Couple donates nearly $2 million to UF to help

William and Robbie HedgesGAINESVILLE, Fla.—Throughout their teaching careers that began after World War II, William and Robbie Hedges noticed how little help was available for normal but slightly slower-learning students at their schools. Now, the Hedges are committing nearly $2 million to the University of Florida College of Education to help marginal students in modern-day schools get the extra attention they need.

The $1.925 million contribution was the second largest ever made to the college.

The gift from the retired Gainesville couple was made in the form of a charitable remainder trust that establishes The William D. and Robbie F. Hedges Research Fund. The Hedges funded the trust through the sale of family-owned real estate. The trust will support sorely needed studies to develop better teaching methods and curriculum materials for students who fall behind, become discouraged and tend to drop out of school before graduation.

Throughout their teaching careers that began after World War II, William and Robbie Hedges noticed how little help was available for normal but slightly slower-learning students at their schools. Now, the Hedges are committing nearly $2 million to the UF College of Education to help marginal students in modern-day schools get the extra attention they need.

Bill and Robbie Hedges, shown with UF President Bernie Machen (L) and COE Dean Catherine Emihovich (R).

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Education professors receive national research award

The national Association of Teacher Educators has selected two University of Florida College of Education professors to receive its 2005 Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Award.

Diane Yendol-Hoppey (L) and Nancy Fichtman Dana (R).

The national Association of Teacher Educators has selected two University of Florida College of Education professors to receive its 2005 Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Award.

Diane Yendol-Hoppey and Nancy Fichtman Dana were cited for their study describing teachers’ transforming roles as decision makers and teacher-educators in newly created

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Register now for summer Holocaust teaching workshop

With Holocaust teaching instruction in high demand since a 1994 legislative mandate requiring Holocaust lessons in grades K-12, UF’s Center for Jewish Studies, in cooperation with the College of Education and the UF history department, is sponsoring the Summer Holocaust Institute for Florida Teachers, a five-day workshop from Monday, June 20 through Friday, June 24.

This workshop provides teachers with background on the history of the Holocaust and its aftermath, and introduces classroom-suitable resource materials such as books and films that are available on the Holocaust.

Participants also learn about resources such as Holocaust

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College honors educators and students from UF, local schools for 'outreach scholarship'

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
increased 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. 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 college recently hosted its third annual Scholarship of
Engagement banquet to recognize 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. Emihovich also
recognized this year’s College of Education student scholarship recipients and the donors who fund their endowed scholarships.

Those receiving Scholarship of Engagement Awards are:

    Katherine Dixon, Principal at Williams Elementary (second from left)
    receives the Scholarship of Engagement School District award from Dean
    Catherine Emihovich and her nominators, Holly Lane and Alyson Adams.

  • School District Scholarship of Engagement Award
    Katherine Dixon, principal of Williams Elementary School

    Dixon has used her position as principal of Williams Elementary School
    in east Gainesville as a vehicle for educational reform. She led her
    school in improving from a state-designated D grade to a B. Williams
    Elementary was recently recognized as the top Success for All school
    for having the highest gain in scores among all Florida schools, as
    reported by the Success for All Foundation. She has established several
    partnerships with literacy and school-improvement programs at the UF
    College of Education.

  • P.K. Yonge School Faculty Scholarship of Engagement Award
    Nancy Dean, teacher and UF assistant professor of education at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School

    Dean was cited for helping teachers improve student achievement in
    their classrooms by assessing and changing their own teaching methods.
    Reading-related research projects she’s led have drawn more than
    $900,000 in grant support for literacy issues. She created and teaches
    a leadership-through-reading program in which high school students are
    trained to tutor younger children in reading, while improving their own
    reading abilities.

    • Dean Catherine Emihovich, and nominator Mary Ann Clark, present the
    Scholarship of Engagement Community Award to Bill Goodman, Supervisor
    for Guidance, Student and comminity Services for the School Board of
    Alachua County.

  • Community Scholarship of Engagement Award
    William Goodman, supervisor of guidance, student and community services for the School Board of Alachua County

    Goodman has
    implemented cutting-edge database management systems with information
    that school counselors can use to identify high-risk students to link
    with counseling and financial aid services and education training
    options. Goodman and UF’s counseling education department have jointly
    established a series of workshops explaining financial aid
    opportunities for low income seniors and their parents, held at each of
    the local high schools.

    • Dean Catherine Emihovich, Jim Brandenburg and Buffy Bondy present the
    Scholarship of Engagement Graduate Student Award to David Hoppey.

  • Graduate Student Scholarship of Engagement Award
    David Hoppey, UF special education graduate student

    As part of his doctoral studies at the College of Education, Hoppey has
    collaborated with teachers and administrators in several elementary and
    middle schools in Alachua County to develop programs to include
    children with disabilities in regular classrooms. He works part-time as
    an inclusion specialist at the School Board of Alachua County. He has
    used his direct involvement with inclusion in local schools in his
    graduate teaching of education students and of practicing teachers in
    professional development seminars.

