June 2021 Newsletter

Congratulations to the Class of 2021!

This year’s graduation event may have been held virtually, but the celebratory spirit was  fully present. School of Education leaders Dean Lauren Lindstrom, program chairs Danny C. Martinez, Elizabeth Montaño and Margarita Jimenez-Silva, and student speaker and Assistant Vice Provost Binnie Singh spoke live from the School of Education building. They were joined online by 70 PhD, EdD, MA and Credential graduates who celebrated from their homes with family, friends and even pets. Their collective pride and excitement made for a beautiful and personal experience for all of us. Thank you to everyone who attended and welcomed us into your homes virtually. An edited version of the event—minus pauses and technical issues—is now available online.

California Education Lab Releases Second Survey on Impact of COVID-19 on College Students

The School of Education’s California Education Lab and the California Student Aid Commission have conducted a second survey of California college students’ experiences during COVID-19. The data and voices in their report tell a clear and troubling story: The pandemic has impacted the lives and educational trajectories of California college students in profound and profoundly uneven ways. While the accumulated toll has been substantial on students overall, disruption and stress have been disproportionally felt by Black and Latinx students, by lower-income students, and by those who attend community colleges. Access both Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 COVID-19 student surveys.

Undergraduate Lab Assistants Present at Research Conference

Undergraduate student research assistants  in the School of Education’s Language and Literacy Development Lab took the practical research skills they’d acquired in the lab and collaborated on projects for this year’s UC Davis Undergraduate Research Conference. Hear from Prof. Yuuko Uchikoshi and some of this year’s students about what they’ve learned and watch the video of their presentation here.

FACULTY NEWS & RESEARCH

Marcela Cuellar Selected for SERN Midcareer Fellows Program

Prof. Marcela Cuellar is one of just 15 scholars across the nation to be named 2021-2022 Midcareer Fellows by the Student Experience Research Network (SERN). Fellows will draw on rigorous research on student experience to develop new evidence-based and equity-centered narratives about policy topics, and will continue to advance their scholarly work. The fellows come from universities across the country and represent a range of fields and methodologies. Learn more.

Lee Martin on Adapting a Community Engaged Learning Experience During the Pandemic

Prof. Lee Martin faced unexpected challenges this  year while he was a Community Engaged Learning Faculty Fellow with the UC Davis Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement. As the principal investigator of the Beta Lab Center, Martin designs and investigates hands-on opportunities for youth to envision, design and build their own projects, increasing their interest and understanding in STEM subjects and equitably promoting the development of adaptive expertise and STEM identity. “With everything disrupted, it first seemed like it was terrible timing for my fellowship year,” he said, “but in retrospect, it was a gift to be connected to such amazing colleagues during such a trying time.” Read about Martin’s experiences here.

Elizabeth Montaño Named Scholar of the Quarter

Prof. and CANDEL Chair Elizabeth Montaño has been named Scholar of the Quarter by the UC Davis Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Social Science, Arts, and Humanities (CAMPSSAH). This award recognizes faculty members whose scholarship epitomizes scholarly or creative achievements that involve diverse communities with a commitment to social change. Read more.

Analysis of Attendance Data Reveals Attendance Gaps by Learning Mode and Among Student Groups Hard Hit by COVID-19

A new report by a team of researchers including Prof. Kevin Gee offers key insights from an analysis of Connecticut’s chronic absence data that can inform COVID-19 educational recovery efforts and attendance initiatives. The report shares lessons learned from Connecticut and recommends steps that other states can take to improve their data systems and ensure actionable data for the next school year. Results showed that remote learners had higher chronic absence rates versus hybrid and in-person learners while certain student groups faced especially high chronic absence rates, including English language learners, Black and Latinx students, those eligible for free or reduced price meals, and students with disabilities. Read the full report here.

Peter Mundy on Autism and the Social Mind

In a recent Scientific American article“Autism and the Social Mind,” Prof. Peter Mundy reflects on how research with and for autistic people has enriched social-cognitive neuroscience and the understanding of how our social minds develop. Mundy is the President of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), a scientific and professional organization devoted to advancing knowledge about autism. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first annual meeting of INSAR.

WEBINARS

Catch Up with the Spring PhD Colloquium Series

This quarter, the Graduate Group in Education hosted recent and upcoming PhD scholars to discuss their research. All of the webinar recordings of these insightful presentations are available now on ourYouTube playlist, including the final discussion, “Revealing Colonial Schooling: Youth and Teachers Resisting Racialization in Two Urban High Schools,” presented by Yanira Madrigal Garcia.

Show Off with School of Education Gear

Looking for a way to show off your School of Education pride? You’ll find shirts of all styles, as well as mugs, hats and more with the School of Education logo at the online UC Davis Store. Proceeds from all store sales benefit UC Davis Athletics.

Recent Research Publications

• Prof. Jamal Abedi co-authored “Historical Milestones in the Assessment of English Learners,” a chapter in The History of Educational Measurement. 

• Prof. Heidi L. Ballard and Dr. Maryam Ghadiri co-authored “Step by Step Towards Citizen Science — Deconstructing Youth Participation in BioBlitzes,” published in the Journal of Science Communication.

• Prof. Kevin Gee, Dr. Carolynne Beno, Dean Lauren Lindstrom and colleagues co-authored “Promoting College and Career Readiness Among Underserved Adolescents: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study,” published in the Journal of Adolescence.

• Prof. Michal Kurlaender, Prof. Paco Martorell, Prof. Scott Carrell, and Prof. Matthew Naven, PhD ’19, co-authored “The Impact of School Quality on Postsecondary Success: Evidence in the Era of Common Core,” a study conducted in collaboration with the California Department of Education with the support of a U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences Research Grant.

• Prof. Lee Martin co-authored “Reflections on Asset-Based Pre-College Engineering Education to Promote Equity: An Introduction to the Special Issue,” published in the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research.

• Prof. Danny C. Martinez published “In Dialogue: Solidarity” and “Editors’ Introduction: Emerging Solidarities in Literacy Research” in Research in the Teaching of English.

• Prof. Nicole Sparapani co-authored “Evaluating Teacher Language Within General and Special Education Classrooms Serving Elementary Students with Autism,” published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.