Please join the School of Education in congratulating its faculty, students, and SOE colleagues in affiliated centers on their achievements over December 2015 and the 2016 Winter Session. You may also read about these achievements in UDaily’s February 19 “For the Record” column.

The School of Education monthly achievements is a regular feature of the news section of the SOE website. To submit achievements for the next installment, please email Jessica Henderson, writer in the School of Education, by the last day of the month. Please consider sharing recent awards or grants, publications, presentations, and collaborations across campus or in schools.

School of Education shares Winter 2016 achievements

Publications

George Bear’s article “A Brazilian Portuguese survey of school climate: Evidence of validity and reliability” with coauthors B. Holst, C. Lisboa, D. Chen, C. Yang, and F.F. Chen is forthcoming in the International Journal of School and Educational Psychology.

Joan Buttram and Elizabeth Farley-Ripple published “The role of principals in professional learning communities” in Leadership and Policy in Schools.

James Hiebert with coauthors B. Ermeling and R. Gallimore published “Beyond growth mindset: Creating classroom opportunities for meaningful struggle” in Education Week Teacher.

Charles Hohensee published “Teachers’ Awareness of the Relationship Between Prior Knowledge and New Learning” in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 47(1), 16-26.

Hohensee’s article “Student Noticing in Classroom Settings: A Process Underlying Influences on Prior Ways of Reasoning” is forthcoming in the Journal of Mathematical Behavior.

Nancy Jordan published a book chapter with coauthors L.S. Fuchs and N. Dyson titled “Early interventions and mathematical cognition” in Cohen Kadosh, R. and Dowker, A. (Eds.) Oxford handbook on numerical cognition. (pp.1079-1097) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Jordan and her research team of current and former post-doctoral scholars and students are also awaiting the publication of several accepted articles:

• Resnick, I., Jordan, N. C., Hansen, N., Rajan, V., Rodrigues, J., Siegler, R. S., & Fuchs, L. (in press). Developmental Growth Trajectories in Understanding of Fraction Magnitude from Fourth through Sixth Grade, Developmental Psychology.
• N., Jordan, N. C., & Rodrigues, J. (in press). Identifying persistent learning difficulties in fractions: A Longitudinal study of student growth from third through sixth grade. Contemporary Educational Psychology.
• Hassinger-Das, B., Jordan, N. C., & Dyson N. (in press). Reading stories to learn math: Mathematics vocabulary instruction for children with early numeracy difficulties. The Elementary School Journal.

 Erica Litke’s article, “Middle School Math Acceleration and Equitable Access to Eighth-Grade Algebra: Evidence From the Wake County Public School System” was named one of the top ten most read articles in AERA’s Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. For more information, see AERA’s Most Read Education Research Articles of 2015.

Litke’s article, “What does it mean to be ranked a “high” or “low” value-added teacher? Observing differences in instructional quality across districts” with coauthors D. Blazar and J. Barmore is forthcoming in American Educational Research Journal.

Brian Verdine and Roberta Golinkoff, with coauthors, are expecting the publication of the following book: Verdine, B., Golinkoff, R. M., Hirsh-Pasek, K., & Newcombe, N. Spatial thinking: fundamental to school readiness. Society for Research in Child Development Monograph series.

Joshua Wilson published the following articles:

• Wilson, J., Olinghouse, N. G., McCoach, D. B., Andrada, G. N., & Santangelo, T. (2016). Comparing the accuracy of different scoring methods for identifying sixth graders at risk of failing a state writing assessment. Assessing Writing, 27, 11-23.
• Wilson, J., & Andrada, G. A. (2016). Using automated feedback to improve writing quality: Opportunities and challenges. In Y. Rosen, S. Ferrara, & M. Mosharraf (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Technology Tools for Real-World Skill Development. IGI Global.

Presentations

Roberta Golinkoff gave the following presentations:

• A panel discussion hosted by Representative Gail Lavielle and the Connecticut Commission on Children, titled “Technology in the classroom: How does it compute?” in Hartford CT. Golinkoff’s paper was titled “Playing for Learning in a Digital World.”
• With K. Hirsh-Pasek, “Unlocking the potential of translational science and effective dissemination strategies” at the 2015 Principal Investigators Meeting, Institute of Education Sciences, Washington, D.C.
• With K. Hirsh-Pasek, D. Levine, A. Pace, T. Goksun, N. George, & H. Konishi,“Carving events for language: The role of language” at the SILC Workshop on Space and Language, University of California, San Diego, CA.

