding of the subject he or she will teach, said Theresa Vernetson, assistant dean for student affairs at the college.

“Study abroad is particularly useful if you’re teaching history or social science,” she said. “Seeing these places and customs first-hand can give you more confidence with the subject matter.”

Even the impoverished schools of rural South Africa hold lessons for teachers in the U.S. Faced with daunting social problems and a lack of resources, Tucker said, students quickly learn to be resourceful.

“Teachers in South Africa deal with fetal alcohol syndrome, AIDS, tuberculosis, huge class sizes and other Third World problems,” Tucker said. “Imagine how easy your first teaching job in the U.S. is going to look after that.”

By: Tim Lockette, (352) 392-0726 ext. 274; lockette@coe.ufl.edu

Director: Larry Lansford, APR
392-0726, ext. 266
llansford@coe.ufl.edu

Four recipients of Outstanding Student Awards pose for a parent (L-R): Megan Connaughton, Lacy Lynn Basford, Diana Elysee and Jessica Klahr.

Every graduating class forges its own legacy, but the College of Education Class of 2006 holds a special place in the history of both the university and the college.

With the spring 2006 graduation ceremonies, UF marked 100 years of commencements. This year, the College of Education also celebrates 100 years of preparing teachers, counselors, administrators, college professors and school psychologists for roles in education.

It was May 30, 1906, when members of UF’s first graduating class received their diplomas. Three students from the UF Normal School—the predecessor of the College of Education—were among the 14 graduates at that inaugural graduation ceremony.

Nearly a century later, on May 7, 2006, some 328 education students joined those first 14 as UF alumni. About 200 donned cap and gown and “took the walk” across stage at UF’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center to receive their diplomas. The college’s Centennial Class of 2006 included 139 bachelor’s degree recipients and 189 advanced-degree graduates, from all five College of Education academic units.

The graduates—plus some 1,000 family members, friends, faculty members and dignitaries—were treated to remarks by Cynthia Tucker, nationally syndicated op-ed columnist and the editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Tucker’s remarks were deeply personal as she acknowledged the key role many educators played in her family life, and emphasized the need to have high quality teachers in our most challenged schools.

Dean Emihovich (in blue regalia) shown with Distinguished Educator Award recipients (L-R) Lynn Carrier, Sherry McIlwain, Julia Burnett, Marilyn Lentine and LuAnne Williams.

Education Dean Catherine Emihovich presented the education student and faculty awards, along with Distinguished Educator Awards to five public-school teachers and administrators from around the state,

Local community leader Portia Taylor, vice president for student affairs at Santa Fe Community College, received the College of Education alumni achievement award for her leadership, service and accomplishments both professionally and in her community.

Among the outstanding student award winners was Jessica Klahr, a senior in elementary education, who was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame for her many contributions and services to the university and community.

As Dean Emihovich reminded the new graduates in closing the ceremony, “There will always be just one centennial class. Congratulations to members of the College of Education Centennial Class of 2006.”

GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Community colleges could face a critical leadership gap as administrators born during the early baby boom era retire over the next five years, according to University of Florida education researchers.

Dale F. Campbell, director of the community college leadership consortium at the UF College of Education, said a recent survey of community college presidents predicts that, between now and 2010, there will be a shortage of staff members available for work in departments of academic, student and business affairs.

“Community colleges could be highly vulnerable and experience major fiscal impact if we do not act now to develop programs to meet this need,” said Campbell, a UF professor in educational administration and policy.

More than a third of the nation’s 965 public community college presidents listed in the 2005 Higher Education Directory participated in Campbell’s survey. Eleven community college leaders from seven states then met with Campbell at a forum in Jacksonville, Fla., to explore new strategies to resolve the looming leadership gap. The college registrar, identified in the survey as one of the positions most critical to the future of their institutions, was singled out for special study.

Campbell’s survey findings and conclusions reached at the leaders’ forum are the basis of his recent research report published in the Community College Journal. The Chronicle of Higher Education also has covered his findings.

Campbell said opportunities and programs for career exploration and training for those interested in pursuing administrative and professional positions at the community college level are lacking.   

“Applicant pools for community college registrar positions, for example, tend to be limited to experienced classified support staff without academic credentials or younger professionals without the specialized experience required in the field,” he said.

In his report, titled “The New Leadership Gap,” Campbell advises college presidents to identify and train current staff members who have the potential to move into these positions. He also recommended that university leadership programs develop partnerships with colleges and professional organizations to provide accessible graduate master’s and certificate programs in critical shortage areas.

“Top college administrators must be made aware of the new leadership gap of administrative and professional positions, and colleges should begin exploring new strategies for effectively managing job recruitment and the hiring process,” Campbell said.

MAY-JUNE, 2006

The coE-NEWS is an electronic newsletter produced monthly during the academic year by the College of Education News & Publications Office to keep faculty and staff up to date on College news and activities.

GOT NEWS? Don’t be shy. Submit individual or unit news and calendar events of Collegewide interest for publication consideration to news@coe.ufl.edu. All submissions must be in writing and include contact information for follow-up questions.

GOING FISHIN’. The coE-News will take a brief sabbatical during the summer months, resuming distribution in August with all the buzz about the start of fall semester. Got bait?

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IN THIS ISSUE:

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DEAN’S MESSAGE

Centennial kickoff. International education. Year-end conference.

Dean Catherine Emihovich contemplates pertinent events, issues and news of the academic year just ending and the new one just around the corner.

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TOP STORIES

Bell South’s $600,000 grant funds UF study
to strengthen online learning for K-12 students
Under the five-year grant, UF education researchers headed by education technology specialist Richard Ferdig will develop standardized methods for evaluating the effectiveness of online education for students. In collaboration with BellSouth’s virtual high school partners, the researchers will then use the new evaluation tools to determine the best teaching practices and strategies for online instruction, particularly to students of diverse backgrounds.

School-improvement showcase draws 300 Florida educators
More than 300 teachers and administrators from 14 school districts in North Central Florida converged upon P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School in Gainesville recently for the second annual Teaching, Inquiry and Innovation Showcase, staged by the Center for School Improvement at the UF College of Education.

COE honors local educators, students for scholarship done ‘for public good’
The University of Florida College of Education recently honored educators and students from UF and the Alachua County school district whose scholarly outreach activities contribute to improved schools and student learning or address important social and community issues. The honors are based on the “scholarship of engagement” philosophy, or outreach scholarship done for the public good.

