SOE News
2006
Harriet Boone receives grant to develop program to produce culturally-responsive child practitioners
Nov. 15, 2006
Harriet Boone, associate professor of early childhood intervention and family support, recently received an $800,000 grant to develop and implement a specialized master's program of study to prepare students to meet the needs of linguistically and culturally diverse young children and their families in early childhood and elementary school settings.
School Counseling named 2006 Outstanding Counselor Education Program
Oct. 13, 2006
The School Counseling, M.Ed., program at the School of Education recently received recognition when it was named the 2006 Outstanding Counselor Education Program by the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (SACES). The award was presented Sept. 9 at the 2006 SACES Conference in Orlando, Fla.
Björn Hennings new director of Carolina Center for Educational Excellence
Oct. 12, 2006
Björn Hennings has been appointed director of the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence, effective Oct.1, 2006. In this role, he will contribute to the work of the Chancellor’s Task Force for Engagement and its call for greater collaboration, both between our campus and the public schools, and between our School of Education and other academic units at UNC-Chapel Hill.
History workshop returns, offers professional development for students and teachers
Oct. 12, 2006
Nearly 40 teachers, students and professors assembled for the workshop, “Teaching United States History in a Global Perspective” on Saturday, Oct. 7 at Dey Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The event was sponsored by the UNC Project for Historical Education (PHE), a joint project between the School of Education and the University’s Department of History.
Don de Leaumont elected to University Employee Forum
Oct. 11, 2006
Don de Leaumont, a computer technician with the School of Education’s Information Technology Services team, has been elected a delegate to the UNC-Chapel Hill Employee Forum. The 51 delegates to the Forum are chosen by a university-wide vote of their peers.
SCALE receives funding for new service-learning program
Oct. 9, 2006
The Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) at the School of Education was recently awarded a three-year, $1.2 million grant from Learn & Serve America. The grant will fund "Learning to Teach, Learning to Serve" (LTLS), a new program initiative designed to integrate service-learning and teacher education in North Carolina.
Gov. Easley taps School of Education to examine high schools statewide
Sept. 19, 2006
Gov. Mike Easley has announced that the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education will work with the State Board of Education and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction in a statewide effort to conduct performance audits of high schools in all 115 school districts. The goal is to ensure accountability and the smart, targeted use of resources in the state’s public high schools. Student achievement data and spending patterns from high schools across the state will be examined.
Researchers work with rural educators across the nation
Sept. 14, 2006
School of Education researchers involved in federally funded collaborations with rural schools have learned that teachers there are the projects’ best friends.
The teachers’ understanding of their students’ families and communities has proven indispensable, say School of Education professors involved with the projects – all conducted by the National Research Center on Rural Education Support in the school.
Teachers talk policy
Sept. 13, 2006
“Effective leadership . . . smaller schools . . . more time for teachers to think and plan . . . opportunities for experienced teachers to help their schools and other teachers . . .”
Those are some of the major needs in North Carolina schools, which were expressed by 10 practicing teachers assembled at The Carolina Inn on Sept. 13, 2006.
Henry Frierson moderates panel at national conference on access to higher education
Sept. 12, 2006
In a ballroom filled with more than 150 leaders from universities across the country, diversity was an appropriate theme for the first panel discussion of a four-day conference. Four panelists addressed those assembled Monday morning in the Carolina Inn about patterns of diversity within U.S. colleges. The panelists sought to answer the questions asked by moderator Henry Frierson, a UNC professor of educational psychology: "Who are the 18-year-olds of the next decade?" he asked. "Will they be college-ready? And will college be ready for them?"
Regina Cortina discusses immigrants in schools with WUNC
Aug. 16, 2006
Regina Cortina, associate professor of comparative and international education, was featured in “The State of Things,” a live program on North Carolina Public Radio (WUNC).
UNC-Chapel Hill appoints new director for FPG Child Development Institute
Aug. 1, 2006
Dr. Samuel L. Odom, the Edward and Mary Lou Otting Professor and coordinator of the special education program at Indiana University, has been named director of the Frank Porter Graham (FPG) Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Odom will also serve as a professor in the UNC School of Education.