    • Dean Catherine Emihovich presents the Scholarship of Engagement
    University Award to Dr. Russell Robinson, director of the UF School of
    Music. He was nominated for the award by Dr. John Duff, far right,
    faculty member in the school of music.

  • University Scholarship of Engagement Award
    Russell Robinson, UF music professor

    Robinson’s music teaching clinics on effective teaching strategies for
    the classroom and choral rehearsal attract standing-room-only groups of
    teachers. As a conductor, his rehearsals with school music groups
    worldwide model techniques for teachers that improve classroom behavior
    and musical performances. He serves as choral advisor for the Musical
    Educators National conference and has been an invited clinician,
    speaker and conductor at numerous national and international
    conferences.

    • Dean Catherine Emihovich presents the Scholarship of Engagement,
    College of Education Faculty Award to Dr. Dorene Ross. Dr. Ross was
    nominated by Alyson Adams, far right, and Donald Pemberton (not
    pictured).

  • College of Education Faculty Scholarship of Engagement Award
    Dorene Ross    , UF College of Education professor

    Ross is in her second year as the UF "professor-in-residence" at
    Rawlings Elementary School in east Gainesville, spending one day a week
    in the classroom observing teachers and demonstrating new
    research-based teaching methods. She leads a teacher fellows program,
    sponsored by the UF Lastinger Center for Learning, and is helping
    Rawlings teachers develop self-evaluation methods to help them improve
    their teaching practice. She and other Lastinger Center faculty are
    developing a toolkit for other education schools around the nation to
    use in their local school-improvement partnerships.

"Many people talk about taking action for change, but very few can
document how they made a difference as these outstanding recipients
have done. We strongly believe not only in the discovery of new
knowledge, but also in applying and integrating that knowledge in
productive and meaningful ways to impact practice in the field. This
commitment illustrates professional education at its best," said Dean
Emihovich.

The outreach scholarship award recipients were chosen by a selection
committee of College of Education faculty members Danling Fu, Dale
Campbell, Silvia Echevarria-Doan, Cynthia Griffin, Rodman Webb,
Assistant Professor Lynda Hayes with P.K. Yonge, and Michael Rollo, UF
interim vice president for student affairs.

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Career Night will show how degree in education can lead to many job options

Teaching is not the only career path available through the College of Education. University of Florida students can learn about the many other choices on Wednesday, April 20, when the college holds its semiannual Education Career Night. The event will take place in Room 282 of the Reitz Union, starting at 7 p.m., and is geared toward UF students interested in finding out about the many career options that come with a degree from the College of Education.

Although the event, which is co-sponsored by the College of Education and the UF Student Alumni Association, is pertinent to College of Education students, it also provides examples of occupations besides teaching to which a degree in education can lead. Administrative training, counselor training, educational psychology and special education are a small sampling of the degrees available.

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College of Education 2004-05 Teacher of the Year: Mary Kay Dykes

Special Ed’s Mary Kay Dykes named Teacher of YearProfessor Mary Kay Dykes, a UF Special Education faculty member for 33 years, describes teaching as “an all-encompassing, 24-7 life role

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Graduates urged to remember

<img style="WIDTH: 192px; HEIGHT: 255px" height=255 alt="Natalie Kwait makes adjustments as she prepares to

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UF Hall of Fame inducts education student

As a child, whenever Katie Fredericks and her neighborhood pals played school, she always had to be the teacher. As far back as she can remember, she says she always knew she wanted to teach. What she didn’t know is that her educational pursuit of a teaching career would land her in the University of Florida Hall of Fame

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Wideman, York earn top COE staff honors

York (left), Wideman Staff Honors '05College of Education computer-support specialist Robert Wideman and Special Education office manager Michell York excel in their respective jobs

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Technology grants boost distance learning at UF College of Education

Ferdig GrantsUniversity of Florida education technology instructor Richard Ferdig believes earning an education degree shouldn’t be confined to the College of Education’s classrooms at Norman Hall. Assistant Professor Ferdig and the college are working to provide more online education courses at the high school, undergraduate and graduate levels.

Ferdig, a faculty member in the college’s School of Teaching and Learning, recently received three technology-related grants totaling more than $106,000 that the college will use to increase its development and use of virtual schooling.

UF’s Center for Instructional Technology and Training awarded Ferdig an $8,750 grant to launch an Introduction to Educational Technology online course this summer. Students have an opportunity to learn about teaching and learning online in both lecture and lab settings. Ferdig launched the online lecture component in a trial run this summer with a smaller class, and will make any necessary adjustments before the regular fall class begins.

With a second grant worth more than $76,000 from the North Central Regional Educational Library, Ferdig will evaluate the effectiveness of virtual high school lessons taught online.