Lastinger Center receives DOE’s schools-partnership award
The college’s Lastinger Center for Learning recently received the Florida Education Foundation and the Florida Department of Education Commissioner’s Business Recognition Award for helping the Education Foundation of Collier County develop a new master’s degree program in the high-needs community of Immokalee in southwest Florida. The award cites organization-school district partnerships that demonstrate noteworthy commitment, creativity and innovation in producing positive change in local education. The center was nominated for the honor by Susan McManus, president of the foundation. In a separate ceremony, the Lastinger Center recently received a plaque from the Collier County School Board for outstanding community involvement.

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FACULTY-STAFF HONORS & APPOINTMENTS

New Education Psychology chair appointed
Mark Shermis, professor in educational and psychological studies and associate dean of research at Florida International University, has been named the new chair of UF’s Department of Educational Psychology. The appointment becomes effective July 7. His research interests are in the intersection of measurement and technology, and he has served on many national accreditation site visits. Shermis is also a licensed psychologist in several states, including Florida. He will be formally introduced along with all new faculty at a fall reception.

Following are some highlights of recent College faculty and staff honors and appointments:

• Clark is B.O. Smith Research Professor. Mary Ann Clark in Counselor Education is this year’s recipient of the B.O. Smith Research Professorship. Her research will focus on the topic, “Male achievement in public education: Examining data and developing systemic interventions.” The research professorship, which focuses on associates preparing to go up for full professor, has the potential for three years of funding, renewed year to year. Clark joins Maureen Conroy and Kristin Kemple, last year’s selections for the Smith professorship.
• FPC elects new members. The following faculty members were recently elected to the COE Faculty Policy Council: In COUNSELOR EDUCATION—Sondra Smith (representative) and Edil Torres Rivera (alternate); EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND POLICY—Bernard Oliver (rep) and David Quinn (alt.); EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY—John Kranzler (rep) and Jamie Algina (alt.); SCHOOL OF TEACHING AND LEARNING—Zhihui Fang (rep) and Elizabeth Yeager (rep); SPECIAL EDUCATION—Diane Ryndak (rep) and Holly Lane (alt.) New members will serve two years. Returning as representatives for their final year are Mary Ann Clark (Counselor Education), Jim Doud (EAP), Rod Webb (Ed Psych) and Cynthia Griffin (Special Education).
• Torres Rivera to head CSJ. Edil Torres Rivera, associate professor in Counselor Education, will start his tenure in July as president of the Counselors for Social Justice, a division of the American Counseling Association. UF this year formed its own, mainly student-run CSJ chapter with the help of Counselor Ed faculty members Torres Rivera and Kitty Fallon. More than 40 counselors have already joined the UF chapter. Members are required to be active in a variety of community mental health and outreach activities.
• Correa named Distinguished Alum. Georgia State University’s College of Education presented Vivian Correa, UF professor in Special Education, with its Distinguished Alumnus Award at the college’s 2006 Honors Day Ceremony in late April.

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STUDENT HONORS

Following are some recent announcements of student honors:

• UF ECC is No. 1. The COE’s Education College Council won the Best Council of the Year Award for 2005-06 from the Board of College Councils. The ECC is an umbrella organization for all COE student organizations. ECC president for the award-winning group was Megan Connaughton. Theresa Vernetson, assistant dean for student affairs, is the council’s faculty adviser. New ECC officers for 2006-07 are: Sarah Ryals, president and technology chair; Meredith Serneels, vice president; Stephanie Heart, treasurer; Dannielle Smith, secretary; Teala May, historian; and Kelly Anne Hage, professional development.
• Another Hall of Famer. Jessica Klahr, a May bachelor’s graduate in elementary education, was recently inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame—the second straight year that a COE student has entered the Hall. Katie Fredericks, a 2005 M.A.E. ProTeach graduate in elementary education, was inducted last year.

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ALUMNI HONORS

Following are some recent announcements of alumni honors:

• Math Teacher of Year. Kristen Springfield, who received her Ed.D. degree in educational leadership from the College of Education in 1999, recently represented the state as Florida’s math nominee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science. One math and one science teacher from every state receives this honor. Springfield was due to travel to Washington D.C. in early May for the award ceremony. She teaches math at Sanford Middle School in Seminole County. Springfield earned her doctorate in the college’s ECPD (East Coast Professional Development) Program, an off-campus doctoral cohort program delivered in the Orlando area by UF EAP faculty.
• Outstanding Young Alumnus. David Shelnutt, a member of the college’s Education Alumni Council since 2001, is one of 40 charter members of the UF Alumni Association’s inaugural class of 2006 Outstanding Young Alumni. The new Outstanding Young Alumni Award recognizes UF graduates who have graduated within the past 10 years and who have distinguished themselves in their profession and community. Shelnutt, an assistant principal for curriculum at Gainesville Buchholz High School, received his M.Ed. in social studies education from the college in 1998 and an Ed.S. in educational leadership in 2003. He was the 2004 Alachua County Teacher of the Year.

   

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PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

A sampling of recent national publications and presentations by COE faculty and graduate students, and related news briefs:

Publishing honor for Sadler. Troy Sadler, STL assistant professor in science education, has received the 2006 Journal of Research in Science Teaching Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. His research article was rated highest among those published in Volume 42 of the journal. Sadler’s article explored how students negotiate and resolve complex, social issues with conceptual ties to science—such as cloning, stem cell research and intelligent design.

Adams on editorial board. Thomasenia Adams, STL associate professor, will serve on the Fourth Monograph Editorial Board committee of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE).

A poet in our midst. Eileen Swearingen is an accomplished poet and now the world will know it. Swearingen, a program assistant in Educational Administration and Policy, has been notified by Noble House Publishing of London, England, that they will publish at least one of her previously published poems as well as a new submission this summer in a book titled Songs of Honor. This will be her first international publication of her poetry. For a sampling of Eileen’s poetry, click here.

Diana Joyce, lecturer, Education Psychology, participated in the following research presentations at the recent National Association of School Psychologists Annual Conference:

• “Schoolwide Behavioral Intervention for Emotionally Disturbed Self-contained Program” (co-presenter: J. Gallant)
• “Schoolwide Reading Intervention for Emotionally Disturbed Self-contained Program” (co-presenter: J. Gallant)

Linda Serra Hagedorn, professor and chair, Educational Administration and Policy, has recently logged the following publications and presentations:

• Hagedorn, L.S., Perrakis, A. I., & Maxwell, W. (2006). “The Positive Commandments: 10 Ways Community Colleges Help Students Succeed.” Community College Journal (April/May 2006), 58-61.
• “Critical Mass: The Effect of Latino Representation in Urban Community Colleges.” Council for the Study of Community Colleges. Long Beach, CA. April 2006.
• “Looking in the Rearview Mirror: A Retrospective Look at the Factors Affecting Transfer for Urban Community College Students.” American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Francisco, April 2006.
• “Increasing Access for Low Income Students.” Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC). Long Beach, CA. April 2006.