LEARN NC partners with DPI to offer free online courses for NC teachers
July 31, 2006
LEARN NC has partnered with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction to offer North Carolina teachers free online professional development courses.
Joseph Green new director of Upward Bound
July 1, 2006
Joseph Green has been named director of Upward Bound, as of July 1, 2006. He comes from the University of Central Florida where he was director of the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program and the Research and Mentoring Program. Housed in the School of Education, Upward Bound is a federally funded educational assistance program that helps prepare low income high school students for college and lifelong learning.
UNC project boosts personal stories of history
June 9, 2006
The individual stories of more than 500 Southerners, describing their personal experiences of history, will be heard around the world, thanks to a federal grant to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dean James, Gregory Cizek featured in public radio series on high schools
May 25, 2006
Dean Thomas James and Dr. Gregory Cizek were featured in a public radio series, “North Carolina Voices: Studying High School.” Produced by North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC, the program featuring Dean James focused on “High School Reform: A Work in Progress.” The segment featuring Dr. Cizek focused on “Testing in Our Schools.”
Donald Bailey to join RTI International
May 1, 2006
After more than 26 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Donald Bailey, Kenan professor and director of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, has announced his plans to retire from the University, effective July 1, 2006. He has accepted a distinguished fellow position with RTI International in Research Triangle Park and its Division for Health Services and Social Policy Research.
Smallwood Foundation continues support for women in educational leadership
April 27, 2006
The Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Foundation, a family foundation based in Fort Worth, Texas, has announced a gift of $50,000 to the School of Education for 2006-07. The funds will provide support for selected women students in the Educational Leadership Program.
Foundation Board adds new members
April 27, 2006
Dean Thomas James has announced the appointment of five new members of the School of Education’s Foundation Board. The group met in Chapel Hill on April 27, 2006.
Barnett Berry imagines the future of university-based teacher education
April 26, 2006
Critiques of traditional, university-based teacher education are abundant. In a presentation on April 26, 2006, Barnett Berry, president of the Center for Teaching Quality in Chapel Hill, N.C., cited several of these critiques and proposed action for the future.
Alejandro Portes advocates enlightened programs for immigrants
April 18, 2006
“One out of every five people in the United States today is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant,” Alejandro Portes told an audience of 200 students and educators on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus April 18, 2006. His presentation focused on how we have reached that point in the United States, the challenges immigrants face during assimilation and what needs to be done.
Spencer Foundation supports study of mathematics learning
April 7, 2006
A $300,000 grant from the Spencer Foundation will enable three School of Education faculty members ─ Jill Hamm, Carol Malloy and Judith Meece ─ to investigate students’ development as mathematics learners as they transition from middle school into high school mathematics. In the two-year study, they will explore how cognitive and social processes in early adolescents’ mathematical understanding unfold as students begin the study of high school mathematics.
School ranked 29th in U.S. News & World Report
March 31, 2006
The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education has maintained its position among the top schools of education in America according to rankings released on March 31, 2006, by U.S. News & World Report. A tie for 29th among the 240 schools ranked placed the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Education in the upper 12 percent of all doctoral-granting schools of education in the country.
Gary Henry named distinguished visiting professor
March 31, 2006
Gary T. Henry, a professor in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, will join the School of Education faculty on July 1 as the William Neil Reynolds Distinguished Visiting Professor. He is a leading scholar in educational policy and evaluation.
Science education initiative at Peck Elementary exemplifies School of Education’s work with schools
March 29, 2006
Chancellor James Moeser visited the Clara J. Peck Elementary School in Greensboro, N.C., to observe ongoing collaborative work between the University and the elementary school and to explore future possibilities. The collaboration at Peck, featuring the work of Clinical Assistant Professor Cheryl Horton, typifies the work that many School of Education faculty do across the state as they connect with teachers and administrators, learn about the needs of schools, offer resources and exchange knowledge.
Yan Zhang, visiting scholar, studies educational policy
March 23, 2006
Yan Zhang, founder and vice-president of Yan An University in Xi An, China, has joined the School of Education faculty as a visiting scholar from February 2006 through January 2007. She will study theories of higher education, observe private colleges and universities in America, and pursue opportunities for collaborative research. Her sponsor is Dean Thomas James, assisted by Associate Professor Xue Lan Rong.