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Governor enlists UF Lastinger Center for statewide family literacy effort

GAINESVILLE,
Fla.— The team of literacy experts that Gov. Jeb Bush has assembled
for his initiative to help Florida children and their parents improve
their reading skills has a new player

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UF lab school shines in state FCAT scores

7/06/05

P.K. Yonge teacher Angela Johnson teaches reading to students in her third-grade class.Students
at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, the UF College of
Education’s K-12 laboratory school, continue to make a strong showing
on the yearly Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

In FCAT scores released by the Florida Dept. of Education for the
2004-05 school year, PKY students surpassed the average passing rate
among Florida schools by a wide margin, in all sections of the exam.
PKY also was one of the top-performing schools in Alachua County at
most grade levels: PKY registered the area’s highest passing rate on
the FCAT writing exam in grades 8 and 10, and matched the county’s
top-scoring public school (Talbot Elementary) in the percentage of
third-grade students passing the reading section.

P.K. Yonge School’s stellar FCAT performance comes despite tougher
grading standards and the first-time inclusion of learning-disabled
students in factoring a school’s overall performance.

For the benefit of readers who aren’t Florida teachers or parents of
Florida schoolchildren, the FCAT is a battery of exams in reading,
math, writing and science given to students in grades 3 to 11. Students
took the exams in February and March.

FCAT scores are the primary measure of achievement used to calculate
a school’s state-assigned grade in Florida. The percentage of students
who make learning gains from grade to grade also factors in. The
standard for a passing FCAT grade, though, was raised this year for the
writing section, and the new school-grade calculations also factor in
the grades of students with learning disabilities or limited ability in
speaking English.

While the grading bar has been raised, PKY’s high FCAT scores helped
the UF laboratory school maintain its overall “A” grade for the third
consecutive year.

“Our schoolwide focus on the Florida Reading Initiative has played a
major role in our continued success. P.K. Yonge, in partnership with
the North East Florida Educational Consortium, provides the leadership
for this statewide reading program,” said Fran Vandiver, director of
the lab school.

More than 60 schools in 17 school districts participate in the
Florida Reading Initiative, a research-based, schoolwide reform effort
striving for 100 percent literacy among its students. The program
emphasizes extensive professional development for school teachers and
principals and includes a two-week Summer Reading Academy. To
participate, 85 percent of a school’s faculty, including the principal,
must commit to attending the academy.

“Many of our teachers are presenters in the Summer Reading Academy,
sharing their knowledge about teaching reading to teachers from across
the state,” Vandiver said. “Our focus on good teaching and an authentic
curriculum, rather than on test-taking, is an important factor in our
success (on the FCAT scores).”

Here are some highlights of P.K. Yonge’s 2004-05 FCAT score results
at key grade levels that determine student promotion or a school’s
overall grade:

FCAT READING: THIRD GRADE

For the second straight year, 93 percent of PKY third-graders passed
the reading section of this year’s FCAT. To pass, students had to score
3.5 or higher out of a possible 5 points. The state uses the
third-grade FCAT to determine promotion to the fourth grade.

Vandiver attributed the high reading scores to the efforts of
teachers Ashley Pennypacker-Vogt, Christie Lee and Anna Sperring, along
with their support team.

“The performance of our third-graders is remarkable since two of the
three teachers are new to our school, and one of them is a beginning
teacher. That speaks volumes for the system of learning we are creating
when they can come in, receive the support needed for success, work
hard and then be successful at such a high level,” Vandiver said. “Our
reading team plans to share the knowledge they have gained in learning
the appropriate interventions and assessments needed in K-2 by their
involvement in the Florida Reading Initiative and by sponsoring our own
programs and conferences. This is an important mission of ours as the
University of Florida lab school.”

READING EXAM

GRADE 3

% PASSING

State Average

68%

PK YONGE

91%

 

FCAT MATH: THIRD GRADE

Among PKY third-graders, 81 percent received passing grades on the
FCAT math section. The district average was 69 percent. PKY logged the
sixth highest passing rate among Alachua County’s 33 public, private
and charter elementary schools that received a grade.

MATH EXAM

GRADE 3

% PASSING

State Average

67%

PK YONGE

81%

FCAT WRITING: EIGHTH AND 10TH GRADES

P.K. Yonge eighth- and 10th graders achieved the highest passing
percentage in the county among their peers, with passing rates of 91
percent and 95 percent, respectively. The state average for both of
those grades was 76 percent passing. Eighty percent of PKY
fourth-graders passed, also topping the state average of 74 percent at
that level.

The students took their essay exams last February. The essays are
graded from a 1 to 6, with a score of 3.5 or greater considered
passing. The 45-minute writing exam does not carry a penalty for
students who fail, but how a school performs is used to help decide a
school’s grade, from “A” to “F.”

WRITING EXAM

GRADE 4

% PASSING

State Average

74%

PK YONGE

80%

GRADE 8

% PASSING

State Average

76%

PK YONGE

91%

GRADE 10

% PASSING

State Average

76%

PK YONGE

91%

SOURCE: Florida Dept. of Education

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