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RESEARCH-GRANTS

A sampling of new faculty research and grant activities:

Linda Lamme – Internationalizing the Curriculum
Linda Lamme, professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, has been awarded an Internationalizing the Curriculum grant from the UF International Center to infuse international issues into children’s literature courses.

Linda Jones – UF Center for African Studies
Linda Jones, STL associate professor, has received one of two development travel grants from the UF Center for African Studies. She will work with an environmental education professor at the University of Botswana in Gabarone and teachers and students at the Okavango International School in Maun, Botswana.

William Conwill – UF International Center Award
Also receiving an Internationalizing the Curriculum grant is William Conwill, assistant professor in Counselor Education and in African American Studies. He will leave in early June for several African locations. In Bamako, Mali, he will work with an international group of African women dedicated to the reduction of family and community violence. In Dakar, Senegal, he will study the practice of Western and traditional psychological counseling in a number of mental health service delivery settings. Upon returning, Conwill plans to develop a multimedia teaching module on counseling Africans in the United States for incorporation into his courses.

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P.K. YONGE NEWS

Lab school students visit NYC to tout student-tutoring program
P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School has an exemplary cross-age tutoring program called Succeeding in Reading.  The six-year-old program trains high school students to tutor kindergarten and first grade students in reading and writing. Five P.K. Yonge students, along with teachers Nancy Dean (program developer) and Betty Richardson, recently traveled to New York City to report on the program at the National Association of Laboratory Schools National Conference. The students—Mykhael Brown, Heather Crocker, Ryan Griffin, Valerie Landry, and Stephanie Mollison—had to submit the application to be part of the presentation and participated in lengthy rehearsals to be certain the presentation was well planned and polished. Succeeding in Reading has been implemented in several other districts in Florida for both ESL students and native English speakers.  A Succeeding in Reading Program Leader’s Guide and two different kinds of tutoring manuals (Buddy Reading and Buddy Coaching), co-authored by Nancy Dean and Candace Harper from the College of Education, have been published by Maupin House Publishing.

Blue Wave chorus plays D.C., Big Apple
Members of the P.K. Yonge Concert Chorus, under the direction of Sherwin
Mackintosh, traveled to Washington, DC to perform at the prestigious Kennedy
Center April 6-9 as part of the Keynote Choral Festival. They then traveled to New York City in May and performed at Carnegie Hall. Broadway, here they come!

PKY faculty present at national lab school conference
PKY faculty recently made the following presentations at the 2006 National Association of Laboratory Schools annual conference in New York City:

• Mickey Macdonald, Theda Buckley and Marisa Ramirez co-presented “Using Digital Portfolios in Student-led Conferencing.”
• Lynda Hayes presented “Research in Action: Professional Development That Works.”  Her session highlighted Research in Action, a program that draws teachers from all over North Florida to visit classes at PKY and reflect on best practices in K-12 literacy education.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sponsorships opportunities for Centennial conference
Corporate and organizational sponsorship opportunities are now available for the College’s year-end Centennial conference, “Closing the Achievement Gap Through Partnerships,” in St. Petersburg. For information on the conference and sponsorship opportunities, please visit the conference Web site at http://www.doce-conferences.ufl.edu/gap/speakers.asp.

COE website URL changes
The College’s website address, or URL, has changed to education.ufl.edu. The old URL (www.coe.ufl.edu) will still get you to the same website. The change was made to avoid confusion with other colleges with a name beginning with E, such as Engineering, and to make it clear in URL listings and directories what college the link is for. Please make this change accordingly in your unit’s future publications and college URL listings.

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coE-CALENDAR

JUNE 1-3

Alliance Career Explorations
Leadership Retreat for 9th-11th Graders Interested In Teaching
Contact: Wanda Lastrapes, 904-386-5212 or wlastrapes@coe.ufl.edu

JUNE 3

Saturday Summit: Literacy, Media and the Arts
9 a.m., Terrace Room
To register, e-mail: saturdaysummit@yahoo.com

JUNE 12-16

Summer Holocaust Institute for Teachers
A five-day workshop on the history of the Holocaust and its aftermath. Includes visit to Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. Sponsored by UF Center for Jewish Studies in cooperation with the UF COE.
Contact: UF Center for Jewish Studies, 392-9247; or, STL Professor Linda Lamme, 392-9191, ext. 251 or lammel@coe.ufl.edu

JUNE 13-16

Alliance Summer Institute
Alliances partner schools’ administrators and teachers join together to share ideas, concerns and successes.
Contact: Wanda Lastrapes, 904-386-5212 or wlastrapes@coe.ufl.edu

JUNE 14

Staff Council meeting
9 a.m., Terrace Room
Contact: Sabrina McLaughlin, 2-0726, ext. 262

JUNE 16

Alumni Lunch and Lecture
Featuring Paul George speaking on “Florida Education: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
11:30 a.m., Terrace Room
Contact: Jodi Mount, 2-0728, ext. 250

JULY 28

Alumni Lunch and Lecture featuring Colleen Swain
Technology & Social Justice: Teaching in the 21st Century
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Terrace Room
Contact: Jodi Mount, 2-0728, ext. 250 or jmount@coe.ufl.edu

AUGUST 12

SUMMER COMMENCEMENT
10 a.m., O’Connell Center

AUGUST 18

Alumni Lunch and Lecture featuring Holly Lane
Access to Books for Children
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Terrace Room
Contact: Jodi Mount, 2-0728, ext. 250 or jmount@coe.ufl.edu

AUGUST 23

Fall classes begin

AUGUST 25

Welcome and Orientation for Fellows (new and old)
2 p.m., Terrace Room
Refreshments will be served.
Contact: Kay Curcio at kcurcio@coe.ufl.edu

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IN THE NEWS

A sampling of recent College of Education “media hits”, most resulting from News & Publications news releases and media requests:

• Chronicle of Higher Education/Magazine and Journal Reader – Dale Campbell, EAP (3/13/06)
  The Chronicle summarized Campbell’s recent article, “The New Leadership Gap,” in Community College Journal in which he reports on the administrative shortage facing community colleges.

• Education Week – Paul Sindelar, Special Education (5/3/06)
  Associate Dean Paul Sindelar was quoted in an article exploring the viability of alternative teacher-certification routes for special education teachers, saying several alternative routes offer a fairly substantive program of training.

