EduCoug

For the third year in a row, a College of Education graduate student has been named a Washington State University Woman of Distinction. Bernadette Mencke was honored today in Pullman, along with payroll services staff member Alice Smethurst and psychology faculty member Rebecca Craft.

Bernadette, who expects to receive her Ph.D. in higher education administration in December, is also associate director of the WSU Office of Student Conduct. Her many activities have included serving as a student regent, as chairperson for the Coalition for Women Students, and as executive cabinet member for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

When asked by a Daily Evergreen reporter for her thoughts on the award, she responded with gratitude to her adviser, Professor Michael Pavel, who nominated her. He told the awards committee:  “Bernadette impresses me with both her determination to learn about and nurture the climate here at WSU … (She) is a wonderful woman who has the courage and motivation to take on the challenges of working in a world afflicted by inequality.”

Education grad students Joan O’viawe (2009 Woman of the Year) and Xyanthe Neider (2008 Woman of Distinction) were honored at the last two Women’s Recognition Luncheons. (For a full list of winners since 1998, see the Women’s Resource Center pages.)

Opinionators
Michael Pavel was in the news himself last week, commenting on Washington schools’ efforts to reclassify families by ethnicity as part of new state guidelines.  The professor, who with his WSU colleagues wrote a report on the Native American educational achievement gap in Washington, hopes the move establishes meaningful relationships between tribal families and their schools and teachers. Read the articles at seattlepi.com and The Olympian.

Rural Education Center director Jim Kowalkowski, who was featured last week in the EduCoug, got his own byline in the Seattle Times with his article Rural schools are effective and don’t need consolidation.  The March 19 opinion piece took issue with the newspaper’s editorial on the subject.

Back in the day of one-room country schoolhouses, each administered by a local board, Washington state had about 2,000 school districts.  There are now 295.  Preserving the remaining small districts, where schools are the heart and soul of often remote communities, is a mission for Jim Kowalkowski, who directs the Rural Education Center.

The center is based in the Davenport School District, where Jim is superintendent. It was created in 1987, the result of collaboration between the Small Schools Committee of the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) and the WSU College of Education. At first, the center focused on gathering and sharing research that would help district superintendents and principals. Research topics included dropout rates, in-service instruction for teachers and the ever-popular “Cooperation vs. Consolidation.”

The center increasingly has became a voice for rural schools.  Jim has been director for six years. Like his predecessors, he often finds himself speaking with legislators and other state policy-makers.  He comes to the conversation armed with statistics. For example, the dropout rate — or lack thereof — at rural schools.

“The highest on-time graduate rates in our state are in rural schools,” he says. “Compare Spokane’s 60 percent rate to places like Harrington, with 100 percent.”

The college-center collaboration is still going strong, as evidenced by this week’s WASA Small Schools Conference in Yakima. Among the presentations: “Making Innovative Connections With Your Land Grant Institution.”  Jim was a presenter, as were two WSU education faculty members, Matt Marino and Hal Jackson.  To the best of anyone’s recollection, they were the first university researchers to speak at the annual rural schools conference. Matt explained his work  developing video games to teach middle school science, and interested 13 school districts in helping with the project.  Hal discussed plans for a forum that will unite schools, communities and university experts in helping students at risk of social and academic problems.

Such partnerships are a priority of two other conference speakers. Jake Dingman,  superintendent of the Oakesdale School District and chair of the Whitman County School Superintendents, spoke about a recent professional development day in Colfax. Arlene Hett, director of the College of Education’s School & Community Collaboration Center, facilitated the “Innovative Connections” discussion.

The WSU delegation in Yakima included Collaboration Center staffer Ashley Herridge, who provides support services for the Rural Education Center — helping continue a connection between the university and small-town Washington that’s now in its 23rd year.

Other faculty news
Jennifer Beller was in Tacoma last week to address the Pacific Lutheran University Wang Center International Symposium on Understanding the world Through Sport and Recreation. Her topic: doping in sport.
Tariq Akmal has been elected as a council member for the Middle Level Research Education special interest group of the American Education Research Association.