William Sanders describes value-added assessment for measuring student progress
March 21, 2006
Speaking to a capacity crowd at the School of Education, William Sanders described his work over the last 20 years developing a methodology to measure the influence of school systems, schools and teachers on the academic progress of students. His system, known as “value-added assessment,” is designed to reduce the error of measurement that arises in any single pre- and post-test situation by creating a large information array for each student and populating it with data from many achievement measures. Sanders is a senior research fellow with the University of North Carolina system and manager of value-added assessment and research for SAS Institute Inc. in Cary, N.C.
Second Carolina Seminar on School Improvement: meeting the challenges of the mathematics and science teacher shortage in North Carolina
March 10, 2006
Building on the First Carolina Seminar on School Improvement held in December, 20 educators and policymakers assembled in Chapel Hill on March 10, 2006, to develop some approaches to address the shortage of mathematics and science teachers in North Carolina. Co-hosts of the roundtable discussion were Dean Thomas James of the School of Education and Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life.
United Parcel Service funds training of literacy leaders through SCALE
March 1, 2006
The Student Coalition for Action in Literacy Education (SCALE) has established a program to improve literacy programs across North Carolina, with support from a $138,000 grant from the United Parcel Service Foundation. Through the new Collaborative Leadership for Community Literacy (CLCL) project, SCALE is providing training and professional development to various campus and community-based literacy programs.
New resources for teachers, parents of Latino students
March 1, 2006
North Carolina is among the states experiencing the highest growth rate of the expanding Latino population in the United States. This change is having a great impact on our schools, creating a need for educators to learn more about Latino students and for Latino parents to learn more about schools in this country. The School of Education has produced two new resources to address these needs ─ an educators’ handbook on CD and a parent guide in Spanish.
Seventh annual “Let’s Talk R.A.C.E. Conference” features hip hop musician
Feb. 19, 2006
If a student carried around a notebook full of poetry and worked on it until each word was perfect, it might be expected that the student was the star of his or her Language Arts class. It doesn't always work that way, according to Nick Jaffe, a musician, audio engineer and K-8 teacher from Chicago. Jaffe spoke at an all-day conference on Feb. 18 for the N.C. Teaching Fellows Program during its seventh annual "Let's Talk R.A.C.E. Conference.
Eugenie Samier promotes integration of humanities into training of educational leaders
Feb. 2, 2006
Professor Eugenie Samier of Canada’s Simon Fraser University addressed School of Education faculty and students on Thursday, Feb. 2 on the need to integrate the humanities into the training of educational leaders. She emphasized the use of world literature to describe the culture, politics and purpose of organizational structure and leadership.
William Tate proposes action to improve attainment in mathematics and science
Jan. 23, 2006
William Tate, the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, outlined “A Contract for Excellence in Scientific Education.” Addressing an audience of 50 educators and researchers, he described how universities can help improve achievement in mathematics and science among students in the United States.
School of Education launches redesigned website
Jan. 23, 2006
After more than a year of planning, analysis and technical work, the School of Education launched its newly-designed website on Jan. 23, 2006. Please browse our site and send us your comments and suggestions.
Faye Coleman killed in automobile accident
Jan. 23, 2006
Faye Coleman, program assistant in the School of Education, was hit by a drunk driver in Hillsborough, N.C. on Jan. 21. She died at the scene of the accident.
Seminars begun for faculty and students, James Marshall leads inaugural series on Michel Foucault
Jan. 17, 2006
James Marshall, emeritus professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, is leading a three-part seminar in January for School of Education faculty and students on Michel Foucault. Hosted by the Culture, Curriculum and Change Program, this seminar is the first of several events planned to promote intellectual exchange among faculty and students.
Jocelyn Glazier joins faculty
Jan. 9, 2006
Jocelyn Anne Glazier has joined the faculty of the School of Education as an assistant professor of teacher education. Coming from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., she brings expertise in teacher preparation, literacy, cultural diversity and critical pedagogy.