• The Gainesville Sun – David Miller, Educational Psychology (5/24/06)
  Miller was featured in a top-of-front-page story about the shortage of psychometricians—specialists who develop and analyze standardized tests such as the FCAT. Click here to view this article online.

• WCJB-TV (local ABC affiliate) – Cynthia Griffin, Special Education (5/15/06)
  Griffin was quoted in a news report on a study showing the high percentage of novice teachers who leave the profession within their first five years on the job. Griffin cited some of the issues and frustrations that novice teachers face.

• WCJB-TV (local ABC affiliate) – Nancy Dana, Center for School Improvement (4/29/06)
  An evening news report featured the CSI/PKY-sponsored Teaching, Inquiry and Innovation Showcase held April 29 at P.K. Yonge. CSI Director and showcase coordinator Nancy Dana was quoted describing the process of teacher inquiry as a primary method of school improvement.

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QUICK LINKS

UF:  www.ufl.edu
College of Education:  education.ufl.edu
coE-News:  Publications
Education Times magazine: Publications

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coE-News is produced by:
College of Education, University of Florida
Dean’s Office/News & Publications
Dean: Catherine Emihovich
Director, Managing Editor: Larry Lansford (llansford@coe.ufl.edu)

Writers:
Larry Lansford

Correspondents:
Marta Pollitt, P.K. Yonge

The BellSouth Foundation has awarded a $600,000 grant to the University of Florida College of Education to develop a comprehensive strategy for measuring and assessing the outcomes of the BellSouth 20/20 Vision for Education initiative, which focuses on strengthening state-led virtual schools and supporting e-Learning in the communities BellSouth serves.

The $20 million initiative commemorates the foundation’s 20th anniversary and is designed to bring engaging, rigorous, online instruction to students throughout the Southeast – particularly low-income and minority students – to address the growing achievement gap and improve graduation rates.  

Under the five-year grant, UF researchers headed by education technology specialist Richard Ferdig will develop standardized methods for evaluating the effectiveness of online education for students. In collaboration with BellSouth’s virtual high school partners in nine southeastern states, the researchers will then use the new evaluation tools to determine the best teaching practices and strategies for online instruction, particularly to students of diverse backgrounds.

“Studies have already proven that learning through online schooling is effective,” said Ferdig. “Our study will move beyond the question of whether virtual schooling works, focusing instead on when and how online instruction works most effectively. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive set of tools for regional virtual schools to improve the quality of online instruction and student performance.”

Ferdig’s co-researchers at UF are Tom Dana, professor of education and chairman of the college’s School of Teaching and Learning, and education technology doctoral students Erik Black and Meredith DiPietro.

The centerpiece of the evaluation plan for BellSouth 20/20 Vision for Education will include drawing on existing research and current virtual school practice to create a database of metrics useful for school improvement.  The online database will provide multiple reporting mechanisms that will provide implications for funding, policy, and practice.  It will also be used by the virtual schools to provide timely, continuous feedback for data-driven decision making and evaluation of existing policies and practice.

In addition, University of Florida researchers will test evaluation instruments to improve student performance and increase the quality of online instruction.

“University of Florida has a national reputation for innovative education research and this grant recognizes their expertise in virtual learning,” said Marshall Criser III, state president of Florida-BellSouth. “Our partnership with them will be instrumental in supporting our work with state-led virtual schools and furthering our e-Learning efforts.”

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Media Contact

    Larry Lansford, llansford@coe.ufl.edu, 352-376-7808, ext. 266

Source

    Rick Ferdig, rferdig@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-9191, ext. 275

The University of Florida College of Education on Thursday (April 20) honored educators and students from UF and the Alachua County school district whose scholarly outreach activities contribute to improved schools and student learning or address important social and community issues.

The honors are based on the “scholarship of engagement” philosophy, or engaged scholarship done for the public good. The research-intensive concept is a burgeoning movement in higher education that UF education Dean Catherine Emihovich is infusing as a core principle of a faculty-led transformation of the college’s research, teaching and public service programs.

The Scholarship of Engagement Banquet, held at UF’s Emerson Alumni Hall, also was a forum for recognizing this year’s College of Education student scholarship recipients and the donors who funded their endowed scholarships. It’s a rare occasion where scholarship donors get to meet the students who benefit from their philanthropy.

The College of Education, in the midst of its yearlong 100th anniversary celebration, recognized several local teachers, principals, school district administrators, university faculty and UF education students whose scholarly activities are yielding an immediate positive impact on teaching and learning in the classroom or on the community.

Those receiving Scholarship of Engagement Awards were:

<img width="150" height="200" style="width: 150px; height: 200px;" alt="Jim Brandenburg

April 27, 2006/by

Renovation and innovation are the hallmarks of the College’s capital fundraising campaign that promises, at once, to restore the 1934-vintage Norman Hall to its former grandeur and upgrade its classrooms and laboratories with the latest instructional technology. A key feature of the planned improvements is the addition of a beyond-state-of-the-art educational technology complex, to be called the Experiential Learning Complex, where researchers from multiple disciplines would adapt the latest information technologies to transform how education has been traditionally defined and delivered. Relive the illustrious history of Norman Hall and the College of Education, and experience a thrilling animated fly-through of the envisioned ELC technology annex. (15 min.)

Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, assistant professor, Department of Educational Psychology, views herself as more than a teacher and mentor. The 2006 College of Education Graduate Teacher of the Year also sees herself as a facilitator, urging her students to think critically and to learn from each other.

“I favor group work, as well as lively, critical discussions that are as often student-led as teacher-led,” Koro-Ljungberg notes in her educational philosophy statement.

Koro-Ljungberg joined the University of Florida College of Education in 2001 directly after earning her Ph.D. in education from the University of Helsinki. Her knowledge of theoretical frameworks and corresponding methodologies quickly put her in great demand among novice qualitative researchers who seek her out for their doctoral committees.

In this role, Koro-Ljungberg is known to be generous with her time and committed to excellence. She provides detailed feedback and healthy doses of encouragement to her students.

In her first semester in the college, Koro-Ljungberg developed two new courses in research methods. These courses have attracted a campuswide following, with more than 200 students enrolling in the courses. In 2002, Koro-Ljungberg organized a qualitative support group for faculty to discuss theoretical and methodological issues related to qualitative research. Recently, she extended that support group to students to help them identify possibilities for presenting and publishing their research.

Believing that students need to find their voices and identities as researchers, Koro-Ljungberg challenges them to move outside their comfort zones. “My classroom is a place in which a community of learners meets,” Koro-Ljunberg says.

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Writer
Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext, 274

Heather Adams, left, Mary Ann Clark, center, and Erin Oakley are taking part in an international study examining male underachievement in public education across cultures.

