Social justice in the classroom. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Some weighty research topics are on the agendas of eight education faculty as they plan sabbaticals (aka battery recharging) during the coming year. Bruce Romanish is unique among them in that his time away will serve as a transition from administration back to the teaching ranks. Now vice chancellor at WSU Vancouver, he’ll join colleagues in the Department of Teaching and Learning starting in fall 2011.
Here’s the lowdown on education faculty approved for professional leave, excerpted from the university-wide list published by WSU Today.
June Canty, Department of Teaching and Learning (T&L), Vancouver, Aug. 16 – Dec. 31, to study the support new teachers are given by their school district and/or the state during their first two years of teaching. Will follow four beginning teachers in four schools in Southwest Washington.
Gail Furman, Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology (ELCP), Spokane, Aug. 16 – Dec. 31, to complete the analysis of a large data set from the Stuart Foundation funded project, Leadership for Learning, conducted with the Spokane School District; complete a comprehensive literature review related to leadership for social justice in K-12 schools; and develop a book proposal.
Stephen Kucer, T&L, Vancouver, Aug. 16 – Dec. 31, to explore the relationship between how scientific expository text is processed in terms of fluency – speed, prosody, miscues – and what is recalled by 35 proficient fourth grade readers.
Laurie “Lali” McCubbin, ELCP, Pullman, Aug. 16 – May 15, to continue a Kauai study that began with 698 participants who were all born in 1955. This study is the only prospective longitudinal study of the baby boomer generation with a sample that consists of predominantly racial and ethnic minorities.
Darcy Miller, T&L, Pullman, Aug. 16 – Dec. 31, to conduct analyses/syntheses of clinical data and research related to students with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, adolescent females with behavior/emotional disorders, and juvenile offenders; to produce book draft, submit three manuscripts for journal articles and three to four proposals for international/national presentations; and write two grant proposals. Pullman, the University of Washington, Seattle, and a possible trip to Drake University.
Judith Morrison, T&L, Tri-Cities, Aug. 16 – May 15, to complete research projects including writing and submitting journal articles; to submit a proposal for an edited book on the role of scientists in the professional development of science teachers; and to submit a proposal for external funding to extend and develop current research.
Bruce Romanish, Vancouver, Aug. 16. – May 15, to prepare to return to T&L’s Vancouver faculty in fall 2011 and recharge research and writing. Research foci are critical thinking and societal views/treatment of children and their relationship to public education policies and practices.
Richard Sawyer, T&L, Vancouver, Aug. 16 – Dec. 31, to complete two book projects, both accepted by publishers, on the research methodology of duoethnography, a relatively new qualitative research methodology which promotes critical self-change and praxis in relation to educational and societal issues. Portland,with trips to Brock University, Ontario, Canada.