Career motivations don’t get much more poignant than the one offered to a WSU audience this week by Enrique G. Murillo Jr.: “I wanted to be the teacher I never had.”

In addition to teacher, Murillo’s job descriptions have included counselor, social-service worker, community organizer, consultant, lecturer, academic journal editor, researcher, and university instructor.   Paula Groves Price — his friend and former student and the WSU faculty member who introduced his Pullman lecture — noted that Murillo is also an historian.  While a graduate student, he conducted interviews of Latino immigrants in North Carolina that became the documentary film Cruceros y Caminos.

Araceli Frias adds another descriptor of Murillo: role model. She was among the students who met with him in Pullman, snagging his autograph for her copy of the Handbook of Latinos and Education, which he edited.  His scholarly work was the first she’d read that came from an indigenous/Chicano point of view.  Araceli is grateful for the breakfast discussion hosted by the Education Graduate Organization.

“The breakfast provided an intimate setting to talk to Dr. Murillo and engage in those scholarly conversations that are hard to come by, especially for Latina/o doctoral students,” says Araceli. “His advice was very helpful and personally meaningful to me because our similar backgrounds are what motivate our line of research.”

Araceli is pursuing a Ph.D. in cultural studies and social thought. She hopes to become a university vice provost for diversity.  Murillo, an associate professor  at California State University-San Bernardino, also met with undergraduates. Along with classroom tips, he offered them encouragement:  “Being a teacher is, I think, the most noble thing you can be in our society.”

The good news: More kids with learning and other disabilities are participating in inclusive science classrooms. The bad news: Many of them struggle to keep up with their peers. As a result, few students with disabilities take advanced scientific courses. They don’t  imagine themselves as engineers or mathematicians.

Technology–ranging from smart phones to Internet games–offers promise for helping those students achieve academically, says Assistant Professor Matt Marino, and it could pique their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). But what’s the best way to use the technological teaching tools? In an article  that will be published in March by the Journal of Special Education Technology, he recommends a research agenda to answer that question.  As a result of the article, Matt was asked to co-edit an upcoming issue devoted to STEM and special education.

Matt has explored the technology question with help from a 2009 College of Education faculty research award.  Among the other winners last year was Professor Gisela Ernst-Slavit, whose award contributed to her fascinating study of teachers who have English language learners (ELLs) in their classrooms.

Gisela analyzed recordings of lessons given in five upper elementary classrooms. She discovered that even teachers who were well-schooled in ELL techniques used figurative language and expressions that confused or baffled their ELL students. For example, they used sports expression such as touchdown or talked about Uncle Sam.  In one math lesson, a teacher used the word “that” five times without clarifying what the word referred to: “We’ll get to that later… That tells us to do what? … Is that top number bigger? … Could we reduce that? … Some of you have figured that out.”

Practicing teachers who are among Gisela’s graduate students are now recording and analyzing their own classroom language, so they can make adjustments. Michele Mason, a student in the teacher leadership Ed.D.  program, will accompany Gisela to April’s American Educational Research Association meeting, where the professor will give a keynote address for the Constructivist Theory, Research, and Practice special interest group.

Other faculty news
Associate Professor Lali McCubbin is among 31 nationally and internationally recognized scholars who contributed to the new book Multiethnicity and Multiethnic Families: Development, Identity, and Resilience.

A new revision of Curriculum Leadership: Readings for Developing Quality Educational Programs has been released. Its authors are Professor Forrest Parkay,  former WSU faculty member Eric Anctil, and Glen Hass.

Clinical Assistant Professor Kimberly Robertello and her students will present a workshop at the Northwest Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting in Spokane in late March.  Their topic:  the use of exergaming in rehabilitation.