Thirty years ago, boys, not girls, were the high performers in schools. Today, test scores, grades and dropout rates show boys are achieving at levels far below girls.
In the United States, girls capture more academic honors, outscore boys in reading and writing, and score about as well on math at the fourth- , eighth- and 12th-grade levels as tested by the National Assessment for Educational Progress exam. Internationally, fourth-grade girls significantly outperformed boys in the eight leading industrialized nations that took part in the 2001 Progress in International Literacy Study. And 15-year-old boys have been surpassed by 15-year-old girls among the 28 countries involved in the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment.

According to a University of Florida College of Education researcher engaged in a joint project examining male underachievement in public education across cultures, there are many factors involved in why boys are falling behind.
“Brain research has shown differences in male and female brains that can affect preferred learning styles and communication,” says Mary Ann Clark, associate professor of counselor education. “It has been suggested that public school curriculum may not be teaching ‘to the boys’ and that teaching styles are more suitable for girls.”

To examine the factors that lead to male underachievement and the measures needed to raise the achievement of boys, Clark and two doctoral students from the College of Education at UF have teamed with other teacher education and school counselor faculty and students from universities in England and Australia on an “Internationalizing the Curriculum” project. The research is supported by the International Center at the University of Florida.
The study, which is currently under way with results expected by June 2006, entails both qualitative and quantitative data collection, specifically focus groups and interviews and database analyses. Undergraduate and graduate students in the colleges of education at Florida and Nottingham University in England and Wollongong University in Australia are comparing findings across their schools and discovering themes or factors that may contribute to the gender achievement gap.

“It is our hope that preservice educators will use their findings to develop some interventions to use with their students in schools that will help in their work as teachers and counselors,” Clark says of the university students’ work on the project.
Heather Adams and Erin Oakley – the two UF students working with Clark – each have a personal interest in the topic. Adams says she is intrigued by the differences in the male and female brains and their development, as well as in the socialization of males and females in society.

And Oakley says that through her clinical work at the Gainesville Wilderness Institute, a Florida Department of Juvenile Justice program for young offenders, she has seen firsthand that teaching and counseling styles that work with girls don’t necessarily work for boys.
“We need approaches that address boys’ special needs and that meet them where they are, rather than expecting them to fit some predetermined mold of what ‘good’ students should be,” Oakley says.

Clark says although the study is still in progress, one major issue already has become clear: the need for awareness of the special needs of students with regard to gender. Many “school success skills” such as compliance and organization seem to be more easily applied to girls, says Clark, adding that teachers, administrators, school counselors and even parents should be trained in strategies for providing a positive view of learning and studying that targets all students.

“Curricular materials, particularly reading, may need to be more inclusive with regard to male interests. The use of physical space and need for movement should be taken into consideration,” Clark says. “We also need to recognize that developmental stages differ between males and females, with females maturing earlier, cognitively as well as physically.”

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Writer
Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274

Linda Behar-Horenstein, a professor in Educational Administration and Policy, is one of five UF faculty members to receive the UF Graduate School’s 2005-2006 Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentoring Award.

In nominating her, Behar-Horenstein’s graduate students cited her care of their well-being, extensive feedback, and her accessibility at both her office and home.

“Dr. Behar-Horenstein assists her students in the development of ideas for their dissertations and other publications,” said Linda Serra Hagedorn, department chair and professor of Educational Administration and Policy. “Several students said they have learned more by working with Dr. Behar-Horenstein in a one-on-one atmosphere than they’ve learned in all of their coursework.”

Her students also cited her passion and commitment to helping them develop the habits of scholars and demonstrate critical thinking while conducting research on salient educational issues. 

“It is essential to the quality of the academy that (doctoral committee) chairs mentor students by modeling how to conduct evidence-based research and communicate their findings effectively,” Behar-Horenstein said.

She has chaired or co-chaired 22 doctoral committees and served on 14 more in other UF colleges. She also co-authored 10 articles with students.

Award recipients each received $3,000, plus $1,000 deposited in their department accounts to support doctoral or Master of Fine Arts students.

Writer
Chan Tran,ctran@ufl.edu

UF study: Effective teacher collaboration
requires different strokes for different folks

GAINESVILLE, FL — “Underwear.”

Dr. Mary Brownell

By uttering that single evocative word, Jacksonville elementary school teacher Sarah Edmonds hooks every student in her third-grade class and reels them into her lesson on cause-and-effect, a key principle of reading comprehension.

    “Yuck.”

The young students respond in unison, just as Edmonds (not her real name) predicted they would, letting her demonstrate how her one-word monologue was a cause and the students’ “yucky” response was an effect. Because the students also find her example humorous, they give the veteran teacher their full attention.

Edmonds then switches off the lights in the classroom, and the students buzz, “ohhh.” Another cause-and-effect example, and her lesson continues on, the enthralled students hanging on every sentence.

University of Florida College of Education researchers view Edmonds’ lesson strategy—making a potentially boring and complex topic relevant and interesting to children—as characteristic of a knowledgeable teacher who is willing to adopt better teaching strategies and incorporate them into her instruction.

Edmonds’ real name isn’t divulged, nor is the name of her school, because she was one of eight teachers at two high-poverty Jacksonville elementary schools participating anonymously in a federally funded study so their experiences could be freely and openly reported. UF special-education researchers were examining how teachers who readily adopt instructional innovations acquired in teacher study groups, professional development schools and other collaborative arrangements differ from those who don’t.

“In special education, professional collaboration is viewed as a powerful tool for helping teachers serve students with disabilities. Teachers learning and working together to improve their instructional practices is considered a central element of major school reform efforts,” said Mary Brownell, professor in special education and the lead investigator in the UF study. “But there is little in-depth information about why some teachers readily adapt and adopt new, research-based innovations that can change their instructional practices in important ways, while others teachers are less inclined to do so.”

Brownell’s co-investigators in the study were UF education researchers Alyson Adams, Paul Sindelar and Nancy Waldron, and Stephanie vanHover from the University of Virginia. The team included specialists in both special and general education and school psychology. Their research report appears in the current edition (Winter 2006, Vol. 72, Issue 2) of Exceptional Children, the quarterly special-education journal of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Their investigation is part of a larger, federally funded study designed to use collaborative teacher learning—in a school-based group called Teacher Learning Cohort—to promote better teaching of struggling learners and students with disabilities.

“We wanted to know what personal qualities enable some teachers to benefit more than others from professional collaboration,” Brownell said. “This could influence how professional development programs and teacher collaboration arrangements should be structured and tailored so everyone benefits.”