 Amanda Jansen and Charles Hohensee presented a poster at the 20th annual meeting of the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) on January 28, 2016, in Irvine, California. The poster was titled, “Why Teach Mathematics? Prospective Teachers’ Reflections on Representations of Mathematics Teaching in Feature Films.”

Nancy Jordan presented her fractions research at an invited symposium at the Institute of Education Sciences Principal Investigators meeting in December 11, 2015.

Joe Henderson chaired a session on the “nature of science” science education literature, co-presented (with David Long, Morehead State) “Motivated Reasons: Scientific (Il)Literacy, NOS, and the Challenge of Cultural Cognition,” and presented an invited session on communicating research to broad audiences at the American Anthropology Association Annual Meeting in Denver, CO.

Meghan Wagaman, a graduate student in the online M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership program, presented a poster on using problem-based learning for a probability unit with students in her Math for Teachers 2 class at Delaware Technical Community College at PBL 2016, a problem-based learning conference at UD.

Service

Elizabeth Farley-Ripple has been working with the Delaware Department of Education to facilitate discussions of a stakeholder committee created by Senate Joint Resolution #2. This committee is analyzing an in-depth inventory of state and district assessments. Read more about this work and Dr. Farley-Ripple’s participation in a roundtable discussion with Acting US Secretary of Education John King, Governor Jack Markell, and other educational leaders.

Laura Glass was selected to be on the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) Government Relations and Advocacy Committee.

Joe Henderson was named co-chair of the Council on Anthropology and Education’s newest standing committee: The Anthropology of Science and Environmental Education.

Professional development:

Amanda Jansen launched an online secondary mathematics teacher study group that focuses upon engaging students in classroom discourse through the use of exploratory (“rough draft”) talk. This study group is a part of the work of the Delaware Mathematics Coalition and the University of Delaware’s Professional Development Center for Educators (PDCE), and it will take place throughout the Spring 2016 semester.

Amanda Jansen’s blended learning course, EDUC 406: Mathematics Teaching in the Middle Grades, was shared as an exemplary case of blended learning during the University of Delaware’s Blended Learning and Seamless Teaching (BLAST) Course Design Institute presented by Faculty Commons and Academic Technology Services.

New positions:

Tony Rispoli, a graduate student in the M.A. in Educational Technology program, accepted an adjunct teaching position at Delaware Technical Community College. He will be teaching the Computer Assembly & Maintenance Course CNE180 for the Spring 2016 semester in the CIS department.

Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP)

 Presentations

Allison Karpyn delivered a presentation entitled, “Innovative Strategies for Healthy Food Incentives:  Randomized Control Trial” at the national “Transforming Food Access” conference at Emory University on January 13, 2016. Dr. Karpyn presented the first round of results from this first-in-the-nation RCT as the project’s Principal Investigator. CRESP is partnering with Wholesome Wave, a national nonprofit organization that makes locally-grown food available to underserved families, on a nationwide randomized controlled trial (RCT) measuring the effectiveness of different Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) incentive levels on customers’ purchase and consumption of fruits and vegetables. Participants receive additional incentives, above the site’s base level, at random through a lottery system, managed by CRESP.

Proposals

 CRESP proposed to continue its partnership with Wholesome Wave on the USDA-Food Insecurity and Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grant application filed in December. The project would design and implement an RCT to measure SNAP incentives for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s “Healthy Bucks” program, the largest municipal-run farmers’ market incentive program in the country.

CRESP partnered with the Food Bank of Delaware and other local organizations to submit a USDA-FINI grant proposal. The project would design, implement, and evaluate Delaware’s first-ever incentive program for SNAP recipients to purchase additional fresh fruits and vegetables at participating point of purchase locations such as supermarkets and farmers markets

CRESP completed a Commissioned Research proposal for Healthy Eating Research, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, through Duke University. The proposal is titled “Understanding Implementation Feasibility of Recommendations for Minimum Stocking Standards and Marketing Strategies for Small Retail Food Stores.”

