January 2021 Newsletter

EQUITY EVENTS

Expanding Equity in Educational Research Presented via Zoom on Jan. 26

Dr. Antero Garcia and Dr. Nicole Mirra presented on “I Hesitate But I Do Have Hope: Speculative Civic Literacies for Troubled Times,” the latest event in our Expanding Equity in Educational Research speaker series, on January 26. Co-sponsored with the Graduate Group in Education. The Expanding Equity in Education Research Speaker Series brings multidisciplinary experts to UC Davis so we can explore how to create more equitable outcomes across the educational field. Watch the recording of this webinar.

Celebrating Diversity in Children’s Literature with Words Take Wing

This year’s Words Take Wing: Honoring Diversity in Children’s Literature will feature author Lesa Cline-Ransome, an award-winning author of children’s books on the lives of extraordinary African Americans. This year’s event on February 23 will be virtual, and teachers can register their classes here. Crowdfund UC Davis will feature Words Take Wing in February, so look for announcements coming soon about how you can help support this much-loved program. To learn more, contact Quentin Graeber.

Humanizing Pedagogies Presentation Available Online

Over 250 people attended our most recent Humanizing Pedagogies Speaker Series presentation “A Virtual Dialogue: Anti-racism and Liberation in Education and Teacher Education” with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad and Dr. Curtis Acosta. This web forum was presented by the UC Davis Teacher Education Program, in partnership with the Graduate Group in Education, UC Davis School of Education, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. If you missed it or want to watch again, the video recording is now available here.

Anonymous Alumna Donates $150,000 to Inspire Others on Give Day 2021

We’re honored to announce that a generous alumna has provided a $150,000 donation to support teaching credential/master’s student scholarships as well as a mission-critical, unrestricted gift to our Dean’s Innovation Fund. This gift was given with the hope that it will also inspire other alumni and friends to join in giving back to the School during UC Davis Give Day on April 16-17. 

“This wonderful gift will touch every student and faculty member in the School of Education,” said Dean Lauren Lindstrom, “not only through the direct impact of support for scholarships and School initiatives, but through the ripple effect created as it encourages others to join in contributing during Give Day.”

RESEARCH

California Education Lab Looks at School District Responses to COVID-19

The School of Education’s California Education Lab is partnering with Policy Analysis for California Education to collect data to be used for research on the impact of instructional changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The work is funded by a $50,000 grant from the Stuart Foundation, a $100,000 grant from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation and a $50,000 grant from Sobrato Family Foundation.

The research team is collecting K-12 school district data on pandemic responses such as school closure dates, instructional and assessment plans, and access to laptops and Wi-Fi. The first wave of data was collected in spring 2020 by UC Davis faculty and graduate and undergraduate students and will be summarized in a report scheduled to be published winter 2021. Read the full story.​

Tony Albano Receives Grant to Develop Assessment System for Early Math Skills

Prof. Tony Albano is a co-principal investigator on a $1.4 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences titled “Development of a Responsive Computerized-Adaptive Assessment System for Pre-K Mathematics.” This project will develop and validate an efficient, instructionally relevant assessment system in early mathematics skills, which are strong predictors of both short- and long-term student achievement.

Wheelhouse Research Provides Analysis on Usage of Two Higher Education Pathways

The School of Education’s Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research has published research analyzing two higher education pathways: Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) and dual enrollment. Researchers found that while both programs can be valuable for students working toward college degrees, both show some disparities in participation.

In “Improving the Pathway to the BA,” Wheelhouse reports that the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT), a new pathway between community colleges and four-year universities, has grown significantly in the number of students earning ADT and the number of campuses offering them, giving thousands of students a more seamless and predictable pathway to a four-year degree. Researchers identified positive gains for students in both opportunity and efficiency, but noted that access to the ADT remains uneven by campus and field of study.

In a second brief, “A Rising Tide,” Wheelhouse researchers report on the increase of participation in dual enrollment—high school students taking community college courses for credit in both systems—finding that while this increase has been seen across demographics, there is a persistent disparity in participation among racial and socioeconomic subgroups.

Uncertainty and Anxiety Among High School Seniors as they Plan for College Amidst the Pandemic 

The California Education Lab has released their analysis of a survey of nearly 16,000 high school seniors who applied for college financial aid for the 2020-21 academic year. “College Uncertainties: California High School Seniors in Spring of 2020” reveals incoming college students’ significant concerns regarding financial insecurity, remote learning, and health and well-being in the wake of COVID-19. In addition to survey data, the report includes excerpts from some of the 9,000 open-ended written responses provided by respondents. Download the report.

Center for Community and Citizen Science Publishes Planning Resources

As part of their work with the Open Rivers Fund, a program focused on dam removal and watershed restoration, the School of Education’s Center for Community and Citizen Science has published a quick guide and manual for “Planning Your Community-Based Citizen Science Monitoring Project.” While this work is targeted at dam removal and watershed projects, it contains useful project planning information that can be applied to many areas of conservation and natural resource management. Read more about the project here.

Recent Research Publications

• Prof. Marcela Cuellar co-authored the article “Promoting Access and Equity for Underrepresented Racial Minorities? An Examination of Policies and Practices in Community College Baccalaureate Programs,” published in Community College Review.
• Prof. Kevin Gee and Dean Lauren Lindstrom co-authored “Enhancing College and Career Readiness Programs for Underserved Adolescents” published in the Journal of Youth Development.
• Dean Lauren Lindstrom co-authored “Finding Our Voices: Employment and Career Development for Women with Disabilities,” a chapter in The Palgrave Handbook of Disability at Work.
• Prof. Darnel Degand authored the essay “Introducing Critical Race Media Literacy in an Undergraduate Education Course about Technology and Multimodal Arts” in the International Journal of Multicultural Education.
• Prof. Cary Trexler co-authored the article “Queering Agricultural Education Research: Challenges and Strategies for Advancing Inclusion,” published in the Journal of Agricultural Education.
• Prof. Peter C. Mundy co-authored the research article “Growth in Narrative Retelling and Inference Abilities and Relations with Reading Comprehension in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” published in Autism & Developmental Language Impairments.