Over the past three school years, UF researchers observed the eight teachers instruct in their classrooms and regularly met with them to provide feedback, examine their personal teaching practices and beliefs and discuss research-proven practices they might want to incorporate into their classroom teaching for helping disabled students and high-risk learners.

“We didn’t expect that teachers would differ so strongly in their ability to use classroom strategies acquired in their collaborative learning groups,” Brownell said.

The researchers identified five personal characteristics that influenced teachers’ willingness to adopt new teaching innovations:

• Most knowledgeable. Sarah Edmonds and the two other teachers classified as “high adopters” of new methods were consistently the most knowledgeable teachers. They quickly grasped how new ideas presented could fit within their curriculum and demonstrated the most effective instructional technique. (Three of the eight teachers were judged “moderate adopters” who used certain classroom practices and ignored others. The two “low adopters,” while supportive of the learning-cohort group, were less inclined to try new strategies or did so only after realizing the methods in use weren’t working well.)
• Teach positive behavior. Well-designed instruction goes a long way towards eliminating behavior problems in the classroom, or so the high adopters believe. They also considered teaching positive behavior to be as important as teaching academics, while other teachers often failed to recognize the importance of actively teaching students more appropriate behavior.
• Student-focused. Teachers most likely to adopt new teaching innovations had the strongest student-centered views of instruction, considering both the academic and behavioral needs of the class and individual students. Low adopters were more teacher-focused, shunning opportunities for children to work together in order to maintain behavioral control in the classroom.
• Reflect on students’ learning. In their report, researchers said high adopters were the most reflective about their instructional practices and classroom management. They were more likely to consider the needs of the entire class as well as individual students.
• More adaptive. Researchers said high adopters were “sponges” for information, reading or using information independently to adjust their teaching practices in order to meet their students’ needs.

“Every teacher in the study was committed to the learning cohort group and improving their teaching practice, but we were surprised at their varied responses to participation,” Brownell said, “We did not anticipate how little power professional collaboration had for changing the practices of some teachers.

“Our findings demonstrate how teaching knowledge, beliefs, skills and reflective ability work together to influence a teacher’s benefit from collaborative professional development efforts. Awareness of these personal teacher qualities can be useful in structuring or tailoring professional development activities so all participants benefit.”

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Writer

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

Dr. Rose Pringle

When it comes to science education, the 2006 College of Education Teacher of the Year says she strives to model the ideals she hopes to instill in future teachers. Rose Pringle, assistant professor, School of Teaching and Learning, encourages her students to become involved in the teaching process, guiding them past the preconceived barrier that science is difficult and helping them build confidence in themselves as well as in their teaching abilities.

“As a teacher/researcher, my interests in science teacher education are promoted as I learn from and about my students. My deliberations, therefore, include the modeling of a variety of teaching strategies to build confidence, develop positive attitudes toward science and provide images of science learning for classrooms,” Pringle says.

Pringle is a two-time recipient of the College of Education’s Teacher of the Year award. She also holds the title for 2002. If asked whether she has developed a “Rose Pringle model for teaching,” she will laugh.

“I wonder what that would look like?” she says. “My method is more philosophical and involves what works at that point in time. I do not think I have ever taught the same class in the same way twice.”

Still, Pringle says she tries not to lose sight of the needs of the prospective teachers and their lack of confidence in their ability to teach science. As the semester develops, she works to “gently” tear down the scaffolds to help students become more independent in their thinking.

Pringle joined the College faculty in the fall of 2000, after earning her doctorate in science education from Florida State University. But Pringle was not new to a classroom. She had spent 18 years teaching high school and college level students in Jamaica, where she received a Distinction in Teaching and other awards for her contribution to science education.

    Pringle recognizes that planning for and teaching science is a complex activity. That is why she devotes time to developing a relationship with and an understanding of her students to help them work through the challenges inherent in science content. Pringle encourages her students to reflect on the concepts and strategies she brings to her courses, and to explore other models.

    “I’ve had students complain that I ‘spoil their GPA,’ and I understand they want a good grade. But I try to focus their attention on what they have learned from the class, to understand why we’re here,” Pringle says. “It’s all about the learning.”

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Writer

    Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-0276, ext. 274

Luis C. Moll

The three-part Fien Lecture Series wraps up on Monday, March 6, with a talk by Luis C. Moll, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of language, reading and culture at the University of Arizona College of Education. Moll’s presentation – “The Cultural Mediation of Thinking: From Funds of Knowledge to New Activity Systems” – will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room of Norman Hall.

Initiated by the College of Education at the University of Florida as part of its centennial year celebrations and in conjunction with its search for the Fien Professorship in Education, the Fien lectures are designed to help keep the University of Florida connected to outstanding scholars in the field. Moll’s address will focus on his research with households and schools in the Southwest and preview the development of new university, community and school partnerships in mediating opportunities for both the educational and economic development of families.

Moll’s main research interest is the connection among culture, psychology and education, especially as it relates to the education of Latino children in the United States. Among other studies, Moll has analyzed the quality of classroom teaching, examined literacy instruction in English and Spanish, studied how learning takes place in the broader social contexts of household and community life, and attempted to establish pedagogical relationships among these domains of study. He is currently conducting a longitudinal study of biliteracy development in children and the language ideologies that mediate that development.

Moll has served on the editorial boards of several national and international journals, including American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Cultura y Educación (Spain), Pedagogía (Puerto Rico), Pedagogies (Singapore) and Mind, Culture and Activity. He is the co-author of the recently published book, “Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in household, communities, and classrooms.” In 1998, Moll was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education. He received the Sylvia Scribner Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2005.

Established in 1998, the Fien Professorship in Education was made possible in part through a $600,000 donation from businessman and philanthropist Irving Fien. The College of Education combined Fien’s gift with $420,000 in state matching funds to create a $1.02 million permanent endowment for the Irving and Rose Fien Professorship in Education. Richard Allington, the first recipient of the Fien Professorship, joined the College in 2000. The chair opened up when Allington left the College for the University of Tennessee in 2004.

Other events related to Moll’s March 6 visit to UF include conversations with Education doctoral students and faculty. Moll will meet with the students at 10 a.m. and faculty at 11:30 a.m. in Norman Hall 158.

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Writer:
Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274

Gloria Ladson-Billings

The College of Education’s yearlong Centennial Celebration continues Friday, Feb. 17, with a presentation by Gloria Ladson-Billings at 2 p.m. in the Terrace Room of Norman Hall.

Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of the critically acclaimed books “The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children,” “Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms” and “Beyond the Big House: African-American Educators on Teacher Education.” Her talk is the second address in the Fien Lecture Series. Initiated by the College of Education at the University of Florida as part of its centennial year celebrations and in conjunction with its search for the Fien Professorship in Education, the Fien lectures are designed to help keep the University of Florida connected to outstanding scholars in the field.

