Welcome

Congratulations to Bobby Hunter, Rebecca Mazonson, and Anna Samel, all Education Studies concentrators and members of Brown's Class of 2012, on their election to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.

This spring marks the appearance of new books by Tracy Steffes, Assistant Professor of Education and History, and Jin Li, Associate Professor of Education and Human Development.

Prof. Steffes' School, Society, and State: A New Education to Govern Modern America, 1890-1940 (University of Chicago Press, 2012) is described as showing that public schooling "was not merely another reform project of the Progressive Era, but a central one. She addresses why Americans invested in public education and explains how an array of reformers subtly transformed schooling into a tool of social governance to address the consequences of industrialization and urbanization."

Prof. Li's Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West (Cambridge University Press, 2012) is described as analyzing the "fundamental differences in learning beliefs between the West and East Asia. It details how these cultures' children engage in learning, feel about their learning, regard their learning peers, and express their learning, as well as how parents guide their children. Despite today's accelerated cultural exchange, these learning models do not diminish but endure."
The Department extends warm congratulations to both of them on their fine achievements.

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation has selected Donna Chung, an Education Studies Concentrator, as one of 25 Fellows selected for the third cohort of the Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund Fellowships for Aspiring Teachers of Color (WW-RBF). Chosen through a competitive selection process, the 25 WW-RBF Fellows will each receive a $30,000 stipend to complete a master's degree in education, preparation to teach in a high-need public school, support throughout a three-year teaching commitment, and guidance toward teaching certification. Each Fellow was nominated by one of the program's 48 nominating institutions and 29 graduate education programs.
More about the individual Fellows.

The project, a collaboration between Rivas-Drake and Cho, will shed light on community, school, and family influences Latino adolescents' postsecondary motivations and choices.

Assistant Professor Deborah Rivas-Drake (in collaboration with Adriana Umaña-Taylor at Arizona State University) has been awarded grants from the Society for Research on Adolescence and the Society for Research in Child Development for the project, "Ethnic and Racial Identity in the 21st Century," which will synthesize the major findings, implications, and areas for future innovation in research on ethnic and racial identity in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood.

Dan was recently selected to serve on the Blackstone Academy Board of Directors, a charter school in Pawtucket, RI.
See the Blackstone Academy Mission Statement.
Blackstone Academy was established in 2002 as a small, public high school of choice for students from Central Falls and Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The school was founded to give students in these communities the option of attending a college-preparatory high school that connects learning to the community.
Through participation in our signature Community Improvement Projects, Blackstone students learn skills that will benefit them as they learn how to become real world problem solvers. Rigorous coursework prepares our students for college and other programs of higher education.

Kansas City, Mo., is the latest school district to consider a mayoral takeover in an attempt to boost student achievement. In a letter in support of the move, Mayor Sly James cited research by Kenneth Wong, professor of education, who has found that systems under mayoral control do tend to improve. "Mayoral leadership is able to leverage a lot of resources both inside and outside of the public school system to work together to address more holistically some of the neighborhood challenges: social isolation, jobs, crime, gang violence," Wong has said.
You can read the article and hear the audio on the radio station's site.

Dan was a 2009 Brandwein Ecology Medal recipient for his national and international work in biological diversity conservation education. The Brandwein Institute is dedicated to the education of all learners in recognition of their interdependence with nature and responsibility for sustaining a healthful and healing environment.

At the National Science Teachers Association Hartford Area Conference October 27-29, Dan gave a talk on using GIS: "Mapping Nest Success in Migratory Birds"
At the Coalition of Essential Schools' Fall Forum, November 10-12, Dan gave a talk on HabitatNet.

As part of a program connecting Brown faculty and high school teachers from the Shenzhen district in China, 23 teachers from Shenzhen visited the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center, a public school in Providence, to observe American teaching and classroom organization styles yesterday... Full Brown Daily Herald Article here.

Professor John Tyler has been appointed as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. The NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. NBER disseminates unbiased economic research among public policy makers, business professionals, and the academic community. NBER Research Associates are the long term affiliates who largely determine the direction and tone of research within each NBER program. Professor Tyler has been active in the Economics of Education program at NBER.