Professional Development Center for Educators (PDCE)

Service

Amy Trauth- Nare hosted the Project Lead the Way Conference.

Fran O’Malley was reappointed Executive Secretary for the Social Studies Coalition of Delaware and appointed to the Middle States Council for the Social Studies’ conference planning committee. The conference will be held in Rehoboth Beach in February 2017.

Emily Poag led a Twitter chat for the #delachat network of educators on increasing positive messages about education.

Emily Poag and Jackie Wilson have been asked to facilitate a strategic planning work for the Career Services Center at the University of Delaware (to commence this Spring).

Professional development and partnerships

PDCE/DASL hosted Cohort III of the Executive Leadership Academy and a network lunch featuring Governor Markell, Secretary of Education Steve Godowsky, and Karin Chenoweth, EdTrust/Huffington Post.

Tammy Croce has been working with the principal and faculty at East Dover Elementary School to develop the school’s focus plan for school improvement. Dr. Croce coordinated the opportunity for John Epstein, Math Associate with PDCE, to conduct a half -day of elementary math professional development to the entire staff to model high quality math professional development aligned with the focus plan. The half day sessions included one grade level at a time, focusing upon teachers concerns regarding their current instructional practices and their students’ needs, with an emphasis on student engagement, academic ownership, and demonstrations of learning.

Sharon Brittingham

• facilitated the Seaford and Milford School Districts Step-Up Program for Assistant Principals.
• delivered professional development with Dr. Deidre Aikens at St. Georges High School in the New Castle County Vocational District. Deirdre is Ed.D. in School Leadership graduate and principal at Leasure Elementary School in the Christina School District and the only Data Wise certified coach in Delaware. The topic was on how Dr. Aikens uses the Data Wise model of data inquiry with teachers at Leasure Elementary. Dr. Aikens wrote about this model of data inquiry for her ELP. She studied the data wise model during summers at Harvard University.
• developed a partnership with the Indian River School District to conduct two Comprehensive School Reviews.
• conducted site visits to all partnership schools with the Development Coach who works with the principal on teacher evaluations.
• led a team of coaches to provide support to school leaders and teachers in three Red Clay priority schools. Coaches supporting this work include: Sharon Brittingham, Connie Fisher and Lou Ann Miller.
• developed and delivered professional development for Seaford School District on scheduling and maximizing staff.
• developed a new curriculum and facilitated the Capital School District Step-Up Program for Assistant Principals.
• attended and took two Delaware Assistant Principals (Brandon Snyder and Alyssa Booth) from the Indian River School District to the Prince Georges County Public School’s Assistant Principal Symposium at the National Harbor for Prince George’s County Public Schools. DASL has a partnership with PGCPS to develop a district guide for succession planning.

Fran O’Mally

• Facilitated DDOE’s Common Ground for Common Core meetings.
• Provided professional development and coaching for teachers in Appoquinimink, Brandywine, Laurel, and Red Clay.
• Provided professional development to Brandywine secondary administrators.
• Planned and delivered civics and history workshops for grades 3-12 educators from 9 school districts around the state as part of a yearlong effort by the Social Studies. Coalition of Delaware and the Delaware Department of Education to improve instruction, particularly among those who are new to teaching core social studies subjects. Planning involved collaborations with the Departments of Political Science, History and the Institute for Public Administration.

John Kreitzer

• Facilitated the Delaware Performance Appraisal System New Administrator Boot Camp on behalf of DE DOE.
• Coached principals to use DPAS with teachers in Caesar Rodney School District.
• Leadership coaching partnership with Appoquinimink School District.
• Facilitating the Seaford School District Aspiring Leader Program.

Proposals

Jackie Wilson, John Kreitzer, Tammy Croce, and Sharon Brittingham have been notified that their four proposals to present on topics related to the training and development of principal supervisors have been accepted by The Center for Great City Schools and the sponsoring district, Broward County Public Schools for the first National Summit for Principal Supervisors. Presenting with DASL staff will be Dr. Sharon Pepukayi, assistant superintendent, Appoquinimink School District, Dr. Sylvia Henderson, assistant superintendent, Capital School District, Dr. Jim Simmons, executive director of secondary education, Brandywine School District, and Dr. Edwin Quezada, interim superintendent Yonkers, New York Public Schools.