Ladson-Billings’ address – “What if We Leave All the Children Behind: The Challenge of Teaching in the New Millennium” – will focus on the complexities of teaching and learning in the 21st century. Ladson-Billings says society’s responsibilities to children have consistently slipped over the past few decades while education reform efforts and state and federal legislation have placed the responsibilities to improve student achievement squarely on the shoulders of schools and more specifically, teachers. “The holes in the social network and the increasing economic disparities make it unlikely schools can make dramatic improvements in student achievement on their own,” she says.

Ladson-Billings’ scholarship in multicultural education, social studies, critical race theory and education, and culturally relevant pedagogy is extensive. The former editor of the American Educational Research Journal and a member of several editorial boards, Ladson-Billings is the author of more than 50 publications, including books, journal articles and book chapters. Her work has won numerous scholarly awards including the H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, the Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship and the Palmer O. Johnson outstanding research award.

Established in 1998, the Fien Professorship in Education was made possible in part through a $600,000 donation from businessman and philanthropist Irving Fien. The College of Education combined Fien’s gift with $420,000 in state matching funds to create a $1.02 million permanent endowment for the Irving and Rose Fien Professorship in Education. Richard Allington, the first recipient of the Fien Professorship, joined the College in 2000. The chair opened up when Allington left the College for the University of Tennessee in 2004.

The final speaker in the series is Luis Moll, professor of language, reading and culture in the College of Education at the University of Arizona. His talk will take place on Monday, March 6, 2006.

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Writer
    Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274

UF College of Education graduate student Sophie Maxis recently was named a Holmes Scholar, a designation that recognizes advanced-degree students of color in education for their character, academic standing and career goals in education.

She joins two current UF Holmes Scholars: John Baker and Yashica Crawford.

To qualify for the award, students must be working toward advanced degrees for careers in the education professorate and in professional development schools.

Maxis, of Sarasota, Fla., is a doctoral student in counselor education. She obtained her Ed.S. and M.Ed. at UF in school counseling with an emphasis in mental health. She completed her undergraduate studies at Oakwood College in Alabama, where she received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education.

The College of Education also appointed three other doctoral students as Holmes Scholars who will receive financial support to travel to the National Holmes Partnership annual conference. These scholars are Nicole Fenty, Tyran Wright and Jyrece McClendon.

The Holmes Scholars are a select group of graduate students who are enrolled at one of 96 universities involved with the Holmes Partnership, a program that provides support for underrepresented students in university leadership programs. Scholarship recipients at UF each receive a part-time assistantship in the College, mentoring and opportunities to make presentations at the National Holmes Conference each year.      The scholars program directors and the Holmes Partnership organization help Holmes Scholar graduates obtain positions as faculty members, K-12 administrators or with education policy organizations. The Holmes Scholar program is administered at UF by the College’s Center for School Improvement, directed by Nancy Dana.

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Writer

Chan Tran, ctran@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 246

New York Times op-ed columnist and best-selling author David Brooks, a regular analyst and commentator on National Public Radio and PBS television’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, will help the University of Florida College of Education launch its yearlong Centennial Celebration, serving as featured speaker for a lecture and panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at UF’s Emerson Alumni Hall.

The event is free and open to the public.

Brooks’ nationally syndicated columns and radio and television reports typically aim for humor, social commentary and the “lighter” side of the news. At his UF appearance, he will expound on some his recent Times columns in which he cited a growing education gap linked to race, poverty and gender differences. Following his talk, Brooks and a panel of educators from the College of Education and local public schools will discuss possible solutions to some of education’s most intractable problems.

The panel will include: Victor Lopez, principal of Miami High School; Leanetta McNealy, principal of Duval Elementary School in Gainesville; Bernard Oliver, professor of educational administration and director of the UF Alliance school-improvement program; Donald Pemberton, director of the UF Lastinger Center for Learning; Fran Vandiver, director of P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School (UF’s lab school); and Barbara Woodhouse, who occupies the UF David H. Levin chair in Family Law and directs the Center on Children and Families.

A reception and book-signing and sale with Brooks will follow the panel discussion, at 8 p.m. He has written two books: BoBos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (published in 2000) was a New York Times best-seller; his most recent book, On Paradise Drive (2004) depicts suburban life in America. Attendees can bring their own copies of his books, or the UF Book Store will have copies for sale at the signing.

Emerson Alumni Hall is located on the north side of University Avenue, across the street from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Brooks’ speaking engagement kicks off a yearlong celebration commemorating the College of Education’s 100th anniversary of its founding. The Fien Lecture Series gets underway on Thursday, Jan. 26, featuring Robert Jimenez, professor of language, literacy and culture in Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Jimenez will speak on “Literacies Within and Without Mexico.” His lecture will begin at 3 p.m. in the College of Education’s Terrace Room in Norman Hall.

Other college Centennial events planned throughout the year include additional Fien lectures, Back-to-College Weekend events Feb. 24, a Gator basketball game half-time event, a time capsule burial, the Scholarship of Engagement Banquet in April and other festivities.

The UF Normal School—the predecessor of the College of Education—held the university’s first education classes in 1906. Over the past century, UF education faculty have been pioneers in the community college and middle school movements, in desegregation and the modern school-counseling movement. The modern college currently ranks 15th among public education schools of the elite institutions of the Association of American Universities (AAU), with heightened emphasis on emerging technology, interdisciplinary research and advanced graduate studies to prepare tomorrow’s leaders in all education disciplines.

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

A professor in Educational Administration and Policy has agreed to serve on a national panel of experts who will work with a task force charged with revising licensure and certification standards for school leaders across the United States.

James Doud will represent the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) on the steering committee formed by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration to review Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards. The newly formed panel is expected to make recommendations for the modification or elimination of current standards and propose new standards.

“The panel will review the initial standards for their impact on the preparation of school leaders and their continued reflection of current expectations of school leaders,” says Doud, who has 44 years of professional experience, including 26 years as an elementary school principal. He also was chairman of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy at UF from 1999 to 2005.

Doud is an active leader in state, regional and national professional organizations, including NAESP for which he has served as research adviser and consultant on various special projects and activities. A past president of the association, Doud authored the NAESP 10-Year Studies of the K-8 Principal in 1988 and 1998. And in 2003, NAESP recognized Doud as an Honorary National Distinguished Principal. He is the only former principal to receive this distinction, usually reserved for practicing school principals from each state.

