December 2019 Newsletter

Launching the 21st-Century Learning Environment Initiative to Transform School of Education Classroom Spaces

At the School of Education, our faculty and students—from teaching credential/master’s to EdD and PhD—are actively shaping the future of education. Their ideas and innovations will fundamentally re-imagine tomorrow’s classrooms and the learning that will take place in them. Yet our physical environment has frankly not evolved in step with our world-class approach to education.  

With philanthropic support, our new 21st-century teaching and learning initiative will create modern, inviting and flexible spaces with leading-edge technologies to prepare our students to lead the way in an evolving educational landscape. “Building more flexible, collaborative and inviting spaces will enable us to improve instruction in all segments of education,” said Margarita Jimenez-Silva, associate professor and director of Teacher Education. “This initiative will allow us to optimally prepare our students to put their knowledge to work leading classrooms and communities across our state and nation.”

We envision these renovations taking place in two phases over the next 18-24 months. Our goal is to raise Phase 1 funds by January 2020, so that campus services can schedule construction during the Summer of 2020. Thanks to a generous leadership gift of $25,000 from the Stuart Foundation, and support from our Dean’s Board of Advisors, we are well on our way to our Phase 1 goal of $100,000. Learn more about the initiative, and find out how you can lend your support.

Davis Campbell Honored with 2020 CAAA Distinguished Achievement Award

Davis Campbell (MA ’68) has been honored with the 2020 Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) Distinguished Achievement Award. Campbell is the chair and a founding member of the School of Education’s Board of Advisors, and is a senior fellow at the School’s Center for Applied Policy in Education. He has been an esteemed leader in public education for 50 years.

At the School of Education, Campbell made a gift to help establish the Dean’s Innovation Fund, which has been used to support outreach to graduate students from diverse backgrounds and to fund science camp scholarships for low-income elementary school children. In 2009, he gave generous gifts to establish the Guardian Teacher Scholarship Fund, which supports former foster youth who dream of becoming teachers. The program has grown into the Guardian Professions Program and helped more than 50 former foster youth gain admission to advanced-degree programs in education and other fields.

Wheelhouse Awarded $400,000 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant for Leadership Development

The School of Education’s Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research has received a two-year, $400,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand and enhance its Institute on Leadership, which educates and supports a new generation of community college leaders across California. Funds from this grant will also support the research arm of Wheelhouse to produce case studies on leadership innovation and research publications focused on student pathways to degree or transfer.

Interested in community college research and leadership development? Stay up to date with Wheelhouse by signing up for their mailing list. 

GEAR UP Rural Valley Partnership Hosts Educational Partners at Orland Office 

The School of Education’s GEAR UP Rural Valley Partnership program held its first event for educational partners at their new office in Orland, CA on November 21. More than 60 attendees, including school district superintendents, principals, county superintendents and county staff members, attended to hear presentations on GEAR UP’s progress as it starts the second year of its seven-year grant cycle. “We were so pleased to have every school district partner represented,” said Project Director Stacey Garrett. “We continue to be amazed at the level of collaboration and teamwork among our partners.” The federally funded partnership serves more than 1,700 students in Colusa, Glenn and Tehama counties, providing support to successfully complete high school and attend college or other postsecondary programs. Learn more about GEAR UP’s work on our website.

New Director of Research and Partnerships/Executive Director of REEd

Dr. Carlas McCauley joined the School of Education as Director of Research and Partnerships/Executive Director of REEd on November 18. McCauley comes to UC Davis from WestEd, where he had served as the Director of the Center on School Turnaround since 2014. In his role at WestEd, McCauley directed a large federally funded center that advises state and local education agencies on promoting equity and improving educational outcomes for students. From 2007 to 2014, he worked at the US Department of Education in Washington DC, providing him with a deep understanding of national trends in education, school improvement efforts and the inner workings of legislative policies influencing local school districts. McCauley earned his BA at St. Louis University and his MS in education policy and EdD in leadership and policy from the University of Southern California.

Support Education with an End-of-Year Gift

Gifts to the School of Education’s Annual Fund strengthen all areas of the School, supporting our mission to provide quality, equitable education through our teaching, research and outreach activities. Here are just a few ways our Annual Fund is making an impact:

Scholarship support to future educators and educational researchers like first-generation PhD student Claudia Escobar, who studies retention, persistence and completion for first-generation college students like herself. Scholarships help our students pursue their dreams of improving education through groundbreaking research and transformational teaching.

Support for the programmatic needs of CANDEL, our EdD program that combines rigorous scholarship with an emphasis on confronting and eliminating inequities. CANDEL prepares educational professionals to be exemplary leaders in schools, community colleges and other educational settings.

Funding that allowed our Center for Shakespeare in Diverse Classrooms to facilitate professional development opportunities in partnership with Globe Education, Shakespeare’s Globe for our teaching credential students and local teachers. The Center works to empower language arts and social studies teachers with innovative practices throughout their careers.

By making a gift to the School of Education Annual Fund, you help our School support our faculty and students, continue programs that have far-reaching impact throughout our community and provide high-quality education to the next generation of teachers. Help us continue to create new opportunities for our students and faculty by giving back today.

Recent Research Publications

• Prof. Steven Athanases, PhD candidate Sergio L. Sanchez and Prof. Lee Martin coauthored “Saturate, Situate, Synthesize: Fostering Preservice Teachers’ Conceptual and Practical Knowledge for Learning to Lead Class Discussion,” an article in the journal Teaching and Teacher Education.
• Multiple Subject Credential Lecturer/Supervisor Leslie Banes (PhD ’17), Prof. Rebecca Ambrose, alumnae Rachel Restani (PhD ’18) and Heather Martin (PhD ’08), and Dept. of Linguistics Prof. Robert Bayley published their article “Relating Performance on Written Assessments to Features of Mathematics Discussion” in the International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education.
• Prof. Kevin Gee published his article “Maltreatment Profiles of Child Welfare–Involved Children in Special Education: Classification and Behavioral Consequences” in the journal Exceptional Children.
• Alumnus Ijeoma E. Ononuju (PhD ’16), PhD candidate BernNadette T. Best-Green, and Prof. Danny C. Martinez coauthored a chapter, “Students Developing Critical Language and Literacy Perspectives,” in the book Race, Justice, and Activism in Literacy Instruction.
• California Education Lab Executive Director Sherrie Reed, Prof. Michal Kurlaender, and Dept. of Economics Prof. Scott Carrell debuted a new report, “Strengthening the Road to College: California’s College Readiness Standards and Lessons from District Leaders,” published through Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE).