UC Davis School of Education

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Archived News Content

Campus Annual Report Features School Partnerships
The 2007 UC Davis Annual Report features the School's partnership with the MIND Institute and St.HOPE, in its launch of a full-inclusion preschool in Sacramento, and its partnership with Sacramento City College and Washington Unified School District, to start the West Sacramento Early College Prep school. See the story and pictures on the Annual Report Web site.

CRESS Director Appointed to California Council on Teacher Education
Mary Sandy, Executive Director of the School's CRESS Center, has been appointed to the board of the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE). Founded in 1945, the CCTE is a non-profit organization devoted to stimulating the improvement of the pre-service and in-service education of teachers and administrators. The Council attends to this general goal with the support of a community of teacher educators, drawn from diverse constituencies, who seek to be informed, reflective, and active regarding significant research, sound practice, and current public educational issues.

National Report on English Proficiency Testing Released
Standardized testing that seeks to measure students’ English language proficiency has improved significantly nationwide since 2001, when Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act, according to “English Language Proficiency Assessment in the Nation: Current Status and Future Practice,” a report edited by Professor Jamal Abedi in November 2007. Abedi’s 196-page report is the first to summarize the progress of the four effort s and to report on the current testing landscape nationwide. Read the news release (November 28,2007).

New Center for Education and Evaluation Services Launched
The Center for Education and Evaluation Services, located in the School’s CRESS Center, provides evaluation services, technical assistance, survey development and administration, and evaluation design.

School Reaches Five-Year Milestone
The School of Education celebrates its fifth birthday in 2007-08. Thanks to the support of the UC Davis campus, our alumni and donors, dedicated faculty
and staff, and educators from throughout Northern California and beyond, the
School has accomplished a great deal in just five short years—and we have
ambitious plans for the future.

Charter High School Now Open
We are pleased to announce the formation of the West Sacramento Early College Prep School (WSECP). UC Davis, Sacramento City College and Washington Unified School District have collaborated to open an exciting new early college charter school. The first day of school was August 22.

Media Coverage of West Sacramento Early College Prep:

  • Insight, Capital Public Radio: "Prepping for College." Radio Interview, October 11, 2007.
  • Dateline, UC Davis: "Underserved West Sacramento Students Get New 'Early College' School." September 14, 2007.
  • Sacramento Bee:"Big changes in West Sac: District starts K-8 shift, college prep charter." August 29, 2007. (Please note: this site requires a free login.)
  • Daily Democrat (Woodland): "The early birds: College. How can kids be ready for it? A new charter school aims to help students get the answer." August 29, 2007.
  • UC Davis News Release: "Underserved West Sacramento students get a new 'early college' school."August 29, 2007.

Writer-in-Residence Program Launched
The School has launched the KLC Adler Children’s Writer-in-Residence program. Established to promote the distinctive importance of children’s literature in instruction by teachers in elementary and secondary school classrooms, the program seeks to strengthen teachers’ instructional options, student learning, and the ability to foster the development and exercise of the creative arts in classrooms. 

Education Professor Awarded Fulbright Fellowship
Cary Trexler, an assistant professor and expert on agriculture education, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright fellowship to extend his research and outreach in Vietnam. Building on relationships and work he has begun with Vietnamese scholars at Nong Lam University in South Vietnam, Trexler will design and modify the agriculture education department’s undergraduate curriculum and assist faculty there in writing grant proposals that focus on rural education and community development.

For full details on these stories and others, read our Spring 2007 newsletter.

Endowed Chair to Help Prepare Next Generation of Teachers
Thanks to the generosity of a $1.09 million gift from Dolly and David Fiddyment of Roseville, CA, the School of Education will enhance its leadership position in preparing the next generation of teachers. Read more here.

Dean Harold Levine Appointed UC Associate Provost for Education Initiatives
In November 2006, The University of California named Harold G. Levine Associate Provost for Education Initiatives. Levine, who will retain his position as Dean of the UC Davis School of Education, will assist the UC Office of the President in developing, implementing, and evaluating systemwide strategies for coordinated, ongoing UC engagement with California’s public P-12 educational system. Levine will work with university and P-12 colleagues to stimulate new partnerships and initiatives and to better coordinate UC resources and programs focused on California’s public education system. Read the full release.