This purpliffic picture of Rochelle Duane and a Pullman youngster helps illustrate the WSU Today article about Megan Itani, special education teacher extraordinaire. Rochelle, a graduate student from Bremerton, Washington, says she went into her fall practicum in Megan’s classroom knowing virtually nothing about preschool:

“It was incredible to see the progress of each of the students and observe how the patience and strategies that Megan and the rest of the team implemented benefited every student.

“The most important thing I learned was that preschool is not simply a miniature elementary school.  After first grade, the classes focus on reading, writing, math, spelling, etc. Almost everything is academic.  In the preschool, everything revolved around experiences and preparing the kids to be successful.  It took me a while to realize that’s not only okay, but it’s necessary! Without these experiences, without learning which side of the book to start from, what sounds barnyard animals make, or what paint feels like between your fingers, they won’t be able to grow into the children and adults we are helping them become.”

Burnishing your political cred
Our superintendents’ certification students and anyone else interested in policymaking might want to read  “How to Influence Legislators” in the January 2010 edition of InterBusiness Issues. The article was written by Frank Mackaman, of the WSU/UW collaborative Dirksen Congressional Center, and advocacy guru Stephanie Vance.  It is the first in a series of quarterly articles about policy or legislative advocacy.  Future articles will explain the four principles for effective legislative advocacy, the six key questions you’ll want to answer before you ask a policymaker for something, and five key elements of effective messages.

You remember Drew Bledsoe, right? He’s the son of that fellow, Mac, who won an Advocate for Education Award last fall from the College of Education. Well, the younger Bledsoe (and NFL great) is the owner of a new winery in Walla Walla. In a recent Washington State Magazine article, he talks about caring for vines in his vineyard. “If you starve them for water, make the roots really dig, and then thin them out, the grapes that are left really develop some nice complexity and depth.”   So a plant, he says, is like a little kid.  Given everything it wants, “it grows up spoiled with no depth to it.”

Sounds like something his dad would say.

Whose news? Sorting out the WSU media scene
Speaking of Washington State Magazine, you probably know the publication, in its glossy and Web-based forms, is geared toward alumni readers. And you know the Daily Evergreen (and its West Side counterpart, the VanCougar) is a student newspaper.

But for some College of Education folks, the role of campus information sources gets a little fuzzy after that.  So here’s the scoop.

WSU Today is a weekday online newsletter that reports on news about and of interest to faculty, staff and graduate students.  The WSU News Service targets off-campus audiences by providing press releases, feature stories and news tips. The two enterprises often repurpose and  link to each other’s articles, however. And each relies heavily on submissions from communications and marketing staffers who work for WSU’s various colleges, units and campuses.

Professor Forrest Parkay is eager to introduce students to the friends and faculty he’s met off the beaten path in China’s mountainous southwestern Yunnan Province.  But first, he’s been getting lessons of his own in the complexities of setting up what would be the College of Education’s first study abroad course, Education in China.

At this week’s Education Abroad Fair in Pullman, Forrest spoke excitedly about the opportunity, which would start with a five-day stay in Beijing Normal University and even include a visit to Shangri-La.  But one of the most compelling attractions for any student would be the experience that Forrest would pack along on the May 15-June 18 adventure.  His connections to Asia began in 1996 as a Fulbright scholar in Thailand, where he has traveled two dozen times.

“My collaborative activities in China began in earnest around 2005,” he says. “I’ve been there about 10-12 times. One of my doctoral students, Vincent Nix, actually lives and works in Kunming, the location for most of our Education in China program this summer. About two months ago, he defended his dissertation here. Another one of my WSU doctoral students, Qi Li, is now a full professor at Beijing Normal University.”

Forrest’s many publications include co-authoring the  textbook Becoming a Teacher, now in its eight printing and being translated into Chinese. He’ll be talking about the study-abroad course (and offering free pizza) during the noon hour Friday, January 22,  in Room 202 of Pullman’s Education Addition.

Reading matter
We really do know what makes great teaching. Teach for America allows an Atlantic author access to 20 years of experimentation, studded by trial and error. The results, she reports, are specific and surprising. “Things that you might think would help a new teacher achieve success in a poor school—like prior experience working in a low-income neighborhood—don’t seem to matter. Other things that may sound trifling—like a teacher’s extracurricular accomplishments in college—tend to predict greatness.”

Understanding politics is, arguably, as important to a school superintendent as understanding education.  So students in WSU’s Superintendent Certification Program travel to Olympia before each legislative session for a primer on the making of laws that affect K-12 education.

The annual field trip is greatly aided by Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, a friend of program director Gene Sharratt. Owen opens up the Senate chamber (the lieutenant governor is president of the Senate when it is in session) and welcomes the WSU students. Last Friday’s packed agenda included policy updates from representatives of top education organizations, as well as state education officials.

The 54 students and four WSU faculty members heard about an upcoming legislative session that could hardly be more stressful. Education is one of many vital state services threatened by deep budget cuts.

The day’s take-home message? Gene summarized it this way:  “Solutions are possible if elected leaders work together to resolve short-term needs, while not losing sight of the long-term priorities.”

The value of the learning experience? Here’s what two of the students had to say:

“The Olympia seminar opened my eyes to new opportunities, future relationships, and how to impact political change.  I will be work on getting to know my legislative representatives and becoming more involved in my own professional organizations.” — Don Francis, elementary principal from the Quincy area.

“The seminar was packed with information regarding funding issues.  The opportunity to hear from practitioners and the difficult dilemma that they are in as we face a huge budget shortfall makes me rethink the political passion one must have for this work.” — Krestin Bahr, middle school principal from Tacoma.

Reading matter, politics edition
Legislature weighs giving up control over university tuition hikes. The Seattle Times reports that a proposal to allow the state’s public universities to raise tuition without legislative approval is gaining momentum in Olympia.

Online publications are inexpensive, simple to update, and never clog up the recycle bin.

But quality printed materials provide a presence and tactile pleasure that digital publications lack.  Take the College of Education’s new research brochure, for instance.  The eight-page pamphlet provides a snapshot of our scholarly landscape.  And it does serve a digital function by directing readers to our research Web pages, which include searchable rosters of topics and faculty members.

The brochures will arrive on all campuses this week.  If you need more copies for recruiting, conferences and such, a limited supply is available in the dean’s office.

Reading matter, re: research
Matching teaching style to learning style may not help students. Four psychologists argue that teaching methods should jibe with the subject, not the students. Others beg to differ.
Experience matters for new principals, says new study. Having graduated from a highly selective university or spending time as a classroom teacher seemed to be less important for the principals in this analysis quoted on the blog Inside Education Research.
Reading practice can strengthen ‘brain highways.’ Intensive reading programs can produce measurable changes in the structure of a child’s brain, according to a study in the journal Neuron.
Studying young minds, and how to teach them. For much of the last century, educators and many scientists believed that children could not learn math before the age of 5 because their brains were not ready. Recent research has turned that assumption on its head.

The College of Education, spread as it is across four campuses, is bound to latch on to Elluminate, a desktop virtual meeting and collaboration tool that will be available for free university-wide starting spring semester.  What a boon for research teams and far-flung administrators.  And for teachers:  “Elluminate provides video, audio, Web and application sharing for faculty interested in providing courses in a real-time, online, interactive, virtual classroom environment.”

That’s a lot of adjectives. They’re backed up by one educator’s rave review of Elluminate, which notes that teachers and students are able to speak to one another via headset microphones, use direct messaging or chat, draw on a whiteboard, stream video, and share files. Students click buttons to raise their hands,  ask questions or indicate they’ve stepped away.  Sessions are recorded and archived. Perhaps most notably, Elluminate compresses data without loss of audio. Translation: Regardless of Internet connection speeds, there are no annoying delays between what’s said at one end and what’s heard at the other.

Taps for 2009
Reminisce with the New Yorker’s best-of-year lists. And ponder the past with Reuters’ decade in pictures.