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Writer

    Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274

Associate Professor Zhihui Fang from the School of Teaching and Learning has received the prestigious UF Research Foundation Professorship for 2005-2007, which recognizes the impact that research faculty makes to the University’s success.

The award carries a $5,000 annual salary supplement and a one-time $3,000 research grant. The 2005 UFRF Professors were recommended by their college deans based on nominations from their department chairs, a personal statement and an evaluation of recent research productivity.

Over the past five years, Fang has made more than 30 research presentations at national and international professional meetings and generated research and outreach grants totaling more than $1 million.

Fang’s research focuses on three fronts: children’s language development during the transition from emergent to conventional literacy; the language demands of content area reading/writing; and preparation of reading teachers as knowledgeable, reflective professionals.

With colleagues, he recently investigated the process and impact of infusing reading instruction into a middle-school science curriculum. In a new project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Fang and his co-researchers will help middle- and high-school teachers earn certification in special education and boost expertise in literacy instruction, especially for students with reading and learning disabilities.

“Dr. Fang’s work has great value for educators and parents who strive to help students deal with the challenges of unique language presented in academic texts,” says Tom Dana, director of the School of Teaching and Learning.

Since 1999, Fang has published one book and more than 20 chapters and articles in leading national and international research journals. He also has served on the editorial review boards for several leading journals in reading/literacy education. He has received awards and honors for his scholarship and research from national and international professional organizations such as National Council of Teachers of English and International Reading Association.

  
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Writer

Chan Tran, ctran@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 246

A talk by popular cultural historian Michael Eric Dyson tops the list of events marking Black History Month in February. Dyson, named by Essence magazine as one of the 50 most-inspiring African-Americans in the United States, is scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, in the Grand Ballroom of the J. Wayne. Reitz Union. His talk is sponsored in part by the University of Florida Black Student Union and the College of Education.

Dyson’s scholarship has won him admirers across a range of cultural landscapes. Dyson has appeared in a variety of venues, lecturing at hundreds of universities, preaching at countless churches, speaking at numerous conventions and conferences, and going toe-to-toe with journalists and personalities such as Ted Koppel, Tavis Smiley and Dennis Miller. An ordained Baptist preacher and best-selling author of 10 books, Dyson is just as likely to be found giving talks in local bookstores, public school auditoriums, and in jails and prisons.

Dyson’s literary and political efforts have been rewarded with the 1992 magazine award from the National Association of Black Journalists, the prestigious 2004 NAACP Image Award for outstanding nonfiction literary work for his national best-seller Why I Love Black Women, and the 2005 BET/General Motors Black History Makers Award.

Currently the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Dyson has taught at some of the nation’s most distinguished colleges and universities, including Chicago Theological Seminary, Brown University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University and DePaul University.

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Writer

    Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274

Sherwin Mackintosh

An invitation to perform in prestigious Carnegie Hall would thrill just about any well-known musician. Imagine the excitement to be asked to sing on the world-renowned stage as a high school student from Gainesville, Fla.

Next spring, members of Sherwin Mackintosh’s vocal ensemble at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School will join other choruses from throughout North America in the May 9 world premier of Paul Basler’s Missa brevis at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

“This excellent chorus received an invitation because of the quality and high level of musicianship demonstrated by the singers and the exceptional recommendation given by Mr. Mackintosh’s choral colleagues,” Candace Wicke, conductor-in-residence for MidAmerica Productions, said in a press release announcing the event.

The students will travel to New York City in early May to spend five days and four nights rehearsing for the performance, which will be conducted by Russell Robinson, University of Florida professor of music, and accompanied by the New England Symphonic Ensemble.

The chorus is seeking community support by way of sponsorships and is working on several fund-raising activities to help pay trip expenses for its members. The cost per student is $1,500, bringing their total cost to $32,000 for the group. The deadline to see if all the students can go is Feb. 1.

A black-tie event is planned for Valentine’s Day at Eventfuls Banquet Center at Willow Walk, 13840 Newberry Road Suite 100. The chorus is also selling tickets for $6 for a breakfast on Jan. 14 at Applebee’s, 1005 NW 13th St. The students will serve breakfast and provide vocal entertainment from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. They are also selling Domino’s cards for free pizzas for $10.

“These wonderful musicians not only represent the quality of music and education within the P.K. Yonge School community, but they also become ambassadors for the entire community,” Wicke said. “This is an event of extreme pride for everybody and deserving of the community’s recognition and support.”

    For more information on upcoming fund-raising activities, call Carrie Kelsey at (352) 392-1554, ext. 260, or e-mail her at ckelsey@pky.ufl.edu. For information on sponsoring the trip, contact Mackintosh at smackintosh@pky.ufl.edu.

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Writer

Anwen “Wendy” Norman, anwendy@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 246

Karen Bakuzonis

A doctoral student in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy was awarded the annual L.V. Koos Scholarship, and two others received honorable mentions.

The higher education administration students recently received their awards at the Florida Association of Community College convention in Tampa as part of the session titled, “Research on Florida Community Colleges.”

Award winner Karen Bakuzonis won the scholarship based on her dissertation proposal, which involves analyzing the impact of the Florida community-college system’s performance-based budgeting initiatives on instructional and administrative efficiency and effectiveness.  According to Bakuzonis’s dissertation committee chair, Linda Serra Hagedorn, “This dissertation is one that may really make a difference in the Florida Community College System.”

Tom Robertson received honorable mention for his dissertation proposal on the leadership gap among student affairs professionals in community colleges. Honorable mention winner Carole Luby proposed a study of psychological empowerment among employees in a community college.

The $750 Koos Scholarship is based on the merit and value of a dissertation on the topic of community colleges. UF COE doctoral students with a specific interest in community education and at least 30 semester hours are eligible.     

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Writer

    Chan Tran, ctran@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 246

Former UF College of Education Dean Ben F. Nelms has been granted Professor Emeritus status by the University.

“Ben has an excellent record of teaching, scholarship and service to the College and the University. I am very pleased to make this announcement,” said Dean Catherine Emihovich of Nelms’ appointment.

Nelms joined the UF education faculty in 1990 as professor of curriculum and instruction after already serving decades teaching English education in Missouri and Iowa. At UF, Nelms held positions as graduate coordinator in the School of Teaching and Learning in the 1997-98 school year and director from 1998 to 2000. He served as interim dean of the College from 2000-2002, before moving to the director’s chair of the UF Alliance in 2002. Nelms retired earlier this year.

Last month, the National Council of Teachers of English honored Nelms with its Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes individuals who have exhibited valuable service to the profession, scholarly or academic merit, distinctive use of the language and excellence in teaching.

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Anwen “Wendy” Norman, anwendy@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 246