Focus: Solving Problems
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
By Jim Lehrer, anchor, and Spencer Michels, reporter

Arthur Beauchamp, a high school science teacher and Co-Director of the Sacramento Area Science Project, who runs a UC Davis School of Education program that aims to prepare more undergraduate college students to become math and science teachers, says that, traditionally, low salaries have discouraged students from going into teaching. His program tries to offset that by helping students complete some of the classroom training required for a teaching credential while they are still undergraduates. Read the program transcipt and stream the audio or video.

Study Looks at Fragile Futures of High-Achieving Latino Students
Read more about the ETS study conducted by Education Professor Patricia Gandara.

Education Professor Takes Helm at Campus Teaching Resource Center
Jon Wagner is the new Faculty Director of the UCDavis Teaching Resources Center. Wagner brings to the position insight, creativity, and dedication to high quality instruction on the campus. He will continue to teach 50 percent-time in the School of Education.

Children's Author Ryan Draws Over 2,000 Listeners to Lecture
On February 1, more than 2,000 students, teachers and community members attended two lectures by acclaimed children's author Pam Muñoz Ryan. The 2005 lecture by Laurence Yep is available for sale at the UC Davis Bookstore.

Aggie Alumni Association Recognizes School Alumni for 2005 Awards

Young Alumna Award
Dawn Imamoto, Cred. '95, The CAAA has chosen to honor teacher Dawn Imamoto as Outstanding Young Alumna for 2005. Since graduating from UC Davis, has become an exemplary and energetic leader in educating California's youth. In 2004, she was selected as one of five California Teachers of the Year.

Aggie Service Award
Joaquín Galván '81, M.Ed. '93, is an endless supporter of UC Davis. A key volunteer leader for the CAAA Chicano/Latino Alumni Chapter, he is active in outreach to Latino alumni. As a UC Davis employee for more than 20 years, he serves as a retention coordinator in the Learning Skills Center. Galván works as a student adviser, leads workshops and is heavily involved in the campus's Special Transitional Enrichment Program, which helps incoming freshmen adjust to college life academically and socially. He was awarded the UC Davis Staff Award in February 2005.

Education Graduate Group Chair Honored by Peers for Outstanding Teaching
Wendell Potter, the Chair of the Graduate Group in Education received a 2005 Distinguished Teaching Award from the Academic Senate. Potter, according to his peers, has changed the face of physics instruction at UC Davis. Reforms initiated by Potter led to the creation of a new introductory physics course, Physics 7, in 1996. Although the class includes about 1,500 students per quarter, most of the work takes place in sections of 25 students. The class emphasizes discussion and exploration of ideas in physics, encouraging students to "make sense of it for themselves," according to Potter.

Study: Teachers Not Prepared for English Learners' Needs
Most teachers are ill-prepared to meet the needs of the children struggling to learn English in California's public schools, according to a new study by researchers in the School of Education. A leading expert in minority language instruction and Latino education issues, Professor Patricia Gándara teamed up with senior researchers Julie Maxwell-Jolly and Anne Driscoll to do the study. To download the study, go to http://www.cftl.org

Professor recognized for Public Service
Professor Patricia Gándara has been awarded the Academic Senate's Distinguished Public Service Award for 2005, along with three of her colleagues.

The Academic Senate bestows the public service awards annually to recognize significant contributions to the world, nation, state and community. Recipients will again be recognized May 9 at a campus luncheon to be held in their honor.

Dean Appointed to State P-16 Council
Dean Harold Levine has accepted an invitation to serve on a State School Superintendent Jack O'Connell's California P-16 Council. Levine will join 43 other council members who are tasked with examining ways to improve student achievement, create linkages among all levels of education, ensure all students access to quality teachers, and increase public awareness of the connection between an educated citizenry and a healthy economy.